Kyiv market hit by two bomb blasts (09/05/04)

Kyiv market hit by two bomb blasts

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The state militia announced the arrest of five individuals on August 27 suspected in two bomb blasts at the largest open-air market in Kyiv in which one woman was killed. Meanwhile, presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko and officials in his political organization, Our Ukraine, continued to deny that political supporters were complicit in any way in the explosion.

"These people are not associated with us," Mr. Yushchenko said on August 30 while campaigning in the Kyiv Oblast. "The incident at the Troyeschyna Bazaar is undoubtedly the handiwork of state authorities."

Four men and one woman were arrested over the course of the last week in connection with developing explosive devices and detonating them by remote control on August 20 in two separate trash bins at the Troyeschyna Bazaar, which resulted in the death of a female groundskeeper. The explosions, which occurred in the back area of the marketplace, resulted in injuries to 11 other workers, among them citizens of Vietnam, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The marketplace is well-known for the wide spectrum of foreigners who do business there.

Mr. Yushchenko is leading in national opinion polls in what is becoming a close October 31 presidential election race with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Mr. Yushchenko and members of his political organization have repeatedly accused supporters of Prime Minister Yanukovych and the administration of President Leonid Kuchma of using illegal tactics to hinder and upend his election campaign.

Mr. Yushchenko said during remarks to the press in the town of Borodianka that the incident at the Troyeschyna Bazaar was the first in a series of provocations that pro-government officials were planning for the next two months to discredit his campaign.

Oleksander Milenin, chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the city of Kyiv announced the arrest of the first four suspects on August 28 and disclosed that the individuals were carrying in their possession plans for constructing explosive devices, which he called "a manual for terrorists."

"The motive for the explosions was to kindle political passions and cause social tension," Mr. Milenin charged.

First Vice Minister of Internal Affairs Mykhailo Kornienko announced the fifth arrest later that day. Mr. Kornienko said that two of the suspects were carrying membership cards of the Ukrainian National Party (formerly the Ukrainian National Rukh Party) when they were apprehended. The political party, led by National Deputy Yurii Kostenko, makes up a sizable portion of the Our Ukraine coalition.

Mr. Kostenko immediately denounced the assertions made by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and noted that a review of the party's membership rolls determined that none of the four suspects were now or had ever been members.

"If the militia found membership documents on those arrested, then someone forged them," explained Mr. Kostenko, who called any presumption that his party was involved in the blasts an "absurdity." He said the statements by the state militia were more "provocations."

Mr. Kostenko charged that the Ministry of Internal Affairs, in conjunction with the Procurator General's Office and the State Security Service, laid the groundwork for a series of orchestrated attempts aimed at discrediting Mr. Yushchenko's presidential campaign when the three law enforcement agencies issued a joint statement on August 23 stating that the opposition forces, which today consist of the Our Ukraine and the Yulia Tymoshenko blocs, were preparing mass protests and provocations in the run-up to Election Day.

"The authorities are preparing for violent scenarios and are preparing to use violence of their own in the guise of a war on terrorism," stated Mr. Kostenko, according to Interfax Ukraine.

Mr. Kornienko of the Internal Affairs Ministry rejected Mr. Kostenko's assertions. He explained that it was the responsibility of law enforcement officials to warn of possible political unrest during an election season and that there were grounds to do so in the current election.

Mr. Kornienko also stated that the fifth person arrested by the state militia was an assistant soundman for Channel 5 Television. The television station is considered pro-Yushchenko and is owned by National Deputy Petro Poroshenko, a member of the Our Ukraine faction in the Verkhovna Rada.

Interfax-Ukraine repoted that Roman Bezsmertnyi, chief of the Yushchenko campaign staff, said that an investigation by Our Ukraine officials had determined that one of the five detainees was actually a worker in the campaign office of presidential candidate Bohdan Boiko. Mr. Boiko broke with the National Rukh of Ukraine Party several years ago to form an alternative National Rukh for Unity Party.

Mr. Bezsmertnyi said his investigation had found that another suspect, Dmytro Savchenko, was formerly a bodyguard for the paramilitary organization Bratstvo, whose leader is Dmytro Korchynskyi, an announced presidential candidate who is vehemently anti-Yushchenko in his political positions.

The Bratstvo organization denied the allegation in a statement issued on August 28, according to Interfax-Ukraine. It noted that Mr. Savchenko was a member of an organization called the Russkaya Druzhyna, which has no connection to Bratstvo.

| Home Page |