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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Ukrainian Mercenaries Not in Africa

26 January, 1999 - 00:00

By Viktor VORONIUK, The Day
Ukraine denies categorically all accusations that its citizens are taking
part in a military conflict in Sierra Leone.

Not a single Ukrainian law enforcement department has documented information
to this effect, acting head of the information department of the Ministry
of Internal Affairs Oleh Strekal declared at a briefing. The declaration
was made in answer to the article in The Times about Ukrainian mercenaries
in Africa.

Commenting on an earlier Inter televised report on the situation in
Sierra Leone, where a Ukrainian helicopter with a UN logo on it was clearly
shown, Strekal declared that the helicopter had been handed over to the
UN for peacekeeping operations and humanitarian aid.

Last Friday a letter from Ukraine's UN representative Volodymyr Yelchenko
to the UN Security Council Secretary was made public as an official document
of the UN Security Council. The letter states that competent organs possess
no information to confirm participation of Ukrainian citizens in the African
conflict. Ukraine rejects all assertions about participation of Ukrainian
citizens in the conflict in Sierra Leone as groundless.

However, Andriy Veselovsky, head for political analysis and planning
of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told The Day that "the number
of hot spots in the world is not decreasing." According to him, the Foreign
Ministry now has information that one Ukrainian citizen attempted to get
to France through London and join the French Foreign Legion.

 

Ukrainian Foreign Ministry officially denies media accusations
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