Alliance decides not to invite President Leonid Kuchma to major summit following U.S. allegations that he OK'd arms deals to Iraq, other rogue states
phisticated radar systems to Iraq in violation of United Nations sanctions.
NATO officials said, however, they were ready to meet with other Ukrainian officials in the margin of the Nov. 21‑22 summit at which U.S. President George W. Bush and the other 18 NATO leaders are expected to invite up to seven formerly communist nations to join the alliance.
“It the circumstances of recent discussions … it will be in the best interests of NATO and Ukraine if we had a (meeting) at foreign minister level,” said NATO Secretary General George Robertson.
Last month, the U.S. State Department said it had verified the authenticity of a July, 2000, recording by one of Kuchma’s former bodyguards in which Kuchma is allegedly heard approving the sale of a Kolchuha radar system to Baghdad for $100 million.
Despite the snub to Kuchma, Lord Robertson insisted NATO wants to maintain good relations with Ukraine, which holds regular political meeting with the alliance under a special partnership agreement.
Robertson told reporters the alliance “was very clear in wanting to maintain its deepening relationship with Ukraine.”
The announcement arrived a day after Kuchma said he may skip the summit himself.
“If there remain any doubts, then I don’t think it would make sense to hold the Ukraine‑NATO summit,” Kuchma told reporters during a two‑day visit to Lithuania.
A team of U.S. and British experts last week completed a fact‑finding trip to Ukraine to assess whether it had sold a Kolchuga early warning system in breach of UN sanctions, but has yet to announce its findings.
Several highly placed Washington sources told the Post the report has actually been compiled and is highly negative for Ukraine. The sources said discussions were underway between two top‑level government departments over whether language in the report should be softened.
Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Serhy Borodenkov told the Post on Oct. 30 that his agency had not received the results of the investigation but was expecting the report soon.
“We are waiting anxiously and we will officially respond as soon as we receive it,” he said.
The U.S. and British weapons inspectors left Ukraine on Oct. 20 with piles of data related to Ukraine’s alleged sale of Kolchuga radars to Iraq.
In a letter to President George W. Bush, Republican Congressman Bob Schaffer, who co‑chairs Congress’ informal Ukrainian caucus, called for Kuchma and his associates to be “isolated.”
Schaffer said in the letter that Kuchma’s consent to the sale of the Kolchuga system to Iraq was the epitome of reckless behavior.
“This disappointing and unfortunate episode calls the Ukrainian leader’s credibility into question and places his personal integrity within reproach,” Schaffer said. “To welcome Kuchma to the same table with the U.S. president and other democratic world leaders would understate the severity of the Kolchuga scandal.”
Kuchma continues to deny the charges. Ukrainian officials have sent a diplomatic note to the U.S. government asking officials to provide technical details about their assessment of the recording.
