Full text of Yushchenko's defiant Sept. 21 Rada speech
tunate to be in this chamber today and will not take too much time, but let me comment on some matters concerning each one of you.
During the last two weeks a number of Ukrainian politicians and journalists have been talking about what to eat and drink in this country in order to stay alive, and not die.
Since the discussion, in many cases, concerns my honor and morals, allow me to take several minutes to address some of the remarks some have made.
What I have to say may sound inappropriate, as the remarks concern me, but it will help to establish the facts.
Look at my face.
Listen to the way I speak.
This is a small fraction of what I have suffered.
Take a good hard look…so that the same thing does not happen to you.
This was not caused by cuisine, by my diet, as some have indicated.
Do not be quick to judge, my friends.
I want to ask each of the 450 deputies in this chamber whether you have ever seen me drunk during the last 10 or 20 years.
Raise your hands.
Let me now ask journalists employed at Inter [UT-3] television, the so-called National State Television [UT-1], 1+1 [UT-2], and other television stations: Have you ever seen me in a situation where I was out of control, when I couldn’t control myself? If you have proof, broadcast it today. But there is none.
I am not a gourmand, or a fan of Asian or Western cooking. I eat the same borsht and potatoes with salo that you and 47 million other Ukrainians do.
What happened to me was not caused by food or my diet, but by the political regime in this country.
It’s a pity that [Socialist Party leader] Oleksandr [Moroz] is not in the chamber. I would tell him: Oleksandr Oleksandrovych, you may also eat salo and potatoes, but remember that when you become a true opponent of the regime – and I emphasize true – when you stop dancing behind the curtains with [Presidential Administration Chief Viktor] Medvedchuk, your potato diet won’t help you!
Calm down, I’m saying this with pain.
Friends, let me address [Parliamentary Majority Coordinator] Stepan Havrysh, who these days is coping with difficult political problems. The so-called presidential majority will for which you have staked your name is falling apart. As soon as you fall from grace and become a small threat to the authorities, they will discard you like a useless piece of paper. And your seafood diet won’t help you.
Let me tell the guys at the presidential administration who advise drinking 100 grams of vodka with each piece of salo: Despite being in the same camp, remember that it follows from such principles and morals that one day you will be chucked just like [former Economy Minister Valery] Khoroshkovsky, [former presidential advisor and deputy Oleksandr] Volkov, and dozens of others. And it won’t help if you drink 100 grams with each piece of salo.
Friends, we are not talking today about food literally, but about the Ukrainian political “kitchen” where murders are on the menu. The question is by what means.
Speaking about murder, I would love to name the assassin. But first a little discourse.
Remember when [former deputy] Vadym Petrovych Hetman was alive in this chamber in 1988. Who killed him? President Kuchma declared then that for him finding the assassin was a matter of honor. He said that the Prosecutor General would crack the case. Time has passed…and nothing.
Vyacheslav Chornovil also walked in these chambers in 1999. We still pretend that we know nothing about who killed him with a KAMAZ truck.
[Journalist] Georgy Gongadze sat in the balcony in 2000 and did his political reporting. Who cut off his head? No one seems to know. One prosecutor general said that the killers had been found. Another said that the name of the killer begins with the letter “K.” But he didn’t have the courage to reveal a few more letters.Two and a half years ago [deceased deputy] Oleh Oleksenko walked here. Who poisoned him?
Alik Aslanov was with us a month ago, that is, until he took the last seven and a half hryvnyas in his pocket, bought a liter of gasoline, and set himself on fire.
Who killed him? The drunkard local administration chief representing the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)? The crude head of the collective farm? Who killed him?
Do not ask who is next. Each one of you will be next! When you ask why I avoided the same fate, the answer is it was the wrong dose [of poison] at the wrong time…and my angels weren’t sleeping. This helped me return to this world.
Let’s learn two lessons from this. The first is that I very much want to know who did this and who the assassin is. And you know very well who this killer is – the authorities. And there is no way the current prosecutor general is going to identify who killed Gongadze, Hetman, and attempted to kill many others.
I was very surprised to learn that Kuchma ordered that a criminal case be opened to investigate who poisoned me. I don’t believe him. I don’t believe this prosecutor general. Why, Leonid Danilovych [Kuchma], do you ask questions you are not going to answer?
It is better if we learn a political lesson. And the political lesson, my friends, is what [deputy] Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk said about dropping to our knees before the Ukrainian people. Who exactly should do this, Leonid Makarovych? And how long should they remain on their knees…so that each of 47 million citizens forgives?
I have a different suggestion. I appeal to you, my friends and fellow deputies. Achieve something small today, this very second.
Rise at least one centimeter from your knees – like the Agrarian party, some of the deputies belonging to the National Democratic Party faction, some of the guys from the Center group – and achieve a small victory, so that you will see a democratic Ukraine with free and prosperous people.
Don’t forget this lesson, because you could be next.
Translated from Ukrainian by Peter Byrne.
