Opposition was to be smeared with terror attack, says official

By Askold Krushelnycky in Kiev
06 December 2004

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=590117

Ukraine's embattled government is ready to stage faked terrorist attacks to
destabilise the country and discredit the opposition ahead of a rerun of the
presidential vote, a senior government source has told The Independent.

The official, who works for the government of the Moscow-backed candidate
and current Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, said: "One of the plans is to
blow up a pipeline and blame it on opposition supporters. Ukraine is the key
transit country for Russian gas supplies to the West."
Mr Yanukovych's backers fear the prospect of their candidate losing to
Viktor Yushchenko and are ready to plunge the country into economic chaos,
the source revealed. "They are planning to use criminals - plain bandits -
that they have a hold over." The source said that a senior member of the
government had been tasked with overseeing terrorist acts.

A fortnight of peaceful demonstrations by supporters of Mr Yushchenko have
brought the capital, Kiev, and other cities to a standstill. They accused
the government of massive electoral fraud in a presidential election on 21
November. The opposition claims were backed up by Western governments and
election monitors who reported that intimidation, bribery and falsification
were used to hand victory to Mr Yanukovych.
Ukraine's supreme court accepted opposition claims and last Friday cancelled
the result of the election, ordering a fresh ballot for 26 December.
Supporters of Mr Yanukovych and the current President Leonid Kuchma will
also seek to play on fears that inflation will wipe out people's savings as
it did after the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

There has already been a run on banks and black market money changers are
returning to the streets with far higher dollar and euro exchange rates.
The government has already suggested that it will not be able to pay
pensions and government salaries in December, although the opposition claims
there are adequate reserves to pay everything.

Last week, the opposition passed a motion in parliament firing Mr Yanukovych
and his government. But his political mentor, Mr Kuchma - himself facing
accusations of rampant corruption and involvement in murder - has refused to
approve the dismissal or change the composition of the election commission
blamed for supervising the electoral fraud.

Russia has openly backed Mr Yanukovych, and President Vladimir Putin visited
Ukraine twice to rally the country's Russian ethnic population to vote for
the Prime Minister.

The government source told The Independent that Mr Putin said, at a meeting
with Mr Kuchma in Moscow last Thursday, that Russia will back the Ukrainian
government whatever measures it takes, including force, in order to stop Mr
Yushchenko winning.

Many sections of the Ukrainian armed forces and police have either said they
will not take action against Ukrainian demonstrators or will defend the
opposition if necessary.

The opposition yesterdaycompiled lists of supporters, seeking to recruit as
many as possible to act as election monitors and campaign workers in the 26
December vote. Mr Yushchenko has called on the international community to
send as many observers as possible to the elections.
There has been speculation that the opposition is facing a rift after a spat
in parliament this weekend between Mr Yushchenko's coalition and the
Socialist leader Aleksander Moroz, an ally of the opposition.