KYIV, October 23 – The Ukrainian president’s representative in parliament urged opposition lawmakers Wednesday to end public protests and stop blocking parliament’s work to prevent further destabilization of the fragile former Soviet republic.
“Ukrainian society doesn’t need a revolution,” said Oleksandr Zadorozhny, calling on opposition leaders to work constructively. “Rocking the boat may lead to us all being thrown out of the boat.” He spoke some four weeks after opposition lawmakers launched a boycott of parliamentary voting after street protests by tens of thousands of Ukrainians failed to oust President Leonid Kuchma in the largest demonstrations since Ukraine’s independence in 1991.
Opposition leaders and millions of Ukrainians accuse Kuchma of rampant corruption, illegal arms trading, election manipulation and involvement in the killing of an investigative journalist. Kuchma denies the accusations. Meanwhile, Socialist leader Oleksandr Moroz called on lawmakers to start impeachment procedures against Kuchma, a call the opposition has made many times in recent weeks.
Two weeks ago, pro-Kuchma forces overcame months of political infighting and horsetrading to form a fragile majority of 230 lawmakers, four above the necessary minimum, to bypass opposition. However it has been undermined by routine absences of several lawmakers. Five lawmakers quit the majority last week in protest over the beating attack of legislator Volodymyr Syvkovych, but rejoined this week after their demands to form a parliamentary investigation and sack a police official were met, Zadorozhny said.
On Oct. 12, several masked men attacked Syvkovych and Russian businessman, Konstantin Grigorishin, who was with him in a car. Police later arrived at the scene and arrested Grigorishin, who was later released. Syvkovych was never arrested because he has immunity as a lawmaker.
Political tensions have risen steadily since March parliamentary elections in which parties led by former Prime Minster Viktor Yushchenko and other opposition leaders won a majority of the votes but failed to secure control of parliament.
Meanwhile, Yushchenko urged businessmen in the razor-thin pro-Kuchma majority to join him in forming a new, broader majority – citing Grigorishin’s attack as an example of how “dictatorship and a clan-based political system” threaten political and economic life in the country, the UNIAN news agency reported. “Not only Grigorishin was laid face down on the asphalt … all of us, thousands of Ukrainian businessmen are,” he said from parliament’s dais as broadcast on the UT-1 television channel.
