|
||||||||
  |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Inquiry into Kuchma's Iraq 'deal'
KIEV, Ukraine -- U.S. and British officials are expected to arrive in Ukraine on Sunday to investigate suspicions that Kiev approved the sale of a new type of aircraft tracking system to Iraq, Russia's Interfax news agency says. The U.S. Embassy told Interfax the delegation "will include military and industrial experts." In September, the administration of President George W. Bush suspended $55 million in aid to the Ukraine because of the alleged sale, and senior administration officials have told CNN that more action could follow unless Washington receives a full account of any sales to Iraq. A senior administration official said the tracking system, which does not emit a pulse-like traditional radar, is "very sophisticated" and "should not be in the hands of Iraq." The officials said U.S. statutes and U.N. resolutions are being reviewed to see if further action should be taken against Kiev. Although reports of the sale to Baghdad have been around for some time, the United States is basing its judgment on analysis of a July 2000 recording in which Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma is heard approving the sale of "Kolchuga" early warning systems to Iraq. The tape, which the U.S. State Department says is believed to be authentic, was given to Washington by Kuchma's former bodyguard, Mykola Melnichenko, and has prompted the United States to re-examine its policy towards Ukraine, and in particular toward Kuchma. On Friday, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that experts have reviewed the tapes and concluded the original recordings were edited. The Scientific and Research Institute for Legal Examinations at the Justice Ministry in Kiev had concluded that "the recordings of conversations, which were cited by the U.S. State Department, were edited after they were initially recorded," Reuters quoted the statement as saying. Earlier this week, Kuchma gave "his word of honour" that he had not sold the detection system to Iraq and dismissed the tapes as dubious, Reuters said. The joint investigation involving U.S. and British experts was agreed at a recent meeting between Ukrainian Presidential Chief of Staff Viktor Medvedchuk and U.S. Undersecretary of State Elizabeth Jones. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the investigation would "look into the circumstances of the procurement effort by the Iraqis, the nature of the equipment, (and) what transfers did or did not occur." U.S. officials have described the system as using multiple sites to passively receive aircraft signals, such as communications from warplanes. The sites then feed locational information to a central computer, which can process and triangulate a plane's location. Key to such a system is having computers and weapons guidance fast enough to accurately aim any ground fire. "First of all, it matters to us whether Iraq got this system or not," Boucher said, adding the administration was following up on some unconfirmed reports that the transfer took place. "That, first and foremost, is something we want to know and we want to know what happened and how it happened," he said. "But what also matters to us is the degree of co-operation we get, the degree of transparency we get, and the degree of commitment we get towards avoiding a repetition. "What it means is there could also be other leaks in the (U.N.) sanctions," he said. The issue of weapons sales to Iraq in the face of U.N. sanctions has long been a sore spot in U.S.-Ukraine relations. Boucher said the matter has been repeatedly raised with the Kuchma government "to ensure that they protected against sales and made sure that no sales were made despite Iraq's attempts to procure military equipment." The suspended aid to Ukraine's central government, totaling nearly $55 million for the 2002 fiscal year, makes up 35 percent of U.S. aid to the country. The cut-off affects programmes funded under the Freedom Support Act, which includes work with the Ukraine government on political and fiscal reform. But it does not affect the bulk of U.S. assistance to Ukraine -- most of which goes to the private sector, non-governmental organisations, small businesses and local government entities. U.S. military and non-proliferation assistance to Ukraine will also be unaffected.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
