Ukrainian Opposition Say They Have Proof of Arm Sales to Iraq

The leaders of the Ukrainian Rise, Ukraine! opposition movement intend to meet with the inspectors from the US Department of State arriving to Ukrain in order to afford the latter a comprehensive proof of Leonid Kuchma's involvement in the so called 'arms to Iraq scandal'. As Rosbalt's reporter was told at the operative press centre of the opposition, at this time, the location of the documents in question could not be disclosed but the American Investigators would have them as soon as on the following day.

As to President Kuchma, he said he was prepared to let the investigators look through all the archives of the Ministry of Defence and Ukraine's special services in order to prove than no illegal sales of Kolchuga antiaircraft systems to Iraq had taken place in violation of UN resolutions.

In the meantime, yesterday, the special commission from the US Department of State did arrive in Kiev to investigate the alleged arms sales to Iraq. According to the administration of Leonid Kuchma, President of Ukraine, the members of the commission will receive all the information they need to prove Ukraine is not involved in any illegal arms deals. As mentioned earlier, the investigators will have access to the archives of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry and Security Service. The authorities in Kiev expressed their hope that the investigation would be maximally open so as to enable Ukrainian and Western mass media may to follow and report the work of the commission.