Kostenko's Rukh asks "new information" on the death of Chornovil to be
checked
By Tetiana SHULHACH, The Day
Late last week eight People's Deputies of the Rukh faction headed by Yuri
Kostenko made a request to the parliamentary commission investigating the
cause of the death of Rukh (Popular Movement of Ukraine) leader Vyacheslav
Chornovil, that it check new information concerning his death, specifically:
why, according to unofficial sources, Hennady Udovenko had departed from
Kirovohrad in the same car with Chornovil, but was in his own car near
the crash scene?
Udovenko, whose car was driving ahead of Chornovil, a few kilometers
from the crash scene stopped and let Chornovil's car pass. Kostenko's group
also requested finding out why Chornovil's Rukh administration had employed
Yevhen Pavliv (who also died in the accident) as Chornovil's driver - previously,
before the split in Rukh, he was fired by the party secretary for "immaturity,"
Rukh's Bohdan Boiko stated at a press conference last Friday.
On July 4's "Epicenter" television program Kostenko repeated this. Quite
logically, the journalists present interpreted such a statement as a direct
accusation against Udovenko. However, Kostenko answered that he had no
reason whatever to suspect the former foreign minister of anything. "There
simply is information and we ask it be verified," he added.
It should be pointed out that Kostenko's charges were made public virtually
immediately after the Supreme Court adopted the ruling recognizing the
legitimacy of Udovenko's Rukh. No matter what Kostenko might say later,
the information he released might be interpreted as a form of political
revenge. In fact, one could get the impression that Kostenko's adherents
have become infected with a disease previously noticed only among Udovenko's
supporters (recall the publications insinuating that one of the presidential
candidates was associated with Chornovil's death). It should be noted that
such serious accusations are based, according to Kostenko's group itself,
on information provided by unofficial sources.
Naturally, Udovenko's group refutes such charges. In an interview with
The Day, Chornovil's press-secretary Dmytro Ponamarchuk, who was
in the same car with the Rukh leader before and during the crash, called
Kostenko's statement in the Epicenter program a "barefaced lie." According
to Mr. Ponamarchuk, all the way from Kirovohrad to Kyiv Udovenko was sitting
only in his car and "nobody changed cars." Ponamarchuk also told The
Day that the Popular Movement's political council is preparing a serious
statement on the issue and perhaps a lawsuit.






