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Korrespondent.net web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 18 Feb 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Feb 19, 2004
A Ukrainian intelligence general has accused the secret services of spying
on opposition leaders and government members, according to a report by a
leading Ukrainian news web site quoting the general's interview on Deutsche
Welle. The Ukrainian Security Service, the SBU, has described the
allegations as absurd.
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The following is the text of report by the Ukrainian Korrespondent.net web
site on 18 February; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
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On 18 February, a man walked into the Berlin studio of the German radio
station Deutsche Welle and identified himself as Valeriy Kravchenko, a
Ukrainian foreign intelligence general and adviser to the Ukrainian embassy
in Berlin. He asked for an opportunity to make a short statement.
GENERAL KRAVCHENKO SAID:
[Kravchenko] Ladies and Gentlemen. I, General Valeriy Kravchenko, possess
evidence of criminal activities by [Ukrainian President Leonid] Kuchma's
regime. This evidence proves that his [Kuchma's] subordinates, Security
Service of Ukraine [SBU] chief Ihor Petrovych Smeshko, and also the head of
the Main Intelligence Directorate, Oleh Hryhorovych Synyanskyy, have been
ordering their employees abroad to spy on Ukrainian opposition MPs and
government members `starting from ministers and higher up', violating the
constitution and the law on Ukrainian intelligence agencies. I have received
one of such orders. I am ready to hand over the evidence I possess to a
representative of the Prosecutor-General's Office of Ukraine and to
parliament's human rights committee.
OPPOSITION LEADER
[Deutsche Welle journalist Nikita Zholkver] General, what orders
specifically have you been receiving from Centre [Kiev] regarding Ukrainian
opposition politicians?
[Kravchenko] In particular, I have received an order to monitor the
preparations for the forum organized by the Our Ukraine Bloc, led by
[reformist former prime minister and opposition leader] Viktor Yushchenko.
He was making preparations for the forum in Kiev, but orders were coming to
carry out work in Germany. What is criminal about this situation is that
there is a law on intelligence agencies, adopted in March 2001 and signed by
President Kuchma.
According to the law, I, as an intelligence officer, have no right to meddle
in politics in our country or, worse, spy on opposition parties. The law is
clear on that. And the president of Ukraine, who under to the law is
responsible for general control and supervision of the Ukrainian
intelligence agencies, should have known about this.
[Zholkver] Did you put your opinion to Centre?
[Kravchenko] Of course.
[Zholkver] And what did they say?
[Kravchenko] They said it was non of my business and that I must obey the
orders from Centre.
GENERAL'S BACKGROUND
[Zholkver] What undercover activities did you undertake?
[Kravchenko] None, of course. I have spent 30 years working in the agencies,
my total work experience is 48 years. I graduated from the higher school of
the KGB in Moscow, spent five years working in Afghanistan, four years in
the Ukrainian embassy in Bonn, then in Berlin. This is my third foreign
attachment.
[Zholkver] How do you expect to hand over the evidence you have to the
Prosecutor-General's Office and the parliamentary human rights committee?
[Kravchenko] I think that after my interview and statement a representative
of the Prosecutor-General's Office will come here, as well as a
representative of the human rights committee in parliament. I will hand over
the evidence to them. [End of the excerpt from the interview; rest of the
report follows]
A representative of Deutsche Welle in Berlin said Kravchenko had produced
documents confirming his identity. According to Deutsche Welle, the general
also produced documents confirming his allegations. The editor of the
programme saw the documents and stamps on them.
The interview with Kravchenko was broadcast live at 1600 Berlin time [1500
gmt]. A recording of the interview was broadcast during the later news
bulletins. The programme was broadcast by the Russian and Ukrainian services
of Deutsche Welle.
The radio also reported the reaction of the Security Service of Ukraine. The
head of the SBU press service, Oleksandr Skrypnyk, did not deny that Valeriy
Kravchenko worked as an adviser at the Ukrainian embassy in Germany.
Skrypnyk said Kravchenko's allegations would be investigated.
[The SBU said Kravchenko's allegations were absurd, see Interfax-Ukraine
news agency, Kiev, in Russian 2205 gmt 19 Feb 04. Another former security
service officer, fugitive presidential guard Mykola Melnychenko, released in
2001 wiretapped recordings apparently implicating President Kuchma in the
murder of campaigning journalist Georgy Gongadze and persecution of
political opponents, triggering Ukraine's biggest scandal since
independence. The president denied all charges. The Ukrainian opposition
has repeatedly accused the government of using state agencies against
political opponents.]
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