Anti-Kuchma newspaper editor shot (08/02/98)

Anti-Kuchma newspaper editor shot

KYIV - Serhii Odarych, editor of the Kyiv newspaper We (My) and president of the Ukrainian Perspectives Fund, was shot during the early morning hours of July 30.

The shooting came after an unknown man approached Mr. Odarych, who was accompanied by his wife, Anzhela, at about 12:30 a.m. and asked to speak with him. As Mr. Odarych told the newspaper Den, "the man warned me that if I do not stop engaging in politics in the near future I will be killed. I answered that I have nothing to talk to him about and continued homeward. I had not gone more than four meters when a heard a shot behind my back."

The bullet entered and exited Mr. Odarych's left thigh. He was taken to the Kyiv City hospital, where he underwent surgery.

"I believe that I had 'the honor' of conversing with a professional. I was spoken to very properly. The fact that I am alive is not an accident; they didn't want to kill me, just to frighten me. If this was a contract killing I would not be here," Mr. Odarych told Den correspondent Inna Zolotukhina.

When asked who might have ordered the hit, Mr. Odarych said, "My team and I personally have only one opponent: President Kuchma. We have no other enemies. Our paper regularly publishes articles in which we tell the truth about the president and those closest to him."

Mr. Odarych was listed in satisfactory condition, having sustained only soft-tissue damage to his thigh. The attack is being investigated.