Sevastopol Residents Expect Help From Moscow Mayor, not Ukrainian President

Life itself, rather than the disheartening turnouts of various polls, bears the most convincing evidence of just how democratic the Ukrainian people think their current regime is and what hopes they place in it.

A statement addressed by the residents of Sevastopol to the Mayor of Moscow is so eloquent it needs little if any editorial comment. Despite the fact that Mr. Kuchma is now resting at a place which is a 30-minute ride from Sevastopol, these citizens of independent Ukraine turn for help not to their President, but the Mayor of Moscow, and it is under this statement (rather than under all those «letters of working people» in support of Leonid Kuchma) that signatures are being collected in Sevastopol, spontaneously and on a genuinely voluntary basis.

«Attention: Yuri Luzhkov, Mayor of Moscow

«Dear Yuri Mikhailovich:

«We are in distress and this is what made us turn to you for help. All transmissions of the Black Sea Television and Radio Company have been shut down. This arbitrary act was committed with the knowledge — and most likely on instructions from — the Administration of Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. This politician manque probably does not want the residents of Sevastopol to watch programs relayed from Russia. Tens of thousands of residents of this hero-city have been denied probably the only remaining link with Russia, our Motherland.

«We are aware of the constant attention you have been paying to the needs of Sevastopol. We are confident that this time, too, you will help us restore justice.

«On behalf of a meeting in defense of the Black Sea TV/Radio Co.»