President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine has announced he is not going to run for presidency in the 2004 elections. “This is a lie,” the head of state emphasized, addressing students of the Ostroh Academy National University. Interfax-Ukraine also quotes the president as denying the rumor that he is grooming a successor. “I wish nobody would speculate on this before the time comes,” he said in this connection. “I still have as many as three years (until the next presidential elections — Ed.).” Mr. Kuchma believes that “life itself will nominate” the future president. “We don’t have a throne,” the head of state noted.
Mr. Kuchma noted in the same interview that he did not mind his chief of staff Volodymyr Lytvyn leading the For a United Ukraine bloc. “First, I don’t think this needs my approval. And, secondly, I support this idea because I know Mr. Lytvyn very well from all sides,” he said. He described his administration chief as “a professional, decent, and honest person.” According to the head of state, “there are not many figures like this on the political skyline.”
The president said he also convinced that Valery Pustovoitenko, Minister for Transport and leader of the People’s Democratic Party, would be questioned by prosecutors in connection with his claim that he has information about new details of the murder of journalist Heorhy Gongadze to be made public only after the parliamentary elections. “That he will be invited (to the prosecutor’s office — Ed.) and questioned is beyond a shadow of a doubt,” the head of state said. Simultaneously in Mr. Kuchma’s opinion, Mr. Pustovoitenko made a “political” and totally unfounded statement. “But he cannot and does not have any concrete facts,” the president emphasized.
Speaking to journalists, the chief executive also said he considered it possible to resume the privatization of oblenerho (regional power generation and supply companies — Ed.) provided this process is under tight control.
He pointed out he took a “positive” view of a “strategic investor” who would come over “to work rather than to bleed this country.”
Mr. Kuchma thinks it necessary to privatize, first of all, the power companies, “thermal and other power plants.” Yet, in his opinion, “we should not hurry with privatization in general.” We must wait for “the economy to begin to work” and stop selling Ukrainian facilities “for a song.” The president is convinced we “will not have to wait very long.”
As Prime Minister Anatoly Kinakh said earlier, the government of Ukraine is drawing up proposals to resume the privatization of the oblenerho regional electric companies. In his words, another group of oblenerho is going to be prepared for privatization in the immediate future, which will involve clearance of their accounts payable and receivable. In the course of privatization, the government will create equal conditions for national and foreign investors and make all procedures transparent.
The government plans to invite tenders for the controlling shares of 12 oblenerho entities, as well as for four power-generating companies.
