by Pavel Korduban
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko met in Yalta on November 19 and reached a number of agreements, confirming once again that their relationship is of a special character. Putin reiterated that Naftohaz Ukrainy, the debt-ridden state-controlled oil and gas behemoth, will not be fined for its failure to buy as much gas as stipulated by the January 2009 contracts between Naftohaz and Gazprom. The two rejected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko’s calls for an urgent revision of the contracts and derided Yushchenko and Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili who were meeting in Kyiv simultaneously.
...Putin derided Saakashvili and Yushchenko who were meeting in Kyiv, suggesting that the two were discussing their “common defeats.” Earlier, Yushchenko defended his decision to supply arms to Georgia prior to the Russia-Georgia war in 2008, and meeting Saakashvili he reiterated his support for Georgia’s territorial integrity (Interfax-Ukraine, November 17; Channel 5, November 19). This must have angered Putin. He joked in his usual degrading style, warning Yushchenko apparently in a reference to a well-known BBC video showing Saakashvili chewing his tie in August 2008, that Saakashvili might chew Yushchenko’s tie. Tymoshenko played up to him, giggling (Channel 5, November 19).
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2. btw he really did eat his tie
RF Prime Minister Vlad
imir Putin gives an advice to President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko to meet with Georgian President Mikael Saakashvili without a tie.
At the press conference following Putin’s talks with Ukraine’s PM Yulia Tymoshenko, Russian PM when asked by Russian journalist whether he is informed about Saakashvili’s visit to Ukraine said, “You deem I keep track of [Saakashvili’s] visits?” “I know what [Tymoshenko] and I were doing. The first deputy RF PM, and deputy ministers of industry, energy and transport were present in our delegation. We talked about cooperation in space, engineering industry, energy, and transport,” stated Putin.
“We have agreed on a number of crucial issues both for Russia and Ukraine,” he underlined. “I have no idea what our counterparts were doing, however, I deem the two presidents will always have topics for discussion, and a place to go.”
Then Putin said, “the two fighters must have been sharing reminiscences of the passed days, struggles and what they have wasted.” “[PM Tymoshenko] invited me at the dinner and we will talk about Chekhov there. What else could I advice? The two presidents [Saakashvili and Yushchenko] should dine without ties. Nowadays ties carry a price, one instant or the other…and…- you get me — Yushchenko’s guest may eat up event the tie,” Putin pointed out.
According to Ukrainskaya Pravda, Tymoshenko laughing added, “Vladimir Vladimirovich, by all means I can host the dinner without a tie.”
Soon after the August war broke out between Georgia and Russia, a BBC footage showed Saakashvili eating up his tie.
source: armenian news3. Putin denies backing Tymoshenko's presidential bid
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Thursday he was not backing Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's presidential bid.
He said they had "a good working relationship," but "I do not support Yulia Tymoshenko in the election" slated for January.
Putin, who met with Tymoshenko on November 19 in the Ukrainian city of Yalta, said after the meeting that the Ukrainian prime minister was not an easy partner, though it was comfortable to work with her.
"As you know, we have special relations on the party level with the Party of Regions," the Russian premier said during his annual televised question-and-answer session.
A total of 18 candidates have been registered to run in Ukrainian presidential elections. Tymoshenko, along with Viktor Yanukovych, the leader of the Party of Regions, are seen as leading contenders.
MOSCOW, December 3 (RIA Novosti)
4. slow investigation after fast pedestrian crash
A former Kyiv mayor runs down a pedestrian at a crosswalk; investigation will likely last until until March.
It had been a normal Wednesday evening for Svitlana Tetyusheva when her common-law husband, Oleksandr Karpinskiy, called to say: “I’ll be home soon.” But he didn’t arrive, and when Tetyusheva finally got through to his phone at 2 a.m., an unknown voice told her he’d been run over.
Karpinskiy had been hit by a car driven by Oleksandr Omelchenko, a Verkhovna Rada deputy and former mayor of Kyiv. The 48-year-old victim died at the scene.
...It’s not the first time that Stolychne Shosse has seen a traffic accident involving a top politician. The road leads to the elite residential area of Koncha Zaspa. Not far from the spot where Karpinskiy was killed, a pedestrian was run over by Leonid Chernovetsky in November 2003, who was then a parliamentary deputy and now is mayor of Kyiv.
...The widow is not hopeful about the criminal investigation. “Maybe in [the United Kingdom and the United States] the law is the same for everyone, but not in Ukraine,” Tetyusheva told the Kyiv Post. “We have different laws for the rich and powerful.’’
Omelchenko has made no public comment since the accident. His aides told the Kyiv Post that they had no comment. His office said the 73-year-old had been hospitalized since the incident. An aide to Omelchenko gave Tetyusheva Hr 5,000, she said, but the deputy had not spoken with her personally. Karpinskiy’s father and son from his first marriage received Hr 20,000 from Omelchenko to pay for the funeral.
...She said that Karpinskiy’s other relatives had taken the money and come to an agreement with Omelchenko not to stir up a fuss. Karpinskiy’s father, Mykola, refused to comment when contacted by telephone. He told Gazeta po-Kievski on Dec. 1 that he did not want to see Omelchenko in jail as he was behaving kindly toward the family, paying for the funeral and promising to support the family.
But Tetyusheva said she was going to pursue a civil suit against Omelchenko. “I have nothing to lose now. I’m not frightened of speaking out. I have lost my dear husband,” she said by telephone from Kirovhrad Oblast, where her husband has been buried.
read more @ kyiv post
5. Polish observers to arrive in Ukraine to monitor xenophobia during campaign, because, evidently, even when people fuck with your country non-stop for decades, it's rude to notice.
Polish observers will arrive in Ukraine to monitor signs of xenophobia during the presidential election campaign in the country.
"Our non-governmental organization founded in Poland, along with our offices in Moscow and Berlin, is planning to send a mission of observers for the election [in Ukraine]. We are particularly interested in monitoring signs of xenophobia during the presidential election campaign," Vice President of the European Center of Geopolitical Analysis Martin Domagala said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Friday.
Asked about the number of mission representatives, he said that the list currently includes around 20 observers, but they have yet to be registered.
"We're currently searching for observers… These will be former and current politicians, members of the Polish parliament, members, perhaps, of the European Parliament, as well as journalists, and experts," Domagala said.
He said that the mission is planning to hold two mutually connected projects – the direct monitoring of the election process and monitoring for signs of xenophobia.
The election of the Ukrainian president is scheduled for January 17, 2010.
source: kyiv post
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