Quotable notes

"What we are witnessing is not a political reform, and we realize this very well. We are witnessing a coup d'état organized by three persons - [President Leonid] Kuchma, [presidential administration chief Viktor] Medvedchuk and [Communist Party leader Petro] Symonenko. ... The participation in a coup d'etat is a political crime. ... I hope, Oleksander Oleksandrovych [Moroz], that you are sufficiently honest not to join the ranks [of the organizers of a coup d'état]."

- Our Ukraine leader Viktor Yushchenko during the April 8 parliamentary debate on a constitutional-reform bill; quoted by the Ukrainska Pravda website and cited by RFE/RL Belarus and Ukraine Report.

"They say that after the adoption of the constitutional reform, power will find itself in the hands of oligarchs. In whose hands it is now, I ask? We are against having another Kuchma under a different name."

- Socialist Party leader Oleksander Moroz; ibid.

"Today, if these [constitutional] changes are adopted, they will institute a figurehead in the post of president, and there will be no need to give people the right to elect a president, since they will elect a non-entity."

- Yulia Tymoshenko, head of the eponymous opposition bloc; ibid.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 18, 2004, No. 16, Vol. LXXII

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