Power Politics 

In fact, this "fiscal" topic faded compared to a draft resolution setting up an ad hoc committee of inquiry into the opening of "exchange bank accounts abroad, use, and concealment of hard currency by ranking officials of Ukraine." An explanatory note attached to the document, signed by lawmakers Omelchenko and Yermak, reads that a parliamentary check established that there is an official statement issued by Jules Colpen, Press Secretary of the Brussels Court, on the strength of which Judge Collette Clevert pressed money-laundering charges against Presidential Aide [currently working part time - Author] and People's Deputy Oleksandr Volkov. The judge ruled to block Mr. Volvkov's and his business structures' exchange accounts opened in 1994-97, currently amounting to 135 million Belgian francs (about $4 million) and impounded his limousines and immovable property in Belgium.

It would be needlesly banal to point out that everything now happening in Ukraine is regarded mainly from the angle of the election campaign. The national patriots' belated outrage (i.e., after the interparliamentary conference) is explained primarily by the realization of how effectively presidential candidate Oleksandr Tkachenko is using sentiments in favor of fraternal integration, precisely the trump Leonid Kuchma played to access Bankova Street in the first place. Likewise, the new anti-Volkov wave was triggered off by his opponents precisely after Mr. Volkov surfaced on television as Leonid Kuchma's principal image-maker. Those who saw it arrived at the inspiring conclusion that he should be allowed on the air and kept there until October 31 while the others took a break. Fighting the President made no sense under the circumstances, he would blow it anyway, a godsend for all home-recruited and Russia-exported campaign headquarters.

Well, maybe. But there is also the fact that all previous attempts of truth-hunters Omelchenko and Yermakov to get law enforcement and the General Prosecutor to start a criminal prosecution in the Volkov case met with vague responses boiling down to a clean legal bill of health. One and all understood that the President would not let his man be thrown to the wolves. Now that there is a sequel to the case he will find himself dependent on Parliament, rather on Oleksandr Tkachenko, for the Speaker is in a position to slow down, step up or stabilize the process, as the case may be. True, the double Lazarenko scenario seems unlikely, at least as far as the Speaker is concerned; to discredit the President it would suffice to raise enough hullabaloo which would gradually subside provided Oleksandr Volkov shows enough understanding of who can spare him the trouble and at what cost. The Speaker knows how to take advantage of the situation, as evidenced by the Russian-Belarusian-Ukrainian interparliamentary conference's epilogue. Mr. Tkachenko must thank his stars for having Vice Speaker Medvedchuk, a clever, flexible, legally trained politician, on his side. Mr. Medvedchuk's presentation at a press conference, arguing the need for the fraternal republic's economic integration, the latter being impossible without a serious target-oriented cooperation in the legislative domain, was faultless. A speech delivered by a mature statesman compared to which all the emotional verbiage of all those champions on an independent state especially helpless. And his attack on the Foreign Minister opposing Tkachenko's stand, launched after the Speaker's thrust, was no less effective, except that Mr. Medvedchuk's language was more diplomatic and correct. Mr. Medvedchuk thinks that the Foreign Minister should not have spoken "so radically" against the conference. As for Mr. Tarasiuk's resignation (which the Speaker claims he should tender), the Vice Speaker actually did not say anything to the contrary. "This is something Mr. Tarasiuk must decide himself. He may tender his resignation if he has his reasons or this will be a matter of the Cabinet's responsibility in accordance with the Constitution," he said, stressing that "the Foreign Ministry knew about the guests arriving in Kyiv and the parliamentary dignitaries were received by the President and Prime Minister." Mr. Medvedchuk also skillfully refuted all attempts to accuse Oleksandr Tkachenko of acting contrary to the Verkhovna Rada Standing Orders in holding the conference on the premises, by referring to the Constitution. He even reminded that the conference took place "as resolved by the CIS Interparliamentary Assembly, not according to Oleksandr Tkachenko's decision." And that the Speaker did not even mention Ukraine's membership of the Union (which is true, by the way). Which makes one wonder whether the Speaker composed his speech himself or used someone else's learned recommendations.

Finally, now that Premier Pustovoitenko, promoted within the CIS framework, and Speaker Tkachenko as the Chief Interparliamentary Integrator, working to turn the post-Soviet space into a free economic area, only one question remains curiously open: Where does the President fit in? Maybe he has been chosen to play the odd man out? Sounds probable, with or without Medvedchuk. Or even Volkov.

By Tetiana KOROBOVA, The Day