Kyiv denies selling Kolchuha system to Iraq (09/29/02)

Kyiv denies selling Kolchuha system to Iraq

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine responded strongly on September 25 to contentions by the United States that Kyiv had transferred an anti-aircraft missile system to Iraq in circumvention of United Nations sanctions against Baghdad, denying that it was in any way connected to illegal arms sales.

President Leonid Kuchma's office issued a statement in which it said that it rejected the assertions and was ready to cooperate in any way necessary to clear itself of unproven and misplaced charges.

"Ukraine is ready to provide any information and is open for inspection of relevant authorized international organizations, including experts from the U.S.," read the statement.

On September 25, the U.S. State Department acknowledged that it had suspended aid to the central government of Ukraine in the amount of $54 million after it had decided that digital recordings of conversations between President Kuchma and the head of his arms export committee, made by a former presidential security officer, were authentic. It also stated that there was "some indication" that the weapons system in question, a Kolchuha anti-aircraft system, was in Iraq.

The charges leveled against Kyiv, and Mr. Kuchma explicitly, come with the Ukrainian president mired in a domestic political crisis, which now can only deepen further. Political parties opposed to his administration have organized mass rallies in the last two weeks calling for his resignation or impeachment on charges of corruption and even murder.

During a meeting with leaders of the opposition on September 25, Mr. Kuchma said he would support a special, closed-door session of the Parliament to consider the allegations leveled by Washington to verify that neither Ukraine nor its state leaders were involved in illegal arms sales. However, he said he would not consider resigning under any circumstances on the basis of demands put forth by the domestic political opposition.

Kyiv mounted a systematic political defense of its innocence almost immediately after Washington brought the allegations, which seem to substantiate rumors, innuendo and circumstantial evidence that has floated about for more than a year in various international news reports.

A variety of Ukrainian state and government leaders expressed the view that Washington had improperly leveled sanctions without substantially proving that a Kolchuha missile system exists in Iraq and without a vigorous diplomatic effort to allow Ukraine to prove the allegations false

Minister of Defense Volodymyr Shkidchenko simply called the allegations "groundless."

"We have a full record of the produced systems. The manufacturers must obtain military approval," explained the leader of Ukraine's armed forces in an Interfax-Ukraine report.

Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn, who was in Moscow for talks that day, said the charge was part of a "political game," according to Interfax-Ukraine, while a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said such an allegation appearing at a time of political upheaval in Ukraine was not coincidental, implying that the U.S. may be seeking benefit in destabilizing the country.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry invited members of the foreign press corps to an extraordinary meeting on the matter with First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Yurii Sergeyev and two top ministry arms specialists.

The group of diplomats rebutted the charges of an illegal arms sale and gave a systematic defense of Ukraine's position. Mr. Sergeyev criticized the United States for proceeding in a very undiplomatic manner in publicizing unsubstantiated charges.

"The manipulation of facts has its limits," said Mr. Sergeyev, who then asserted that the United States was doing a blatant disservice to Ukraine-U.S. relations by announcing sanctions.

"Please be aware that regarding arms sales to Iraq [U.S. State Department spokesperson Richard] Boucher, responded 'we are unsure' and 'there are indications,' " explained the Ukrainian diplomat, who added that no hard evidence of any sort was presented.

Mr. Sergeyev also gave a variety of reasons why it would be virtually impossible for Ukraine to participate in illegal arms trading with Iraq, among them the limited number of Kolchuhas that have been produced and Ukraine's intricate and extensive arms control regime. He also questioned the reason that earlier announcements by the State Department and the United Nations clearing Ukraine of similar allegations had been set aside and why the recordings, which have been in the public arena for months, suddenly were the deciding factor that led to the sanctions.

Mr. Sergeyev underscored that no more than four Kolchuhas have been produced since the system was first developed. He explained that three had been sold to Ethiopia and remain there, while a fourth is either complete or being completed at the Topaz Arms Factory, where they are produced. Mr. Sergeyev also emphasized that the systems are large and transporting them into Iraq would be difficult if not impossible.

"They do not exactly fit into a suitcase," said Mr. Sergeyev.

He rejected allegations that the system might have been driven into Iraq by Ukrainian KRAZ heavy transport vehicles sold to Baghdad.

"Had such vehicles been sold and driven to Iraq, border monitors would have immediately checked thoroughly," explained the Ukrainian diplomat.

Mr. Sergeyev expressed doubt that the Kolchuha system or any military arms could have passed through Ukrainian customs at all because of Ukraine's strict export-control regime. He noted that the system had been put in place with U.S. assistance. He explained further that twice yearly, during non-proliferation meetings between Ukrainian and U.S. officials of the now defunct Kuchma-Gore Commission, arms exports were reviewed in detail, with special emphasis given to possible sales to Iraq.

He noted that five different areas of the government - the Export Control Committee, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Security Service of Ukraine and the National Security and Defense Committee - would have had to cooperate to move illegal arms out of the country. In the end Customs would have had to approve the shipment as well.

"Mr. Kuchma could not simply have ordered [State Committee of Export Control Chairman Valerii] Malev to complete the sale," stated Mr. Sergeyev.

However, Mr. Sergeyev said that he did not have sufficient information to exclude that perhaps some materials had reached Iraq through illicit black market means, although he did emphasize that production control at the plant was sufficiently strict to make the effort virtually impossible.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry official also noted that earlier this year both U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan had cleared Ukraine of any involvement in illegal arms sales to Baghdad, which included an analysis by the arms control committee of the United Nations.

Mr. Sergeyev questioned how the tapes, in the public domain for more than a year, could have become the deciding factor in determining Ukraine's culpability. The diplomat emphasized that nothing in the Melnychenko recordings points directly to a delivery of military arms by Ukraine to Iraq. He noted as well that the tapes are edited and the context of the larger discussion between President Kuchma and his arms export agent is not known, which is another reason that Ukraine has insisted it obtain access to the full set of the Melnychenko tapes.

Mr. Sergeyev went out of his way to insist that Ukraine remains a partner with the United States in the fight against terrorism and that it would cooperate in all ways possible to prove its case and cast aside any international doubt regarding its adherence of U.N. sanctions.

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