11/13/2002 | SLAVKO

Kiev hits at US and UK on radar sales
By Tom Warner in Kiev&co
Financial Times; Nov 13, 2002


Ukraine lashed out yesterday at the US and Britain, demanding they revoke "unproven allegations" that President Leonid Kuchma approved a sale of military radars to Iraq and suggesting Kiev might suspend its preparations to join Nato over the dispute.

In an angry rebuttal dubbed as Ukraine's "official" response on the issue, Viktor Medvedchuk, chief of Mr Kuchma's administration, appeared to confirm worries among some western diplomats that the US's increasingly strict line with Mr Kuchma could drive him to adopt a less western-friendly foreign policy.

Ukraine would not co-operate any further with US and British investigators unless they "cast away" the allegations, "respect Ukraine as a country and respect her national interests," Mr Medvedchuk said.

Ukraine has asked the UN Security Council to instead investigate the matter, a move he said the US is blocking.

Mr Medvedchuk said his "personal opinion" was that Ukraine should also skip a planned meeting with Nato at the alliance's forthcoming summit in Prague, although he stressed that the final decision would be made by Ukraine's security council.

Nato wants Ukraine to send its foreign minister to the meeting to approve a "joint action plan" that many see as a road map toward Nato membership.

But even while explaining why the US and British experts were wrong to suspect Ukraine, Mr Medvedchuk made admissions that appeared to strengthen the possibility that Iraq could have acquired Ukrainian "Kolchuga" radars.

The US and Britain launched their investigation after the FBI authenticated a two-year-old recording in which Mr Kuchma appears to approve the sale of four Kolchugas to Iraq for $100m.

Mr Medvedchuk said Ukraine had exported 25 Kolchugas, including 18 to Russia, four to China, and three to Ethiopia. In earlier accounts, Ukrainian officials admitted to the sales to China and Ethiopia but did not mention.