Ukraine: Odessa Region Media Highlights 30 Aug-5 Sep 08

The following are highlights from the Odessa-based Yug, Odesskiye Izvestiya, and Zorya Regiona newspaper, the Odessa-based Strana Sovetov television, Izmayil’s Kuryer Nedeli, Uyezdnyy Telegraf, and Sobesednik Izmaila newspapers 30 Aug-5 Sep 2008:

Political

A Ukrainian state flag was stolen from a flagpole at the Izmayil city administration building on 27 August, Sobesednik Izmaila reports. According to first deputy mayor Serhiy Pereverza, some unidentified people had already tried to steal the flag the previous night, but failed to do so. The paper says this shows disrespect for Izmayil residents and warns that forces with a defective ideology intend to demonstrate their presence among the local community and express their disagreement with the existence of Ukraine as a country. (Sobesednik Izmaila, 30 Aug 08, Kuryer Nedeli, 31 Aug 08, Zorya Regiona, 3 Sep 08)

The UN International Court of Justice will start considering the case on the delimitation of Ukrainian and Romanian exclusive economic zones in the Black Sea on 2 September, Kuryer Nedeli says. The court will not consider the whether Zmiyinyy Island belongs to Ukraine since this was determined in preceding agreements, it adds. Instead it should determine whether Zmiyinyy is an island or a rock. Romania views Zmiynyy as a rock, which need not be taken into consideration when delimiting the shelf. (Kuryer Nedeli, 31 Aug 08)

Kuryer Nedeli recalls that Romania seized Zmiyinyy Island when it occupied Bessarabia (a region on the Black Sea coast lying between the Prut and Dniester rivers and comprising most of the present-day Moldova and southwestern Odessa Region in Ukraine) in 1918 and that it took the Soviet Army 15 minutes to liberate the island from the Romanian garrison there in 1944. (Kuryer Nedeli, 31 Aug 08)

The governor of Odessa Region, Mykola Serdyuk, has said he will resign if Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko becomes president. He described the events in parliament last week as an attempted constitutional coup-d’etat and said he fully supports the current president’s position. According to Serdyuk, Odessa Region will not become a hostage of the political show-down as political forces and authorities have reached mutual understanding in the region. (Odessa- based Strana Sovetov television, 5 Sep 08)

Environmental

Odesskiye Izvestiya reports about a critical state of Lake Sasyk, Tatarbunarskyy District, Odessa Region. It says that more than 300 people, including representatives of environmental organizations from a number of countries and local residents, pitched tents at the lake, which is said to be disappearing. According to the paper, local residents and ecological organizations have been trying to get governmental help to renew the ecosystem of Sasyk for 30 years. (Odesskiye Izvestiya, 30 Sep 08)

A container with poisonous waste on a Chinese vessel opened unexpectedly as it was entering the Odessa sea port, Uyezdnyy Telegraf reports. The captain of the port decided not to let the vessel in. (Uyezdnyy Telegraf, 3 Sep 08)

Other

The military prosecutor’s office has decided not to launch criminal proceedings regarding the conflict between Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko’s son-in-law Sean Carr and two guards in Odessa on 21 June, Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko said. According to Uyezdnyy Telegraf, the guards did not allow Carr and his wife to drive on a sea-side route closed for cars and motorcycles. Lutsenko noted that the military prosecutor’s office recognized the guards’ actions as legal. (Uyezdnyy Telegraf, 3 Sep 08)

Originally published by Odessa Region media highlights, Odessa, in Russian 5 Sep 08.

(c) 2008 BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.