Ukraine Report 2003, No. 2
ArtUkraine.com Information Service
Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C.
Monday, February 10, 2003

INDEX OF STORIES:

1. U.S. AMBASSADOR PASCUAL OUTLINES STEPS FOR IMPROVING U.S.-UKRAINIAN RELATIONS, By Tim Vickery Associated Press Writer, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, February 6, 2003

2. TO VISIT SILENCE, To visit Chernobyl is to visit silence. The city of Prypiat remains a ghost town. By Natalia A. Feduschak The Washington, Times, Washington, D.C., Sunday, February 9, 2003

3. CONG. WELDON INDULGES PASSION FOR RUSSIA AMID GRUMBLES, By Peter Nicholas, Inquirer Washington Bureau Philadelphia Inquirer, February 9, 2003

4. UKRAINIAN ASYLUM-SEEKER IN BRITIAN COMMITS SUICIDE, SUICIDE AT REFUGEE CENTRE SPARKS HUNGER STRIKE, Mikhail Bodnarchuk was due to be deported back to Ukraine the day after he killed himself. By Sophie Goodchild, Home Affairs Correspondent, Independent Digital, London, UK, 09 February 2003

5. WHAT'S THE POLICY TOWARD UKRAINE? by Andrew Fedynsky, PERSPECTIVES (Op-Ed), The Ukrainian Weekly Parsippany, New Jersey, February 2, 2003

6. YUSHCHENKO: UKRAINE HAS TO FIND WAY TO DEMOCRACY, Yushchenko in Washington, By E. Morgan Williams, ArtUkraine.com, Washington, D.C., Friday, February 7, 2003

7. VOA MAKES SUBSTANTIAL CUTS IN PROGRAM TO UKRAINE, 10 Eastern Europe Broadcasts To End, By Olga Dryzhanovska, The Washington Times, Washington, D.C., Feb. 7, 2003

8. UKRAINE AND BELARUS, THOSE EASTERN SLAVS FARCICAL PERFORMANCE, It is a bizarre performance to watch Editorial, By The Baltic Times, Riga, Lativa, February 06, 2003

9. RUSSIA TAKES CONTROL OF CONTROVERSIAL ARMENIAN NUCLEAR PLANT, "Built to the same design as the Chernobyl atomic power station in Ukraine." "It also follows a trend in other ex-Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, where Russian investors have aggressively snatched up banks, a broadcaster and oil refineries." By David Stern in Moscow, Financial Times, London, England, UK, February 08, 2003

10. CRACKDOWN ON ILLEGAL FERTILITY TREATMENT TRADE Couples may also be attracted by the cheaper cost of fertility treatment in Russia, the Ukraine, India and Greece. By Sarah-Kate Templeton, Health Editor, Sunday Herald, Glasgow, UK, Sunday, February 9, 2003

11. MICROSOFT RESPONDS TO CRITICISMS THAT NEW UKRAINIAN SOFTWARE USES "SURZHYK," By Roman Woronowycz, The Ukrainian Weekly, January 19, 2003

12. UKRAINIAN SPRINTERS BLOCK AND DOVGAL WIN IN EUROPE Ukraine's Zhanna Block Wins 60 Meter Dash At Flanders, Ukrainian Sprinter Anatoliy Dovgal Wins In Budapest, ArtUkraine.com; A/P; and IAAF, February 9, 2003

13. U.S. OFFICIAL ILLEGALLY SOLD VISAS ABROAD In January 2000, he met with a Ukrainian "broker" in a Prague beer hall. Once the forms were processed, Meerovich would approve the visas without interviewing the applicants -- most often Czechs, Slovaks and Ukrainians, By Neely Tucker, Washington Post Staff Writer, The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Saturday, February 8, 2003; Page A03

KIEV, Ukraine - U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual urged Ukraine on Thursday to stop meddling in the media, tighten export controls and strengthen anti-money laundering regulations to improve deeply strained bilateral ties.

Pascual made the recommendations as he announced planned cuts in financial assistance to Ukraine after a "comprehensive policy review" that put Ukraine among other former Soviet countries that had become less dependent on monetary aid.

He stressed that the United States would continue to provide money to help Ukraine improve media freedoms, develop civil society, and improve border controls. "If Ukraine is willing to move forward on these (reforms), it can result in positive, concrete, constructive developments ... and improve confidence between our two countries," Pascual said.

The Bush administration has asked Congress to reduce 2003 aid to Ukraine by US$15 million and US$46 million in 2004. Ukraine received some $US155 million last year, making it one of the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid worldwide.

The policy review was launched last year after Washington said it had authenticated audio recordings in which President Leonid Kuchma is heard approving the sale of sophisticated radar systems to Baghdad. Kuchma denies the charges, which caused the worst crisis in ties with the West since Ukraine's independence in 1991.

Pascual also said it was "extremely important" for Ukraine to demonstrate it was a "responsible partner" in fighting terrorism by beefing up export and border controls to prevent leakages of military technologies and equipment.

Another "obvious step" Pascual suggested Ukraine take to regain credibility was for officials to stop instructing the press on what to report. "What we're all hoping for is an environment where representatives of the press really feel that they can pursue the truth ... and that they will not be under threat as a result," he said.

Pascual praised Ukraine's recent efforts to strengthen laws against money-laundering but said more was needed before Washington would support removal of sanctions recommended by the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, or FATF.

Ukraine's Parliament adopted amendments to banking laws aimed to prevent financial institutions from laundering money and reducing the threshold for monitoring suspicious transactions, the Interfax news agency reported.

FATF plans to review Ukraine's performance Feb. 12. Even if the tougher laws meet international standards, FATF says Ukraine must enforce them before fully normalizing its status.

Pascual appeared optimistic about the future of U.S.-Ukraine relations based on a "broad relationship at various levels with the government," implying that Washington was looking beyond Kuchma to other officials.

Kuchma said in December that Ukraine's damaged relations with the United States was his biggest political problem and ending it would be his main challenge in 2003. (tv/dgs/ee)

The sarcophagus of its No. 4 reactor, the one that blew in 1986, looks sturdier than before, thanks to $300 million in upgrades. Plans are under way to permanently encase the structure to make certain the tiny cracks that developed on the hastily built original container don't let water in and start chemical reactions inside, perhaps causing another explosion.

Crews from France and Italy work in an adjacent field that will be the burial ground for the radioactive waste, which cannot be transported outside Chernobyl's "dead zone," the circle extending nearly 10 miles in all directions that received the most radioactive fallout.

The station's elongated administration building, site of a freak fire in 1993, is now painted a glaring white. The meandering Prypiat River that runs alongside the station is finally showing signs of life - the occasional tracks of a mouse, hawk or fox on its banks.

Some things, however, haven't changed. The majestic green forest that spreads out like a delta into neighboring Belarus is deceiving. The forest is contaminated. In some spots, radiation reaches hundreds of times the normal background level.

The city of Prypiat, abandoned within hours of the 1986 explosion, remains a ghost town. Walls of a spacious kindergarten are still adorned by pictures drawn in a child's hand, while crumbling apartment blocks contain stoves, sofas and mattresses.

"Eventually this place will be swallowed by the earth," a guide tells his visitor as they trample through Prypiat's soccer field, inaugurated days before the accident and now overgrown with birch trees. "You know what the Bible says: 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.' "

A Kiev tourist agency offers tours to Chernobyl for people interested in "extreme eco-tourism." The daylong trip costs $193 for an individual, less per person for groups. To visit Chernobyl is to visit silence.

Ukraine decided to open the grounds around the station to tourists to teach them about the accident and to disseminate information about the challenges it faces.

"There is so much misinformation," said Mykola Dmytruk, assistant director of Chernobyl's information agency, Chernobylinform. "Trips like these are one way of combating it."

Tourist visits don't add much to the station's budget; last year, tours brought in about $3,000 after costs. Still, visitors are able to see the site and get a good look at the No. 4 reactor from a safe vantage point. Taking pictures up close isn't allowed to ensure terrorists can't study the station's security features.

Visitors also see the abandoned town of Prypiat, and, as a Geiger counter clicks rapidly, drive quickly past areas with elevated levels of radiation to visit the machinery graveyard. There, helicopters, trucks and cars used in the 1986 evacuation effort rust away. A private company sells approved vehicles as scrap metal. Only those with special permission can go inside the station.

In addition, visitors can visit with elderly residents who were evacuated from their homes but returned illegally over the years to take up gardening and raising pigs for food in the dead zone.

The station's most frequent visitors are scientists, teachers and journalists.

Chernobyl's most pressing problem today is lack of finances, said Mr. Dmytruk, of Chernobylinform.

Since the station closed its last operating reactor two years ago under international pressure, Ukraine has lost nearly $920,000 a day in energy exports. In addition, the country has received only a fraction of the nearly $1 billion in aid promised by the international community to offset those losses and finish building two other Ukrainian nuclear power stations, Mr. Dmytruk said.

"Because of that," he said, there is a strong feeling here the station should be restarted. "We all know that won't happen; it would be politically inappropriate. But there is disillusionment with the West."

Although foreign donors have been diligent in ensuring that a permanent structure is built over the No. 4 reactor's sarcophagus, Mr. Dmytruk and his colleagues are more worried about the area around the station. The contaminated forests are prone to fires in dry seasons, which could send their radiation to points farther west, but there is scant money for upkeep. Water from the Prypiat River flows into the Dnipro River and then into the Black Sea.

A major challenge has been to ensure that radioactivity from the station doesn't wander south.

There are other pressing issues: re-educating workers who will lose their jobs as the station shuts down, monitoring the health of the those working at Chernobyl and paying the electric bill.

"Just because you shut the station down doesn't mean it stops functioning," Mr. Dmytruk said. "It is a living organism."

Recently, the Kiev-based company that provides electricity to Chernobyl - one of its partners is an American - threatened to cut off energy because of debt. That is troubling, Mr. Dmytruk said, because even though the station doesn't generate electricity, the nuclear reactors have to be cooled.

"Can you imagine cutting electricity to a nuclear power station?" he asked.

Though the Ukrainian government annually budgets funds for Chernobyl, the station has been getting less and less money. The situation has become so critical that Ukraine's new prime minister, Victor Yanukovych, made an emergency visit to the station to meet with directors shortly after taking office. He promised more money.

Such promises mean little to the guards who man the security checkpoint on the road leading to the village of Paryshiv, which is home to 36 persons, mostly widows, who returned to their homes after being evacuated by Soviet authorities immediately after the disaster.

On a recent evening, the guards manning the checkpoint sat in a dark booth. Later, one of them, who did not want to be named, acknowledged that he and his colleagues had been without electricity for five days.

That doesn't keep the wolves at bay, he joked.

Mikhail and Maria Urypa come out their front gate to greet another visitor from abroad. They've been married for 46 years and have been through this before. In the past week they had answered questions from correspondents from HBO and a Brazilian reporter about why they decided to return to their home days after the Chernobyl accident.

The childhood sweethearts made clear why they refused to leave: Chernobyl is their birthright. They may live in a ghost town, but at least they will be buried next to their ancestors.

The Urypa homestead is simple: a house, a barn, a summer kitchen. What concerns Mrs. Urypa most now is how she will get milk now that her oldest cow has died.

"It's gotten bad in the last two months," she said as her husband insisted on entertaining his reluctant guests with home brew.

"Usually the authorities would come here to pay our pensions, bring groceries by truck and take us into town so we could buy clothes and other things. But they have stopped coming. I can't live without milk."

Mrs. Urypa operates the only ham radio in town, the lifeline of residents to the outside world. If someone gets sick, Mrs. Urypa calls Chernobyl authorities. If someone disappears, as one elderly neighbor did not long ago, she calls authorities.

"Come visit us again," Mrs. Urypa said, as she posed for a photo with her new, year-old heifer.

The consequences for Ukraine of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster will remain for generations. Although only a few dozen exposed people died soon after the accident, tens of thousands of cancer deaths are expected, Ukrainian doctors said.

"We are only now beginning to see the after effects," said Yevgheniya Stepanova, a physician from Ukraine's Academy of Medical Sciences who has been studying children affected by the Chernobyl accident. Children born during or shortly after the explosion will soon have children of their own.

"Only then will we have a better idea of the long-term effects of radiation," she said.

Meanwhile, in the most contaminated regions of the country, an alarming number of babies with Down syndrome are being born to young women.

U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, a Delaware County Republican, has a plan to bolster the middle class.

Russia's middle class.

Weldon minds his casework, too. Right now, he's helping a young man who was hit by a car five years ago and paralyzed from the chest down.

The only difference is the victim is Russian and the collision took place in Vladivostok. Smitten with the former Soviet Union since college, Weldon, 55, at times seems to have turned his congressional office into a one-man version of the State Department's Russia desk.

He has visited Russia and other former Soviet republics 30 times in his life - twice since Thanksgiving. He is on a first-name basis with members of the Duma, the counterpart to the House of Representatives.

A self-made freelance diplomat without portfolio, he bounces from Moldova to Belarus, Georgia to Uzbekistan - setting up softball games with members of Congress, addressing parliaments in weekend sessions specially arranged for his visit, pushing bilateral accords that reflect his own vision of what the U.S.-Russian relationship ought to be.

There are no votes for Weldon to pick up in Russia. But the East is giving this Russian studies major from West Chester University a measure of recognition that he can't get back home.

"Whenever I go, I'm on Russian TV all the time," Weldon said in an interview in his congressional office.

Last year, Weldon was inducted into the Russian Academy of Social Sciences.

In his office, he shows a visitor mementos from the ceremony: a picture of himself in cap and gown, along with his official academy ID card.

"From mayor of Marcus Hook to the Russian Academy of Sciences," said Weldon, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee first elected to Congress in 1986.

The taxpayer-funded trips aren't cheap. In 2001, Weldon led a six-member delegation to Russia. The Navy C-9 plane trip alone cost nearly $30,000.

In Pennsylvania's Seventh Congressional District, Weldon's critics are puzzled by his fascination with Russia, wondering what any of it has to do with his constituents.

"In an opportunistic way, he seems to try to muscle his way into things that are high-visibility at the moment," said David Landau, a local Democratic Party official and Weldon's opponent in the 1988 campaign. "It doesn't seem part of any congressional or officially sanctioned effort. It's, 'I'm Curt Weldon and I want to get into this debate.' "

The executive branch also has worried about Weldon's forays, wincing at his penchant for leaping into diplomatic muddles and meeting with mysterious characters in hopes of brokering agreements that have eluded the pros at the State Department. A Bush administration foreign-policy insider describes Weldon as a "well-intentioned dabbler" when it comes to Russia.

In recent weeks, Weldon has sought unsuccessfully to get into North Korea, in hopes of opening a dialogue the White House has shunned.

None of the criticism particularly troubles Weldon, who holds the safest of seats. He sees himself as a member of a coequal branch of government eager to spare the nation bloody, expensive wars. If the diplomatic set doesn't like his style, so what?

"State Department people come and go... . When the [Russian] Academy of Sciences chose to put someone in the academy, they didn't pick our ambassador," Weldon said. "They didn't pick someone back here from the State Department. They picked me. So I don't have to worry about what the State Department thinks.

"I know what I'm doing is the right thing and is connecting with the Russians."

If he doesn't like the direction of the Bush administration's Russia policy, Weldon won't let party loyalties keep him from giving a very public nudge.

In 2001, he sought to broaden talks between Bush and Russian leader Vladimir V. Putin at a summit in Washington and Crawford, Texas. In a bid to shift the discussion from security matters to a range of issues including health care and energy policy, Weldon gave the two leaders a 44-page call for a better U.S.-Russian relationship, titled "A New Time; A New Beginning."

Still, most of the publicity following the summit centered on arms control.

Weldon has met some odd characters on the international stage. Such meetings can be touchy, with the congressman at risk of being used.

In December, he had a long dinner with the leader of Belarus, Alexander G. Lukashenko, described by critics as Europe's last dictator. After the meeting, Lukashenko put out a news release saying that Weldon's delegation had endorsed his leadership. "Outrageous lies," Weldon countered at the time.

Back in Delaware County, some of Weldon's constituents ask about the relevance of the congressman's adventures to their own lives.

Told of Weldon's interest in Russia, Dave Coulter, clearing snow off his car on a recent afternoon in Marcus Hook, said: "I'd like to see him spending more time on needs back here. He's only spending taxpayer money."

An official inquiry has been launched into the death of an asylum-seeker, found hanged by his shoelaces in a detention centre. Mikhail Bodnarchuk was due to be deported back to Ukraine the day after he killed himself.

The suicide of Mr Bodnarchuk has alarmed campaigners who believe that the Government's determination to detain more refugees and deport them more quickly will lead to more deaths.

A week after Mr Bodnarchuk's body was found hanging from the ceiling of a washroom at Haslar removal centre in Gosport, Hampshire, a second man, understood to be from Africa, is in a critical condition in hospital after he also tried to hang himself on Friday.

The death of Mr Bodnarchuk, 42, a former soldier, has prompted a hunger strike in protest at conditions at the centre. Inmates are strip-searched on arrival, issued with a uniform and held behind locked security doors.

More than 1,800 asylum-seekers are currently locked up in detention centres in the UK and denied access to bail even though they have committed no crime.

The Home Affairs Select Committee is investigating the issue of self-harm and suicide in detention centres as part of an official inquiry into asylum removals.

Rosy Bremer, from Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID), said the extreme psychological distress of many asylum-seekers was exacerbated by their treatment in Britain. "In the Government's mind, asylum-seekers are almost non-human," she said.

One former Haslar detainee said: "I saw fellow asylum-seekers going clinically insane, attempting suicide. You would think these scenes would trigger human rights probes but not when it is 'only' asylum-seekers."

The Institute of Race Relations has recorded at least three suicides at UK detention centres. At Haslar, there have been at least four attempted suicides over the past three years. Detainees said they were too afraid to speak out about their treatment.

Mr Bodnarchuk came to Britain in September 2000, leaving behind his wife and two children. Immigration officials mistakenly accused him of claiming asylum under two identities. His claim was turned down and he was served a deportation order.

"People are shocked and devastated," said a source who was unwilling to be named.

"He was fleeing persecution, and chose to take his own life rather than allow his tormentors to take it for him."

The 20th Century was rough on Ukrainians in a way that's impossible to fathom: during both world wars, Ukraine served as a battlefield for years on end. Afterwards there were revolutionary struggles of appalling cruelty. Factor in the Man-made Famine of 1932-33, the Great Terror, Chornobyl, totalitarianism, mass emigration, etc. Weighed against all that, you might say that Ukraine in 2003 has never been in better shape:

- Ukrainians can worship God in whatever form they choose.
- Ukraine is a democracy.
- People respect Ukraine's national symbols.
- National leaders speak Ukrainian.
- Minority languages and cultures are flourishing.
- Ukraine's economy is making slow but steady progress.
- Independent civic, social and cultural groups are creating a civil society.

Despite all this, there's no denying that Ukraine has serious problems, not the least of which is growing isolation, illustrated dramatically at the NATO summit in November when President Bush made a point of snubbing President Kuchma and encouraged other leaders to do the same. Most did. Poland's Kwasniewsky and Italy's Berlusconi, reportedly, were exceptions.

Critics contend that Kuchma himself brought this isolation on Ukraine. Citing credible accusations of corruption, abuse of office, election tampering, the illegal sale of military equipment to Iraq, even complicity in murder, Ukraine's leader to them conveys more the image of gangster than president.

Without excusing any shortcomings, others see a double standard, pointing to Russia's links to the "Axis of Evil" (Iran, Iraq and Korea.) Russia is building six nuclear reactors in Iran, a project the Bush administration fears will lead to an Iranian nuclear bomb. Ironically, this is the same project that Ukraine abandoned at the request of the Clinton administration because of those very same fears. Heedless of America's concerns, Russia stepped in and picked up the contract.

Russia also maintains a close relationship with Iraq, negotiating huge deals and protecting Saddam Hussein's access to radio jammers and intercepts, global positioning equipment, high speed computers, antidotes for nerve agents and other items with dual civilian-military applications.

Russia is also cozy with the world's most recent nuclear threat, North Korea, whose dictator, Kim Jong Il, visited Moscow twice in the past two years.

Then there's the frightful campaign against the Chechens, which spares neither civilians nor combatants. President Putin responded to human rights protests by expelling monitors and journalists. He's also getting rid of Roman Catholic priests, labor organizers, Peace Corps volunteers and others who complicate things by speaking the truth and acting freely.

Despite all this, President Bush extolled Mr. Putin for having a "good soul," hosted him at his ranch and, after snubbing Kuchma in Prague, flew to St. Petersburg to assuage any concerns the Russian president might have about NATO expansion.

By any fair measure, Ukraine does suffer from a double standard. Why? A good part of it, I think, involves the tremendous stature of Russian culture. Consider the composers: Tchaikowksy, Rachmaninov, Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovych; novelists: Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bulgakov, Solzhenitsyn. Think of the Kirov Ballet, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg or Russian architecture. Indeed, Ivan the Terrible was so pleased with the work of one architect that he ordered him blinded so he couldn't design anything as beautiful again. Centuries later in 1944, when cinematographer Sergei Eisenstein filmed Ivan the Terrible, people understood: Joseph Stalin.

And that's the underside of Russian culture, something many people in the West discount. They adore the Bolshoi Ballet while accepting the ghastliness of figures like Lenin, Dzerzhinsky and Andropov. Even those who are appalled by Putin's Chechen policies, respect Russia's nuclear arsenal and veto power in the UN Security Council.

Ukraine, whose culture is barely known in the West, does not get the benefit of the doubt that Russia does. Ever since the 1930s, when Stalin massacred the artists and audiences that were creating a Ukrainian renaissance, the country has been in the shadows-a bit of a joke, a bit of an embarrassment-holding a seat in the United Nations, but voting exactly as the Kremlin ordered. With the exception of Ukrainians themselves, the world greeted independence as a huge surprise. Since then, Ukraine has made visible progress, but resistance from those who are vested in the past is keeping the country's democracy from really taking off. And it's leading to isolation.

Those pointing at Russia and arguing that Ukraine is subject to a double standard are right, of course, but lowering our expectations to the level that many accept for Russia is not the answer. Russia's in another league. Besides, Ukrainian independence is based on rejection of the Russian model. That's a goal the whole world can support. Certainly friends like Poland and Lithuania-countries that Russia once dominated-want Ukraine to succeed.

Today, many forces in Ukraine are working toward positive change. Most have some kind of link to America and, of course, there are several treaties that bind our two countries together, especially the one where Ukraine agreed to dismantle the third largest nuclear arsenal in existence: no small gesture. The tools are there to continue building Ukraine's democracy, but American support remains critical.

During the Clinton administration, Ukrainian-American leaders-both Republicans and Democrats-met regularly with the national security team, including the president and vice president themselves, to consult about America's policy toward Ukraine. We had lots of suggestions. Some were accepted; others were not. None of that is happening now. Not only is the Ukrainian-American community not engaged in U.S.-Ukrainian policy, we don't even know what the policy is. And that's troubling. So when's the next meeting?

Washington, D.C.....Viktor Yushchenko, Chairman of the Nasha Ukraina ("Our Ukraine") political bloc and Deputy in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament, told a large audience in Washington, D.C. Thursday evening that, "Ukraine has to find the way to democracy."

The former prime minister of Ukraine said, "Ukraine is facing its deepest crisis since becoming independent in 1991. We are now faced with the hard option of being ruled by oligarchic clan-driven authoritarian governance or by the forces of democracy."

"Ukraine has to find the way to democracy, the democratic forces must cooperate, coordinate, work together and present a unified front in the 2004 elections " Yushchenko said at the briefing in Washington.

"Not to do so would be a total disaster for Ukraine and would have a strong negative influence on the European situation and also globally."

Viktor Yushchenko stated he believes Ukraine is a European country and should be a member of the European family of nations. "Ukraine must find its own way out of the present crisis and its own way to democracy but needs the strong support of democratic nations around the world," the political leader said.

"I am now visiting the United States, Poland, Germany, Sweden, Russia, the Czech Republic and other countries to ask them and their legislators to continue to support the development of democratic forces and institutions in Ukraine. We also need their support to ensure free, fair, and transparent elections in 2004," Yushchenko reported to the receptive audience.

"Democratic nations should not in anyway isolate the people of Ukraine. Ukraine does not deserve isolation. The people of Ukraine are friendly toward democracy, they want democracy and want to be integrated with the other democratic, free market nations in the world."

Yushchenko closed his remarks by saying he believes the forces of democracy will win in Ukraine and urges the United States and other democracies to stay fully and totally engaged with the people of Ukraine in their struggle to build a strong, independent, democratic, free market country.

The Voice of America will end its foreign-language service to 10 Eastern European countries under its 2004 budget, officials said this week.

The U.S. government-run service will shut down its services in Bulgarian, Czech, Estonian, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Slovene, Slovak and Romanian, the officials said. There will also be substantial cuts in its Ukrainian and Armenian services.

According to VOA management, the changes are motivated by strategic rather than economic reasons. VOA's budget for 2004 was increased by 9.5 percent to $563.5 million.

But VOA wants to use the increased funding to develop programming aimed at the Middle East and Southeast Asia. A total of $30 million will be used to initiate the Middle East Television Network, a new satellite service in Arabic. Indonesian programming will be doubled to five hours a week.

"Our world is changing," said VOA Director David Jackson in a telephone interview. "Ever since VOA was created 62 years ago our countries have changed as the geopolitical situation has changed."

Some analysts agree it's time for VOA to rethink its strategy. Simon Serfaty, director of European studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said he was sympathetic to the decision to reduce the European division.

"In the conditions of scarce resources, Europe doesn't hold that kind of priority for pursuing such activity as other parts of the world," he said.

VOA, supervised by the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), beams about 1,000 hours of news, information, and educational and cultural programs every week to an audience of about 94 million people worldwide in more than 50 languages, according to the VOA Web site.

"We operate much like the private media journalistically," Mr. Jackson said. "However, part of our mission is to report on the U.S. government and its policies."

The BBG also oversees Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), Radio Sawa and Radio Farda in Arabic, Radio Free Asia , Radio and TV Marti, and Worldnet Television.

RFE/RL, which was created to broadcast local news in countries where free speech is suppressed, will also drop services in six languages: Bulgarian, Croatian, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian and Slovak. Operational costs of Armenian, Georgian, Serbian and Ukrainian services will be reduced as well.

In a statement to VOA staff this week, BBG Chairman Kenneth Tomlinson said the victory in the Cold War was a direct result of VOA broadcasts to Eastern and Central Europe.

He said that "the goal these services struggled and sacrificed for has been achieved, and they should take great pride in the role they played in this historic mission."

Mr. Jackson said the broadcast service is doing its best to help workers find new jobs. However, according to union leaders, many VOA employees believe the European services are still needed.

Those Eastern Slavs just don't know what to do. One week they're flirting with the West, the next they're chumming it up among themselves, declaring eternal friendships and establishing monetary unions. In all truthfulness, it all looks like a grand farce, and one can't help but wonder how long the self-delusional circus will go on.

Cold-shouldered at NATO's Prague summit, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who so earnestly wants to befriend the West, now finds himself an outcast. What does he do? He runs to Vladimir Putin and declares undying loyalty, when in the back of his mind he fantasizes about an alliance with Western powers.

Banned by more than a dozen Western countries and the United States just weeks after he was eschewed by the Kremlin, Belarus' Alexander Lukashenko was forced to grovel on his knees in Moscow lest he become a complete international pariah. The result? Belarus will become part of the ruble zone on Jan. 1, 2005, completing the Eastern union about which so much ink has been uselessly spilled.

It will never work. Simply because each country is going into the union with completely different motivations (granted, selfish ones), a single monetary zone uniting Russian and Belarus won't swing. Lukashenko wants access to the printing press to pay off his debts and finance his deficit economy, while Putin dreams of stretching Russian control right up to Poland's and Lithuania's eastern border, making export deliveries to the West and Kaliningrad exclave a whole lot easier.

The proposed ruble zone will fail once Minsk insists on having the right to print fresh cash. This issue, by the way, is still undecided and is likely to remain so. Belarus' economy amounts to some 2 percent of Russia's (effectively just another region for Moscow), but Lukashenko insists that his country would be a net contributor to the new union. So he should have the right to print.

Putin, for its part, is soaking up all the attention the union is getting from Lukashenko and Kuchma, and like a master ventriloquist, he will manipulate them for all they are worth. To make the new union work, the Kremlin has even promised a $300 million no-interest loan to Minsk that can be paid back "at earliest convenience." Lukashenko is giddy with delight, and one can't help but wonder what Russian taxpayers have to say about this.

It is all a joke. Then there will come a time when Belarus and Ukraine will tire of this arrangement, and they will once again cozy up to the West and the Eastern Slavs will be back to Act One. It is a bizarre performance to watch.

Russia has assumed manage-ment of Armenia's sole nuclear power station and main electricity producer, in exchange for $40m in fuel debts that Yerevan owes Moscow.

The deal, announced this week, is the latest instance where Armenian officials handed over prime pieces of industry to write off sums owed to Russia. Yerevan last year likewise cleared around $100m in outstanding debt by transferring ownership of five of the country's main enterprises, including the main thermal power plant and an electronics factory.

Details of the agreement on the Metsamor nuclear power plant, located 30km from the capital, were few, however. Officials said that Moscow would take over financial management, while the plant itself, which provides around 40 per cent of Armenia's electricity needs, remained in Armenian hands.

Press reports said that Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry and RAO UES, the Russian electricity monopoly, would pay off the Armenia's $32m debt to TVEL, Russia's nuclear power operator. In addition, they would provide $8m to purchase additional nuclear fuel.

"Starting this minute, we will never have to remember the plant had problems with fuel supplies because of debts," said Ilya Klebanov, Russia's industry and science minister, on conclusion of the agreement.

Metsamor has long been a centre of controversy. Built to the same design as the Chernobyl atomic power station in Ukraine - the site of the world's worst civilian nuclear accident - it is located on a highly sensitive seismic fault line to boot. The plant was shut down following a devastating earthquake in 1988, which levelled two towns and killed 25,000 people, but restarted in 1995 in the midst of massive power shortages.

The European Union, in an effort to eliminate all Chernobyl-class nuclear reactors, originally demanded that the plant be closed by 2004.

Armenian officials however have balked at the deadline. Decommissioning could be a costly and disruptive process, they said. Metsamor not only helps provide the country with round-the-clock power, but provides a margin to export electricity to nearby Georgia.

Russia's acquisition of the plant and other Armenian enterprises underlines the close relationship between Moscow and Yerevan, the Kremlin's closest ally in the Caucasus.

It also follows a trend in other ex-Soviet republics, such as Ukraine, where Russian investors have aggressively snatched up banks, a broadcaster and oil refineries.

Armenian commentators say the deal has so far raised little interest among the population, which is more preoccupied with the country's post-Soviet economic crisis and presidential elections at the end of the month.

"Many people believe that it is a good thing that Russia has acquired all these businesses, if only they would begin to work again," says Mark Grigorian, a prominent local journalist.

A crackdown on the illegal trade in human eggs is being planned this weekend with the establishment of a worldwide network to regulate the industry in 'reproductive tourism'.

The burgeoning industry, whereby couples travel abroad to seek fertility treatments which are outlawed in their own country, will be tackled by experts gathered at the First International Egg Donation Conference in London today.

In the last year, more than 50 infertile British couples travelled to Spain to buy eggs from local women, a practice which is illegal in the UK. The clinic they attended in Valencia is well-respected and boasts one of the highest success rates in the world.

But treatment there is not cheap, costing around њ5000 for egg donation, and specialists warn that greater controls need to be introduced to protect patients who may be tempted, due to price or the types of treatments offered, to attend less scrupulous clinics.

A key problem facing conference participants is the widely differing legal restrictions in individual countries, which have resulted in couples with a range of different requirements criss-crossing borders to shop for treatment in an unregulated and potentially dangerous international marketplace.

The most common example of reproductive tourism is buying eggs but lesbian couples may also need to travel outwith their own county for treatment. It is illegal to use IVF to choose the sex of a child in the UK while the use of surrogate mothers is banned in France and Spain.

In Spain, it is also illegal to receive a donated egg from someone you know, such as a sister, while in Denmark it is illegal to receive a donated egg from someone you do not know.

Couples may also be attracted by the cheaper cost of fertility treatment in Russia, the Ukraine, India and Greece.

Dr Andjelka Stones-Abassi, organiser of the conference and co-founder of the Global Egg Donation Resource, an information group, says a worldwide etwork is necessary to ensure that the growing reproductive tourism industry is safe and well-regulated.

'In the UK women are waiting for three or four years for egg donation. If a patient can't get treatment in their own country they go somewhere else but often they don't know anything about the clinic they are attending. We want to set up a network of accredited clinics so that women don't fall into the hands of people who don't know what they are doing.

'Parents are being misled at the moment, they are travelling to a clinic because they have read an advert on a website or in the newspaper. They are going to people who claim they can clone. It's crazy. Women travel to Ukraine, Greece, Russia or India because treatment is cheaper and egg donors are readily available. We would check that all the clinics in the network were run by a reputable clinician.'

She added: 'For example, if a British couple cannot afford treatment in the UK, we would look for a clinic elsewhere where the treatment is cheaper, there are translators and the results are just as good.

'There is too much 'infertility business' around today and patients are paying huge sums of money just to have a child. The demand is becoming greater by the day.'

The global egg donation network was welcomed by Dr Paul Rainsbury, clinical director of the Rainsbury Clinic at the Bupa Roding Hospital in Ilford.

He sends his patients to a Spanish clinic for egg donation and to the US for sex selection using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). His egg donation service, which makes it easier for British women to buy eggs from Spain, has prompted calls for a change in the law in this country to pay women who choose to donate.

Rainsbury agreed that, given the shortage of donated eggs in the UK, reproductive tourism will continue to expand and must be monitored.

He said: 'I send patients to a clinic in Valencia for egg donation which, in my view, is one of the best in the world. I have also sent patients to Italy in the past and, at the moment, send patients to a clinic in the US for sex selection which is illegal in this country.

'I have heard, however, that some women who have travelled to Eastern Europe or Asia have had bad treatment or even the wrong treatment,' he added.

The horror stories include taking a woman's eggs without consent, and causing a woman to suffer ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome -- enlargement of the ovaries caused by stimulating them with drugs to produce more eggs.

In mild form, this causes a swollen abdomen for several days but, when severe, can cause thrombosis, kidney damage, breathing difficulties and even death.

Other problems with disreputable clinics include failure to screen donated sperm for such viruses as HIV and implanting women with the wrong embryos --a mistake which recently occurred in the UK.

KYIV, UKRAINE...February 10, 2003..Responding to assertions being made on some Internet websites that Microsoft has developed a laughable mixed-language Ukrainian version of its popular Windows XP software, the marketing director of its Kyiv office said that a huge misunderstanding has taken place and pointed out that no full Ukrainian Windows XP software package currently exists, according to a recent article by Roman Woronowycz of the Kyiv Press Bureau of The Ukrainian Weekly.

"This is not a Ukrainian software version of Windows XP," explained Valeria Kazban, "it is the interface pack. This is an effort to determine whether this is market interest among Ukrainian users."

In an exclusive interview with The Ukrainian Weekly recently, Ms. Kazban emphasized that the Ukrainian interface pack can be downloaded free from Microsoft's website and that the company made it available for public consumption to test demand.

However, she did not explain why this was not spelled out in the press release issued by Microsoft when the new product came online. In a press release, Microsoft Director of Product for the CIS Oleksii Badayev merely stated that the Ukrainian interface pack "was produced to meet the needs of Ukrainian buyers and to develop the variety of software programs with a Ukrainian interface."

Ms. Kazban explained to The Ukrainian Weekly that this is not the first time that Microsoft efforts have been misinterpreted. "I want it to be known that there are always a variety of points of view on any new Microsoft products," said Ms. Kazban.

The Microsoft marketing director for Ukraine explained that only Microsoft's Office XP software is currently available in Ukrainian, and is limited to the Word and Excel programs.

Regardless of the intermediary nature of the interface pack, some visitors to the website  http://www.maidan.org.ua  went so far as to call it a "surzhyk," or mixed Ukrainian-Russian anomaly.

The basic problem, as contributors to the open discussion on the website suggested, is that the Ukrainian interface pack can be installed only on Russian-language Windows XP software. If you are an English interface user, or Polish, or German, or Chinese, you're out of luck, for now anyway.

In addition, as Andrii Shevchuk, one contributor to the discussion, pointed out in detail, there are several places where the program inexplicably reverts back to the Russian language, particularly in Outlook Express and the print mode of Word.

While Microsoft has translated the full line of its software into many languages over the years, Ukraine has had to fight for any Ukrainian-language version of Microsoft programming, Even though Polish- and Russian-language software has been available for around a decade, Roman Woronowycz wrote in his article.

Ukrainian software appeared only last March, and that came only after a concerted effort by Ukraine's Ministry of Education and the Shevchenko Scientific Society of America, which is based in New York according to The Ukrainian Weekly article of January 19.

Microsoft eventually signed an agreement with Ukraine's Ministry of Education to produce Office XP in the Ukrainian language for the benefit of Ukrainian schools, many of which are computerized today.

Ms. Kazban underscored that the latest Microsoft initiative to explore a Ukrainian version of the more popular Windows version is not prompted by outside forces, but this time came from within the company itself. Ms. Kazban said that a decision on future Microsoft software in the Ukrainian language will be made after marketing tests are completed.

Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun., Feb. 9, 2003......Ukrainian champion sprinters Zhanna Block and Anatoliy Dovgal both win the 60 meters dash this weekend in separate track meets held in Ghent, Belgium and Budapest, Hungary.

Ukraine's Zhanna Block equaled her mark this year in the 60 meters dash and Coby Miller of the United States ran the season's fastest 60 meters race Sunday to dominate the Flanders Indoor Energizer track meet held in Ghent, Belgium.

In the women's 60 meter, Zhanna Block faced her toughest competition from Merlene Ottey, a 42-year-old veteran, who is racing for Slovenia. Block, the outdoor 100 meter world champion, finished in 7.09 to equal her best mark this year. She beat Merlene Ottey by .09 seconds. Muriel Hurtis of France finished third in 7.20.

On Saturday Ukrainian sprinter Anatoliy Dovgal ran away with the win in the men's 60 meter sprint ahead Gabor Dobos, the home crowd favorite, at the 2nd Enternet Cup International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) Indoor Meeting held in Budapest, Hungary.

Dovgal clocked 6.68 seconds in the preliminaries ahead of Dobos' 6.79 seconds, then cut half-a-tenth off his time to win the meet with a season's best of 6.63 seconds. Andrea Rabion of Italy finished third with a time of 6.64 seconds. Dejan Vojnovic of Croatia was fourth in 6.76, Geza Pauer of Hungary was 5th with a time of 6.86 and the runner from Croatia, Jurica Grabusic was sixth finishing in 6.90 seconds.

Selling visas was a good business for State Department employee Alexander J. Meerovich while he was assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Prague, but the deal came to an end this week when he pleaded guilty to fraud charges in federal court.

Meerovich, 37, of Burke pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina in Washington on Thursday, acknowledging that he sold at least 85 fraudulent visas in two years while deputy consul general at the embassy in the Czech Republic. Justice Department prosecutors said he netted about $50,000.

Under terms of the plea agreement, Meerovich will probably face a prison term of 21 to 27 months when Urbina sentences him June 3.

"The illegal sales of U.S. visas strikes at the very heart of the government's efforts to secure our borders and protect the national security," said Michael Chertoff, assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division.

A person answering the telephone at Meerovich's home yesterday said he was not available for comment.

Meerovich was a career Foreign Service officer when he arrived in Prague in August 1999, having completed a three-year stint in the U.S. consulate office in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the plea agreement. As deputy consul general in his new posting, he was assigned to interview visa applicants, review applications and approve non-immigrant visas. He was also the embassy's anti-fraud officer.

But in January 2000, he met with a Ukrainian "broker" in a Prague beer hall, and the pair set up a plan to sell fraudulent visas, prosecutors said. Under the plan, the Ukrainian would give Meerovich a set of applications, including a $250 fee for each file, to be placed in the consulate's applications intake box.

Once the forms were processed, Meerovich would approve the visas without interviewing the applicants -- most often Czechs, Slovaks and Ukrainians, according to the plea agreement. The plan was later revised, and Meerovich's fee doubled. The scheme began to unravel when the embassy discovered that Meerovich had approved people who had been rejected, authorities said.