Ukrainian president is reluctant to admit that his trees got stolen

Burglars have recently paid a visit to a dacha owned by Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko. The dacha is located in a village of Novy Bezradichi not far from the Ukranian capital Kiev. It is not the burglary that was deemed a somewhat remarkable event. It is the burglars' loot that seems quite amazing. The perpetrators walked off with the saplings that were planted in an area adjacent to the president's dacha. Those trees were planted by order of the Mayor of Kiev Alexander Omelchenko.

The burglars also stole the trees planted by Mr. Yushchenko himself inside his dacha compound. The burglars must have hit Mr. Yushchenko's sore spot. The president reportedly was fond of his trees very much. His neighbors say they saw him walking about his dacha compound this spring with huge sacks of fertilizers in his hands.

The amount of stolen saplings remains unknown. The guards were apparently missing at the dacha when the incident took place. Despite the recent mishap, the popularity of Novy Bezradichi is on the rise. High-ranking Ukrainian officials are building their dachas in that place. Ukrainian Minister of Fuel and Energy Ivan Plachkov built a dacha in the vicinity of Mr. Yushchenko's house. The closer you get to the president, the better prospects you have or so it seems.

Funny thing is that the press service of Ukrainian president said that Mr. Yushchenko's dacha had not been burgled and no saplings had been pulled out. "The reports on a burglary committed at Mr. Yushchenko's dacha are absolutely groundless," Interfax quoted the president's press secretary Irina Gerashchenko as saying. According to her, the authorities are not aware of any incidents that took place either at Mr. Yushchenko's residence at Koncha-Zaspa or at his dacha in Novy Bezradichi.