Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

President Leonid Kuchma sent this holiday greeting card, depicting a Kyiv cityscape, to millions of Ukrainians. Though the mailing pleased some recipients, it has angered the president’s opponents, who claim the expense was too great for a nation. www.ukrpravda.com.ua While many of those who received a card from the president said they appreciated them, the president's political opponents have latched onto the mailing as yet another abuse of power and a waste of government funds.

he president’s political opponents have latched onto the mailing as yet another abuse of power and a waste of government funds.

Kuchma’s card depicts downtown Kyiv, highlighting historical and tourist attractions including the Glory to Ukraine monument on Independence Square, the Pecherska Lavra and St. Sophia Cathedral.

“Let the New Year bring peace and tranquility and holiday cheer,” reads part of message on the back of the card, which bears the president’s signature.

Yuri Zagardony, appointed first deputy head of the Presidential Administration on Dec. 13, said the mass mailing is in keeping with other holiday rituals, which traditionally include state‑sponsored gift‑giving ceremonies at orphanages and official tree‑lighting ceremonies in oblast and regional centers ters throughout the country.

His office could not tell the Post how much the postcard campaign cost.

But Presidential Administration representatives said on Jan. 8 that many of the people who received Kuchma’s cards were grateful, and posted some of the responses on Kuchma’s Web site (www. kuchma. gov.ua).

Hryhory Burkakov, from Shchastya in Donbass oblast, wrote: “The president himself has sent me a postcard wishing me well. I am moved by your heartfelt and sincere holiday greetings!”

Vitaly Popov from Luhansk was moved to send the president a cutting from his vineyard. “Please accept this vine root as a token of my gratitude,” he wrote. “If you are ever in Bilovodsk, please drop by.”

The opposition Sobor party, meanwhile, has offered to hand‑deliver negative responses to the New Year’s greeting card.

“Anyone who wishes to reply to Kuchma can simply drop off their message at [Sobor] party headquarters or deliver it to organizers of the Arise, Ukraine! movement,” the party said in a statement on its Web site.

Organizers of Arise, Ukraine!, the movement that staged nationwide protest actions last September, said at a press conference in Kyiv on Jan. 8 that they plan to deliver messages from the president’s critics during the next wave of anti‑presidential demonstrations, planned to begin March 9.

At least one deputy wants to know why his government, entering 2003 with a deficit budget, decided to spend so much money on greeting cards.

Mykola Tomenko, an Our Ukraine deputy who chairs the Rada’s Freedom of Speech committee, said he has sent a formal request to the government audit office, the Accounting Chamber, to ask where the money came from to pay for the card campaign.

Tomenko said that government might have mailed as many as 17 million cards.

“Every kopek of state funds spent on the cards could have been used to accomplish other objectives, like raise pensions and the minimum wage, or to reform the healthcare system,” Tomenko told UNIAN on Jan. 8.