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PROSECUTORS SEND TYMOSHENKO CASE BACK TO INVESTIGATORS. First Deputy Military Prosecutor Anatolii Ponomarenko told "Kommersant-Daily" on 3 February that his agency has sent the case pending against Ukrainian Prime Minister-designate Yuliya Tymoshenko back to investigators for further work. Tymoshenko has been accused of paying bribes to Russian military personnel in exchange for business concessions (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 8 and 9 December 2004 and 27 January 2005). According to the daily, the decision to send the case back for further investigation came after lawyers for one of the defendants in the case filed a complaint pointing out numerous shortcomings in the case materials, including the fact that investigators had never questioned the defendant himself. RC

KYRGYZ PRESIDENT, OPPOSITION COMMENT ON POLITICAL SITUATION. Both President Akaev and opposition leader Roza Otunbaeva commented on 2 February on the political situation in the lead-up to the parliamentary elections. Addressing representatives of councils of elders on 2 February, Akaev warned against "political games," an apparent reference to events in Georgia and Ukraine in 2003 and 2004 and recent opposition demonstrations in Bishkek (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 20 January 2005), RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reported. He said, "Dear elders! We will not leave any chances to those who advance a worthless policy for our rapidly developing country, those who are breaking the law, those who are trying to bring to Kyrgyzstan the dangerous political games that have taken place in some countries..." Also on 2 February, the BBC asked Otunbaeva, co-chair of the Ata-Jurt opposition movement, whether Kyrgyzstan "is ripe for its own 'velvet,' 'rose,' or 'orange' revolution." Otunbaeva replied, "Absolutely, I feel. But I'd like to make a significant correction. We're not talking about a revolution, but about a peaceful, calm, and constitutional transfer of power in our country. The revolutions that ordinary people associate with blood, theft, and rioting did not occur either in Tbilisi or in Kyiv. And they won't happen here." DK

UKRAINIAN PREMIER-DESIGNATE SUBMITS GOVERNMENT PROGRAM TO PARLIAMENT... Prime Minister-Designate Yuliya Tymoshenko on 2 February submitted a program of Ukraine's new government to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukrainian media reported. The program, titled "Toward the People" (Nazustrich lyudyam), reportedly calls for a number of reforms to boost the welfare of Ukrainians, meet European standards in state institutions, and create a civil society. A debate on Tymoshenko's approval as prime minister, initially scheduled to begin at noon on 3 February, was postponed one day. Tymoshenko needs at least 226 votes in the 450-seat legislature to be confirmed as the head of the future cabinet. JM

...AS MEDIA SPECULATE ABOUT CABINET APPOINTMENTS... President Viktor Yushchenko on 2 February held a seven-hour meeting with Premier-designate Tymoshenko, Presidential Secretariat head Oleksandr Zinchenko, National Security and Defense Council Secretary Petro Poroshenko, and top presidential aide Oleksandr Tretyakov to discuss the composition of a new cabinet, Ukrainian media reported. Yushchenko is expected to present a list of new ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, shortly after the anticipated approval of Tymoshenko and her "Toward the People" cabinet program. According to Ukrainian media, the new cabinet will most likely include Anatoliy Kinakh as first deputy premier, Oleh Rybachuk and Mykola Tomenko as deputy premiers, Viktor Pynzenyk as finance minister, Serhiy Teryokhin as economy minister, and Borys Tarasyuk as foreign minister. JM

...AND SOCIALISTS REPORTEDLY BACK OUT OF PRO-PRESIDENTIAL COALITION. The Socialist Party (SPU) has not proposed any candidate to Ukraine's new cabinet and is not going to vote for the "Toward the People" government program unveiled by Premier-designate Tymoshenko, Interfax reported on 3 February, citing SPU lawmaker Mykola Rudkovskyy. According to Rudkovskyy, the SPU will not support the government program since it calls, he explained, for the building of a "liberal state," and not a "social one." "There is nothing specific in the program, no figures," Rudkovskyy said. "It diverges from Viktor Yushchenko's [presidential election] program and from the agreement Yushchenko and [SPU leader] Oleksandr Moroz signed before the second election round." The Yushchenko-Moroz accord reportedly stipulated that the SPU would support Yushchenko's cabinet nominations if SPU representatives or nominees obtained one-sixth of the positions in the executive branch (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 1 February 2005). JM

MOLDOVAN REINTEGRATION MINISTER BRIEFS AMBASSADORS ON TRANSDNIESTER MILITARY BUILDUP. Reintegration Minister Vasilii Sova on 2 February met with U.S. and EU representative to discuss the concentration of military forces on the Transdniester side of the security zone separating the region from Moldova, Infotag reported (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 February 2005). Sova met with EU ambassadors serving in Moldova, with U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges, and with OSCE mission head William Hill, calling on them to do everything in their power to prevent the situation from deteriorating. Meanwhile, a meeting of the Joint Control Commission (JCC) that oversees the truce in the security zone was canceled on 2 February in Bendery-Tighina, after the Russian and Ukrainian representatives failed to show up. The representatives were again prevented from entering Transdniester by Moldovan guards at a border crossing near Bendery-Tighina, after failing to produce crossing permits in line with a Moldovan governmental decision made in January. Moldovan representative on the JCC Ion Solonencu said the Moldovan Foreign Ministry will grant the crossing permits if the Russian and Ukrainian representatives apply (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 18, 19, 20, and 21 January 2004). MS