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MOSCOW (Mineweb.com) -- It is almost forty years since those fine falsettos, the Bee Gees, put their pop classic, “Massachusetts”, on the top of the charts. They had no idea that their lyrics might become the alleged plot of a scheme by a trio of Ukrainian metal men to steal hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the processing of manganese ore, and the sale of ferromanganese, ferrosilicon, and silicomanganese to steelmakers around the world. “And the lights all went out in Massachusetts,” sang Robin and Barry Gibb. “They brought me back to see my way with you.” On...

KIEV, Ukraine — Liberal Viktor Yushchenko scored a symbolic victory in Ukraine's presidential election, coming out narrowly on top in the first round ahead of the establishment's candidate he will face in a runoff. Official results announced yesterday — after 10 days of counting — put the reform-minded Yushchenko about 150,000 votes ahead, with 39.87 percent. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, backed by Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma and powerful neighbor Russia, won 39.32 percent in the tense opening round. The vote is seen as a key test of democracy in the nation of 48 million people and as an indicator of...

The US is turning on old friends in Europe, writes John Laughland. Before he denounced the "prevailing influence" of the US in the "anti-constitutional coup" that overthrew him, President Askar Akayev of Kyrgyzstan used an interesting phrase to attack those who were stirring up trouble in the drug-ridden Ferghana Valley. A criminal "third force", linked to the drug mafia, was struggling to gain power. Originally a label for covert operatives shoring up apartheid in South Africa before it was adopted by the US-backed "pro-democracy" movement in Iran in November 2001, the third force is also the title of a book...

Russian President Vladimir Putin's plans to purchase Leonid Brezhnev's residence in the Crimea have collapsed. USSR Dacha No.1, "Hlitsyniya," is among the Ukrainian properties excluded from privatization. Nevertheless, Putin attempted to acquire it from Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma as a token of gratitude for supporting Kuchma's designated successor, Viktor Yanukovych, in the 2004 presidential elections. The dacha is an apt symbol for Moscow's apparent need to maintain a presence in Ukraine. Subsequently, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said that Kyiv is considering an alternative residence for Putin. This comment is itself unusual, as world leaders normally do not have official residences...

KIEV, Ukraine (AP)- Ukrainian weapons dealers smuggled 18 nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China during former President Leonid Kuchma's administration, prosecutors said Friday. The missiles have the range to reach U.S. allies. The Kh55 cruise missiles were smuggled out of Ukraine four years ago, the Prosecutor General's office said Friday in a statement. Prosecutors said the missiles, which have a range of 1,860 miles, were sold illegally and were not exported by Ukrainian enterprises. The Associated Press reported exclusively on Feb. 4 that a government probe into lucrative illicit weapons sales by officials loyal to Kuchma has led to...

EX-LEADER FACES PROBE The former Ukraine president Leonid Kuchma has offered to meet detectives probing the murder of a journalist nearly five years ago. Mr Kuchma has been accused of involvement in the killing of Heorhiy Gongadze whose decapitated body was found in 2000. A spokesman for the prosecutor's office said that no date had been set for the meeting. It is claimed Mr Kuchma was heard on secret recordings railing against the journalist and demanding he be taken care of. But Mr Kuchma has denied all allegations against him and has questioned the authenticity of the tapes. Prosecutors have...

THE man who published recordings that he claimed linked former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma to the murder of an opposition journalist says he fears for his life after a key witness in the slaying was found dead in what police said was a suicide. Mykola Melnichenko also said the tapes he made when he worked as Mr Kuchma's bodyguard indicated the murder of investigative reporter Georgy Gongadze in 2000 was only one of many crimes and legal infractions committed by top officials in the Kuchma regime. Mr Kuchma has always vigorously denied any link to the killing and authorities in...

KIEV (Reuters) - Former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko, linked to the murder of investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze, has been found dead, the SBU security service agency said on Friday. SBU spokeswoman Marina Ostapenko said by telephone that Kravchenko's body had been found at his country house near Kiev. A team of investigators was on its way to the site and a preliminary investigation pointed to suicide, she said. Kravchenko, who was interior minister at the time of Gongadze's murder in 2000, had been due to give evidence on Friday to prosecutors in connection with the case. President Viktor...

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun says investigators know who ordered the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze in 2000.The authorities have already announced the arrest of Gongadze's "killers". Mr Piskun told Ukrainian television Gongadze was strangled by employees of the Interior Ministry, but he would not reveal who was behind the plot. President Viktor Yushchenko said it was a matter of honour to solve the crime - widely seen as politically-motivated. "The killers executed a criminal order. We know the person who gave this order," Mr Piskun said. He said two of the alleged killers who had been detained were policemen...

KIEV, Ukraine (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko said Tuesday security forces had detained the killers of an investigative reporter whose murder in 2000 plunged his predecessor into a political crisis. The discovery of the headless corpse of Internet reporter Georgiy Gongadze in a wood outside Kiev in 2000 undermined the reputation of then president Leonid Kuchma at home and abroad. The unsolved murder became a rallying cry for liberals who staged mass protests in Kiev last year to help propel Yushchenko to victory in a December election. "I can declare here that Gongadze's murder has been solved. The killers...

Ukraine's Cabinet Strips Kuchma's Perks Sat Feb 26, 7:10 PM ET Europe - AP KIEV, Ukraine - Ukraine's Cabinet on Saturday stripped former President Leonid Kuchma of a plush retirement package that featured a monthly pension, two cars, a government home and much more. New Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko had ordered the government to come up with a new, slimmed-down package for former officials. Kuchma's privileges were canceled based on a decision by the Ministry of Justice that the previous government "exceeded its responsibilities," the Cabinet said in a statement. On Jan. 19, five days before President Viktor Yushchenko was...

According to the British newspaper “Independent,” one of the first actions of Ukraine’s newly elected Premier Julia Tymoshenko may be motivated by her personal animosity toward Leonid Kuchma. This appeared in an article titled “The Orange Princess targets the ‘Kuchma clan,’” [original title: “Ukraine’s new PM targets ‘Kuchma clan’”], as reported by the BBC. The “Independent” states that Ukraine’s new leaders have been looking into the country’s largest privatization scheme, referring to it as outright larceny. Concurrently, they are taking strides towards stripping former president Leonid Kuchma of his official privileges. The “Independent” indicates that members of the so-called “Kuchma...

AN investigation has been launched into allegations Ukraine sold nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China in violation of international treaties. The allegations were made in a letter by politician Hrihory Omelchenko and addressed to President Viktor Yushchenko, who took office last week. Mr Yushchenko, who takes over from Leonid Kuchma, has promised to investigate corruption and misdeeds that allegedly flourished during his predecessor’s ten years as president. Mr Kuchma allegedly sanctioned the sale of sophisticated radar systems to Iraq in 2002, contravening UN sanctions. In the letter, Mr Omelchenko said an investigation launched last summer "proved that some 20...

"A top aide to Viktor Yushchenko, confident the Western-leaning reformer will be inaugurated as president within days, said Wednesday that Yushchenko next week will begin a push to bring the country into the European Union."

Ukraine minister's death could have been murder disguised as suicide Whether the death of Ukrainian Transport Minister Heorhiy Kyrpa on 27 December was suicide or murder disguised as suicide is less important than the reasons behind it, according to an article by Oleksandra Prymachenko in the Ukrainian weekly Zerkalo Nedeli. Just like the banker Yuriy Lyakh, who was found dead in suspicious circumstances last month, Kyrpa knew a lot about the criminal activities in which many leaders of the outgoing administration reportedly engaged. This made him a liability to outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and his other close associates and a...

According to Kremlin press-service, Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a complimentary address to the heads of the states and governments on the occassion of New Year’s eve. Addressing to Mr Kuchma, Mr Putin claimed he was confident cooperation between Russia and Ukraine would keep developing in the course of strategic partnership based on the grounds of mutual trust and respect. These principles fully reveal aspiration of citizens of the both countries for living in peace and harmony. President of the Russian Federation sent complimentary address to the heads of the states and governments of other foreign countries as well. Interfax-Ukraine

UKRAINIANJOURNAL.com WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2004 Front Page Nation Business Editorial Feature Opinion About us Survey Copyright Contact Top News As Kuchma confidants die suspiciously, another crony flees Ukraine Journal Staff Report KIEV, Dec. 28 – Ihor Bakay, a close financial confidant of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, fled Ukraine amid a range of suspicious deaths reported ahead of an anticipated change of power in Ukraine. Bakay most recently handled finances for the Kuchma administration. He is thought to be one of the richest men in Ukraine and is believed to have made his fortune while leading Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the state oil...

Prosecutors opened a criminal investigation on Dec. 28 into the death of Transportation Minister Heorhiy Kirpa, a supporter of Prime Minister and presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovych. The investigation will determine whether Kirpa was driven to suicide, an offense punishable by seven to 10 years in prison. Kirpa's body was found in his country home near Kyiv on Dec. 27, the same day opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko took an unassailable lead in the third round of the country's presidential election. Deputy Interior Minister Mykhailo Manin is overseeing the investigation. Korrespondent.net, a Russian-language news website, reported that Kirpa met with one of...

Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian opposition leader, claimed on Thursday he was poisoned at a dinner in early September with the heads of the country's secret police. "That was the only place where no one from my team was present and no precautions were taken concerning the food," he said. "It was a project of political murder, prepared by the authorities." An official investigation by the Ukrainian prosecutor general into the poisoning of Mr Yushchenko is under way. The investigation was launched after the Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna, where Mr Yushchenko underwent tests, confirmed last weekend he was suffering from dioxin...

KYIV. Dec 16 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko thinks the balloting on December 26 may be thwarted by his rival Viktor Yanukovych and incumbent President Leonid Kuchma. "I think we should not say that we have a 100% guarantee of elections on December 26," Yushchenko told a Thursday press conference. "The main task of the Yanukovych team is to do their best to thwart the elections of December 26. I think he is not alone," Yushchenko said. Yushchenko said disruptions are being prepared in eastern Ukraine, as well as "court manipulations" that his rival "is arranging through numerous...