01001 Kyiv City

01601 Kyiv City

Kyiv, 1 March 2005

Kyiv is the capital of Ukraine.

To facilitate cooperation, a unit of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime should be set up in Kyiv.

His country welcomed the establishment of the Cross Border Cooperation Process Secretariat in Kyiv with a view to better coordinating activities in connection with the Söderköping process.

Following piloting in Kyiv and other cities, in 2005, UNICEF is supporting the establishment of a youth friendly clinic in Chernihiv, the largest urban area in Ukraine affected by Chernobyl.

We have the honour to transmit herewith the text of the joint declaration on Ukrainian Moldovan cooperation, signed on 1 March 2005 in Kyiv by the Presidents of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova (see annex).

NEW DELHI With street protests roiling democracies from Bangkok to Kyiv, the nature and legitimacy of elections are once again being questioned. Are popular elections an adequate criterion by which to judge a country s commitment to democracy?

The Subcommittee was also informed on the activities carried out by the International Centre for Space Law in Kyiv, Ukraine, the University of Perugia, Italy, and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) in relation to space law.

As in other state nations, surveys in Ukraine indicate that common symbols have helped build elements of a common identity. Both ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians view the tenth century feudal state known as Kyiv Rus very favorably.

In that context, the Office took part in an expert seminar organized by the OECD Anti Corruption Network for Transition Economies in Kyiv from 21 to 23 February 2005 to review and comment on the draft comparative glossary.

Putin s claim that fascists have taken control in Kyiv is fundamentally bogus, while Russia s despicable actions in Crimea and eastern Ukraine are all too real. Russia does retain some support among Russophone Ukrainians of all ethnicities, including some Jews.

Long before violence engulfed the protests, Russian officials began accusing the demonstrators of being neo Nazis, radicals, and provocateurs. As soon as Ukraine s then President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kyiv, Russian President Vladimir Putin began engineering the annexation of Crimea.

LUKYANIVSKA PRISON, KYIV It has been said that there are no atheists in a foxhole. Here, after my show trial and four and a half months in a cell, I have discovered that there are no atheists in prison, either.

Ukrainians also eschewed the temptations of populism and extreme nationalism. The poor performance of the right wing Svoboda and Right Sector candidates which together won less than 2 of the vote should finally quash Russian assertions of a fascistic regime in Kyiv.

KYIV For many years, the European Union s eastward expansion seemed unstoppable. But with Russia s invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin appears to have succeeded in ordering a halt to Europe s efforts to extend democracy, the rule of law, and open markets throughout the continent.

But 2004 was also a bitter failure for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who tried to bring his favored presidential candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, to power in Kyiv by supporting massive vote manipulation. The failure was a bitter blow to the Kremlin, one that was neither forgiven nor forgotten.

At the Fifth Ministerial Meeting in Kyiv in March 2002 Additional Protocol to the above mentioned Agreement was signed establishing a Network of Liaison Officers with the aim to further cooperation, coordination and information exchange between the BSEC Member States in the field of combating crime.

In 2004, both the EU and US were tardy in speaking in defense of Ukraine s democrats. Only when the courage of millions of ordinary Ukrainians gathered in central Kyiv galvanized world opinion did the US and EU marshal the courage to stand up for an honest election result.

In the wake of the euphoric mass protests in Kyiv, Russia s president has since said that he can work with whatever government Ukraine s people choose. These are mere words, for in mind and action Putin does not want anyone to rule Ukraine that he has not put in place.

This left the regime to choose between using force to quell the growing resistance or cutting its losses. By refusing to leave the streets and squares of Kyiv, Ukraine s mass volunteer army of democrats forced our country s gray old men of the past to retreat into the past.

As noted at the workshop on implementation of universal anti terrorism instruments held in Kyiv on 19 March 2004, the Government of Ukraine had taken steps to implement the Security Council resolutions aimed at preventing the use of its territory by international terrorist organizations and the provisions of the 12 anti terrorism treaties.

KYIV A year ago, young Ukrainians were risking their lives on Kyiv s Independence Square to defend an agreement that would bring their country closer to the European Union. That uprising ended a corrupt regime and brought to power after a free and fair election what appears to be Ukraine s most reform minded government ever.

If this agenda succeeds, the Kremlin s revisionist bid will be blocked as this becomes apparent, there might even be an opening for a new and urgently needed wave of reform in Russia itself. But if reform fails, there is little doubt that the Kremlin will continue its policies until it reaches its aims in Kyiv.

But the summit showed that Japan no longer intends to stand on the diplomatic sidelines. On the two foreign policy issues that dominated the agenda, Abe was a forceful participant, advocating a muscular response to Russia s encroachment on Ukraine s sovereignty indeed, Abe visited Kyiv before the summit and supporting efforts to roll back the Islamic State.

As a prisoner, I have been forced to focus on what is essential about myself, my political beliefs, and my country. So I can almost feel the presence of the brave women and men, old and young, who have gathered in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities to defend their dreams of a democratic and European future.

KYIV Since World War II s end, France has consistently risen to the challenge of restructuring Europe in times of crisis. In doing so, France became the catalyst not only for building European unity, but also for creating the prosperity that marked Europe s post war decades a prosperity now under threat because of the global financial and economic crisis.

2. Takes note of the entry into force of the Additional Protocol to the Agreement among the Governments of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Organization Participating States on Cooperation in Combating Crime, in Particular in its Organized Forms, done in Kyiv on 15 March 2002, as well as the imminent signature of the Additional Protocol on Combating Terrorism to the same Agreement

Fortunately, the EU has a real partner in Ukraine, whose people s devotion to Europe has been tested by snipers in the streets of Kyiv and now by the Russian army. Their courage, and their newfound political activism, has stiffened the government s backbone in implementing needed reforms and made it impossible for any political actor in Ukraine to buck the pro EU consensus.

A year ago, everyone gathered in the streets of Kyiv knew what we were standing up against a corrupt government that sought to command life and labor, and to dispose of state property, at its will. In so far as formal legal rights existed, no court could be relied upon to enforce those rights when our rulers saw their interests as challenged.

I do not claim that the Orange Revolution s protagonists are paragons, and that the split between Yushchenko and me has not disheartened many of those who stood with us in the streets of Kyiv in the winter of 2004 2005. But no one can question that we brought more honest government, and the beginnings of a more open economy, to Ukraine.

SANTIAGO When violence flared up in Ukraine and protesters began dying at the hands of government agents, the European Union threatened sanctions against Ukrainian officials responsible for violence and excessive force. President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kyiv, leaving behind a private zoo with exotic pigs and goats and also the foreign ministers of Germany, France, and Poland, who were in town trying to broker a deal to end the violence.

Both ethnic Russians and ethnic Ukrainians view the tenth century feudal state known as Kyiv Rus very favorably. Moreover, both groups share the seventeenth century Cossack warrior Bohdan Khmelnytskyi as their most popular historical figure, and both revile Stalin due to the famines caused by his forced collectivization of agriculture in the 1930's (whereas most ethnic Russians in Russia view Stalin as the heroic state savior of WWII).

KYIV Politics and sports are often an incendiary mix, as the controversy now swirling around the Euro 2012 football championship, to be co hosted by Ukraine and Poland, demonstrates. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, and other European Union leaders have said that they will boycott matches held in Ukraine, owing to the imprisonment of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition figures.

The fact that neither of the major parties is prepared to make the case for increasing defense spending sends the wrong sort of message to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The proper response to Russian adventurism in Ukraine should not only be to work with the rest of the EU to help the government in Kyiv steady its economy it should also include ramping up defense spending and convincing NATO members to do the same.

So I take some comfort this Christmas in knowing that the godlessness, inhumanity, and criminality of the regime that is now ruling in Kyiv is, at long last, being exposed to the world in a clear light. Its democratic posturing has been unmasked as cynical political theater, its claim to desire a European future for Ukraine s people revealed to be a lie, and the rapaciousness of its kleptocrats has been laid bare.