Speaker Starts Compaign in Moscow?

Probably, this was exactly why the Popular Movement of Ukraine has all of a sudden "became aware" and come to the Parliament rostrum to clear up who appointed the delegation and why it had not included a Rukh representative. But since the Speaker had not returned yet, nobody could answer that one.

Representative of the President Roman Bezsmertny, to whom the press turned for comments, seemed to be picking his words with utmost pain: "I am very sorry, that such matters may become the subject of serious discussion between the President and, in this particular case, I fear, Parliament, and not with an individual only. If one even superficially read the fundamentals of domestic policy adopted on June 2, 1992, he would not find such kind of theses or such a concept.

"And, in general, if one does not differentiate Russia's 210% inflation rate from Ukraine's 30%, and fails to hear that the stars atop the Kremlin towers are already crowing like eagles, then one could accept the initiation of processes that could lead to a transfusion of inflation, further social deterioration, etc. One should be aware that Ukraine is not only East but also West. In terms of the election campaign, the West has fewer votes, but it is more active. If Tkachenko's visit is a private one and is a discussion of his candidacy, then anything can be allowed, but there are powers of the head of Parliament and a position that should not be formed on a basis of personal or party programs. To me, this is a very painful symptom which is very difficult to understand, even from the perspective of relations between the President and Speaker of Verkhovna Rada. In a word, I still cannot formulate my position and am lost in contemplation of the situation that has arisen, because all this is worrying from the point of view of the upcoming presidential campaign, the position of individual candidates and some statements about the lack of a desire to run."

"May I help you?" asked The Day's correspondent. "Let us formulate it like this: as expected, Oleksandr Tkachenko will smother Leonid Kuchma in his arms."

Roman Bezsmertny replied, "No, I rather think Oleksandr Mykolayevych (Tkachenko) will die in the arms of his Russian colleagues".

Independent Deputy Mykola Syrota did not disguise his irony when commenting on the excessive optimism of the speaker: "I completely support the idea of the necessity to join a military and political union. Ukraine should access NATO as soon as possible, for no NATO official has ever threatened Ukraine in any way. And Russian politicians very often threaten to use their armed forces. No NATO member makes any territorial claims against Ukraine. And Russian Deputies do so daily. And, finally, all the agreements which Ukraine prepared with NATO members and NATO itself, have been ratified by their parliaments. While the Russian Parliament has failed to ratify the Grand Treaty between Russia and Ukraine. Thus, NATO would be exactly the entity that would really protect both Ukraine's political and economic rights."

And on the whole, the view expressed by Oleksandr Yelyashkevych has been widely circulating in lobbies: "The statements made by Oleksandr Tkachenko in Moscow show that he has plainly started his pre-election campaign". To this, Mr. Yelyashkevych added a less popular idea: "Now it becomes obvious what a strategic mistake the President made last summer when he failed to notice who most dangerous opponent was and waged war on Oleksandr Moroz. Oleksandr Tkachenko, having thrown the President off his guard, is now maneuvering to stand a good chance in the presidential elections."

The Day's correspondent asked Serhiy Dovhan: "Do you think that Tkachenko has worked in Moscow like Lukashenka?"

"Well, he did the right thing. He acts the way he says, and all this makes sense," said the peasants' leader with conviction.