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UKRAINE, POLAND REJECT 'REVERSE MODE' FOR ODESA-BRODY OIL PIPELINE. The Odesa-Brody oil pipeline will be used exclusively to pump oil from Odesa to Brody -- and not vice versa -- Ukrainian Fuel and Energy Minister Serhiy Yermilov announced in Gdansk on 14 July, according to Ukrainian television. Ukrainian and Polish representatives thus dismissed a suggestion by Russian oil company Tyumen Oil Company and British Petroleum that the conduit be used in "reverse mode," (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 June 2003). Ukrainian and Polish officials and corporate representatives were meeting to discuss the "northern dimension for Caspian oil." Poland's Pern and Ukrtransnafta signed a protocol at the meeting on creating a joint venture to complete the Polish stretch of the pipeline. The meeting considered extending the pipeline to port of Gdansk (see "RFE/RL Newsline" 28 May 2003). "The European direction is the most profitable.... It means 40 million tons of oil to be pumped annually,... while the reverse use could transit only up to 9 million tons," Yermilov said. AM
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT URGES NEW MEASURES TO FIGHT MONEY LAUNDERING. President Leonid Kuchma opened a regular meeting of the State Department for Financial Monitoring in Kyiv on 14 July by ordering increased vigilance in the fight against money laundering, Interfax reported. Long criticized by the international community for insufficient efforts to combat the trend, Kuchma ordered the creation of an integrated state-information and analytical network, the amendment by 1 October of financial and banking legislation to thwart dubious operations, greater cooperation with international bodies responsible for combating money laundering, and tighter control over resellers in Ukraine that are "the biggest claimants for VAT refunds." AM