Madeline Albright did her share to stop the participation of Ukraine in Russia's Busher project in Iran. According to this project Kharkiv's Turboatom was planning to ship the light turbines with a generating capacity of one million kW.
Chief Turboatom engineer Mikhailo Virchenko told us that the firm's employees do not approve Ukraine's refusal to ship the turbines to Iran. He also noted that at first President Leonid Kuchma and the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Volodymyr Horbulin promised to answer in the affirmative. This sudden change will be unexpected for Iran, a country we are trying to establish cooperation with. Virchenko claimed this was also a blow to other business relationships with orders now going to other firms.
Meanwhile, Ukraine received a good return. Now we have membership in the mode of control over missile technologies and as a result a permission to launch the US commercial satellites from the Ukrainian Zenith missiles, produced in Dnipropetrovsk's Pivdenmash Plant.
President Kuchma certainly puts Pivdenmash and Turboatom on different shelves. But as experts assume in this case he took a decision in favor of the missiles having taken into account his economic rather than political considerations. The international naval missile start program which involves the participation of Ukraine and other Western missile projects are much more profitable compared to the Busher project led by Russia.
In order to show their concern about Kharkiv oblast, central authorities promised to send a group of specialists who will help to investigate the prospects for American investment and business projects. They also promised to aid in working out programs to support small business and to create new jobs. These promises only reflect the high unemployment in the region and corresponding support for candidates to Parliament linked with executive power structures.






