Kuchma receives top level support

Embattled Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma

Kiev, Ukraine -- Embattled President Leonid Kuchma has received the support of Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko.

Opposition parties and human rights groups have been demanding Kuchma's resignation since he was implicated in the murder of internet journalist Heorhiy Gongadze.

But Yushchenko threw his weight behind the president, saying: "I am convinced the president could not order anyone's murder.

"Morally, I cannot accept that the Ukrainian president could have been linked in such a way to anyone's disappearance."

Gongadze's headless corpse was discovered in a forest outside Kiev in November 2000.

Audio tapes were subsequently made public in which a man with a voice similar to Kuchma's appeared to order the journalist's disappearance.

The release of the tapes sparked an ongoing series of protests against the president, who has strenuously denied any involvement in Gongadze's death.

Last weekend an anti-Kuchma rally in central Kiev, orchestrated by the Ukraine Without Kuchma Movement, attracted 10,000 people and resulted in pitched battles between police and protesters.

Yushchenko's statement on Friday is his first public comment on the scandal.

Yushcehenko is a widely respected politician and one renowned for his moral probity in Ukraine.

In a separate development U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Carlos Pascual announced a $750,000 (£525,603) grants package to help encourage the country's independent media.

"The Gongadze case and all the issues surrounding it have only heightened questions about whether there is an independent media in the Ukraine and whether it needs strengthening," he said.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Ukraine Government

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