Recently in Ukraine Category
Ukraine's Administrative Court has suspended the results of the country's February 7 runoff presidential election while it considers an appeal filed by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in the election by 3.48% of the vote. Yanukovych's inauguration is currently scheduled for February 25.
Despite the declaration by international election monitors that the vote was free and fair, Tymoshenko claims the vote was fraudulent. Yesterday, Tymoshenko submitted to the court what she said is evidence of election fraud. Tymoshenko claims to have uncovered evidence of fraud in favor of Yanukovych at every polling station in Crimea, possibly accounting for over 1 million votes. She also claims to have the support of several individual OSCE observers and videos of their assessments. The OSCE has denied the existence of any videos that support Tymoshenko's claims.
At this point, I'm not sure what to believe. However, it is interesting that Tymoshenko is limiting her fight to the courts. She says she will not be arranging any public protests, similar to the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Is it possible that Tymoshenko is not calling for public protests because she does not have credibility with the Ukrainian people to successfully arrange for such a gathering? By not calling for public protests, Tymoshenko appears to be making this a personal issue instead of fighting for the rights of the Ukrainian people to have a fair election.
Despite the declaration by international election monitors that the vote was free and fair, Tymoshenko claims the vote was fraudulent. Yesterday, Tymoshenko submitted to the court what she said is evidence of election fraud. Tymoshenko claims to have uncovered evidence of fraud in favor of Yanukovych at every polling station in Crimea, possibly accounting for over 1 million votes. She also claims to have the support of several individual OSCE observers and videos of their assessments. The OSCE has denied the existence of any videos that support Tymoshenko's claims.
At this point, I'm not sure what to believe. However, it is interesting that Tymoshenko is limiting her fight to the courts. She says she will not be arranging any public protests, similar to the 2004 Orange Revolution.
Is it possible that Tymoshenko is not calling for public protests because she does not have credibility with the Ukrainian people to successfully arrange for such a gathering? By not calling for public protests, Tymoshenko appears to be making this a personal issue instead of fighting for the rights of the Ukrainian people to have a fair election.
Several exit polls indicate opposition leader Viktor Yanukovych has narrowly won Sunday's presidential runoff election in Ukraine. Challenger and current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko is expected to challenge the election results.Ukraine's National Exit Poll 2010, which is conducted by a group of leading pollsters, indicated Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions, received 48.7% of the vote, as compared to 45.5% for Tymoshenko. The poll's margin of error is 2.5%.
International market research firm GfK Group indicated a larger margin of victory for Yanukovych, 49.8% to 45.2%, with a margin of error of 1.6%.
It appears that many Ukrainians were not voting for a particular candidate, as much as they were voting against the other.
Outgoing President Viktor Yushchenko urged his supporters to vote against both Yanukovych and Tymoshenko, saying that Ukrainians will be ashamed of the choice they have to make.
Oleksandr Turchynov, Tymoshenko's campaign manager, said they would contest votes cast at over 1,000 polling stations in Ukraine's Donetsk region, an area that strongly supports Yanukovych. Turchynov indicated that Tymoshenko delegates were barred from polling places in the region. Turchynov also complained of multiple voting and bribery.
Ukraine's Interior Ministry said they had not received reports of serious violations during Sunday's vote.
Yanukovych has indicated if he became president, he will attempt to remove Tymoshenko as prime minister by encouraging defections from her coalition and forming his own parliamentary majority. If that fails, he plans to call for a new parliamentary election a year ahead of schedule.
These election results reflect the feelings of many Ukrainians that the Orange Revolutioin failed to deliver prosperity and stability. Instead, it led to regular bouts of political infighting and the country's current economic crisis. What a shame!
Photo: Rowland Goodman - Creative Commons
On January 17, 2010 Ukraine held its presidential election. With over 80% of the vote counted, it is clear that Party of Regions leader Viktor Yanukovych and current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko will face off in a second round runoff election on February 7.Other candidates include former Central Bank Chairman Sergey Tigipko, former Foreign Minister and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatseniuk and incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko.
The following are the latest results of Sunday's first round of voting, as reported by Ukraine's Central Election Commission (with percentage of votes):
- Viktor Yanukovych - 35.76%
- Yulia Tymoshenko - 24.72%
- Sergey Tigipko - 13.05%
- Arseniy Yatseniuk - 6.96%
- Viktor Yushchenko - 5.33%
In case you have not been paying attention to current events in Ukraine over the past week, or have simply been hiding under a rock, the eastern European country is firmly in the grip of an H1N1 flu panic.According to the Kyiv Post, 71 people in Ukraine have died from flu or acute respiratory infections since the epidemic began. It is not known if any of those deaths are directly related to the H1N1 swine flu.
Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko indicated that through November 2 - 19,198 Ukrainians have contracted the flu and over 236,000 had acute respiratory infections. Citizens are so concerned about H1N1 that many people are now wearing medical masks whenever they go outdoors. Tymoshenko has even commissioned two million face masks to be made in the nation's prisons.The panic has resulted in extreme reactions including:
- People staying home from work
- Schools closed until further notice
- Food markets closed (by government order)
- Public meetings banned
- Roads closed between oblasts (I'm not sure how this can be enforced)
Greetings from Kyiv provides an interesting hypothesis regarding the public's panicked reaction:Rumors are abounding everywhere about just what is going on in Ukraine. What some people outside of Ukraine don't understand is that there is a history in this country of the government not giving out vital health information (check your history on Chernobyl) and a socialized medical system in which many times doctors do not even communicate to people what kind of disease they have. So it makes sense that Ukrainians are nervous about what is really happening around them.
My friend ModovAnn, who lives in Kyiv, has also posted some interesting insights about the flu panic on her blog.
Photos: trinixy.ru (via English Russia)
On September 30, 2009, four men were arrested for catching fish from the Pripyat River in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.
The men, between 28 and 40 years old, had caught 217 fish in their nets worth more than 2,000 UAH (approximately $235 US). The men claimed this was the first time they were in the Exclusion Zone and were fishing only for their own consumption.
Authorities are now checking if any contaminated fish from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are being sold in markets within the Kyiv region.
The offenders have been banned from future entry into the Zone. Authorities have opened a criminal case against them, under Article 249 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (Illegal fishing). All boats, motors and nets were confiscated.
Geez, 217 fish between four people and it was caught for themselves? Unlikely, unless they planned to cure and smoke it.
Obviously, wood and scrap metal are not the only things criminals try to remove from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This makes me wonder if Kyiv's food supply is really safe.
The men, between 28 and 40 years old, had caught 217 fish in their nets worth more than 2,000 UAH (approximately $235 US). The men claimed this was the first time they were in the Exclusion Zone and were fishing only for their own consumption.
Authorities are now checking if any contaminated fish from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are being sold in markets within the Kyiv region.
The offenders have been banned from future entry into the Zone. Authorities have opened a criminal case against them, under Article 249 of Ukraine's Criminal Code (Illegal fishing). All boats, motors and nets were confiscated.
Geez, 217 fish between four people and it was caught for themselves? Unlikely, unless they planned to cure and smoke it.
Obviously, wood and scrap metal are not the only things criminals try to remove from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. This makes me wonder if Kyiv's food supply is really safe.
After a lengthy layoff, today seems like a good time to return to discussions about Ukrainian politics. Ukraine's next presidential election is scheduled for January 17, 2010. If a second round ballot is necessary, it is expected to occur in February 2010.
According to an August 20, 2009 poll of 3,011 respondents by Kyiv-based Research & Branding Group, the Party of Regions' Viktor Yanukovych will become Ukraine's next president. Incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko has little chance of being a factor in the election. The poll results were:
Technically, with the exception of less internal bickering, it may be difficult to see any changes in government, but it could very well be a throwback to the Leonid Kuchma era. Remember, Yanukovych was Kuchma's handpicked successor, but still lost to Yushchenko in the 2004 election, due in part to the Orange Revolution.
Don't expect a repeat of the Orange Revolution this time. Yushchenko and Tymoshenko completely blew their chance to effect real change in Ukraine. After all the nonsense of the last five years, all the people want now is a stable political situation and to reverse the course of the country's economic downturn.
According to an August 20, 2009 poll of 3,011 respondents by Kyiv-based Research & Branding Group, the Party of Regions' Viktor Yanukovych will become Ukraine's next president. Incumbent President Viktor Yushchenko has little chance of being a factor in the election. The poll results were:
- Viktor Yanukovych - 26%
- Yulia Tymoshenko - 16.5%
- Arseniy Yatseniuk - 12.6%
- Petro Simonenko - 4.5%
- Vladimir Lytvyn - 4.2%
- Viktor Yushchenko - 2%
- Others - 7.3%
- Against all candidates - 9.9%
- Viktor Yanukovych - 39.6%
- Yulia Tymoshenko - 28%
- Against all candidates - 19%
- Will not vote - 6.8%
- Difficult to answer - 6.6%
- Party of Regions - 27.9%
- Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc - 16%
- Arseniy Yatseniuk Bloc - 9.2%
- Vladimir Lytvyn Bloc - 4.8%
- Communist Party - 4.4%
- Others - 9.4%
- Against all parties - 9.6%
- Will not vote - 7.1%
- Difficult to answer - 11.6%
Technically, with the exception of less internal bickering, it may be difficult to see any changes in government, but it could very well be a throwback to the Leonid Kuchma era. Remember, Yanukovych was Kuchma's handpicked successor, but still lost to Yushchenko in the 2004 election, due in part to the Orange Revolution.
Don't expect a repeat of the Orange Revolution this time. Yushchenko and Tymoshenko completely blew their chance to effect real change in Ukraine. After all the nonsense of the last five years, all the people want now is a stable political situation and to reverse the course of the country's economic downturn.
The Ukrainian government has approved a national strategy for the safe handling and disposal of radioactive waste that has accumulated across the country. Implementation of the plan is expected to start in 2010 and continue for 50 years.
Radioactive Waste Accumulation
At the beginning of 2009, Ukraine had accumulated 2,724,7 thousand cubic meters of solid radioactive waste, including:
Radioactive Waste Accumulation
At the beginning of 2009, Ukraine had accumulated 2,724,7 thousand cubic meters of solid radioactive waste, including:
- 1,913 thousand cubic meters in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
- 600 thousand cubic meters within the Chernobyl Sarcophagus
- 171 thousand cubic meters from the decontamination of waste disposal sites
- 20,000 cubic meters at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
- 18,570 cubic meters at other nuclear power plants
- Stage 1 (8 years): Establish a national organization for radioactive waste management, removal of radioactive waste from storage plants, establish a container fleet, construct and commission storage facilities for the disposal of short-lived, low- and intermediate level waste and the storage of highly active and long-lived, low- and intermediate level wastes.
- Stage 2 (30 years): Provide for the burial of short-lived, low- and intermediate level wastes, construct and commission a repository for the disposal of high-level, long-lived, low- and intermediate level wastes and develop technologies for the removal of waste from within the original Sarcophagus at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.
- Stage 3: Complete the disposal of waste from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant and the Sarcophagus. This involves deep processing of radioactive wastes on the sites of nuclear power plants, conditioning and storage of radioactive waste containers with further transport to a central repository, the creation of a certified container fleet and the capacity to produce the vehicles, etc.
Today marks the 18th anniversary of Ukraine's independence. Celebrations included a military parade down Kyiv's Khreschatik Street and the placement of a huge flower clock in Independence Square. The clock is huge, with a 5 meter-long minute hand and a 3 meter-long hour hand. Its diameter is 19.5 meters, the largest in the world. Yes, the clock does display the actual time.Поздравляю!
From 1932-1933, approximately 6-8 million (perhaps even 12 million) Ukrainians perished from forced starvation. Also known as the Holodomor or Great Famine, this "forced" famine is considered by many to be a form of genocide. This catastrophe was a type of terrorism implemented as part of Josef Stalin's collectivism policies. In essence, these Soviet policies attempted to force independent farmers into collective farms.
My friend Damian Kolodiy, creator of the documentary film "The Orange Chronicles" about Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, has posted the following excerpts of recently conducted interviews with survivors of the 1932-1933 forced famine genocide in Ukraine. He hopes to eventually turn his interview footage into a new documentary.
My friend Damian Kolodiy, creator of the documentary film "The Orange Chronicles" about Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, has posted the following excerpts of recently conducted interviews with survivors of the 1932-1933 forced famine genocide in Ukraine. He hopes to eventually turn his interview footage into a new documentary.
Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada has scheduled the country's next presidential election for January 17, 2010. Parliament had previously scheduled the election for October 25, 2009, but President Viktor Yushchenko appealed to the Constitutional Court, which found the decision to be unconstitutional.
A recent presidential election poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology revealed the following results:
It is unlikely that Yushchenko will gain re-election, with current popularity ratings in the low single digits and his Our Ukraine party recently withdrawing from Ukraine's ruling political coalition.
A recent presidential election poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology revealed the following results:
- Viktor Yanukovych (Party of Regions) - 34.7%
- Yulia Tymoshenko (Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc) - 21.5%
- Arseniy Yatseniuk (Change Front Citizens Initiative) - 17.6%
It is unlikely that Yushchenko will gain re-election, with current popularity ratings in the low single digits and his Our Ukraine party recently withdrawing from Ukraine's ruling political coalition.
