Oleh LYTVAK: Lazarenko could finance Left campaign from abroad

In fact, the Prosecutor General's presence among the President's entourage on that trip caused many raised eyebrows, for the aim of the visit was to see what can be done to expedite reform of the energy market. One of Lazarenko's Hromada comrades suggested that "now Mr. Kuchma will always have his faithful Prosecutor General at hand, for fighting those 'robbing the people' is his biggest trump." The same People's Deputy also believes that "those in power are still scared by Lazarenko's possible exposes, just as they are afraid he will support Leonid Kuchma's rivals."

This is probably why former acting Prosecutor General Oleh Lytvak does not believe in Lazarenko's quick return to Ukraine: "Pavlo Lazarenko has the right to turn to any court in any of the fifty States, appealing  any previous deportation ruling. In other words, his case could last years and years." Mr. Lytvak considers the ex-Premier "a capable, talented man, and quite eloquent." He further believes that the Hromada leader will be able to finance the Leftist campaign from overseas, because he believes in the Left's victory. It is not difficult to predict that Pavlo Lazarenko will provide this support for the benefit of only one man from the Left camp.

However, the very fact of Lazarenko's being morally supported by some lawmakers (among them people from factions that are mostly faithful to the existing regime) is evidence that not only the former Premier himself but also certain people in Parliament believe in his "triumphant return to Ukraine, as was the case with Zvyahilsky."

PS: The Day's Vadym RYZHKOV reports that Natalia Vitrenko declared at a news conference after setting up a local PSPU organization in Dnipropetrovsk: "I do not rule out the possibility that Oleksandr Moroz launched his election campaign using Pavlo Lazarenko's money," and that "money, unfortunately, is very powerful"