Zlenko, in Washington, asks U.S. for assistance in Gongadze case (04/01/01)

Zlenko, in Washington, asks U.S. for assistance in Gongadze case

by Yaro Bihun
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON - Ukraine has formally asked the United States for help in identifying the decapitated body thought to be that of the journalist Heorhii Gongadze, whose disappearance sparked a domestic political crisis that is now dogging the government of President Leonid Kuchma in its international relations as well.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Anatolii Zlenko presented a letter requesting FBI assistance during a meeting on March 27 with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.

During his one-day visit here, Mr. Zlenko also met with two other senior members of President George W. Bush's new administration - National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz.

State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher, while not commenting on whether the request would be accepted or not, said that Secretary of State Powell indicated to Mr. Zlenko that the United States was prepared "to cooperate in helping with that." He also reiterated U.S. concerns about the case and about "the need for a full, open and transparent investigation."

Both sides indicated that the State Department discussion was "very positive."

The U.S. spokesman said Secretary Powell expressed America's "firm support for Ukraine's independent destiny," for its democracy, freedom of the press and for a free enterprise system in Ukraine. "We would continue to work with them and encourage that course," he added.

Mr. Boucher said the two men also discussed Ukraine's relationship with Russia and the recent energy-related pressure on Ukraine from Moscow. He said that Secretary Powell "made quite clear that our support for the independence of Ukraine and of other neighbors of Russia led us to object and raise our concerns with Russia when there was perceived to be Russian pressure on neighboring countries, and certainly we don't think that's appropriate."

Minister Zlenko indicated to reporters that during his meeting at the State Department he sensed "a great interest" on the part of the United States in strengthening cooperation with Ukraine.

"This was a strong political message from the State Department and the secretary of state," Mr. Zlenko stressed.

Ukraine's foreign affairs minister on March 27 also met with Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), the co-author of a major military-related assistance program for Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, and addressed a gathering of experts on Ukraine and the region at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank considered to have close ties to the new Republican administration in Washington.

Mr. Zlenko used this forum to present to a wider audience his government's position on a number of priority issues - economic reforms, corruption, relations with Europe, Russia and the United States, as well as the ever-present Gongadze-Tapegate tar baby that somehow has managed to undermine progress in many of these issues.

He noted how the Western press has focused on recent allegations related to secretly taped conversations in the president's office, which were released by his political opponents, and branded Ukraine as the world's "enfant terrible," with its rampant crime and corruption. He said that assessment is unfair and simplistic.

Mr. Zlenko stressed that the recent protests in Ukraine do not amount to a "national uprising." He referred to them as "inflammatory tricks" of some politicians trying to take political advantage of the plight of the incumbent president. He said they are the same politicians who have been obstructing the privatization of land in Ukraine, who attacked the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv over the NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia in 1999, and who like to brandish "radical nationalistic and anti-Semitic rhetoric."

"You, as residents of the U.S. capital, should know well this category of people," Mr. Zlenko cautioned. "To entrust them with the destiny of the state is the same as to entrust global economic development to the people who organized street riots during the Seattle IMF (International Monetary Fund) meeting last year."

A number of Ukrainian officials and politicians have visited Washington to discuss recent developments in Ukraine with U.S. officials, among them Oleksander Moroz, the leader of the Ukrainian Socialist Party who released the clandestine tape recordings that appear to implicate President Kuchma in Mr. Gongadze's disappearance. This launched the movement by various political parties and groups to remove the president from office.

Minister Zlenko said that the scandal broke at a time when the new government's reforms were bringing about unprecedented improvements in Ukraine's economic situation, with more than 12 percent economic growth, pensions arrears being paid up and a general increase in the hope for the future.

"Never before throughout its decade-long independence had Ukraine been so confident and stable, economically and politically, as it was at the end of last year," he said.

And then the tape scandal broke, which diverted the world's attention away from Ukraine's economic reform achievements and which served the interests of the president's opponents, he said. "It is hard to deny the striking coincidence," he added.

Mr. Zlenko stressed that there is no "solid proof" that the tape recordings are authentic or that the president was connected to "any criminal activity."

"The problem and danger is that the positive perspective that has been opening for Ukraine may now disappear," Mr. Zlenko said, and added what he said was President Kuchma's own assessment of the results of the scandal: "The masterminds of the tape scandal had aimed at him, but hit Ukraine instead."

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