U.S. will not seek deposition from Kuchma in Lazarenko case

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - The United States Attorney General's Office will not seek a deposition from President Leonid Kuchma when a U.S. prosecutorial delegation comes to Kyiv next week to do interviews in the case of ex-Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, announced former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer on May 14.

"President Kuchma will not be on the government's deposition list," stated Mr. Pifer during a press conference after a two-day visit to Kyiv, which included talks with President Kuchma and Verkhovna Rada Chairman Volodymyr Lytvyn on an array of topics.

Mr. Pifer, who is currently U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, traveled to Kyiv for a gathering of the U.S.-Ukraine Foreign Policy Council and a trilateral meeting on U.S.-Polish-Ukraine strategic relations.

During Mr. Pifer's visit, the London-based Financial Times reported that the Ukrainian president would be asked to answer questions on his relations with Mr. Lazarenko, his ex-prime minister and former political crony, who has spent the last three years in a San Francisco detention center after illegally entering the U.S. and then requesting political asylum. U.S. authorities have charged Mr. Lazarenko with illegally laundering tens of millions of dollars. He faces trial on the charges in August.

Mr. Pifer said he had not seen the U.S. prosecutor's list and did not want to comment further, but that the U.S. court handling the matter would make it public at some point. The Financial Times reported on May 14 that the list included the names of Ukraine's secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, Yevhen Marchuk, and National Deputy Valerii Pustovoitenko.

Messrs. Marchuk and Pustovoitenko, respectively, preceded and followed Mr. Lazarenko in the post of prime minister. The Financial Times said the political leaders on the list would be asked how Ukraine's energy sector was divided among business clans during the mid- to late 1990s.

Pipeline more and more viable

The U.S. senior diplomat said that, in discussions with Polish and Ukrainian officials during a two-day review of tripartite relations, the sides had determined that the Odesa-Brody pipeline had become increasingly viable, especially in the post-war atmosphere, and the consensus was that Poland needed to complete the line to the town of Plotsk, located on the Baltic Sea.

Mr. Pifer went so far as to acknowledge that pumping Iraqi crude oil through the pipeline into Central Europe was a realistic possibility. He noted, however, that a major obstacle remains in Turkey's determination to restrict access to shipping on the overused Dardanelles strait that it controls, an impediment to moving the crude oil efficiently that would have to be overcome.

Armed forces' specific capabilities

The former ambassador to Ukraine acknowledged that discussions took place about a possible deployment of Ukrainian troops to take part in an Iraq stabilization force, which both Washington and Warsaw supported.

"We believe that the Ukrainian armed forces have specific capabilities that they could contribute, based on what we have seen in U.S.-Ukraine joint military exercises and in the work of the Ukrainian-Polish Battalion in Kosovo," explained the U.S. official.

Ukraine is expected to take part in another round of meetings to be held on May 22 in Warsaw to determine the responsibilities of the 10 countries that were invited to become part of the peacekeeping and stabilization force.

Mr. Pifer said that Ukraine would be part of the rebuilding effort in Iraq also. He explained that while the awarding of contracts would occur on a competitive basis, the U.S. would offer information to certain countries, including Ukraine, to make the bidding process easier for those firms that might want to attempt to get such contracts.

Relations on the mend

Mr. Pifer also noted that he was pleased with the progress that Washington and Kyiv had made over the last four months in mending their frayed relations, which cooled considerably after the U.S. announced last September that it had reason to suspect that Ukraine had transferred Kolchuha anti-aircraft systems to Iraq. The State Department official acknowledged that "2002 was a difficult year" and that both sides had worked over the last four months to "improve the relationship."

"At the top of the [U.S.-Ukraine] agenda was how could we recreate the partnership," explained Mr. Pifer. "I think we have had good results. Both sides have worked on practical matters."

Mr. Pifer listed the resolution of several outstanding issues as key to the warming of relations, including banking procedure changes Ukraine made to have anti-money laundering sanctions removed; agreement on import standards for U.S. poultry, which he said could have delayed further Ukraine's entry into the World Trade Organization; progress on changes in Ukraine's export control regime; and Ukraine's willingness to deploy a special battalion on the neutralization of weapons of mass destruction to Kuwait at the start of the Iraq war.

The Kolchuha issue

Asked whether any Kolchuhas have been found in Iraq since the end of the war, Mr. Pifer did not give a direct reply. He only reminded reporters that while the U.S. had expressed "concern," it had never outrightly accused Ukraine of wrongdoing, and had consistently noted that it had "no evidence of such a transfer."

He also made it clear that both sides believe the issue to be dead.

"I actually think that [during this trip] this is the first time I have heard the word Kolchuha," explained Mr. Pifer.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 18, 2003, No. 20, Vol. LXXI

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