Kyiv denies new allegations that it sold equipment to Iraq (01/19/03)

Kyiv denies new allegations that it sold equipment to Iraq

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Iraq's ambassador to Ukraine denied on January 16 that his country had purchased pontoon bridges or other field engineering equipment from Kyiv.

The repudiation came 10 days after a high-ranking U.S. official told a London newspaper that Ukraine had again raised the ire of the United States with fresh sales to Baghdad in the wake of the Kolchuha scandal.

Yet, Washington also made it plain that it was ready to continue to cooperate with Ukraine - although not at the highest levels.

Iraqi Ambassador to Ukraine Mozher Al-Douri said at a Kyiv press conference that the United States is manipulating Ukraine for its own political purposes and that no illegal arms sales have taken place between Ukraine and Iraq.

"You may come and see this for yourself," added the Iraqi ambassador, whose country is the subject of an intense investigation by U.N. experts searching for weapons of mass destruction and violations of sanctions placed on it by the United Nations after the Persian Gulf War.

Ukraine's President Leonid Kuchma has been the focal point of accusations that Ukraine engaged in illegal arms trade with Iraq, particularly for an alleged sale of a Kolchuha air defense system. The U.S. has based its allegations on digital recordings that it obtained, which it has verified to be authentic. On those tapes Mr. Kuchma is allegedly heard giving the authorization to sell the Kolchuha through a Jordanian intermediary.

The United States has yet to provide concrete evidence for its accusations, but it has determined the recordings to be sufficient proof to withhold further foreign aid to the Kyiv central government.

The U.S. official who made fresh allegations of improper sales to Iraq, whom The Times of London did not identify, said that evidence of a sale of military pontoons emerged on January 6, but did not give details. He merely told the British daily newspaper that Ukrainian transfers of military equipment to Iraq were "a continuing problem."

Nonetheless, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Carlos Pascual told a Washington think-tank on January 11 that there is hope for U.S.-Ukraine relations and that Washington wants to maintain an open-door policy towards Ukraine.

While briefing members of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Ambassador Pascual noted that U.S.-Ukraine relations had eroded to their lowest point in more than 11 years of Ukrainian independence.

He said the process of deterioration began with the disappearance of journalist Heorhii Gongadze in September 2000 and ebbed with the Kolchuha affair. Contributing to worsening relations had been repeated allegations of denial of free speech in Ukraine and the downing of a Russian commercial airliner by the Ukrainian military, in which Kyiv at first denied involvement. Mr. Pascual added that Kyiv's behavior during international attempts to restore peace in strife-torn Macedonia two years ago was particularly vexing.

"President Kuchma assured [White House National Security Adviser] Condoleezza Rice, [NATO Secretary General] George Robertson and [European Union foreign policy chief] Javier Solana that Ukraine would not transfer heavy arms to Macedonia during a period of time when there were negotiations on a peace settlement. And within one month of that time there were transfers of heavy arms to Macedonia, which was a tremendous breach of trust," stated Ambassador Pascual, according to an RFE/RL report.

He explained that, as a result, the U.S. had concluded that Ukraine is not a reliable partner, and that it was no longer worth cooperating with President Kuchma. He said that relations with Ukraine at the ministerial level would now assume added importance.

The U.S. envoy said Ukraine needed to make an effort to restore the confidence of the West. He enumerated a four-point plan by which this could be done. First, he called on the country to deepen cooperation with the U.S. to strengthen its export control regime. Second, he said closer ties were needed between the Ukrainian ministers and the U.S. government, as well as between the U.S. Congress and the Verkhovna Rada. Third, he called on more obvious and concrete support by Ukrainian authorities for a democratic opposition and an independent media.

Finally, he suggested that U.S.-Ukraine military cooperation should continue and broaden, and that Kyiv should move forward in carrying out its NATO action plan. He added the U.S. has an obligation to help the country to join Western institutions such as the World Trade Organization and the European Union.

Reacting to Mr. Pascual's speech during a press briefing on January 21 - and disregarding the statement that Washington would not cooperate with President Kuchma - Ministry of Foreign Affairs press spokesman Serhii Borodenkov said the U.S. ambassador's remarks sent a positive signal.

"We are striving to overcome the crisis of confidence in our relations and continue to regard the U.S. as a partner," said Mr. Borodenkov.

Later that day, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs Anatolii Zlenko held a telephone conversation to discuss ways to take the recent bumps out of relations between the two countries. The two leaders did not exclude the possibility of a meeting.

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