Some terrible news just in from Ukraine. A prominent opponent of the K2/R4 project (building two nuclear reactors in Ukraine in exchange for closure of the remaining Chernobyl reactors) has been murdered.

The London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development ( http://www.ebrd.org) is still interested in funding K2/R4, even though the Ukrainian goverment has turned down EBRD's initial proposal and most Ukrainians are against the project (according to opinion polls).

See article on Russia Indymedia:

 http://russia.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=3389&group=webcast

Here is part of the article, followed by extra links.

KIEV, Ukraine – A month ago a civic group filed a lawsuit against the Ukrainian government to stop construction of two nuclear power plants at Rivne and Khmelnytskyi, calling the projects illegal. On Tuesday its vice-Chairman was gunned down in Kiev.
K2R4 Nuclear Plant Opposition Leader Murdered in Kiev

October 3, 2002

KIEV, Ukraine – A month ago a civic group filed a lawsuit against the Ukrainian government to stop construction of two nuclear power plants at Rivne and Khmelnytskyi, calling the projects illegal. On Tuesday its vice-Chairman was gunned down in Kiev.

An unidentified man shot and killed Ruslan Syniavskyi, 44, late Monday at the entrance of his apartment building in downtown Kiev, the Interior Ministry's department in the capital said. Police didn't provide other details.

The Interfax news agency said that the assailant shot several times in an attempt to rob Syniavsky. "It's very doubtful that an ordinary thief carries a gun," said Oleh Sadanets, a representative of Syniavskyi's Public Control organization. "We consider that this (killing) was linked to his activity in the organization... four shots cannot be a simple accident."

Syniavksy was the vice-Chairman of Public Control, a non-governmental, environmental organization. The group is suing the Ukrainian government in a Kiev district court demanding a halt to the plants' construction. The group claims that the State Nuclear Regulatory Committee broke the law by not conducting adequate public hearings before providing a license to the state nuclear company Energoatom to construct the new power stations.

.... (see Russia Indymedia for rest of article)

For critical info about K2/R4, see:
 http://www.bankwatch.org/k2r4

For info about Chernobyl, see:
 http://www.chernobyl.info

For info on human rights in Ukraine, see:
 http://hr_ukraine.tripod.com/

For NIRS/WISE Ukraine (website under construction) see:
 http://nonukes.narod.ru/