WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- The State Department announced Tuesday it was freezing U.S. aid to Ukraine after determining President Leonid Kuchma personally approved the sale of an advanced radar system to Iraq.
"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 "Kolchuga" early warning systems to Iraq, and we believe this recording to be authentic," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters Tuesday.
Boucher said aid to the central government in Kiev has been temporarily frozen as part of a review of policy toward Kuchma's government. The frozen funding amounts to approximately $54 million in aid for government, legal and regulatory reform, but does not effect the majority of aid to the Ukraine including money set aside for military to military assistance.
The Ukrainian government has denied the transfers ever took place, and Kuchma himself drafted a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcoming an international inquiry into the American allegations. A statement released Tuesday from Kuchma read, "Ukraine is prepared to make available all information, and it is open to inspections by competent authorized international organizations, including U.S. experts."
Boucher said the U.S. government was not certain the radar system was actually in place in Iraq, but was confident Kuchma did in fact approve the sale. One senior State Department official also noted "Kuchma and others denied this kind of activity to us. They denied the sales."
Boucher made it clear President Kuchma intended to violate U.N. sanctions against Iraq. "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."
The timing of the U.S. policy review could not come at a worse time for Kuchma. In the second demonstration in eight days, approximately 8,000 residents of Kiev, took to the streets to protest the government and to demand his resignation.
