In a new survey, entitled "Cyber Crime and Punishment," the Washington-based consulting firm McConnell International says self-protection, while essential, is not sufficient to make the Internet a secure place to conduct business.

Among other things, the survey found that countries with inadequate laws will become increasingly unable to compete in the Internet-based economy. The report analyzes the state of computer law in 52 countries, including Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Iran, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.

Some big Internet markets are not included in the survey. But Bruce McConnell, the report's principal author and company president, told RFE/RL that the conclusions are nevertheless accurate: "The countries are somewhat selfselected. We sent the survey out to our contacts in 120 countries and these are the ones who responded. So the Russians and the Germans and several other important countries did not respond to this particular survey. So it's not a comprehensive survey by any means, it's more of an anecdotal impression on what's going on. But it is a broad range of countries, so we think it presents an accurate impression."

According to the report, there is only one country, the Philippines, with fully updated laws on the 10 most-common computer crimes, and eight others--including Estonia--that qualify as "substantially" updated on cyber legislation. The Philippines case is due to special circumstances: the country's parliament this year swiftly approved a number of cyber crimes laws after the creator of the highly damaging "Love Bug" computer virus, a Philippines student, could not be prosecuted under Manila's existing laws.

"The reason for this is that existing laws may not cover the crimes that are committed in cyber space, either crimes committed by computers or crimes against computers," McConnell said. "So, as the Philippines found out, even though they have laws against destruction of property and breaking and entering and all the normal crimes, [the laws] did not cover the particular activities [of] the 'Love Bug' virus perpetrator. And so, we're just warning that may be the case in other countries as well."

Only the Czech Republic and Poland among former Soviet bloc countries belong to the group of states with "partly" updated computer legislation. Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, and Yugoslavia (as well as Iran) are described as having no updated legislation in the area.

Although Russia and Ukraine were not surveyed by McConnell International, they would belong in the last category. Yevgenii Danilov, the marketing manager of Microsoft Corp. in Moscow, told RFE/RL that in Russia there is often no differentiation between copyright violations-- notably software piracy--and computer crimes.

"It is a common perception today [in Russia] that software piracy and cyber crimes are all the same," he said. "In reality, they are totally different [types of] crimes and the problem in Russia is that Internet regulation is so far from being perfect that it's hard to talk about the normal enforcement of law. [Computer crimes] laws are either ineffective or non-existent."

Even among countries considered to have "substantially" or "partially" updated legislation, the report says crimes are not defined in the same way. In some countries, unauthorized access to a computer is a crime only if there is harmful intent. In others, data theft is a crime only if the data relates specifically to an individual's religion or health, or if the intent is to defraud. Many laws are described as biased in favor of the government.

The report says the penalties provided in updated criminal statutes also vary widely. Mauritius, the Philippines, and the U.S. are cited as countries with strong penalties for convictions of computer crime cases.

Iran, Kazakhstan, and Latvia are listed in the report among the countries with no updated laws, but in all three, there are indications that progress is being made.

For the past six years, the survey says, Iran has examined various aspects of computer law, although no law or regulation in regard to abuses has been implemented.

The report says Kazakhstan is now developing a law dealing with computer offenses. Also under study is a special state program on the protection of information resources, including technical and software protection.

And in Latvia, amendments to the country's criminal code have been drafted envisioning substantial punishment for computer-related criminal acts.

One of the critical issues for the effective enforcement of existing or upcoming computer legislation in all countries is the readiness of law-enforcement officials to cooperate internationally. The very nature of computer crime makes it global, meaning that the point of origin is often irrelevant.

UKRAINIAN, POLISH PRESIDENTS DISCUSS ODESA-GDANSK PIPELINE PROJECT. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Polish counterpart, Aleksander Kwasniewski, meeting in Odesa on 17- 18 December, discussed the construction of an oil terminal in Odesa and an Odesa-Gdansk pipeline to deliver Caspian Sea and Kazakh oil to Europe. Kwasniewski called for the creation of an international consortium to complete the pipeline, whose Ukrainian stretch is 80 percent finished, and to organize oil deliveries through it. "We are dealing with a very concrete project that demands our interest," Interfax quoted Kwasniewski as saying. Meanwhile, the U.S. is pressuring Kazakhstan to make a firm commitment by February 2001 to export oil via the planned Aktau-Baku-Ceyhan pipeline (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 14 December 2000). JM

UKRAINE'S GDP GROWS BY 5.4 PERCENT FROM JANUARY-NOVEMBER. The State Statistics Committee reported on 18 December that GDP in January-November was 5.4 percent up on the same period last year. GDP in the first 11 months of 2000 amounted to 154.04 billion hryvni ($28 billion). Earlier this year, the government predicted that the economy would grow by 2 percent in 2000. JM

Iran, Kazakhstan, and Latvia are listed in the report among the countries with no updated laws, but in all three, there are indications that progress is being made.

For the past six years, the survey says, Iran has examined various aspects of computer law, although no law or regulation in regard to abuses has been implemented.

And in Latvia, amendments to the country's criminal code have been drafted envisioning substantial punishment for computer-related criminal acts.

RADIO FREE EUROPE/RADIO LIBERTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report Vol. 2, No. 47, 19 December 2000

A Survey of Developments in Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine by the Regional Specialists of RFE/RL's Newsline Team.

UKRAINE

FORMER BODYGUARD EXPLAINS EAVESDROPPING ON KUCHMA. The Internet newsletter "Ukrayinska pravda" (http://www.pravda.com.ua/) on 11 December published a transcription of the interview that Ukrainian lawmakers Serhiy Holovatyy, Oleksandr Zhyr, and Viktor Shyshkin conducted with Mykola Melnychenko, a former officer of the Security Service of Ukraine. Melnychenko claims he handed over to Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz an audio recording that allegedly proves President Leonid Kuchma's complicity in the disappearance of independent journalist Heorhiy Gongadze. The lawmakers, who are members of a parliamentary commission investigating Gongadze's disappearance, met with Mykola Melnychenko in an unspecified Western European country, videotaped an interview with him on 7 December, and took the tape back to Ukraine. The tape was played to lawmakers during a parliamentary session on 12 December.

Oleh Pysarenko, deputy chief of the presidential bodyguards in Ukraine's State Protection Directorate, confirmed on 1+1 Television Channel on 10 December that a man named Melnychenko worked in the presidential protection service "for three to four years" and was "an officer of a technical subunit." Pysarenko added that Melnychenko requested in early November that he be discharged from service. Following is a translation of the Ukrainianlanguage transcription of Melnychenko's videotaped interview that appeared in "Ukrayinska pravda."

Question: Could you please tell [us] your last name, name, and patronymic?
Answer: I am a major in the reserve of the Security Service of Ukraine, Melnychenko Mykola Ivanovych.

Q: Could you please name your last position? A: My position was [that of] a senior security officer in the protection unit of the president of Ukraine.

Q: Your previous place of work?
A: The protection unit of the president of Ukraine.

Q: Did you have access to the places where the president of Ukraine stayed?
A: Yes, I did.

Q: When and under what circumstances did you make the recording that you handed over to People's Deputy Oleksandr Moroz?
A: I began to make the recording, or more precisely, the documentation of [conversations of] the president of Ukraine after I had witnessed, during the performance of my duties, President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma giving a criminal order, and only after I had learned that this order was fulfilled, I began to document subsequent events.

Q: Over what time frame were the recordings made? A: The documentation of conversations of the president of Ukraine in his work office was made over a long time, and believe me, these materials are sufficient to prove that the president of Ukraine was acting not for the good of the people of Ukraine, nor for that of his entourage.

Q: Where and how was the device planted? A: The digital dictaphone was placed directly in the office of the president of Ukraine, under a sofa. When we enter the office of the president, there is a soft nook on the left, and the dictaphone was placed under that sofa.

Q: Could you make it available in the event of an independent expertise?
A: I am ready to hand over this device for an independent expertise, but there can be no independent expertise in Ukraine.

Q: Was the [original] audio recording retaped? A: The materials I handed over to Deputy Moroz include only excerpts of the recordings I have. I handed over not the entire conversation between Kuchma and [Interior Minister Yuriy] Kravchenko, but only the excerpts that pertained to the Gongadze case, to his disappearance and to Kuchma's order that he be....

Q: What impelled you to make those recordings? A: After learning who is ruling us, what orders are being given and performed, as an officer who swore allegiance to Ukraine, I could not but document and hand over [the conversations] so as to make it known to the whole population who is ruling us today. I did this in order to put an end to these criminal actions.

Q: Specify the information in these recordings as well as the persons and orders to which it pertains. A: President Leonid Kuchma gave orders to State Tax Administration head [Mykola] Azarov, Interior Minister Kravchenko, Security Service chief [Leonid] Derkach. These orders were intended to destroy the media that were not controlled by the regime and remained in opposition to Kuchma. Such as the newspapers "Silski visti," "Tovarysh," "Grani," "Vechirni visti," "Zerkalo nedeli," "Svoboda." He also gave orders to stifle the BBC and Radio Liberty. [These orders] also pertained to a number of enterprises, banks, and funds. He also gave orders to use judiciary and executive bodies in order to stifle countermeasures by those deputies who were trying to change something and fight. These are People's Deputies of Ukraine [Hennadiy] Balashov, [Serhiy] Holovatyy, [Yuriy] Kostenko, [Yuliya] Tymoshenko, [Oleksandr] Tkachenko, [Oleksandr] Moroz, [Yevhen] Marchuk, Lyudmyla Suprun, [Anatoliy] Yermak, [Serhiy] Terokhin, [Hryhoriy] Omelchenko, and other names that I cannot remember now, but he gave orders to stifle them. This is confirmed by documentation.

Q: Is there a documentary confirmation of his orders to eavesdrop on people's deputies?
A: Yes, there is. The president of Ukraine directly gave orders to Security Service chief Derkach to eavesdrop on all and everyone -- namely, Moroz, Medvedchuk, Tymoshenko, and others. At the very beginning, Kuchma gave the following order to Derkach, Kravchenko, and Azarov -- Do not forgive anybody who is working against us. And there was a command to stifle, to destroy.

Q: Why namely Gongadze?
A: I don't know. Kuchma telephoned [his] chief of staff [Volodymyr] Lytvyn and requested him to think what to do with Gongadze and how. Then, two or three minutes later, Lytvyn came to the president's office and they conferred there. Kuchma says: Possibly, to sue him in court? Lytvyn says: No, let Kravchenko work on him with other methods.

Q: To whom did you hand over these materials? A: I handed them over to People's Deputy of Ukraine Moroz Oleksandr Oleksandrovych.

Q: An opinion has been disseminated in Ukraine that these materials were initially offered to a different deputy or different political forces, but after some time that contact was allegedly broken and these materials found their way to Moroz. Did you really make an attempt to hand over these materials to someone else than Moroz? A: There has been no such attempt.

Q: If a need arises to provide testimony in this case to a Ukrainian court, are you ready to do this? A: Yes, I want to return to Ukraine and to give explanations, to give testimony regarding what took place and how. I do not want to remain outside Ukraine's borders -- I am Ukrainian and all I did was for the good of Ukraine and its people. Why should I hide? I want to return.

Q: Will your life or health not be threatened following your return to Ukraine? What do you think about this? A: You see, I have a family, a child, I am looking forward to the future. When my little daughter grows up, she will say.... We do not know what will become of Ukraine if Kuchma and his entourage remain [in power]. And believe me, after having got to know him, I am no longer afraid what will happen to me. It is necessary to put an end to this, I am making this step quite knowingly.

Q: Do you have other materials, in addition to those you handed over to Moroz, which you could pass for being made public in Ukraine in order to prove what you are convinced of and what you say?
A: Yes, I have materials that I would like to hand over and those that I have handed over to you, which confirm what I have said and which cannot be refuted. They confirm everything I told you, completely.

Q: What is it going to be, in what form is it going [to appear]?
A: It will be on a digital [information] carrier. I will hand over materials concerning the Ukrainian president's conversations that testify to his criminal activity.

Q: How do you assess your actions in the light of your oath that you gave as a serviceman?
A: I gave an oath of allegiance to Ukraine, to the people of Ukraine. I did not break my oath. I did not swear allegiance to Kuchma to perform his criminal orders. In this regard, my conscience is clear.

CHORNOBYL CLOSES FOR GOOD. In the early hours of 26 April 1986, technicians at the Chornobyl nuclear power station -- 135 kilometers north of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv -- were running a test of the plant's number four reactor. They disregarded safety procedures as they proceeded.

Within minutes, fuel rods in the reactor's core experienced a sudden loss of cooling water. The meltdown had begun. At 1:23 in the morning, local time, the chain reaction in the reactor spun out of control, causing explosions and a fireball that blew off the building's roof.

A plume of radiation gradually swept north of the plant, across the rich farmlands of northern Ukraine, Belarus, and the Baltic states into Scandinavia. Despite Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev's newly proclaimed policy of "glasnost" -- or openness -- Moscow continued past practice and initially kept silent about the accident.

It was only when heightened radiation levels triggered alarms at a Swedish nuclear power plant that the Soviet leadership admitted that something was amiss. Two days after the accident, Soviet television finally announced that an accident had occurred at Chornobyl. Despite the spread of radiation, outdoor May Day parades in nearby Kyiv went ahead. A decision to evacuate people living within a 30-kilometer radius of the plant was not made until the next day

Slowly, over the next two weeks, information about the scale of the disaster began to trickle through government censors. Gorbachev did not appear on television to discuss the disaster until 15 May. All the while, the stricken Chornobyl reactor continued to spew out radiation into the atmosphere.

To slow the outflow, fire-fighting units made up of men called "liquidators" ran relays onto the plant's mangled roof, dumping shovelfuls of hot graphite into the gaping hole. After two weeks the opening was closed. Eventually, the entire reactor was sealed within a 300,000- ton concrete and metal sarcophagus.

Thirty-one people died in the immediate aftermath of the accident, of acute radiation poisoning. But over the next four years, more than 600,000 people took part in clean-up efforts inside the 30-kilometer exclusion zone around the plant. Many still face long-term health consequences.

According to government figures in Kyiv, more than 4,000 people who took part in clean-up work have died to date from Chornobyl-related illnesses. Another 70,000 have been disabled. UN Secretary General Kofi Anan noted recently that according to UN specialists, 3 million children in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia require treatment as a result of radiation exposure and many of them are expected to die prematurely of thyroid and other cancers.

In addition to the medical consequences, hundreds of thousands of people have been uprooted from their homes. More than 150,000 people were evacuated from the immediate radiation fallout zone in Ukraine and another 130,000 people across the border in Belarus were forced to relocate.

The Chornobyl accident changed perceptions of nuclear power around the world, reinforcing public fears of atomic energy and prompting several European countries to rethink their nuclear power strategies. But Hans Friederich Meyer, spokesman for the UN's Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, says that, paradoxically, the accident also had a beneficial impact, leading to new international safety conventions.

"The Chornobyl accident was really a big event and in the field of nuclear safety, it created a new awareness and, from our point of view, from the point of view of the International Atomic Energy Agency -- in the longer run -- a real improvement in the safety culture," Meyer told RFE/RL.

Although the design of the Chornobyl plant is considered less safe than the layout of plants operating in Western Europe, many countries, including Germany, have now adopted plans to gradually phase out their reliance on nuclear power. Among the European Union's 15 member states, only France remains fully committed to the technology.

Despite their announced intentions, Meyer says Western European countries will have a difficult time weaning themselves off nuclear power, at least in the short term. For the moment there are few non-polluting alternatives that can provide alternative supplies of electricity in sufficient quantities.

"If we look to the global warming question and climate change, it is very difficult for European countries to close down a great number of their nuclear power plants. One must take into account that in many Western European countries, the share of nuclear electricity is quite high," Meyer noted.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's 15 December order to shut down Chornobyl put a symbolic end to a plant that had become a byword for catastrophe. "The world will become a safer place. People will sleep in peace," Kuchma said during a ceremony to commemorate the shutdown. But it is not the end of nuclear power, for now. What will happen to similar plants in other post-Soviet states, which continue to operate -- among them the Ignalina power station in Lithuania -- remains unresolved.

In an ironic final twist to the Chornobyl saga, technicians had to restart the plant's last operating reactor on 14 December -- it had been shut down due to a minor malfunction -- so that Kuchma could order the cessation of operations. Nuclear safety is one thing, but losing face is quite another. (Jeremy Bransten, an RFE/RL journalist based in Prague)

RFE/RL Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine Report is prepared by Jan Maksymiuk on the basis of a variety of sources including reporting by "RFE/RL Newsline" and RFE/RL's broadcast services. It is distributed every Tuesday.