Kuchma denies reports of Kravchenko's dismissal (03/25/01)

Kuchma denies reports of Kravchenko's dismissal

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - President Leonid Kuchma publicly denied on March 21 that he had fired Minister of Internal Affairs Yurii Kravchenko - five days after the first reports of the possible dismissal of Ukraine's top cop appeared in the media, some of which had been confirmed by individuals politically close to the president.

In Bakhchesarai at a commemoration of the 150th birthday of a Tatar national hero, President Kuchma, who is vacationing in Crimea, made his first public appearance in nearly a week to quash the rumor.

Asked whether he had signed a decree releasing Mr. Kravchenko, the Ukrainian president bluntly replied, "No." In obvious reply to the way this story has been played out in the media without a single comment from the president, Mr. Kuchma added in a curt manner that journalists should simply follow their reports to determine if Mr. Kravchenko would be dismissed in the near future.

The president also denied that he had or would soon sack his chief of staff, Volodymyr Lytvyn, and Procurator General Mykhailo Potebenko.

"That is nonsense," said the president, adding, "Lately everything is rumors, rumors, rumors."

Mr. Kuchma's comments did little to clear up the murky situation surrounding his internal affairs minister, who remains under political siege, along with the president himself and several other ranking administration officials, over audiotapes recorded and released by a presidential bodyguard in November 2000. The tapes, if they are authentic - a question that has yet to be definitively answered - implicate the president, the internal affairs minister and other leading officials in the disappearance of Ukrainian journalist Heorhii Gongadze and a slew of other crimes.

An oppositionist force led by a shaky coalition of leftist and rightist lawmakers and their political parties has mustered enough support to hold demonstrations numbering in the thousands on the streets of Kyiv in the last two months. The largest of the protests, held on March 9 and numbering about 20,000 demonstrators, ended in violence. The opposition has demanded the resignation of the president and his top law enforcement officials.

Mr. Kravchenko, who has kept a low profile since the tapes were revealed, has not been seen since the first rumors of his imminent ouster appeared. Officials at the Internal Affairs Ministry explained that Mr. Kravchenko is out of town at a relative's funeral and not available for comment.

Initial reports on the resignation of the internal affairs minister by Interfax-Ukraine and ITAR-TASS of Moscow, published on March 17, cited unnamed individuals in the presidential administration as the source of the information. They named Yurii Smirnov, the current head of the Kyiv militia, as the new minister. Mr. Smirnov was responsible for organizing the state militia and the tactics they used during Taras Shevchenko Day commemorations at Shevchenko Park on March 9.

National Deputy Yurii Karmazyn, a leading member of the anti-Kuchma forces as well as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Corruption and Organized Crime, confirmed the reports on March 18 and indicated that a "Bloody Saturday" of sorts had occurred in the presidential administration when he explained that sources had told him the president's chief of staff, Mr. Lytvyn, had also been replaced and Procurator General Potebenko would go soon. Both rumors were later denied by President Kuchma.

However, Mr. Kravchenko's ouster seemed a done deal, especially after National Deputy Roman Bezsmertnyi told reporters on March 19 that he could confirm that a presidential decree authorizing the dismissal of Mr. Kravchenko was being prepared, although he could not say who would succeed him. More indications suggesting the accuracy of the reports appeared that day, including rumors that Mr. Smirnov had flown to Crimea to meet with Mr. Kuchma.

The story began to unravel that evening, after Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko visited the president. While many in the press had explained that the official announcement merely had been delayed until Mr. Kuchma held a meeting with his prime minister, Mr. Yuschenko told reporters afterwards that he could not confirm the dismissal of Mr. Kravchenko. He said that while consultations were under way on the possible appointment of a new internal affairs minister, no decision had been reached.

Mykhailo Pohrebynskyi, director of the Center for Politics and Conflict Studies, said he believes President Kuchma has made a decision to fire his minister of internal affairs, but has stalled on a decision on a replacement. "I believe that, inside, the president wants to remove him. Because he hasn't yet, that means there are problems," explained Mr. Pohrebynskyi.

The political analyst said he believes Mr. Kravchenko has submitted a letter of resignation in preparation for the move.

National Deputy Volodymyr Filenko, a leading figure of the anti-Kuchma Forum for National Salvation, who expressed wholehearted support for the move when it was announced on March 17, explained that this could be either another bone thrown to the anti-Kuchma forces, as was the dismissal of the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine, Leonid Derkach, or merely a political tactic utilized by the president to gauge the opposition.

Even if he is out, few here believe that Mr. Kravchenko, who has long been loyal to the president and has the longest tenure of any high-ranking official either in the Kuchma administration or the government, is through. The initial Interfax-Ukraine reports had Mr. Kravchenko moving from his ministerial post to a newly created directorate for law enforcement agencies, which essentially would have been a promotion, as it would give him control over all three law enforcement bodies in the government.

Mr. Pohrebynskyi said that Mr. Kravchenko's dismissal, if it should eventually happen, would indicate that the administration believes the crisis is subsiding.

"It is a sign that the crisis is de-escalating, if there is no further outside stimulation, that is," said Mr. Pohrebynskyi. "We can expect internal rotations in the elite posts. I don't know when that will happen, but everyone understands that the odious figures will go. And there will be a political fight for their chairs."

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