New findings about Yushchenko's poisoning spur investigations (12/19/04)

New findings about Yushchenko's poisoning spur investigations

by Andrew Nynka
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Doctors at the Rudolfinerhaus Clinic in Vienna, Austria, announced on December 11 that Viktor Yushchenko had been poisoned with an undetermined form of dioxin. The move sparked Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada and the procurator general to renew investigations into the poisoning of the presidential candidate.

Doctors from the prestigious clinic said during their press conference that they were absolutely certain that Mr. Yushchenko, who traveled to the clinic over the weekend for more tests and treatments, was poisoned with dioxin.

Rudolfinerhaus Clinic President Michael Zimpfer thanked doctors from around the world for helping "to clarify the difficult Yushchenko illness that has not been observed anywhere else beforehand."

Dr. Zimpfer, who led a team of doctors that examined Mr. Yushchenko, said the conclusion was reached after independent tests on the candidate's blood, conducted in a number of other countries recently, showed Mr. Yushchenko had an extremely elevated level of dioxin in his blood, which could have been slipped into the candidate's food.

"It would have been easy to put it in a cream soup," Dr. Zimpfer added during the press conference.

With regard to the level of dioxin found in Mr. Yushchenko's blood, one test conducted in London showed that his dioxin level was 6,000 times higher than normal, the Associated Press reported.

Abraham Brouwer, a professor of environmental toxicology at the Free University in Amsterdam, told the AP that the concentration amounted to some 100,000 units per gram of blood fat and said it was the second highest level ever recorded in human history. A normal level of dioxin in the human body is between 15 and 45 units and can be found in nearly all people because the chemical is widespread in the environment.

The Austrian doctors said they could not conclude the poisoning resulted from a deliberate act. Both Mr. Yushchenko and his U.S.-born wife suggested it may have occurred at a dinner Mr. Yushchenko attended in August with top Ukrainian security officials. However, they did note the evidence pointed to the involvement of a "third party."

"I didn't poison myself ... Today, more of the details are becoming known, about me, about the dinner where the poison could have been planted," Mr. Yushchenko said while still in Vienna.

On December 16, Mr. Yushchenko told the news media he was certain he was poisoned by the Ukrainian government.

Pro-Yushchenko lawmaker Yurii Pavlenko speculated in Kyiv on December 13 that Russian agents may have been involved. "It is precisely Russia that was interested in neutralizing Viktor Yushchenko," Mr. Pavlenko told the AP.

Taras Chornovil, campaign manager for Mr. Yushchenko's opponent, Viktor Yankovych, said it was possible that a number of other people could have played a role. "Someone from Yushchenko's entourage could be blamed - someone who could try to manipulate a sick president," he added, according to the AP.

Mr. Yushchenko had dinner with the chief of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ihor Smeshko, and his deputy, Volodymyr Satsiuk, on September 5. Mr. Yushchenko's wife, Kateryna (née) Chumachenko, told Ukraine's Zerkalo Nedeli weekly that her husband came home late and that when she kissed him she detected a strange medicinal taste.

"That [the dinner with the SBU chief] was the only place where no one from my team was present and no precautions were taken concerning the food," he said in an interview with the AP. "It was a project of political murder, prepared by the authorities."

The candidate fell sick the following day, and Ukrainian doctors treated him for food poisoning. Mr. Yushchenko was rushed to the Austrian clinic on September 10. Mr. Smeshko denied that he was involved in poisoning the presidential candidate.

Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma, who backed Mr. Yanukovych in the earlier polls, has not commented on the doctors' findings.

New investigations opened

Following the announcement by the Austrian doctors, Ukraine's Procurator General Sviatoslav Piskun announced on December 12 that an investigation was opened into Mr. Yushchenko's allegations that the authorities tried to kill him. The move was followed the next day by an announcement that a commission of lawmakers from Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada had reopened a similar investigation, which is headed by Volodymyr Sivkovych, a supporter of Mr. Yanukovych.

"The results of the most recent analyses in Vienna are giving us grounds to renew our work," Mr. Sivkovych said after the Rada's announcement, less than two weeks before the rerun of the presidential run-off election. "However, we are not convinced that deliberate poisoning can be proved." The lawmaker also urged Mr. Yushchenko to immediately hand over results of the latest tests.

Mr. Sivkovych said he had met with the procurator general and said the urgency with which the case was raised suggests that all matters would be thoroughly investigated. But he refused to comment on speculation over who was behind the poisoning.

Mr. Sivkovych led an earlier Parliamentary inquiry in October that concluded Mr. Yushchenko was suffering from a combination of a viral infection and several other diseases.

Mr. Yanukovych, denied that he was involved in the poisoning while campaigning in eastern Ukraine this past week and said that he welcomed the investigations. However, he said Mr. Yushchenko could be hampered by his illness in effectively governing the country should he be elected in the run-off on December 26.

"The fact of the matter is that Yushchenko is seriously ill," he said. "We can all see it." Mr. Yanukovych added, "I sympathize as a person with Mr. Yushchenko that he is sick. I hope that he gets better soon."

On Sunday, December 12, speaking from the Austrian clinic Mr. Yushchenko praised Mr. Piskun for reopening the criminal investigation. While Mr. Yushchenko refused to name any specific officials and said the inquiry should determine the culprit, the following day he told reporters at Kyiv's Boryspil Airport: "I am convinced that this is the work of the authorities, absolutely convinced."

Authorities in Ukraine have denied the charge, and some pro-government politicians have ridiculed it.

When pressed on the matter, Mr. Yushchenko said he did not want the issue to become the focus of the presidential campaign. "I don't want this factor to influence the election in some way - either as a plus or a minus," he said at the airport in Kyiv as he was returning from his trip to Vienna. "This question will require a great deal of time and serious investigation. Let us do it after the election. Today is not the moment."

It is not yet known exactly which dioxin Mr. Yushchenko ingested, but Mr. Brouwer, the environmental toxicology professor, said that of the more than 400 his team originally looked into, experts had narrowed the search to about 29.

He also told the AP that he was confident his team would identify the poison, which would aid investigators in their work and help determine the prognosis for Mr. Yushchenko.

"From a [chemical] fingerprint, at least you can deduce what kind of sources might have been involved," the professor said. "The labs will ... try to find out whether it matches any of the batches of dioxins that are around, so that maybe you can trace it back to where it was ordered or where it came from."

Mr. Yushchenko, who experts believe has experienced the worst of the effects from the poison and is expected to gradually recover with no impairment to his working ability, appeared at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday, December 15.

Wearing a gray jacket, and a tie and pocket handkerchief in his campaign colors, Mr. Yushchenko looked weary and tired. His face, still pockmarked and bloated, had several gray patches, though doctors said his internal organs had not been damaged. Mr. Yushchenko announced that he is fit for the campaign trail and denied suggestions by Mr. Yanukovych that he is unhealthy and too sick to take office.

"In political terms, let me say that I am in good shape and able to work. In moral and ethical terms, I regret that I look like this at the moment. But over time everything will be OK," he said.

"I have apologized dozens of times for my face. Please believe me that more than anyone else I would like it to be the way it was three months ago. Time is needed for that," Mr. Yushchenko said.

Chief of staff on PBS

In an interview conducted in the United States on the Public Broadcasting System's "Newshour with Jim Lehrer," Mr. Yushchenko's chief of staff, Oleh Rybachuk, told PBS's Ray Suarez on December 10 that Mr. Yushchenko was moving forward with his campaign and was focusing his campaign on the east of the country.

When asked if Mr. Yushchenko's life was still in danger, Mr. Rybachuk said, "No, actually. I've been talking to doctors and it's not about danger to his life. He has fully recovered. Actually, he was very lucky that he was brought to Vienna because doctors said if he would stay another 24 hours in Ukraine, it could be a final solution, so-called."

Asked if he was certain about Mr. Yushchenko's safety, Mr. Rybachuk said, "I'm not so sure for a number of reasons. I have very good reasons not to be sure because we are dealing with the business groups which invested billions of dollars in Yanukovych, and they've been pretty confident that Yanukovych will win. Nobody expected [the] Ukrainian resistance movement. They've been very skeptical about this and they have support also from outside. We are talking about billions of dollars at stake, and when the price is so high, you can never be sure of security."

"But anyway, at this point when nothing can stop Yushchenko, they know that Yushchenko is the clear winner and whatever might come to their ... crazy heads is something which worries me a lot. These guys are not gentlemen at all, sir," Mr. Rybachuk added.

The U.S. reaction

In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan urged Ukraine to fully investigate the poisoning. "It's terrible news to hear. It's certainly disturbing reports. And I know the Ukraine government is investigating this matter fully, as they should," Mr. McClellan said on December 13.

The U.S. State Department commented on the matter that same day as spokesman Richard Boucher added, "I think first and foremost, we wish Mr. Yushchenko a speedy and complete recovery from the problems that have faced him."

"Second of all, we are deeply disturbed by the physicians' report. We support a full and complete transparent investigation into that matter, into how it happened, who did it, what the cause was," Mr. Boucher said.

When asked about the possibility that Mr. Yushchenko was poisoned by the outgoing Ukrainian presidential administration, Mr. Boucher said, "Obviously, that's the kind of thing that does need to be looked into, how it happened, who did it, because I think the doctors have said it was an intentional poisoning. And so that needs to be looked at very carefully and there are a variety of proposals for investigation, I think, in Ukraine."

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