President Leonid Kuchma addressed the nation on the first national channel on December 6, saying that “events these past couple of days show that Ukraine is being pushed to a point beyond which there is nothing but chaos, anarchy, and the disorganization of public life.” He noted that Oleksandr Moroz’s statement “is neither the first nor last evidence of this.”
Mr. Kuchma regards the situation as a “consciously incited and well-planned political provocation” aimed at exposing Ukraine to the rest of the world as an “uncivilized state and a wild and ignorant society.” He declared that he will not allow “pouring oil on the fire of political crisis, drawing his country into an early election campaign and a new round of uncontrollable spontaneous events.”
As he put it, “Behind the concerted action of all those anonymous figures one can see the professional hand of people versed in the trade,” that there is a “dirty and dishonest game underway. Individual Ukrainian politicians have allowed themselves to become involved, but the scenario seems to have been written by others.”
The President stressed that he “has acted and continues to act in support of the freedom of expression, against any kind of pressure on the media, for an opportunity to freely voice one’s views.” Publications considering themselves in uncompromising opposition continue to be published, said Mr. Kuchma, emphasizing that he does not understand some of the media, “which juggle the facts as ordered by their masters and think nothing of carrying insinuations and slander.” He is sure that there will be further “disinformation and plain lies.”
“I have no reason to justify any of my actions. No one, no campaigns or blackmail will make me resort to any authoritarian methods or change the current political course. I have acted and will continue to act in accordance with the law. Democratic principles will continue to be observed in Ukraine,” he declared.
Simultaneously, he signed an edict assigning government bodyguards to Oleksandr Moroz as of December 7, 2000, for a term of three months. The presidential press service told Interfax Ukraine that the edict was signed following Mr. Moroz’s written statement addressed to the Department of State Security Guards.
Meanwhile, the video cassette made public by Oleksandr Moroz is still to be examined by experts, Oleksandr BAHARETS, Deputy Prosecutor General, announced on the television program, “Right of Choice” (Inter), adding that “Moroz is evading an answer to the question which of the two tapes he submitted to the Genera Prosecutor is the original.”
Socialist leader Oleksandr MOROZ is convinced that the cassette supplied to the Prosecutor’s Office must be examined by experts. “I asked the investigating officer and the prosecutor how precisely they understand the notion of original,” he said in an interview with Interfax Ukraine, adding that the cassette contains 11 President’s conversations with various people. “Thus it cannot be the original in principle, and they (i.e., people at the General Prosecutor’s Office) are well aware of it,” he said.
Mr. Moroz also stressed that the absence of the original tape still makes an expert examination necessary, because its authenticity must be established. “They also know this,” he added. The Socialist leader explained that in his statement addressed to the Prosecutor General he wrote that he is handing over a cassette “received from a certain person,” and that “for me, it is the original and the rest of the matter must be dealt with by the prosecutor’s office.” When asked by Interfax Ukraine, he said, “The person who gave me the cassette has additional materials and could use them or present them in the course of the investigation.”
He underscored that the investigating officers must not conduct their questioning so as to discover the bugs in the President’s office. “First, they must start a criminal case on charges of wiretapping and thus admit that all this actually happened in the President’s office. After that I will testify as a witness.”
