Victor Yushchenko Attacked with His Own Weapon
// Ukrainian opposition and Russian officials accuse Victor Yushchenko of illegally arming Georgia
The scandal over Ukrainian arms sales to Georgia continues unabated in Kiev. Head of the Rada ad hoc investigation commission Valery Konovalyuk from the Party of Regions accused Ukraine’s Government of “pressurizing” his colleagues and him, but despite this fact, he promised to complete the investigation he started and ask President Yushchenko unpleasant questions. In addition, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev promised “not to forget” those who had armed the Mikhail Saakashvili regime. However, according to the information of Kommersant, Moscow doesn’t know yet how to punish Kiev for supporting Tbilisi.
Investigation mania
After a short period of lull, a scandal over Ukraine’s arms supplies to Georgia broke out anew, with Head of the Rada ad hoc investigation commission Valery Konovalyuk from the Party of Regions being the key newsmaker.
Yesterday Mr Konovalyuk held a press conference in Kiev, where he told reporters about the progress in investigating the country’s high-ranking officials’ power abuse. According to the MP, during its work, the commission managed to collect so much proof that it will be enough for making Ukraine’s top politicians answer. “We have enough evidence to raise the question of bureaucrats’ responsibility,” the head of the commission stated.
Saying that he doesn’t mean impeaching Mr Yushchenko yet, Mr Konovalyuk added that his investigation bodes ill for the President. “We are preparing a report to be delivered in the Parliament. We have coordinated it with several parties that, regardless of the political crisis in the country, we will present the report in the Rada.”
However, before making the collected data public, Valery Konovalyuk and his colleagues plan to tour Georgia and South Ossetia to collect extra information. “It will allow us to make preliminary conclusions, which will prompt the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office and other law enforcement bodies to react to the irregularities the commission has found,” the MP said complaining that he has to work under the Government’s pressure. “The Government pressurizes us. We warned that various provocations will be carried out to impede the commission’s work, but we are determined to take the investigation to the end.”
Those persecuted
Mr Konovalyuk’s commission was set up on September 2. By the way, this date is considered the outset of the current political crisis in Ukraine. On that day the “orange” coalition, formed by the Yuliya Tymoshenko Bloc (BYuT) and the pro-presidential bloc “Our Ukraine – People’s Self-defense”. The democratic alliance collapsed after the BYuT and the Party of Regions, despite Our Ukraine’s resistance, took through the Parliament laws that significantly cut the head’s of state powers.
Victor Yushchenko was denied the right to participate in the Government’s meetings and legalized the impeachment procedure – it now requires 226 MPs’ signatures (there are 450 members of the Rada in total). The Party of Regions intended to adopt a resolution to recognize Abkhazia and South Ossetia, but this idea was not endorsed by the majority, and it all ended with setting up a commission to investigate arms supplies to Georgia.
Within two months the commission made no revealing documents public, which would point to the Government’s power abuse when exporting Ukrainian weaponry. Nevertheless, the commission’s members often drop hints that it was President Yushchenko who sanctioned violating the law. Valery Konovalyuk stated on several occasions that his commission has found facts of illegal arms supplies to Georgia, which was controlled by the President. Much speculation was caused by the commission head’s statement that the Ukrainian Government supplied a Buk-M1 missile system, which guarded Ukraine’s border. Last time Mr Konovalyuk “agitated” the public on October 8, when he stated that the commission got information from the treasury that the lion’s share of the funds, raised from arms sales, was directed neither to the Ukrainian federal budget nor the Defense Ministry. According to the MP, Ukraine has sold weaponry worth $2 billion since 2005, whereas the budget received only $160,000 of it. It need be said that no documents were then demonstrated to the public.
A crime without elements
Victor Yushchenko’s administration denies violating any international legal norms as far as military and technical cooperation with Georgia is concerned. Yesterday head of the Military Security Department of Ukraine’s Security Council Sergei Khimchenko stated that Kiev “cooperates with Tbilisi in accordance with its national interests and international law”. According to him, the UN Security Council, the OSCE, the EU or any other IOs have never imposed any sanctions or embargoes on Georgia. Mr Khimchenko made no secret of the fact that Ukraine increased its military export volume to Georgia by third in 2007-2008, adding that the two countries cooperate according to an agreement of July 4, 1997. “Approximately to 40%,” he said when asked to what extent arms supplies grew.
Moreover, Mr Khimchenko stated that Ukraine will keep on supplying weaponry to Georgia in accordance with concluded agreements. “We are not supplying arms there now, but the agreements we signed before, are valid,” the official told Kommersant. At the same time he denied accusations of supplying arms to Georgia during the military conflict and Ukrainian soldiers’ participation in hostilities. According to him, the latest arms delivery was according to a contract signed a year ago.
Mr Khimchenko’s statement was a response to Russian officials’ accusations of illegally arming Georgia. Early this month Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin called Ukraine’s arms supplies to Georgia a “crime” when receiving is Ukrainian counterpart Yuliya Tymoshenko in Moscow. “I believe that there can be no worse crime than arms supplies to a conflict zone. Missile systems were used to kill soldiers, which can’t but worry us,” Mr Putin said after talks with Ms Tymoshenko. Speaking about Ukrainian military specialists’ participation in the August five-day war, the Russian Prime Minister cut it short, “It was a crime.”
Yesterday Russia’s officials once again brought up this issue. During a meeting of a commission on military and technical cooperation President Dmitry Medvedev stated that, in its foreign policy, Russia will consider the actions of the countries that supplied arms to the Mikhail Saakashvili regime. Although Medvedev did not mention Ukraine, his statement implies that Moscow views Kiev as the main culprit. “We are aware that several states supplied arms to the Mikhail Saakashvili regime, which encouraged it to launch aggression, and now they are reloading the regime with extra weaponry,” Mr Medvedev said. “Unfortunately, several states that are friendly to Russia, took part in it. We won’t forget it. We will consider it in our foreign policy.”
Yesterday Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov explained the essence of Moscow’s claims. According to the official, there are a lot of international documents regulating arms trade, which were signed by Ukraine’s officials. “These include the OSCE document of 1993 about conventional weapons and small arms. But in Ukraine’s case heavy assault arms were delivered. Kiev doesn’t even deny that it supplied it to Georgia shortly before the military conflict,” Mr Ryabkov told Kommersant. “We are going to raise this issue in all international formats, and we regret that the Ukrainian party is no even ashamed of its actions.” The diplomat complained that it is impossible to punish Ukraine with international sanctions, “Sanctions are the UN Security Council’s prerogative. All our attempts to impose embargo on arms supplies to Georgia were blocked by the countries conniving at the aggressor.”
Interestingly, Moscow has no own proof of the Ukrainian Government’s illegal arms trafficking. “I have no information that Russia is investigating the matter,” Igor Lyalkin-Frolov from the Russian Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department told Kommersant. “We’ll see what results Ukraine’s parliamentary commission reports.”
It is not ruled out that Russia will respond with concrete actions at the final stage of Ukraine’s electoral campaign – voting has been postponed.
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Ukraine’s military supplies to Georgia started in the 1990s. Under Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia’s army got twelve L-29 training aircraft, two Mil Mi-24V helicopters, two Mil Mi-14PL helicopters, and small arms. Also, Tbilisi received a 206MR missile boat, two 205-P artillery boats, three 1400M boats, a guard boat and a tugboat.
Arms supplies intensified after Mikhail Saakashvili came to power. Since 2004 Ukraine has been Georgia’s major arms supplier. From 2004 to 2007 Georgia received 90 T-72 tanks, 30 BTR-80 armored personnel carriers, 52 BMP-2 infantry fighting vehicles, several OSA-AK/AKM surface-to-air missile systems, a division of Buk-M1 missile systems, two Mil Mi-8MTV and Mil Mi-24P helicopters, one Mil Mi-35 helicopter, small arms, grenade launchers, anti-tank guided missile systems and guided missiles.
In addition, there is information that Ukraine supplied Georgia with BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles, a new arms complex “Shkval”, MT-LB multi-purpose light-armored towing vehicles, radar stations 36D6-M, and other kinds of arms and weaponry. Supplies continued in 2008. According to unofficial data, two launchers for the Buk-M1 system were delivered.
Vladimir Solovyov; Valery Kucheruk, Kiev
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 29, 2008
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