Moroz comments on liquidation of tent city

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - One of the leaders of the movement against President Leonid Kuchma, Ukrainian Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz, heard about the liquidation of the tent city on the Khreschatyk while meeting with representatives of the U.S. government and Congress in Washington.

While the official U.S. reaction had not yet been announced in Washington that Thursday morning, March 1, Mr. Moroz said that U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual's reaction in Kyiv was "a good indication about the future formulation of the U.S. position in this matter."

"They have consistently underscored the need for the use of democratic means, based on the Constitution and law," he said.

As for the event in Kyiv itself, Mr. Moroz said it was an indication of the "agony" of the present government. "It cannot justify its position constitutionally," he said, "so it relies on force."

He also pointed out that President Kuchma recently met with a group of U.S. congressmen and assured them that he would never allow the use of force against demonstrators. But they did just that on March 1, he added, despite protests by Oleh Bilorus, the former Ukrainian ambassador to the United States and now a member of Parliament, who was there during the police action.

This action, Mr. Moroz said, "confirms once again that the current government has absolutely no respect for the Constitution, the law and human rights."

"It is afraid," he added, "because of its responsibility for past criminal activities, and it is afraid of the possibility of their investigation."

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 4, 2001, No. 9, Vol. LXIX

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