Ukraine still feeling gas pressure

Ukrainian householders have seen gas bills double

It was a year ago that Ukrainians woke up to discover that Russia had gone ahead with its threat to cut off gas supplies.

Kiev had refused to meet demands by Moscow to substantially increase the price.

A few days later Ukraine agreed to almost double what it paid, and the gas was turned back on.

A repeat of the gas crisis is unlikely as the two neighbouring countries have agreed a deal for 2007 which puts the cost up by another 40%.

It is ordinary Ukrainians who are being hit the hardest by the consequences of the dispute.

Life is desperate and with the energy bills going up, it's going much, much worse Galina Alekseeva Pensioner

In the last year, energy bills paid by householders have gone up by more than 100%. That has sparked anger, as Ukraine is one of the poorest countries in Europe.

There has been a wave of action across the country.

Thousands gathered in the capital recently to demonstrate about the price they have to pay for gas and other utilities, which is set to increase again in January.

"My pension is worth $75 (£38) a month but the council wants me to pay almost all my pension on bills," complains Galina Alekseeva.

"Already we can't afford to eat or drink properly. We can't afford to get sick and pay for medicine."

"Life is desperate and with the energy bills going up, it's going much, much worse," she adds.

'Chain reaction'

There is now speculation in the media that some people may simply stop paying their bills.

"This problem may lead to a negative chain reaction," says political commentator Volodymyr Fesenko.

"If the public doesn't pay, this may cause a shortage of funds for the energy companies. This is fraught with political problems and risks."

Ukraine gets 30% of its gas from Russia

At the same time the cost of living in this former Soviet state is also going up.

"In the past prices were kept artificially low, but these have started to become more realistic. And so, for example, the cost of food and transport is increasing, which has been a great shock for people," says Eldar Gazizulin, an economist at the Institute for International Policy Studies in Kiev.

Ukraine remains one of the biggest consumers of gas in Europe. Its industry is dominated by steel and chemicals producers.

These sectors use high levels of gas and there were fears some of these businesses would be destroyed by the increased price of energy.

World prices for chemicals and steel have however remained good, limiting the impact, but should the prices drop there are concerns these companies would no longer be able to compete so effectively on the international stage.

"It's the chemicals sector which is likely to be the first to suffer and who will face the threat of bankruptcy," says political analyst Oksana Shulier.

Wake-up call

Ukraine continues to be one of the most energy-inefficient countries in Europe.

The wake-up call that urgent action was needed to transform its Soviet-era energy systems came on New Year's Day in 2006.

It is estimated that those reforms will cost Ukraine more than $20bn, but in the last year the government spent less than $500m. "It feels like little has changed," says Mr Gazizulin.

"There have been lots of public statements about energy efficiency since the gas crisis, but the state just can't afford to spend the huge sums of money needed to properly introduce power saving measures."

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Yushchenko: How Low Can He Go?

KIEV, Ukraine -- We all know about the rise and fall of Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko. He was respected as the head of the National Bank, then trusted during his short stint as prime minister, and finally swept into the presidency during the country's Orange Revolution.

SBU security service armed men, sent by Viktor Yushchenko, stand in the headquarters of Ukraine's state energy firm Naftogaz in Kiev on March 4, 2009.
It seemed like a fairy-tale political career - and indeed it was. A common thread that runs through Yushchenko's fairy tale is inaction: As the nation's top banker he was a technocrat, as prime minister he bowed to the corrupt President Leonid Kuchma (who ironically may go down in history as a more capable Ukrainian leader), and as president he has allowed himself to be manipulated by allies and bullied by opponents, many of whom are former allies.

Yushchenko isn't only the hero of his fairy tale gone wrong, he is one of the few people who still believes it. At one time, his fellow countrymen, with more hope than experience in democracy, also believed in Yushchenko. Now his public approval ratings are in the single-digit range.

He was hailed as 'the messiah' upon taking over the country in 2005. Part of the reason that Yushchenko was honored with this seemingly blasphemous appellation is that he suffered like a messiah during his rise to the presidency, particularly when his face was disfigured by poison during the 2004 election campaign. But despite the treachery and indignity of it all, Yushchenko showed himself to be more of a patient sufferer than an indomitable hero.

Over the succeeding years, the pro-Western Ukrainian president managed to squander the confidence of voters, foreign leaders and - most importantly - the vast majority of his political allies. His faction in parliament is no longer his, or apparently anyone else's; his appointments in the government are assailed and then dismissed, often later joining one of Yushchenko's political opponents. But Yushchenko's biggest mistake has been current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, his one-time co-revolutionary turned unrelenting competitor for the presidency.

Either because of her or in comparison to her, Yushchenko has come to be known as weak, incapable and indecisive. In turns and sometimes in league with the villain of the Orange Revolution, former Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, Tymoshenko has isolated the president from his power base while stripping him of his power. The presidential authority enjoyed by Yushchenko is a fraction of that wielded by his predecessor Leonid Kuchma.

As the road to the next presidential elections shortens, flanked by economic chaos, trench political warfare and sour foreign relations, it appears that Yushchenko is trying to consolidate his legacy. Resigned to electoral defeat, he might at least be trying to lay the foundations for future stability - European integration, NATO membership, Orthodox unity, confidence in Ukrainian culture, etc.

Whatever his drawbacks in terms of teambuilding, resolve and decisiveness, the man's integrity has never seriously been challenged, either because it is unassailable or because most Ukrainians wouldn't believe otherwise. Instead, Yushchenko's opponents have almost always accused him of surrounding himself with corrupt advisors and fellow travellers, thereby making him guilty of only bad judgment.

But now, after years of inter- and intra-factional instability, Yushchenko's enemies (i.e. Prime Minister Tymoshenko) are going for the juggler. No longer just the guy who failed to fulfill the values of the Orange Revolution, failed to reign in political infighting, failed to deliver economic prosperity, and ticked off the Russians to boot, Yushchenko is being painted as a desperate man willing to ally with the foulest of characters and betray the most basic of national interests in order to keep his job. And worst of all, the president himself is holding the paint brush.

Last week, the battle between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko for power reached a new low, when the nation's spy service, the SBU, raided the offices of its national energy company, Naftohaz-Ukrayiny. The SBU, which is controlled by President Yushchenko, claimed that Naftohaz, which is controlled by Ms. Tymoshenko, had "stolen" 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas from now redundant intermediary gas dealer RosUkrEnergo.

With no pipelines or gas fields of its own, RosUkrEnergo had made billions of dollars trading gas between Russia and Ukraine, before Tymoshenko agreed with Moscow earlier this year to get rid of the Swiss-registered company.

Connected in numerous media reports to a Russian gangster, RosUkrEnergo is championed and half owned by a previously little-known Ukrainian businessman named Dmytro Firtash.

Tymoshenko has made Firtash out to be a parasitic middleman, but RosUkrEnergo was also half-owned by Gazprom, and the gas-trade contracts were approved by the Kremlin and Mr. Yushchenko.

But up until now, everyone has sort of given Yushchenko the benefit of the doubt when he said that it was the Kremlin that included Firtash and company in the Russian-Ukrainian gas trade.

Then why - the question goes - is Yushchenko trying to protect the interests of Mr. Firtash by forcing Tymoshenko to turn over the 11 billion cubic meters of gas (about a fifth of what Ukraine imports annually)?

When customs chief Valery Khoroshkovsky refused to clear the "stolen" gas, Tymoshenko fired him. Yushchenko, however, rehired him as deputy head of the SBU, from whose ranks Khoroshkovsky began to try to get control of the gas from Tymoshenko.

Khoroshkovsky, who formally owns a major Ukrainian TV stations de facto controlled by Firtash, even went so far as to arrest the customs official who eventually cleared the gas, but lawmakers from Tymoshenko's faction in parliament pulled "a raid" of their own to free the official from the remand center where he was being held.

On the one hand, this incident is just the latest battle between Yushchenko and Tymoshenko over state revenues, which both suspect each other of planning to use to finance their presidential ambitions.

If we give Yushchenko the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is trying to stop Tymoshenko from commandeering state resources, the question remains as to the president's connection to Firtash.

If Yushchenko really isn't trying to help Firtash in return for the controversial businessman's financial backing, the president is really making it look that way.

As for Tymoshenko, she comes out relatively well either way: either she is robbing a man who is seen by many as having robbed Ukraine, or she is trying to keep gas prices low for ordinary Ukrainians.

Another issue is the lawlessness of it all. Yushchenko pushed the limits of legality before, during his power struggles with former Prime Minister Yanukovych. But Yanukovych had been trying to usurp presidential authority.

Tymoshenko, at worst, is trying to finance her campaign against a man destined to lose his re-election bid anyway. Surely these aren’t grounds for sending the nation's spy service into action?

We may never know who actually benefited from Ukraine's shady gas trade - except of course Mr. Firtash - but with the Kremlin having distanced itself from RosUkrEnergo, Yushchenko may end up holding the bag.

He's going to lose the presidency anyway, and his visions of Western integration may be lost as well, but the hero of the Orange Revolution's reputation is now in the air, along with the question: how low can he go?

Source: Eurasian Home

Apartment Kiev

KYIV, THE CAPITAL OF UKRAINE

Kyiv (also known as Kiev), a scenic city of close to 3 million people situated on the Dnipro River, is the bustling capital of Ukraine. Ancient Kievan Rus, which reached its greatest period of ascendancy during the 11th and 12th centuries, was a center of trade routes between the Baltic and the Mediterranean. The city of Kyiv and the power of Kievan Rus were destroyed in 1240 by Mongol invaders and the lands of Kievan Rus were divided into principalities located to the west and north: Galicia, Volynia, Muscovy and later, Poland, Lithuania, and Russia. Once a powerful force on the European scene, Ukraine's fate in modern times has been decided in far-off capitals. As a result, modern Ukrainian history, for the most part, has been defined by foreign occupation.

The art and architecture of Kyiv are world treasures. The Cathedral of St. Sophia, where the princes of Kyiv were crowned in the years of Kyiv's grandeur, has outstanding mosaics and frescoes dating back to the 11th century. Overlooking the old section of Kyiv, Podol, stands the Ukrainian Baroque church of St. Andrew, much beloved by Ukrainians. The Percherska Lavra, the Monastery of the Caves, a short trolley ride from the center of town, has two 11th-century cathedrals on its grounds, in addition to its world-famous catacombs, bell tower, and museum collections. Close to the center of town stands the Golden Gate, a structure which dates back to 1037. This recently reconstructed remains of the former fortified wall of the city defined the limits of the city in centuries past. Several blocks away, stands the magnificent 19th-century Cathedral of St. Volodymyr.

Theater buffs will find much to choose from here. Most performances are in Ukrainian or Russian. The recently renovated Kyiv Opera House presents very good opera as well as a broad repertoire of ballets. The Kyiv Young Theater is very popular and stages innovative plays in Ukrainian or Russian. The Ivan Franko Theater is the center of Ukrainian drama, comedy, and musicals. This repertoire has just opened its 75th season and includes brilliant versions of Aeneid and Teve Tevel, the original version of Fiddler on the Roof.

The modern center with surviving parts of the old city are on the hilly west, or right bank, of the Dnipro River. The main street, Khreshchatik, runs between two steep hills. Parallel about half a kilometer west, is vulytsya Volodymyrska, the main street of the Old Kyiv area (Staryj Kyiv). From the north end of Khreshchatik, vulytsya Hrushevskoho rises southeast along a ridge to the Caves Monastery at Perchersk. Woods and parks cover most of the steep right-bank slopes. The capital's newer sections stretch out on the flat left bank. These are characterized by large housing developments and industrialized neighborhoods.

Apartment in rent Ukraine

Culture of Ukraine

For decades, the Western world perceived Ukraine as simply a part of Russia. But borscht, painted eggs and many of the famous Cossack song and dance traditions originated in Ukraine. Western Ukrainians consider themselves to be 100% Ukrainian and the vanguard of their culture, speaking their language and trumpeting their nationalism. In the east, where over 10 million ethnic Russians live, nationalism is less intense, and most people speak Russian.

Ukrainian, like Russian and Belarusian, is an Eastern Slavic language. It's arguably the closest of the three to the original 9th century Slavonic used in Kiev before the more formal Church Slavonic from Bulgaria was introduced with Christianity in the 10th century. Despite being watered down by Russian and Polish and being banned by Tsar Alexander II in 1876, the Ukrainian language persevered and is becoming more widespread. It was adopted as the country's official language in 1990, though Russian is understood by almost everyone.

The origins of Ukraine's national literature go back to medieval Slavic chronicles such as the 12th century Slovo o polku Ihrevim (The Tale of Ihor's Armament). The beginnings of modern Ukrainian literature stem from mid-18th century wandering philosopher Hryhorii Skovoroda, the Ukrainian Socrates. Skovoroda wrote poems and philosophical tracts in Ukrainian, aimed at the common person rather than the elite. Taras Shevchenko, an ardent nationalist who was born a serf in 1814 and became a national hero, was the first major writer in Ukrainian. His work launched a golden age of Ukrainian literature. The most talented and prolific writer of the early 20th century was Ivan Franko, whose work spanned fiction, poetry, drama, philosophy and children's stories. Many writers made the Soviet occupation their subject, and many suffered for it. Vasyl Stus' Winter Trees (1968) and Candle in the Mirror(1977) set the agony of dissidence to poetry; Stus eventually was killed in a Soviet labour camp. The Union of Ukrainian Writers in Kiev was instrumental in bringing about independence from the USSR in 1991.

Ukrainian music has its roots in centuries-old oral traditions of bylyny (epic narrative poems) and dumas, which were long lyrical ballads glorifying the exploits of the Cossacks. The roots of Ukrainian folk music lie in the legendary kobzar, wandering minstrels of the 16th and 17th centuries who accompanied their songs of heroic exploits (mostly of the Cossacks) with the kobza, a lute-like instrument. The bandura, a larger instrument with up to 45 strings, replaced the kozba in the 18th century. Bandura choirs were soon all the rage, and the instrument became the national symbol. Today, the Ukrainian Bandura Chorus from Kiev performs worldwide. Mykola Lysenko is probably the best known Ukrainian classical composer, famous for basing piano works on Ukrainian folk songs. Popular contemporary musicians include the punk band Plach Yeremiyi and the singer-songwriter Nina Matvienko, who draws heavily on Ukrainian folk traditions.

Christianity came to Ukraine late in the 10th century. The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054, and Orthodoxy itself later split into three main branches, each one with a different relationship to Moscow-controlled Russian Orthodoxy and to Roman Catholicism. Church buildings dominate Ukrainian architecture. One unique genre is the wooden church, featuring gables and wooden-shingled onion domes and cupolas - all held together by complex joinery without nails. As part of their campaign to crush Ukrainian identity and nationalism, the Soviets demolished hundreds of sacred buildings in the 1930s, including four 12th century cathedrals. Painting also has its roots in religious themes. Until the 17th century, the key expression was the icon - a small image of Christ, the Virgin, angels or saints, painted on a limewood panel and attributed with healing and spiritual powers. Church murals, mosaics, frescoes and illuminated manuscripts developed at the same time as the icon. The rise of the Cossacks in the 17th century stimulated new schools of secular painting with nationalist themes. After the deadening chill of decades of Soviet Realism, stylistic experimentation and nationalist themes are once again rampant.

Ukrainian cuisine stems from peasant dishes based on grains and staple vegetables like potatoes, cabbage, beets and mushrooms. Meat is typically boiled, fried or stewed. Desserts are usually laden with honey and fruit, mainly cherries and plums, and often baked into sweet breads. While the small dumplings known as varenyky are by far the most popular Ukrainian snack, the sacred dish is salo - pig fat. Salo consumption goes back centuries, and Ukrainians age and prize it as obsessively as the French do wine. Borscht originated in Ukraine and is still the national soup; the beet and mixed-vegetable broth is typically served with cream. Ironically, good Ukrainian food is hard to find in Ukraine, as most top-end restaurants serve trendy Euro cuisine. The best Ukrainian cooking is found in the home; if you get invited to someone's house for a meal, you're in for a treat. Alcohol is plentiful and the drink is usually vodka, a clear distilate of wheat, rye or sometimes potatoes.

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Tymoshenko Wants Kiev Mayor Out

KIEV, Ukraine -- This week, the Ukrainian parliament called an early election for the post of mayor of Kiev. This is a victory for Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc (BYuT), which spearheaded a campaign to oust Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky, accusing him of corruption.

Yulia Tymoshenko (R) wants to oust Kiev Mayor Leonid Chernovetsky (L).
However, there is no unity in the Orange camp, so Chernovetsky may win if he runs for re-election. He can also appeal against parliament’s decision, which apparently was not legally sound.

Chernovetsky came to politics from the business world. He founded Pravex Bank in the early 1990s and he was elected to parliament. Chernovetsky sided with future President Viktor Yushchenko during the 2004 Orange Revolution.

In March 2006, he surprisingly won the mayoral election in Kiev. His opponents alleged that Chernovetsky won the hearts and minds of the poorest residents by distributing foodstuffs free of charge ahead of the election.

Having no big party behind him, Chernovetsky has had to walk a fine line between the main players in the city council, trying to be on good terms with both Yushchenko’s team and the Party of Regions (PRU) of former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych.

Chernovetsky’s opponents on several occasions have accused him of bribing city council deputies by illegally allotting them choice plots in Kiev for construction projects. Chernovetsky always denied those accusations.

Early this year, Chernovetsky had a quarrel with Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. The two accused each other of corruption, and Lutsenko punched him in the face.

Relations between the mayor and Lutsenko’s People’s Self-Defense group – the junior partner in Yushchenko’s Our Ukraine-People’s Self-Defense bloc (NUNS) – were seriously damaged.

Chernovetsky also failed to find a common language with Tymoshenko, who at some point was rumored to harbor mayoral ambitions herself.

Tymoshenko was prompted into action by a mass defection of city council deputies from BYuT to Chernovetsky’s team. When Tymoshenko tried to replace the defectors with other BYuT members, appealing to the law on binding mandates that forbids deputies to change caucuses, the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) refused to back her.

A furious Tymoshenko demanded the dismissal of both Chernovetsky and CEC chairman Volodymyr Shapoval, a Yushchenko appointee.

On March 7, the BYuT pushed through parliament a resolution to set up an ad-hoc commission to investigate “violations of the constitution and laws” by Chernovetsky.

On March 12, the Cabinet voted to approach Yushchenko with a request to dismiss Chernovetsky over alleged illegal land deals. All BYuT representatives in the Cabinet backed the motion, but five NUNS ministers abstained, arguing that Yushchenko has no legal power to dismiss the mayor.

The head of Yushchenko’s secretariat, Viktor Baloha, said that the Cabinet had failed to come up with any documents to substantiate their charges.

Chernovetsky helped Yushchenko save face. On March 13, he sent a letter to Yushchenko suggesting a temporary absence. Yushchenko then suspended Chernovetsky for 15 days and set up a government commission to probe Chernovetsky.

Tymoshenko, however, was not satisfied. On March 16, she threatened a BYuT walk-out of parliament if lawmakers failed to call an early mayoral election.

This is necessary, she said, because the “Kiev mayor and his entourage created colossal corruption schemes in selling and distributing land and other property.”

Baloha and the PRU dismissed Tymoshenko’s demand as too radical, arguing that the commission set up by Yushchenko should first report on its findings and accusing Tymoshenko of undermining political stability.

However, on March 18 parliament voted in favor of conducting early elections for mayor and city council in Kiev. The motion was backed by 246 votes in the 450-seat body, including the votes of BYuT, NUNS, and the Communists.

Commenting on the motion, politicians from different camps agreed that Chernovetsky will likely appeal in court. Anatoly Matvienko, one of the leaders of NUNS, said that parliament had acted illegally, as the law allows the calling of an early mayoral election only if the illegal activities of a mayor were proved in court, which is not the case.

It is possible that Chernovetsky will win re-election, which will most probably be held in June, in line with legislation that gives 70 days to conduct a campaign in case of an early mayoral election.

The PRU and the Communists have weak positions in Kiev and will hardly field strong candidates, while the situation in the Orange camp is the opposite: too many hopefuls and no unity. BYuT reportedly rejected NUNS’s proposals on coming up with a single candidate.

There are at least five popular politicians among the Orange camp who do not conceal mayoral ambitions.

These are Lutsenko (NUNS); Kiev Council deputy Vitaly Klichko, who is a former world boxing champion (unaffiliated); former deputy prime minister and former deputy speaker of parliament Mykola Tomenko (BYuT); former mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko (NUNS); and former vice-mayor Mykhaylo Pozhyvanov (BYuT), who chairs the state committee for material reserves.

Source: Eurasia Daily Monitor

Apartement for Rent Kiev

Apartment for Rent in Ukraine

Find out about available options.

Looking for accommodation in Ukraine you have to take into consideration a few important things.

• Before 1991 tourism in Ukraine was not even considered as a branch of the State economy. It was just a neglected part of "the sphere of services". Foreign tourists were allowed to visit officially designated "open" cities only. Practically no Soviet citizens were allowed to travel abroad.
• In the present day tourist industry became one of the fastest growing branches of the Ukraine's economy.
• Ukraine tourism has huge potential: over 500 cities of Ukraine are more than 900 years old, 4500 villages were founded more than 300 years ago. More than 150 thousands monuments of culture, history, archeology reflect the remarkable history of the Ukrainian people. But Ukraine tourist industry still has a long way to go to reach the best world standards.

How does it relate to finding accommodation in Ukraine? Rental services in Ukraine are still not competitive enough to strive to offer their customers the best price/quality ratio.

Economics is a stubborn thing. If demand is higher than supply, people are willing to pay higher prices in order to get decent place to stay. But from the other side rental industry in Ukraine attracts a lot of investors and situation is changing for the better.

What should you expect looking for place to stay in Ukraine? There are a few accommodation options available.

• State-run or privately owned hotels. Depending on the city and level of service their price range is enormous - from $10 to $600 for a room. There is a shortage of 3, 4, and 5-star hotels in Ukraine. Very often private hotels have better quality and a little more expensive. Perhaps the best developed net of small and non expensive family-run inns with excellent living conditions exists in theCarpathian area. There is a good chance to find good private hotels in Crimea.
• Short-term or long-term apartment rentalsis a real alternative to hotels. They are especially popular in Kiev due to a lack of quality hotels. The companies running apartments provide pretty the same set of services as hotels do. The prices for apartments are usually 50-60% less for the same area and quality than hotels.
• Youth hostels are a low-cost alternative for those who are on a tight budget. Price range is from $6 to $35 per person. There are no too many of them in Ukraine yet. The most exhaustive list of hostels and booking service can be found at Ukraine Youth Hostels page. Hostels accommodate anyone - not only young people. Highly recommended for students or the adventurous backpackers.
• Ukraine Timeshares are your opportunity to make your favorite region of Ukraine a home away from home when you buy a vacation property in the area. These vacation properties tend to be more cost-effective, over time, than paying for nightly accommodations every time you travel because they allow owners to divide the cost of property ownership among several parties.

Apartment for Rent in Kiev