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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Karen Lawrence who wrote (56502)	11/11/2002 9:38:24 AM
From: maceng2	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

No problem. btw The British nuclear attack submarine nearly got whanged by the pursuing Argentinian destroyers after the G. Belgrano was sunk. From what I heard, it was lucky to escape. -------------------------------------------------------- Some news from the Ukraine. This is a big deal imho. The Ukraine is next to Israel in USA government financial assistance. The "passive radars" sold would be a serious risk to allied planes. US will shun Ukraine president over radar sale news.ft.com By Tom Warner in Kiev Published: November 8 2002 21:52 \| Last Updated: November 8 2002 21:52 The US government will shun Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma unless he provides further evidence proving he did not sell military radar to Iraq, a senior US diplomat signalled yesterday. Steven Pifer, head of the State Department's division for the former Soviet Union, said a crisis of confidence with the top leadership in Ukraine was leading to US to seek "opportunities to work with Ukraine at other levels". The US government had absolutely no doubt that Mr Kuchma had approved a sale of radar systems to Iraq, Mr Pifer told a press conference in Kiev. US and British experts sent to Ukraine last month to investigate whether the sale went through were given misleading answers by some Ukrainian authorities, he said, while others were evasive. Mr Kuchma has been given more time to answer the experts' outstanding questions before the US completes a formal review of its policy toward Ukraine, the diplomat said. The US launched the review in September, after the FBI authenticated a recording received from one of Mr Kuchma's former guards in which the president can apparently be heard approving a plan to sell Iraq four "Kolchuga" radar systems for $100m (£63m). During the experts' visit, Ukrainian authorities admitted to exporting more Kolchugas than previously acknowledged, and the US needed fuller disclosure to determine where those Kolchugas went, Mr Pifer said. He said the US wanted to speak to Ukraine's former intelligence chief, Leonid Derkach, and Yury Orshansky, a Ukrainian businessman who until recently served as Iraq's honorary consul. Mr Derkach is mentioned in the recording as the person who would conduct a special operation to ship the Kolchugas to a Jordanian intermediary. He has denied any involvement in sending Kolchugas to Iraq. Mr Pifer stressed that the US continued to support Ukraine's integration with Nato and the European Union. He said he had urged Anatoly Zlenko, foreign minister, to attend Nato's forthcoming summit in Prague, despite the alliance's decision not to invite Mr Kuchma. But Mr Pifer acknowledged that dealing with Ukraine through second-tier officials would be tricky. "One question is, you know, can we do this," he said. "Of course, part of that answer is going to depend on our Ukrainian counterparts." Mr Pifer said the US was also concerned by reports of increasing state control over Ukrainian media.