September 26, 2002	Thursday	Rajab 18, 1423

WASHINGTON, Sept 25: The State Department has announced it is freezing US aid to Ukraine after determining President Leonid Kuchma personally approved the sale of an advanced radar system to Iraq.

“We’ve recently concluded an analysis of a July 2000 recording that was provided by the former Ukrainian presidential bodyguard, Mykola Melnychenko. On one of the tapes, Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma is heard approving the clandestine sale of “Kolchuga” early warning systems to Iraq, and we believe this recording to be authentic,” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told reporters on Tuesday.

Boucher said aid to the central government in Kiev has been temporarily frozen as part of a review of policy towards Kuchma’s government. The frozen funding amounts to approximately $54 million in aid for government, legal and regulatory reform, but does not effect the majority of aid to the Ukraine including money set aside for military to military assistance.

The Ukrainian government has denied the transfers ever took place, and Kuchma himself drafted a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcoming an international inquiry into the American allegations. A statement released on Tuesday from Kuchma read: “Ukraine is prepared to make available all information, and it is open to inspections by competent authorized international organizations, including US experts.”

Boucher said the US government was not certain the radar system was actually in place in Iraq, but was confident Kuchma did in fact approve the sale. One senior State Department official also noted “Kuchma and others denied this kind of activity to us. They denied the sales.”

Boucher made it clear that President Kuchma intended to violate UN sanctions against Iraq. “Our ongoing policy review reflects our serious concern that illicit transfers to Iraq were approved by President Kuchma, as well as our determination to discourage further transfers by Ukraine or by any other country that violates UN sanctions on Iraq.”

The timing of the US policy review could not come at a worse time for Kuchma. In the second demonstration in eight days, approximately 8,000 residents of Kiev, took to the streets to protest against the government policies and to demand his resignation.

Agencies add: The Ukrainian president on Wednesday rejected demands for him to step down, but his position appeared increasingly shaky in the wake of the radar sale accusations.

Kuchma on Tuesday relented on a previous refusal to meet the opposition leaders who staged a hunger strike in the presidential building, receiving them in his office where they handed him a petition demanding his resignation.

Communist leader Petro Simonenko said Kuchma “told us he would not resign and would not agree to early elections.”

Kuchma “said he will not bow to the demands of the people,” Simonenko said.