Afghan Veterans Observe Another Anniversary with Rally in Front of Parliament

Last Tuesday, on the day of the eleventh anniversary of the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan, President Leonid Kuchma and Parliament Speaker Ivan Pliushch laid flowers at Kyiv’s monument to fallen Afghan War soldiers. This was followed by a memorial moment of silence (from December 1979 until the withdrawal, over 3000 soldiers and officers drafted from Ukraine died in Afghanistan; the overall toll of Soviet servicemen was more than 14,000, with 80 missing in action), a salute, and the march of a honor guard. At the same time, over 250 Afghan war veterans (out of a total 150,000, including 3,500 disabled, now residing in Ukraine), Chornobyl veterans, and representatives of the All-Ukrainian League of Nuclear Test Veterans began an action in front of the Verkhovna Rada building to protest the new version of the 2000 budget social articles which reduce this year’s governmental expenditures for social security of the population and threaten to cancel social privileges and compensation for “damage inflicted by the state.” The action also aims to draw the attention of the President, Parliament, and government to the explosive socioeconomic situation, as well as to emphatically remind the representatives of all branches of government that domestic debts should also be paid.