“Scenarios” Don’t Matter
Addressing a briefing last Friday, Deputy Chief of the Presidential Administration Vasyl Baziv said President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine is calling on this country’s citizens to remain calm and not be taken in by provocative allegations that force may be used to change the course of the presidential campaign. The leadership will do its utmost to preserve stability in the country. “The President firmly dissociates himself from the so-called strong-arm scenario that does not and cannot exist,” Mr. Baziv said. In his words, “the much hyped strong-arm scenario that the government has allegedly hatched is the fruit of irresponsible politicians’ morbid imaginings.” According to Mr. Baziv, the rumor that the military parade in honor of the 60th anniversary of Ukraine’s liberation from the Nazis, scheduled for October 28, is in some way connected with the government’s plans to thwart the elections is an “insult to war veterans.”
Commenting on what may happen in Ukraine on Election Day, the president’s deputy chief of staff said, “the state will be prepared to face any developments and preserve stability in Ukraine.”
Mr. Baziv told journalists that the National Security and Defense Council would gather next week to discuss the situation in Ukraine in light of the ongoing election campaign. He noted that, as the election campaign unfolds, the domestic situation is becoming tense owing to not always appropriate and responsible words and deeds of the political forces taking part in the election campaign. This makes it imperative for the council to look into this matter. At the same time Mr. Baziv pointed out that “Ukraine could have a different election campaign, during which people might discuss the presidential candidates’ programs and governmental strategies, instead of slinging mud at each other in the literal sense of the word.”
According to Mr. Baziv, President Kuchma says his successor will continue Ukraine’s European integration policy. “The European choice is the choice of President Kuchma, who is convinced that his successor will continue to follow this strategic political course to which there is no alternative,” the Presidential Administration deputy chief said. Commenting on the recent US Congressional resolution on the presidential election in Ukraine, Mr. Baziv noted that Ukraine, like the US, is interested in a fair and transparent campaign. Yet the Presidential Administration deputy chief pointed out that this resolution was intended not only for the government but presidential candidates as well.
Responding to journalists’ questions, Mr. Baziv commented on the discovery of dubious propaganda materials in the storeroom of the National Exhibition Center, which is run by the State Administrative Department. “The Administrative Department, as a governmental institution, has nothing to do with this,” he said, adding that the blame for these propaganda materials should be placed on the election managers of certain candidates. “The ones who lease facilities do not always know what’s going on there,” Mr. Baziv said in defense of his position.
As to the Danube-Black Sea canal situation, the deputy chief claimed that world public opinion has swung in favor of Ukraine because this country has been taking a rational stand by averting, in particular, any “negative environmental consequences.”
President Kuchma has set up a foundation that will be formally opened in early November, said Mr. Baziv, adding that very soon journalists will have an opportunity to meet this country’s president at a press conference.
