U.S. suspends $54 M in aid to Ukraine (09/29/02)

U.S. suspends $54 M in aid to Ukraine

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - The United States said it suspended nearly $54 million in aid to Ukraine after officials at the State Department verified the authenticity of a clandestine tape recording that appears to implicate Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in approving illegal arms sales to Iraq.

The State Department said it had not yet looked at all of the hundreds of hours of digital recordings made by a former Ukrainian presidential security guard who turned the tapes over to United States officials for testing this summer.

"We've recently concluded an analysis of a July 2000 recording that was provided by the former Ukrainian presidential bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko. On one of the tapes, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is heard approving the clandestine sale of Kolchuha early warning systems to Iraq, and we believe this recording to be authentic," State Department spokesmen Richard Boucher said in Washington on September 24.

An earlier report from Reuters quoted officials in the U.S. government who said on August 1 they had no evidence proving that Ukraine violated U.N. sanctions by making an arms deal with Iraq.

However, the State Department said its verification of the tapes as authentic had triggered an American review of policy towards Ukraine. "This recording's authentication has led us to re-examine our policy toward Ukraine, in particular toward President Kuchma," Mr. Boucher said.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington said President Kuchma stands by statements that Ukraine has not sold any illegal equipment to Iraq. Officials added that President Kuchma has often invited both the United States and the United Nations to investigate the matter for themselves.

"We have told both the U.N. and the U.S. that if they have any facts that prove Ukraine has sold illegal equipment to Iraq, please bring them forward or bring them to us," said Hennadii Nadolenko, a spokesman for the Embassy of Ukraine.

However, Mr. Boucher said there are "indications" that suggest the Kolchuha radar may be in Iraq, adding that officials would continue to look into the matter.

The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington could not be reached for comment regarding the American claim that there are indications that the radar is in Iraq. Mr. Nadolenko did not return repeated phone calls from The Ukrainian Weekly in the matter.

Mr. Boucher said the United States had initiated "a temporary pause" in obligations of Freedom Support Act assistance to Ukraine and added that, "We remain committed now more than ever to help Ukraine undertake needed political and economic reforms and draw closer to the rest of Europe."

The Freedom Support Act was scheduled to provide Ukraine with $54 million - nearly 35 percent of the total Freedom Support Act money set aside for Ukraine - for democratic and reform oriented programs in fiscal year 2002. Fiscal year 2003 begins on October 1.

According to State Department officials, the temporary pause would not affect the bulk of assistance to Ukraine, which goes to the private sector, including non-governmental organizations, and local and regional government bodies, as well as to help Ukraine dismantle its Soviet-era nuclear program. Programs that support small business, land titling and exchanges will continue, officials said. Mr. Boucher gave no indication of what Ukraine needed to do in order to resume the aid payments, saying he did not have "a list of required things that I'd like to see them do at this point." He said Ukraine's cooperation in providing full information on the situation would be helpful.

"Our ongoing policy review reflects our serious concern that illicit transfers to Iraq were approved by President Kuchma, as well as our determination to discourage further transfers by Ukraine or by any other country that violates U.N. sanctions on Iraq," Mr. Boucher said.

U.S. law and U.N. sanctions prohibit the transfer of the Kolchuha system, which tracks moving objects on the ground or in the air when they emit radar signals.

Mr. Boucher also said the American government immediately informed authorities in Kyiv of their findings and said, "We have told them quite bluntly what we have concluded and what we were doing with our programs."

There has been some speculation that the date President Kuchma approved the sale, July 10, 2000, angered U.S. officials. The apparent green light came barely five weeks after President Bill Clinton visited Kyiv to offer a badly needed show of support for Mr. Kuchma's leadership, which continues to experience strong criticism from lawmakers and much of the country's citizenry.

Most recently, on September 16 and 24, President Kuchma came under fire in protests in Ukraine seeking his ouster.

Early speculation is that the U.S. verification of the tape's validity could further inflame anti-presidential protests and put pressure on Mr. Kuchma to resign.

According to the UNIAN news agency, Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz appealed to the Verkhovna Rada on September 24 to hold a closed parliamentary session with the participation of the president and Cabinet members to discuss the alleged illegal arms sales.

It is not currently known if the United States is planning to take any action against Ukraine at the United Nations for violation of Security Council resolutions.

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