Wary of "political games," Morozov requests dismissal from defense post (10/10/93)

Wary of "political games," Morozov requests dismissal from defense post

by Marta Kolomayets
Kyyiv Press Bureau

KYYIV - President Leonid Kravchuk relieved Ukraine's defense minister, Gen. Kostyantyn Morozov, of his duties on Monday morning, October 4.

The dismissal came at Gen. Morozov's own request, who said he does not want his army to be dragged into any "political games." Although general has been unavailable for comment, sources in the Defense Ministry report that his decision comes in light of the polarized situation in Ukraine's Parliament and the tense events in Moscow.

The Ukrainian defense minister has been attacked by Ukraine's hard-line Communists who over the past year have accused him of forming a policy too independent from Moscow.

But democrats - 90 members of Ukraine's National Council - protested the president's decree dismissing Gen. Morozov and appealed to him in a letter dated October 6 to reconsider his decision.

"We feel that this decision will curb the development of Ukraine's armed forces, and will evoke confusion, not only in the Army, but among members of our society," said the letter.

"Morozov was one of the first, who together with President Kravchuk supported Ukraine's independence, and this is why it was immensely difficult for the president to make this decision," said Volodymyr Petrenko, chief of the president's Defense Council.

Some democrats have said, however, that Gen. Morozov was forced to resign his post because he spoke out strongly against decisions reached at the Massandra summit in early September, which signed away Ukraine's portion of the Black Sea Fleet and its nuclear weapons.

"For me, this announcement about Morozov's resignation was bitter news. I associate Morozov with the development of an independent Ukrainian Army. Perhaps his resignation was a result of his independent and staunch politics in Massandra, where he was about the only one who spoke on behalf of Ukraine's interests," said Vyacheslav Chornovil, a people's deputy and chairman of Rukh.

Some members of the Parliament's majority, among them Oleksander Kotsiuba, one of the leaders of Ukraine's newly registered Communist Party, welcomed Gen. Morozov's resignation.

"I am deeply convinced that a civilian should be Ukraine's minister of defense. In two years, Morozov was not able to build the kind of army we need," he said.

Afghanistan war veteran Col. Volodymyr Sevastinov of the Crimea, a moderate in today's Parliament, accused Gen. Morozov of building an army that was too easily influenced by Ukraine's nationalist forces.

Still others in the Supreme Council accused the Ukrainian minister of being a bad administrator and at times "too soft."

While some of Ukraine's democrats asked the Ukrainian president to reinstate Gen. Morozov as the minister of defense, Ukraine's hard-liners, more than 150 deputies, asked him to nominate Gen. Anatoliy Lopata for the post.

Born in 1940, Gen. Lopata served in Baku and Cuba before assuming command of the Soviet Army's North division, based in Poland, in 1990. Since March of this year, he has been head of Joint Chiefs of Staff Ukraine's. President Kravchuk is expected to nominate Gen. Vitaliy Radetsky, born in 1944, who served as the commander of the 6th Tank Division of the Soviet Army, before being named a deputy minister of defense in April of 1992.

The candidate for the minister of defense must be approved by the Parliament.

On the same day he released Gen. Morozov from the post of defense minister, President Kravchuk named Gen. Ivan Bizhan, as Ukraine's acting defense minister. He has served as first deputy defense minister since 1992 and previously had worked in the Soviet Army's Moscow general staff.

Gen. Morozov has been asked to stay on in the President's reserve staff.

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