Taras Kuzio’s Blog

So Who Poisoned Yushchenko?

Last week during President Viktor Yushchenko’s meeting with the media he was asked about progress in investigating who poisoned him during the presidential elections. His answer was surprising as he said that the authorities already knew who had done this and were close to arresting them. A day later Prosecutor Oleksandr Medvedko responded by saying that this was not the case. Feeling a little embarrassed at having to contradict the president, he said that they were no where near close to finding those who had poisoned him.

http://pravda.com.ua/news/2006/12/14/52318.htm
http://pravda.com.ua/news/2006/12/15/52374.htm

I was shocked and surprised by this claim and counter claim. After all, Medvedko is a presidential appointee according to the 2006 constitution. I asked others on my discussion list if they could shed some light on this troubling contradiction?
Few responded. Probably few could understand why the president and prosecutor would contradict each other on such an important issue as the poisoning of the opposition candidate. The best explanation was that this was not the first time that Yushchenko had stated that arrests were close only to be contradicted. Soon after he was elected the Interior Minister, Yuriy Lutsenko, claimed that the authorities who had brought the poison into Ukraine and which parliamentary deputy had distributed it. Again, nothing came of this claim.
The contradictions say a lot about Ukrainian politics today. The 2006 constitution left the president with some extensive powers. These included control over the appointment of the ‘siloviki’ (Security Service chairman, prosecutor, National Security and Defense Council secretary, minister of defense and minister of foreign affairs). Nevertheless, President Yushchenko is clearly unhappy with the performance of the Prosecutor and the security service chairman.
These are two key positions of influence in dealing with Ukraine’s two big areas requiring reform – corruption and the rule of law. Ukraine’s two prosecutor’s since Yushchenko was elected, Sviatoslav Piskun and Medvedko, have been disastrous in assisting in combating corruption and improving the rule of law. They are more likely protecting senior officials than investigating them for abuse of office. We now know why ‘bandits’ never did go to prison.
The lack of progress into investigating Yushchenko’s poisoning is therefore due to sabotage, incompetence or a disinterest in finding those guilty of this crime. This failed investigation is all to readily compared to the thorough British investigation of the poisoning of former FSB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.
When I read about the intensive investigation conducted by the British police and security service into the murder of a British citizen on British soil I feel proud to be British. When I read about the botched and contradictory Ukrainian non-investigation I feel sad and depressed. Ukrainians who froze on the Maidan in the Orange Revolution deserved more from their leaders.