Another Stray Information Bullet

The NATO delegation visit, led by Secretary General George Robertson, strangely coincided with The Financial Times ’ article “Iraq ‘Seeks Ukraine arms links’.” Referring to former UN inspector Timothy McCarthy, it alleges that Iraq is using its growing contacts with Ukraine in an attempt to obtain weapons technologies, and that the Ukrainian government is actively involved in establishing direct contacts between Ukrainian companies and Iraq. Last Thursday

The Financial Times carried a letter by the Ukrainian Charge d’Affaires to the UK Ihor Prokopchuk as a response to the said article, but after the statements of the National Security and Defense Council, NATO secretary general, and Ukrainian foreign minister. Also, while the article at issue was on the front page, the letter in response was in the letters to the editor.

Lord George Robertson stated in Donetsk that he had Ukrainian assurances of not having acted contrary to the UN sanctions, adding that President Leonid Kuchma had promised to have an official investigation into the article and accusations of Ukrainian arms supplies to Iraq, and that an official statement would be made after investigation; during their meeting, Mr. Kuchma repeatedly assured him that all such accusations are completely unfounded.

The NSDC statement, concerning the Financial Times article, read it that the accusations were openly false, meant to smear the Ukrainian image and that of its leadership in the eyes of its Western partners. The NSDC urged the newspaper in question to uphold its reputation and use reliable sources only; that similar cases had taken place previously, yet had never been corroborated. The NSDC recalled Secretary Powell’s statement, during the NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Reykjavik, May 15, that the United States had no information about Ukrainian arms supplies to Iraq. The unproved accusations of Ukraine had been also confirmed by a meeting of the Ukrainian-US nonproliferation and export control working group and the Ukrainian-US foreign political committee in Washington on June 24-26. The statement stressed that the Ukrainian-Iraqi bilateral cooperation is implemented strictly within the limits of the UN Security Council resolutions on Iraq, and that the statements of the Honorary Iraqi Consul Yuri Olshansky (referred to by the article) cannot be regarded an official stand of that country. Foreign Minister Anatoly Zlenko also stated that there were no reasons whatever to accuse Ukraine of any arms supplies to Iraq.

In June, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan addressed a letter to Anatoly Zlenko to the effect that the UN inquiry revealed no evidence of illicit sales of weapons or military technologies to Iraq. Even earlier, similar statements had been made by UN SC officials. In view of this, the Financial Times article appeared to have violated all journalist ethics and technical norms that are so strongly upheld in the West. Most importantly, the said article contained not a single fact, just allegations. As a result, it was as though someone had paid someone to write that article, after which a most prestigious periodical carried it, causing the Western diplomats ask themselves the trivial question, Cui bono ? Previously such incriminating articles had appeared in The Washington Times once Ukraine had managed to take another step forward in its relations with the West. Now it is a rung higher on the ladder, making one wonder about the trend as such, the more so that no other country has rated such close attention.