Russia and the CIS News Digest
'Project Democracy' Bankrolled Ukrainian Regime Change
As ever more reports emerge on how the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and related "Project Democracy" networks orchestrated recent events in Ukraine, Nadia Diuk, director of the NED for Europe and Eurasia, went public in the Dec. 4 Washington Post, under the defensive headline, "In Ukraine, Homegrown Freedom." While attempting to deny that the Ukraine crisis had followed an NED script, Diuk took credit for doing exactly what she denied. She described the establishment of NGOs in Serbia, Georgia and now Ukraine, tasked with running exit polls, getting free media coverage for the opposition, training youth groups for street protests, etc. The NED, the Post noted, "has supported nongovernmental democracy-building efforts in Ukraine since 1988."
Testifying Dec. 7 before the House International Relations Committee, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Amb. John Tefft claimed that U.S. "democracy-promotion" programs were non-partisan and open to all. He detailed them: "The United States provided funding to support independent media, provide non-partisan political party training, voter awareness and education, training for election officials and observers, and more. ... Our election-related assistance to Ukraine totaled approximately $13.8 million. The U.S. also funded thousands of international observers. This included the U.S. contribution, funding the approximately 600-person OSCE observer mission; additional funding for another 100 observers under special agreement with the countries of Central Europe; and funding for an additional 1,000 foreign NGO representatives organized by Freedom House and the European Network of Election Monitoring Organizations (ENEMO). In addition, some 10,000 domestic observers were organized by the Ukrainian NGO Committee of Voters of Ukraine, which receives partial support from the U.S. Government via NDI [National Democratic Institute]."
The U.S. Treasury will now spring for an additional $3 million, to fund observers for the Dec. 26 re-vote, Tefft said. He also highlighted that fact that, "Beginning in February, a wide, bipartisan range of senior U.S. officials and prominent private citizens visited Ukraine, carrying a strong message about the importance of a democratic election to Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration. These included Defense Secretary Rumsfeld, Deputy Secretary of State Armitage, USAID Administrator Natsios, former President Bush, former Secretaries Albright and Kissinger, Dr. Brzezinski, Richard Holbrooke, Thomas Pickering, Gen. (r.) Wesley Clark, Rep. Bereuter, Senator McCain, and of course Senator Lugar."
An AP wire dated Dec. 10 further publicized the NED's activity, citing higher spending levels: "The Bush administration has spent more than $65 million in the past two years to aid political organizations in Ukraine, paying to bring opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to meet U.S. leaders and helping to underwrite exit polls indicating he won last month's disputed runoff election." The wire cited disclaimers by the State Department and by White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who calls this normal democracy-building activity. But, it reported the channelling of funds through the Carnegie Foundation, as well as Madeleine Albright's (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI), the "Democratic" and "Republican" arms, respectively, of the NED. Another U.S.-backed foundation is the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, whose web page lists Yushchenko's web page as one of its "partners."
The exit poll that quickly declared Yushchenko the 54% to 43% winner of the Nov. 21 run-off, according to AP, was funded by the NED, the State Department-funded Eurasia Foundation, and George Soros' Renaissance Foundation, which also gets money from State. As for the IRI, it used Project Democracy money to help Yushchenko meet Vice President Dick Cheney and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage, on a Feb. 2003 visit to the USA.
Congressman Paul Blasts U.S. Hypocrisy On Ukraine
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), in a commentary posted on antiwar.com, attacked "U.S. hypocrisy," regarding the Ukrainian elections. President Bush recently said, "Any election in Ukraine ought to be free from any foreign influence." But, Paul wrote, we know that USAID and the NED, not to mention George Soros, have spent untold millions, and that "that money was targetted to assist one particular candidate." He noted, "Recall how most of us felt when it became known that the Chinese government was trying to funnel campaign funding to a U.S. presidential campaign," which is "rightly illegal. Yet it appears that that is exactly what we are doing abroad."
Yushchenko Aide Feted in Washington
Oleh Rybachuk, Ukrainian opposition candidate Victor Yushchenko's chief of staff, was the guest of honor at a Dec. 10 event, held in Washington, D.C. by the New Atlantic Initiative. He was also scheduled to meet State Department and National Security Council officials. Rybachuk spoke frankly about Yushchenko's political overtures to powerful Ukrainian business interests, some of them under criminal investigation, quoting Yushchenko: "If you could get me angels, I would use angels." Asked by EIR how Yushchenko would go about "conciliating" the country, especially miners and steelworkers who might lose their jobs during further privatization and asset-stripping of Ukraine's industry, Rybachuk merely responded that former Central Bank chief Yushchenko was "the best macroeconomist in the country." He insisted, "Yushchenko will work for an open and fair privatization. ... Ukraine will be an open paradise for investors. We have already talked to many mega-investors, whose only reticence toward investing in Ukraine has been the Kuchma regime."
Putin Attacks 'Colonial' Interference in Ukraine
During his Dec. 5-6 state visit to Turkey, Russian President Putin denounced Western forces that are escalating the situation in Ukraine. Ukraine should not be split into "Westerners and Easterners," or "first-class and second-class people," said Putin. Accusing the West of treating the states of the former Soviet Union like a colonial territory, Putin said it was unacceptable for "some good but strict uncle, wearing a pith helmet, to tell the second-class people, those who are politically darker-skinned, how they should make their lives meaningful. And then, if the natives resist, they get the big stick in the form of missilesas in Yugoslavia."
Ukraine Will Re-Run Presidential Run-off
The Ukrainian Parliament, the Supreme Rada, voted 402 to 21 on Dec. 8, to adopt a constitutional reform bill, which limits Presidential powers in favor of the prime minister and the parliament, and Presidential election law amendments aimed to prevent vote fraud. The vote broke a stalemate, which had developed over the weekend after the Supreme Court nullified the Nov. 21 run-off between Victor Yanukovych and Victor Yushchenko. President Leonid Kuchma signed the legislative package. He also dismissed Prosecutor-General Hennadi Vasilyev, as demanded by the Yushchenko opposition forces. And the Supreme Rada dissolved the Central Election Commission, which had initially certified Yanukovych as the winner. A new 15-person Commission was chosen, of which 11 members were also on the previous one.
On Dec. 7, Kuchma allowed Yanukovych to go on vacation, which under Ukrainian law made it impossible for him to be fired (another opposition demand, but it was dropped in order to get the vote to proceed with the Dec. 26 election). Amid rumors that Kuchma was ready to dump Yanukovych, in the event that Kuchma's preference for an entirely new election were upheld, Yanukovych made clear that he remains a candidate. He also appointed a new chief of staff: Taras Chornovyl, the Supreme Rada deputy who has publicly blamed Kuchma for the car-crash death of his father, Soviet-era nationalist dissident Vyacheslav Chornovyl, in 1999. On Dec. 7, Chornovyl said at a press conference that Kuchma had made a dirty deal with Yushchenko, leaving Yanukovych as the genuine opposition candidate.
Russian Defense Minister Reiterates Preventive-Strike Policy
Russia reserves the right to carry out preventive strikes with conventional weapons, against terrorism bases anywhere in the world, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted by Interfax as saying Dec. 10, in an address to Russian military and diplomatic officials. "The only limit is exclusion of strikes with nuclear weapons," Ivanov said. He cited UN Security Council Resolution 1566, which stipulates that any country has the right to protect itself against the threat of terrorism.
"Russia," Ivanov added, "is far from being the only country to announce its readiness to carry out preventive strikes on terrorist bases." He said that "precedents have already been set in Afghanistan and Iraq" for such pre-emptive military action. Three months ago, Russia's chief of staff, General Yury Baluyevsky, made a similar announcement as he met in Moscow with NATO's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, General James Jones. "We will take steps to liquidate terror bases in any region" of the world, Baluyevsky said on September 8.
Putin Meets Allawi; Russia Writes Off Iraqi Debt
Russian President Vladimir Putin received Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi in Moscow Dec. 7. Earlier, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin told a Nov. 21 Group of 20 meeting in Berlin, that Russia had accepted a U.S. proposal to write off 80 percent of Iraq's approximately $8 billion debt to Russia. The arrangement has been approved by the Paris Club of state-to-state creditors. Putin seconded the hope, expressed by Kudrin, that Russian oil companies' contracts with the previous Iraqi regime may now be implemented. "We have agreed to write off the Iraqi debts," Putin said, "... in the name of solidarity with the friendly Iraqi people, but we also believe that the interests of Russian companies will be taken into consideration." In his Dec. 3 speech at the Jawalharlal Nehru Foundation in New Delhi, however, Putin expressed doubt about whether elections could be held in Iraq in January, under current conditions of escalating violence.
Yukos Unit Goes on the Block
The Russian government's Federal Property Fund announced Nov. 19 that Yuganskneftegaz, the main production unit of Yukos Oil, will be sold at auction on Dec. 19, to satisfy Yukos's tax debts to the government. It appears that the Kremlin has engineered the auction, in which the starting price is $8.6 billion, so that Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant that is still partly owned by the state, will acquire the facility. RIA Novosti reported Dec. 8 that Gazprom is negotiating a $10 billion short-term loan, in order to make the purchase. The loan organizer is said to be Deutsche Bank, joined in a consortium by ABN AMRO, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, and J.P. Morgan.
Another Yukos executives was arrested November, and one of the company's lawyers, wanted for questioning in an insider-trading investigation, fled to London. Yukos CEO Steven Theede and CFO Bruce Misamore, both Americans, are currently outside Russia and not expected to return. Chairman of the Board Victor Gerashchenko said Dec. 7 that a decision on declaring bankruptcy will be taken at a shareholders meeting on Dec. 20, the day after the Yuganskneftegaz auction.
Vedomosti newspaper reported Nov. 18 that another Russian oil company, Lukoil, has moved into the Russia-China oil trade, in which Yukos has not been able to keep up with its previous role as supplier. A Lukoil spokesman told Vedomosti that Lukoil would sell 70,000 metric tons of oil to China in November, then 100,000 metric tons in December. "The oil is going to be sold to China's National Petroleum Corporation, which earlier purchased oil from Yukos," noted that report.
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