Ukraine and Iraq refute newspaper's allegations of illegal weapons deals (07/21/02)

Ukraine and Iraq refute newspaper's allegations of illegal weapons deals

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Both Ukraine and Iraq have refuted claims made in a respected British newspaper during the Kyiv visit of the NATO leadership that the two countries had engaged in illegal arms deals or were preparing future transactions. The charges are the latest of several that have been leveled against Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma and high-level officials and cronies of the administration.

The accusations, made in a non-specific manner in London's Financial Times on July 9, are based on tape recordings allegedly made in the presidential suite by Mr. Kuchma's former personal bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko. Mr. Melnychenko previously had publicized recordings that he said implicated the Ukrainian leader in the death of a journalist, which were revealed more than a year ago.

U.S. Secretary Treasury Paul O'Neill told Reuters during a visit to Donetsk on July 14 that the United States "is seriously concerned about Iraq and its intentions," regarding the purchase of Ukrainian arms, reported RFE/RL. Washington, however, has stated previously that it has no indications that Ukraine has sold arms illegally to Baghdad.

The latest assertions of Ukrainian illegal arms involvement are based on a vague statement by a former United Nations weapons inspector, Timothy McCarthy, who is quoted in the Financial Times story as saying that in the past there had been "an intensive defense-technology relationship between Ukraine and Iraq," that "appears to be re-emerging."

The article was published while NATO Secretary General George Robertson and members of NATO's Atlantic Council were meeting with Ukrainian officials to discuss the country's chances of joining the Atlantic Alliance. The timing led some Ukrainian officials to label the story a disinformation campaign.

The secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, Yevhen Marchuk, is among those who have been identified as possibly having links to illegal arms deals with Iraq, refuted the newspaper's charges.

"This is another attempt to bring groundless accusations against Ukraine of violating the international sanctions regime against Iraq. Those who ordered and wrote the article hoped to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the world community after Ukraine had officially published its aspirations to deepen cooperation with NATO," the NSDC explained in a statement released the day after the news story.

NATO Secretary General Robertson told reporters in Donetsk later that day that President Kuchma had assured him that Kyiv had completed no arms transaction with Baghdad, but would, nonetheless form a commission to delve further into the matter.

Iraq's ambassador to Ukraine, Hisham A. Ibrahim, denied that his country had purchased any sort of military weapons from Ukraine. During a press conference in Kyiv on July 15, Mr. Ibrahim admitted, however, that Iraq is interested in Ukrainian military technology.

"We need Ukrainian technology and equipment, and Ukraine needs Iraqi oil," said Ambassador Ibrahim.

The same day the Ukrainian government tightened controls over arms sales and indicated it would more stringently review licenses and "end-user certificates," documents that indicate where military technology for export is headed. The new regulations would ban buyers of Ukraine's military hardware from reselling the arms without prior written approval.

Meanwhile on July 11, the Verkhovna Rada voted to form an ad hoc investigative committee to examine allegations of illegal arms and military equipment sales and transfers to third parties. The former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, Leonid Derkach, and his son, Andrii, a lawmaker, have been identified as others allegedly involved in illegal arms sales, in addition to Messrs. Marchuk and Kuchma. While 276 lawmakers supported the proposal, none of the pro-presidential factions seated one of their members on the committee.

This latest international scandal, which has been simmering since before the New Year, gained momentum after an April 14 report, released by the Center for Public Integrity in Washington, stated that Ukraine had sold at least one Kolchuha radar system to Iraq. Kolchuhas are especially effective because they are able to track stealth aircraft. The think-tank's information came from tape recordings by Mr. Melnychenko, who had fled Ukraine, and sought and was granted asylum in the U.S. in December 2000 after releasing digital recordings that seemed to implicate Mr. Kuchma and close advisors in the death of Heorhii Gongadze, editor of the Internet publication Ukrainska Pravda.

The recordings of conversations between Mr. Kuchma and Valerii Malev, director of Ukraine's military export agency, Ukrspetseksport, in July 2000 were declared authentic by Bek Tek, a U.S. firm specializing in analyzing audio recordings. The dialogue between two men involves a request from Iraq to buy four Kolchuha radar installations at a cost of $100 million each and details how to secretly transfer the equipment to Iraq.

Mr. Malev died in an auto collision on March 6, just as the arms scandal was beginning to gain resonance. Law enforcement officials have ruled his death an accident.

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