Ukraine: November 2008 Archives
Last week, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko indicated that the snap election scheduled for December 14 will be delayed until 2009. Yushchenko said it would not be reasonable to hold elections during the holiday season.
That may be his public line, but the real reason for delay is Yushchenko’s inability to get the government to approve funds to hold the election. Political Analyst Volodomyr Fesenko said that Yushchenko is waiting until the country’s deepening financial crisis chips away at Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s popularity and influence.
If this is true, it is the latest move by Yushchenko as he tries to position himself for a run at a second term of President.
That may be his public line, but the real reason for delay is Yushchenko’s inability to get the government to approve funds to hold the election. Political Analyst Volodomyr Fesenko said that Yushchenko is waiting until the country’s deepening financial crisis chips away at Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s popularity and influence.
If this is true, it is the latest move by Yushchenko as he tries to position himself for a run at a second term of President.
On October 31, 2008, four residents of the Kyiv region were found guilty of trying to removed 15 tons of contaminated, radioactive scrap metal from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. A judge in the Ivankov District Court of Kyiv found the individuals in violation of the requirements of radiation safety. Radiation from this scrap was found to be hundreds of times higher than permissible limits.Two residents of the Ivankiv District were arrested while trying to remove 15 tons of scrap metal from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone without proper documentation.
In late May, the Ukrainian Prosecutor’s Office revealed that prosecutors in the Kyiv region and the General Directorate had begun combating organized crime and corruption in the Ukrainian Security Service. A task force investigating the crime found that two other people involved in the crime were members of the police force.
The prosecutor’s office instituted criminal proceedings under Article 267-1 of the Penal Code, which covers violations of radiation safety when removing items from the Exclusion Zone without providing statutory authorization, committed with the purpose of marketing.
The verdict, announced on October 31, found all four guilty of the crimes and pronounced sentence in accordance with the appropriate sanctions according to the Penal Code, including imprisonment.
Photo Credit: Pripyat.com
