05/15/2002 | Serhiy Hrysch

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
invites you to a briefing by

Mykola Melnichenko
Former Bodyguard, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma

Did Ukraine Sell Arms To Iraq?

Tuesday, May 21, 2002
8:30AM-10:00AM
in Conference Room A (4th Floor) at
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
1201 Connecticut Ave NW
[entrance on Rhode Island Ave NW, next to St. Matthew's Cathedral]

In one of his first public appearances in the U.S., Mykola Melnichenko
will address the issue of alleged illegal arms sales by the Ukrainian
government to Iraq. Melnichenko, a former member of Ukrainian President
Leonid Kuchma's security detachment, made extensive secret recordings of
Kuchma's conversations. According to Melnichenko's testimony before a
federal grand jury in early May 2002, in July 2000 Kuchma approved the
illegal sale of the "Kolchuga" passive antiaircraft radar system, worth
$100 million, to Iraq in violation of the U.N. embargo. Melnichenko will
discuss the evidence presented on the recordings he made; RFE/RL analyst
Roman Kupchinsky will serve as discussant.

Mykola Melnichenko recorded over 300 hours of conversations in the
presidential office beginning in mid-2000. These recordings included
Kuchma discussing the need to "remove Heorhiy Gongadze," a journalist who
had written on high-level corruption in the Ukrainian government.
Gongadze's corpse was found in November 2000 near Kyiv. Melnichenko
waited one year after the Gongadze revelations before making public the
recording in which Kuchma allegedly approved the Iraqi arms deal.

Roman Kupchinsky served as Director of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Broadcast
Service from 1990-2001. He is now the editor of RFE/RL's weekly
publication, "Crime and Corruption Watch" (www.rferl.org/corruptionwatch/)

Please RSVP by Monday, May 20, 2002 by email to , by
telephone to Melody Jones at
(202) 457-6949, or by fax to (202) 457-6992.