Date:13/12/2004 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2004/12/13/stories/2004121303991300.htm

International

Call in Ukraine to probe U.S. hand

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, DEC. 12. Ukraine's Parliament may look into allegations that the United States funded the presidential campaign by the pro-Western Opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko.

"We will demand a parliamentary probe regarding U.S. State Department information on the financing of our opponent's election campaign," the Interfax agency quoted a campaign leader for the Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovich.

The two contenders will square off in a December 26 re-run of a November vote that was voided by the Supreme Court after the Opposition alleged vote rigging in favour of Mr. Yanukovich.

Following accusations by a U.S. lawmaker that the Bush administration channelled funds to the Opposition, American officials admitted on Saturday that the State Department did spend more than $65 millions in the past two years to aid political organisations in Ukraine as part of a worldwide democracy-building programme.

U.S. officials denied that giving the money amounted to interference in Ukraine's election, as the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, said. But they acknowledged some of the money was spent to train Opposition groups. The U.S. and seven other Western nations also funded an exit poll that said Mr. Yushchenko won the November vote by 54 per cent to 43 per cent. The poll sparked a so-called "orange revolution" in the capital Kiev forcing the court to annul the vote result.

Ukrainian law bans campaign donations from foreign sources.

Illness report

Ukrainian and Russian medical officials questioned the findings by Austrian doctors who said Mr. Yushchenko's mysterious illness was caused by dioxin poisoning.

Ukraine's Deputy Health Minister, Alexander Orda, said dioxin poisoning could be diagnosed by testing fat tissues, not blood samples as Austrian doctors said they did. He also claimed Mr. Yushchenko must have been administered dioxin for two months or more to produce the effect visible in him.

Mr. Yushchenko said his illness had developed in five days and claimed he had been poisoned. The head of the Russian Health Ministry's toxicology centre, Yuri Ostapenko, said dioxin poisoning cannot give immediate effect.

"Dioxins are not fast-acting poisons, it takes years and decades for dioxin poisoning to take effect. It is impossible to absorb a dose of dioxin today and to suffer poisoning tomorrow," he told the Moscow Echo radio.