UKRINFORM NEWS AGENCY

  NEWS FROM UKRAINE

President Viktor Yushchenko began his working day on Monday, mixing with a group of citizens, who gathered at his chancellery office.

As the presidential press service told Ukrinform, the people aired their opinions about the incumbent chiefs of the National TV and Radio Company.

They also articulated their wish that the new authority, in pursuance of its personnel  policies, appoint "talented and professionally known persons, who were not involved in compiling the notorious "temniks" (the Presidential Administration's guidelines to the followed by the media).

The conversation also dealt with the appointment of Ukraine's Prosecutior General.

Commenting on his morning meeting with the citizens, President Yushchenko referred to it as traditional and as having given him an excellent opportunity to hear the voice of the Ukrainian society.

***

President Viktor Yushchenko appointed Boris Nemtsov, who is a political council member of the Russian Party "Union of Right-Wing Forces", his  extra staff adviser, the presidential press service told Ukrinform.

Presidential press secretary Iryna Heraschenko noted, by way of commenting on this appointment, that "Viktor Yushchenko always came out in favor of intensification and deepening relations with Russia at all levels, including inter-party, inter-political and humanitarian spheres". Iryna Herashchenko expressed her conviction that "the new Ukrainian power is interested that every politician or a business elite representative, who can add something to deepening bilateral relations, works as a messenger of goodwill".

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President Viktor Yushchenko by his decree appointed Oleksandr Motsyk First Deputy State Secretary, the presidential press service told Ukrinform.

According to Ukrinform, on February 13 Oleksandr Motsyk was relieved from his post of First Deputy Foreign Minister for European integration.

***

The President appointed Mykhailo Doroshenko his adviser (extra staff), the presidential press service told Ukrinform.

Mykhailo Doroshenko is Ukraina Moloda (Young Ukraine) newspaper Editor-in-Chief.

***

As the presidential press service told Ukrinform on Monday, President Viktor Yushchenko has decreed to relieve Vladimir Levochkin, chairperson of the State Department for effecting punishments.

Col Gen of Interior Service Vladimir Levochkin has retired on a pension.

***

The All-Ukrainian Congress of the Radas, slated for April 25 in Kyiv, is called to consolidate the society, to expand and determine its role in power organization, Verkhovna Rada Chairman, and one of the  Congress' main initiators,  Volodymyr Lytvyn stated at a sitting of the consultative-advisory council on  local self-governments on Monday.

He believes that during a period of the new power formation, it is very important not to worsen the established way of the Ukrainian people's life and not to destroy certain achievements in the management system organization. In particular, the power authority bodies should, primarily, create conditions for the working population, since it is necessary to work by preserving minimum 10 percent of GDP growth rates during the following 15 years in order to ensure normal life of the Ukrainian citizens.

An organizational committee has been created for holding the All-Ukrainian Congress of Radas with Volodymyr Lytvyn as  Chairman of this Committee. He said that 1,300 delegates are supposed to be invited from all Ukrainian regions and 150 guests, representatives of different local power associations. The Verkhovna Rada Chairman, the Prime Minister and the President are supposed to speak at the Congress. The Congress will adopt the main documents following discussions on all the speeches.

According to Volodymyr Lytvyn, the Congress' results will depend  on participation of both the  local self-government bodies and  the State leaders, as well as on understanding with regard to  solving  the main issues of power formation in the State. At the same time, he emphasized, the Congress will bear no political purport.

An idea of holding the All-Ukrainian Congress of the Radas was born during a political crisis' aggravation in Ukraine in the process of the presidential  elections in late autumn of 2004 and early winter.  

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The situation with regard to the KryvorizhStal steel works' privatization, as well as some other state-owned entities' privatization should be referred to as restoration of legal principles of privatization, rather than reprivatization, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said, mixing with mediapeople in Kyiv on Monday.

There will be no reprivatization and nationalization in Ukraine, Mrs Tymoshenko reassured the journalists.

However, she noted, everything will be revised, which was unlawfully privatized.

According to the Prime Minister, she intended to approach the Prosecutor General Office later in the day and ask for its analytical materials about unlawful privatization.

As Mrs Tymoshenko disclosed, the Government has drafted the program "People's Property," which will be considered by Cabinet members on Tuesday, February 15 and which will be the subject of the Government's deliberations on February 16 or February 23.

As Yulia Tymoshenko disclosed, the Ukrainian Government is contemplating to draw foreign grants, with a view of developing Ukraine's borderline infrastructures.

According to the Prime Minister, there are quite a few countries, who have offered their grants to Ukraine to this end, with a view of thus safeguarding their own frontiers.

For many years, she said, Ukraine turned down such offers because the former authorities used to capitalize on contraband.

***

The Ministry of Justice was instructed to carry out inventory of all judicial rulings over 2004-2005 with regard to contraband, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said upon the completion of the meeting on fighting corruption.

"We shall reveal all courts, which promoted development of the corrupted system of customs clearance and which were engaged in anti-Constitutional activities, the Prime Minister noted.

According to Yulia Tymoshenko, provided such decisions, lobbying the corrupted structures' interests, are revealed, those decisions will be appealed against in courts. The State Customs Service or the PGO will be initiators of lodging such complaints and reconsidering such rulings, Yulia Tymoshenko said. Besides, according to her, during the inventory a personal list of judges, who consciously passed corrupt rulings, will be made. "We will make such a list and will submit a legal presentation to the High Counsel for Justice and the qualification commission with regard to their competence, the Head of Government stated.

As Yulia Tymoshenko noted during recent years a situation turned to be a system, when the businesspeople managed to avoid legal customs procedures by making complaints to the courts against customs officials' actions. At present, there are thousands of such rulings. And it is a great problem, when the courts promote work of "black" customs officials", Yulia Tymoshenko said.

***

 On Monday, February 14 Minister of Internal Affairs Yuri Lutsenko introduced his deputies to the Ministry's staff, who were appointed by the President on Sunday, that is, First Deputy Minister Oleksandr Bondarenko, Deputy Ministers Petro Koliada, Mikhail Verbensky and Aleksandr Fokin.

Oleksandr Bondarenko was chief of the Department for combating dirty money laundering within the State Tax Administration under Nikolai Azarov and Yuri Kravchenko.

Petro Koliada assumed the same post he held in the Ministry (chief of the Main Investigation Agency) before the then Minister, Mykola Bilokon sacked him.

Hennadi Moskal was chief of the Crimean Regional Interior Agency.

Aleksandr Fokin was an adviser to the chief of the State Agency for managing the President's errands.

Oleksandr Savchenko was appointed Deputy Interior Minister.

On February 11 Minister Yuri Lutsenko relieved his twelve deputies.

According to Tatyana Podashevskaya, chief of the Ministry's public relations, Vasyl Zhuk, Sergei Gusarov, Mykhailo Kornienko, Mikhail Manin, Petro Opanasenko, Aleksandr Milenin, Mykola Liubar and Stanislav Nykytenko were not only dismissed, but also detected from the lists of internal bodies' staffers.

Hennadi Georgienko, chief of the State Traffic Inspection, was among those sacked.

***

A new agreement on distribution of power authorities between Yulia Tymoshenko's bloc (the BYUT), the Socialist Party of Ukraine and the "Our Ukraine" is really existing, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko confirmed it on Monday by way of answering Ukrinform correspondent's questions.  According to her, this document was made public in all regions of the country.

The agreement will make it possible to attract to power authority bodies the best specialists from all political forces that were in opposition, she believes.

As the parliamentary sources told Ukrinform, on February 9  a new agreement was concluded on distribution of power authorities in executive power bodies. In compliance with this agreement, the Socialist Party of Ukraine accounts for one sixth part of power positions, the BYUT for one fourth part and the "Our Ukraine" for the rest of power positions.

***

On Monday, February 14 the Consultative-Advisory Council for matters of local self-government (a body under the Verkhovna Rada Chairperson) held a session in Kyiv, which formed a working group for drafting amendments to the Law on elections to the Crimean Verkhovna Rada, local Radas and elections of city, town, village mayors.

The Consultative-Advisory Council also decided to hold municipal deliberations in Sudak, Crimea in mid-March.

***

According to sources with the Kyiv City-Hall's Main Agency for pricing policies, the metro has issued instructions to the Main Agency for transportation, communication and Informatics and the Main Agency for pricing policies to determine procedures and tariffs for placing ads on municipal means to conveyance, which are run by the Kyiv Subway Administration and the KyivPasTrans communal enterprise.

***

Speaking at a party conference in Lugansk this past weekend, Viktor Yanukovych set his Regions Party the task of running for the Parliament and suggested that his election platform during the presidential race be adopted as the Regions Party's political program.

Touching on the new authority's foreign policies, Mr Yanukovych aired his concern over what he called a trend toward deterioration of relations between Ukraine and Russia.

As Mr Yanukovych said, the Regions Party rejects attempts to contrapose Ukraine's relations with Russia and the EU.

We view Ukraine's Eurointegration as primarily the nation's economic development toward attaining European standards of life, and the Russian vector in this development deserves priority.

***

According to the PGO press service, the chief of the Defense Ministry's Department for supplies of resources has been charged with misuse of authority, and the Prosecutor General Office has referred to case to court.

As the investigation established, on November 23, 2004 the person in question issued an unlawful oral instruction to the chief of the Logistics' central store of foods to give away 18,585 food rations, worth about 300,000 UAH, to persons, who had nothing to do with the Armed Forces or the Defense Ministry.

The case will be heard at the Central Region Appellate Court. The misdeed is punishable under Article 424, Section 3 and Article 366, section 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

***

About a score of Ukrainian industry enterprises are participating in the 7th international expo IDEX 2005, one of the world's biggest expos of military hardware, currently under way in Abu Dhabi.

On February 12 UAE Armed Forces Supreme CINC Khalifa bin Zayid Al Nahayyan opened the expo, scheduled to last through February 17.

According to expo sources, 68 national delegations, delegates from 825 companies in 45 countries are taking part in the IDEX 2005.

Traditionally, the IDEX 2005 displays natural specimens of weapons, made in Australia, Belarus, Britain, Germany, Kazakhstan, Italy, Russia, the USA, Ukraine.

According to a spokesperson for the state-owned company UkrSpetsEksport ("Ukraine's Special Exports"), which is in charge of exports and imports of enginery, dual-purpose commodities and services, Ukrainian defense industry manufacturers are represented in the expo's five divisions, to wit, armored vehicles, equipment and vehicles for engineers, artillery systems, group, individual fire-arms and ammunition, radioelectronic systems, missiles and aircraft, naval shipbuilding.

In particular, the Kyiv-based design office Luch has brought its newest anti-tank systems, the Kharkiv-based A. Morozov Engineering Design Office is displaying its tank Oplot ("Bulwark"), the company Progress offers its opticoelectronic ECM system Adros, and the Kyiv Petrovsky Works of Automaton has brought its fire stabilization systems.

***

As Foreign Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivsky told a Monday news briefing, the Ministry is checking information about Monday's terrorist bomb attack in Beirut, Lebanon, as a result of which nine persons were killed and dozens injured, with a view of finding out whether there were any Ukrainian nationals among the victims.

According to the Ukrainian Embassy's preliminary report, there were no Ukrainian citizens among those who suffered in the attack.

***

The Ukrainian bank Financy I Kredit has brought 125 "Panda" gold coins from China and 100 "Maple Leaf" gold coins from Canada to Ukraine.

The "Panda" coins weigh from 1/20 to one troy ounce.

The "Maple Leaf" coins weigh from 1/10 troy ounce to one troy ounce.

***

The company InterCar Ukraine, which is the general importer of Volkswagen automobiles into Ukraine, has promised to pleasantly surprise its clients with new cars and prices for these.

In particular, the Ukrainian company intends to sell Volkswagen Golf Plus minivaus, powerful Volkswagen Touareg automobiles, as well as relatively cheap (about 10,500 USD apiece) Volkswagen Pointer cars.

***

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn met in Kyiv on Monday with Pier Ferdinando Casini, Speaker of the Italian Parliament's Chamber of Deputies.

The meeting dealt with matters of Ukrainian-Italian interparliamentary cooperation.

As Mr Lytvyn told a follow-up news conference, which he held later in the day with Mr Casini, both parties stated the need for increasing the two parliaments' influence on their respective governments, with a view of materializing Ukraine's Eurointegration plans.

A one parcel decision should be made by the VR on appointments of the Vice Speaker and standing committee chairpersons, who have been appointed to posts in the new Government.

Commenting on Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko's utterances about the Presidential Secretariat's competence, Mr Lytvyn said there are ample grounds to believe that the Secretariat's chiefs and the Government's members will find a common approach to this matter.

If need be, Mr Lytvyn noted, the Parliament will be ready to sponsor sort of a round table, though it would be better if the parties reached an agreement between themselves.

As Mr Lytvyn contended, accusations, which are being levelled at him and which allege his lobbying for appointing chiefs of the State Committees for forestries and customs, are absolutely groundless as he has no candidatures for filling vacancies in executive power bodies.

Further commenting on these accusations, Mr Lytvyn referred to these as sort of pre-emptive strikes.

As the Speaker said, the President knows his personal stand, which is that Ukraine has no friends for ever, but has eternal national interests.

The VR Chairperson also stated his view of appointments to executive power bodies as the President's and the Prime Minister's prerogative.

In turn Pier Ferdinando Casini said the Italian party appreciated Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn's wise and prudent policies and techniques during the "orange revolution" and Mr Lytvyn mediatory role in the parties' talks.

We would like to deepen bilateral Italian-Ukrainian relations, he said, within the framework of closer triangular cooperation among Ukraine, Italy and the EU.

As Pier Ferdinando Casini noted, Italy would like to see greater understanding of Ukraine's problems on the part of the EU. As he disclosed, the several weeks' time the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs will come to discuss with Ukrainian officials visa regime-related matters.

***

On Monday, February 14 Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko conducted deliberations in Kyiv with high-ranking officers of the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General Office, the Security Service, the Borderguard Troops, the State Custom Service, which resulted in adopting a resolution to promptly draft a program of bridle contraband of commodities.

The program Stop Contraband will be endorsed by the Government on February 23.

Before its endorsement senior law enforcement officers were supposed leave for Odesa on Monday, February 14, with a view of clarifying the situation at Odesa's terminals, where about 7,000 containers with consumer goods are kept, with their owners hoping for officializing the cargos through using traditional unlawful custom clearance techniques.

According to Mrs Tymoshenko, container owners used to pay 1,000 USD to 2,000 USD for a container's clearance versus the legal value of the contents of about 50,000 USD to 60,000 USD per container.

***

Transborder cooperation is the most efficient element of Ukraine's Eurointegration programs, Vice Premier Oleh Rybachuk told a press conference in Lutsk after he introduced the newly appointed Volyn region Governor, Volodymyr Bondar to Regional Administration staff.

According to the Vice Premier, the Volyn region, as an element of the EuroRegion Bug, has vast experience of cooperation with Poland's adjacent provinces and may be viewed as sort of Ukraine's pilot transborder cooperation project.

As Mr Rybachuk stressed, the EU is not Ukraine's ultimate goal per se, what Ukraine is seeking are better living standards, democracy and the society's prosperity.

To attain these, he said, Ukraine has a dedicated team and an efficient action program.

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Restoration of Shevchenko's memorial places will be one of priorities of Government's humanitarian policies, Vice Prime Minister Mykola Tomenko stated during  a visit to one of Shevchenko's memorial places in Cherkasy region on Sunday. Alongside with him,  the villages of Moryntsi, Shevchenkove and some other places, which are the villages of Shevchenko's childhood, were visited by Regional Administration Chairman Oleksandr Cherevko and well-known cultural figures of Ukraine Dmytro Pavlychko and Ivan Marchuk.

Summing up the results of this working visit, Mykola Tomenko said that it is necessary to determine the strategy of development of the historical and cultural preserve  "Taras Shevchenko's Motherland", which would provide for not only short-term, but also long-term tasks.

According to the Vice Prime Minister, a special attention should be paid to returning the name of Kyrylivka, so often mentioned by Kobzar in his poems, to the village of Shevchenkove. Besides, it is necessary to find out lawfulness of Ihor Bakai's privatization of Trakhtemyriv historical lands and promote their speediest return to state ownership.

The Shevchenko memorial places should become the places, which will not only be prepared for higher officials' visits, but  will be opened for everyday visits by thousands of people, Mykola Tomenko believes. As an example of such "ostentatious" opening the Vice Prime Minister sited a story about opening a school in the village of Shevchenkove, which Leonid Kuchma ceremoniously presented to the Cherkassans on September 28, 2004. But, despite the fact that the builders have already commissioned the school, the main issues about its functioning remained unsolved, for instance, the heating and sewerage systems are absent, etc.

It is necessary to primarily ensure a normal life of Shevchenko villages' residents, as well as normal conditions for visitors to these historical places, Mykola Tomenko emphasized.

***

Over 600 delegates from all Ukrainian regions arrived to the 15th jubilee Congress of the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners of Ukraine, which will be staged on February 14-15 at the Ukrainian House in Kyiv.

The main issue to be discussed at the Congress is approval of the Program of further  development of the Ukrainian farming for 2005-2015.

According to Verkhovna Rada Committee Chairman on agrarian policies and land relations Ivan Tomych, traditionally  representatives of the farmers' movement in foreign countries, including Canada, the USA, Russia, Poland, Moldova and Sweden, came to participate in the Congress.

***

According to the Defense Ministry's press service, on Monday, February 14 the NATO International Week got under way in Kyiv to address NATO's development after the Istanbul Summit.

The event is being held at the National Defense Academy of Ukraine within the framework of the Ukraine - NATO Target Plan for 2005.

Teaching staff of the NATO Defense College in Rome (Italy) and SHAPE officers are to deliver lectures for Ukrainian military officers, cadets and defense experts.

The event's audience is supposed to number about 800 persons.

According to Col Gen Volodymyr Tolubko, chief of the National Defense Academy, the NATO Week is being held in Ukraine for the sixth year is a now.

In addition to military lecturers, diplomats from Italy, the USA, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Britain, Belgium, Hungary and France will deliver lectures.

On February 18 Lt Gen Thomas L. Baptiste (USA), Deputy Chairman of the NATO Military Committee, will deliver a lecture into "NATO's Future."

According to Volodymyr Tolubko, Ukraine deserves transfer from just words about cooperation to concrete steps toward Euro-Atlantic integration.

As he said, Ukraine is much closer to joining NATO than the EU.

This opinion was shared by Lt Gen Jean-Paul Raffenne, Commander of the NATO Defense College in Rome, who noted that his long-standing cooperation with the National Defense Academy of Ukraine made him feel like a "family member" in Ukraine.

As he said, inviting President Viktor Yushchenko to NATO's Summit is a signal to further Eurointegration.

However, Jean-Paul Raffenne was rather reluctant to predict NATO's likely steps at the Ukraine - NATO Commission's high-profile session in Brussels, slated for February 22.

***

According to Foreign Ministry sources, congratulatory messages have come to Minister Borys Tarasiuk from Foreign Ministers Nabil Shaath of the Palestinian Autonomy, Artis Pabriks of Latvia and Chairperson of Latvian Saeima Committee for European Affairs Oskars Kastens.

***

Ukrainian Ambassador to South Africa Mikhail Skuratovsky held a meeting in Capetown with National Assembly Deputy Speaker Gwendoline Lindiwe Mahkangu Nkabinde, Ukrainian Embassy sources told Ukrinform.

The meeting dealt with ways to step up Ukrainian - South African interparliamentary relations, exchages of parliamentary delegations.

On the same day the Ukrainian envoy held a meeting with professor Abdul Kader Asmal, Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee for defense, who in June 2005 will assume the FATF presidency.

***

Ambassador of Ukraine to Syria Volodymyr Koval had a meeting with Syrian Minister of Irrigation Nadir al-Bunni, the Foreign Ministry sources told Ukrinform.

During the meeting, issues of active cooperation in water management between the two countries were discussed.  At the same time, the main attention was paid to analysis of fulfillment of agreements, reached during the second meeting of intergovernmental Ukrainian-Syrian Commission on trade-economic and technical cooperation, in particular, in the sphere of irrigation, melioration, construction and operation of hydraulic engineering constructions in Syria.

Noting dynamic development of mutually-beneficial Ukrainian-Syrian cooperation in trade and economic spheres, the parties discussed concrete trends of further cooperation, in particular, creation of a joint working group on cooperation in the sphere of water management and inviting Ukrainian specialized companies to participate in construction of hydroengineering and irrigation complexes.

Nadir al-Bunni showed interest in establishing relations with Ukrainian educational and scientific establishments so that  Syrian specialists in water management be able to receive education and training in Ukraine.

***

As the Foreign Ministry's press service told Ukrinform, Ukrainian Ambassador to Angola Vladimir Lakomov met with Paulo Texeira Jorge, a member of the MPLA Political Bureau and Secretary for the MPLA's international relations.

As the host party noted, Angola watched the dramatic developments in Ukraine in late 2004 with great interest and views Ukraine's election experience as valuable.

Paulo Texeira Jorge pointed to the need of establishing personal contacts between the two nations' leaders.

He also stated Angola's high opinion about Ukraine's hi-tech capability, saying Ukraine could be an alternative source for transfer of high technologies to third world nations.

***

On Monday, February 14, on the eve of Day to commemorate Ukrainian participants in hostilities in other nations solemn ceremonies were staged to decorate Afghan War veterans and veterans of hostilities in other countries, which involved Defense Minister Anatoli Grytsenko, Chairman of the State Committee for veterans Serhi Chervonopyssky, senior officers of the Defense Ministry and the General Staff.

Commemorative ceremonies will be staged on February 15.

***

According to Vasyl Kryvorotko, chief of the UkrSpetsEksport company's unit, UkrSpetsEksport representatives met for talks with senior execs of the company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL), aimed at expanding cooperation of Ukrainian aircraft repair enterprises with India.

As Mr Kryvorotko disclosed, talks are nearing completion toward signing a contract, under which the Ukrainian party will modernize the MK-9-12 complex for repairing MIG aircraft.

Another contract is expected to be signed by the Defense Ministry's Lviv Aircraft Repair Works, under which the Ukrainian party will render technical services to the Indian Air Force, including those to upgrade combat aircraft.

***

The Reni international automobile border-crossing checkpoint has been opened at the Ukrainian-Moldovan frontier in Odesa region. Over 6 M. UAH was allocated for construction of this checkpoint, which is equipped for working with transport vehicles and passengers, using modern tv communication and computer technologies.

Attending the opening ceremony were representatives of the TransDanube customs service and the Izmail borderguards detachment. They spoke about this checkpoint as about the best in Ukraine. The checkpoint's carrying capacity is about 300 transport vehicles per 24 hours.

The Reni checkpoint is supposed to serve to the European integration of Ukraine, development of international transport communications in the country's South-West territories, as well as to cooperation of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania within the framework of the "Lower Danube" European region.

***

Even in hardest times Russian investors' interest to Ukraine never dwindled away, Arkadi Volsky, president of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, told journalists in Kyiv on Monday.

Shortly, Mr Volsky predicted, Russian investments in the Ukrainian economy will substantially grow as may be attested by a steep upward curve of the two nations' trade turnover.

Last year, Arkadi Volsky said, it increased by 60 percent, and today Russia accounts for over 60 percent of Ukraine's aggregate exports.

As Mr Volsky told the journalists, the RUIE and its Ukrainian counterpart, the ULIE have drafted about 130 joint investment programs.

Mr Volsky came to Ukraine to meet with ULIE president Anatoli Kinakh.

Both are supposed to attend the First Annual Conference of Investors in Kyiv, slated for February 15 and initiated by Russia's leading investment group, the Renaissance Capital.

***

The Kyiv Obolon district prosecutor office has instituted legal proceedings in the aftermath of unlawful privatization of the Rubezhansky cardboard container making factory by the company Invest-Konsultant.

The Rubezhansky factory is the CIS biggest manufacturer of goffered cardboard.

Last year it boosted production output by 17 percent versus 2003 to 341 M. UAH.

The company exports its staple to CIS countries and the Baltics.

The UK-based Davis S. Smith is the factory's major shareholder.

***

The Makiivka (Donetsk region) Works of Mining Automata and the Polish company Carboautomatyka SA have set up a joint venture, which the co-founders have called MZSHA-Carbo. Shortly, the Makiivka Works means to establish a joint venture with the Czech company Ostroj-Hansen + Reinders.

***

The Kharkiv-based Ukrainian Industrial Energy Company has wrapped up a deal with the Finnish company SISU DIESEL, one of the world's leaders in manufacture of diesel engines, under which the parties will set up a joint venture for making and marketing their staple.

***

A contract has been signed by AzovStal representatives with senior execs of the Austrian company Voestalpine, under which the latter will ship metallurgical equipment to the AzovStal steel works in 2006.

The equipment will including two two-positional units for extra-furnace treatment of steel.

***

The Russian TiazhPressMash Research and Production Center became a partner of the Kharkiv-based KharP enterprise in modernization of ball bearings production.

The Russian center's brigade of specialists is involved in mounting a unique automatic hot molding line. This line has been created at the Russian TiazhPressMash on the KharP's individual order. Its operation will allow the Kharkiv enterprise to reduce expenditures on materials in the process of production.

The line is equipped by the German Siemens firm.

Implementation of the line is carried out within the framework of a special regime of investment activities on the territory of the city of Kharkiv.

***

According to NBU sources, Ukrainian banks are accelerating reimbursement of the NBU's stabilization credits, which the central bank granted to them for a year's term against at least 15 percent annual interest rates.

In January, in view of the banking system's stabilization, 0.7 bn. UAH was reimbursed ahead of schedule.

***

According to Foreign Ministry spokesman Markian Lubkivsky, the vessel Sea Ray (the Saint Vincent and Grenadines flag) sank off Crete's coast, on board of which there were ten Ukrainian crew members.

As of 19:30 Kyiv time Monday, eight Ukrainian crew members were taken on board the Inka Dede (the Antigua flag), which was heading for the seaport Suda (Crete).

Ukraine's honorary consul in the town of Refinino was requested to meet the Ukrainians and render them every needed aid.

Searches continued for the two missing crew members, Markian Lubkivsky told Ukrinform.

***

The Eurovision-2004 winner and well-known Ukrainian singer Ruslana participated in opening of the annual national song festival in Sweden. She became a kind of Ukraine's symbol for Swedes, who called the Ukrainian singer "the queen of popular songs".

The festival, which started on February 12 in Gothenburg, Sweden, is recognized to be the most prestigious competition of popular performers in Sweden and is a miniature copy of the Eurovision contest. Ruslana performed her Wild Dances, following which she had to stay on the stage due to audience's stormy applause and emotions, which were unusual for the Swedish  temperament.

It is fantastical that the Eurovision winner could take part in opening of our Song Festival-2005, said Magnus Gustafsson, the producer of the Swedish song contest, who invited Ruslana.

A well-known song performer Ruslana Lyzhychko, who recently became one of  Ukrainian show business leaders, received the World Music Awards 2004, as the best Ukrainian performer for her victory at the Eurovision-2004 in Istanbul. At the awarding ceremony in Las Vegas, Ruslana became the winner in the nomination the "World's Best-Selling Ukrainian Artist".

Ruslana writes music to her compositions, while her husband Aleksandr Ksenofontov writes the texts. Among many awards the singer has, in particular, the Grand Prix of the Slavonic Bazaar-1996 (Vitebsk, Belarus). Ruslana Lyzhychko is the owner of the first platinum album in Ukraine.

***

On Sunday on the eve of the St. Valentin's Day the Kharkivans celebrated the Sunday of Love. It was the first city holiday of this kind, introduced by a decision of the city authorities. The local creative association Two Friends, noted for their show programs to mark the 350th anniversary of Kharkiv's foundation, was an organizer of this event.

The program included competitions with participation of both young and old spouses. Youth groups, including a show ballet, also performed at this holiday.

***

The companies Premier EXPO (Ukraine) and VTO (the Netherlands) will sponsor the 8th international expo Kiev AgriHort 2005 on February 23-25, at which agricultural, horticultural products, equipment and technologies will be shown.

The expo's venue will be the International ExpoCenter at 15 Brovarsky ave.

The expo will be held concurrently will the 3d international specialized expo UkrProdMash ("Ukrainian Product Machinery"), at which equipment for food and food processing industries will be shown, and another expo, at which packaging materials and technologies will be displayed.

***

According to the Ukrainian Grippe Center, the epidemic threshold has been exceeded in Vinnytsia (by 35.1 percent) and Kyiv City (by 14.2 percent), which means the onset of a flu epidemic there.

Donetsk, Lviv and Simferopol (Crimea) were stated as nearing the epidemic threshold.

According to official figures, the morbidity rate has grown by 29 percent over the past seven days.

For kids, aged between three and six, the morbidity rate reached 19.8 percent, and for babies under three it was stated at 17.1 percent.

The Kyiv City Sanitary-Epidemic Station identified the causal agent as A(HIN1) grain, and the Rivne Regional Epidemic Station identified one virus of the B Group.