Washington Post - 11.17.2002

The Washington Post

Ukrainian Again Fires His Prime Minister

Kuchma Escalates Feud With NATO

By Susan B. Glasser, Washington Post Foreign Service

Ukraine's president, Leonid Kuchma, fired his government today, tapping a regional governor to become the new prime minister, and at the same time moved closer toward a confrontation with NATO over his plans to crash next week's summit in the Czech Republic.

The latest political turmoil in Ukraine marks the seventh time Kuchma has chosen a prime minister in his turbulent eight years in power. Kuchma named the current prime minister, Anatoly Kinakh, not quite a year and a half ago, but recently denounced him as failing to carry through on economic reforms and began publicly shopping for a candidate to replace him.

Tonight, he named Viktor Yanukovych, governor of the key industrial region of Donetsk, to head the new government in what analysts said was Kuchma's latest effort to head off domestic protests. Since September, tens of thousands of Ukrainians have taken to the streets demanding the resignation of Kuchma, who has been accused of corruption, election tampering and involvement in the suspected murder of a journalist.

Kuchma has also faced growing international pressure from U.S. and British officials who say there is credible evidence that he personally approved a $100 million sale of a sophisticated Kolchuga radar system to Iraq. The United States has already suspended $54 million in aid to Ukraine because of the allegation.

In an official decree, Kuchma said he was sacking Kinakh's government in order to boost "cooperation" with parliament and "implement the proclaimed course of reforming the political system in the country." In a statement to the Interfax news agency, Kuchma blamed Kinakh for failing to improve social conditions in the struggling country of 49 million.

Yanukovych, 52, has been a reliable Kuchma ally during the recent turmoil, at one point denouncing opposition protesters for trying to stage "a creeping coup d'etat." In a recent interview, he professed support for economic reforms to combat corruption, but analysts said that his real asset for Kuchma may be his ability to win approval in parliament, where the pro-Kuchma faction has a thin majority. Kinakh and the other 17 members of the current cabinet will continue to serve until parliament confirms the new prime minister.

Before firing the government, Kuchma announced that he was planning to attend the NATO summit next week in the Czech capital, Prague, where dozens of world leaders are expected to meet as the alliance expands east to include several of Ukraine's neighbors. Kuchma's national security council voted unanimously today to send him to Prague, saying "neither Ukraine nor its president deserved to be barred" from the meeting. Later a Kuchma aide announced Ukraine had received an official invitation for Kuchma to attend from NATO headquarters in Brussels.

But NATO spokesman Robert Pszczel tonight dismissed that report as "absolutely not correct," adding, "Our position is the same today: We don't think it would be wise for Mr. Kuchma to come."

President Alexander Lukashenko of neighboring Belarus also said he was planning to crash the Prague summit. The Czech Republic on Friday refused to grant him a visa, saying it was a stand of principle against the Belarusan leader, who has been called Europe's last dictator. Today, the Belarusan Foreign Ministry called the decision "a dangerous precedent," but Lukashenko has stopped short of carrying through on threats to break diplomatic ties with the Czechs.