SBU acting chief thinks finish line is near in poisoning case of president, and hints at progress in Gongadze murder investigation
The acting chief of Ukraine’s intelligence agency thinks that the finish line is near in the poisoning case of President Viktor Yushchenko and hinted at progress in the seven-year-old investigation into the murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
This week, on Sept. 5, Ukraine marked three years from the date that Yushchenko, now head of state, claims to have been poisoned during a late night dinner while a candidate in the 2004 presidential race.
Also this month, on Sept. 16, the country will mark seven years since the disappearance of muckraking journalist Gongadze.
Presidential poisoning
“The poisoning case is not doomed. The Prosecutor General’s Office, State Security Service are working very seriously [on this case],” Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, acting head of the State Security Service, or SBU, told Glavred magazine on Sept 3.
“I will not make announcements until the PGO completes two-three additional examinations and all the dots will be [linked]. I think the finish line is not far,” he added.
Earlier in August, a high-ranking SBU official told journalists that suspects involved in the poisoning of the future president of Ukraine will soon be named and the dioxin used in Yushchenko’s poisoning came from a Russian laboratory.
Some sources said the poisoning case could take a prominent role in the snap parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 30, particularly if key details leak out just ahead of the vote implicating political heavyweights in the crime.
Speaking during a televised press conference from London last month, exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky told Ukrainian journalists that the dioxin used to poison Yushchenko was of Russian origin. Berezovsky, who claims to have inside information on the polonium poisoning of ex-KGB operative-turned Kremlin critic Aleksandr Litvinenko, said that he knows many facts concerning the Yushchenko poisoning. He said that he would make them public if Yushchenko lacks the will to do so.
Sources said the investigation has stalled because the Russian laboratory had refused requests to provide dioxin samples. By July of this year, the only other labs in the world that produce the dioxin allegedly used in the poisoning, namely labs in the US, UK and Canada, had fulfilled the PGO’s request. On July 6, PGO chief Oleksandr Medvedko said that Russia had ignored it.
The PGO, which is responsible for collecting evidence that is used by state prosecutors in criminal court proceedings, needs the dioxin samples to conduct a comparative forensics examination.
Victim’s interest?
Speaking on Ukraine’s Inter television channel in July, Yushchenko said that the dioxin investigation was complete and that “now there are a few bastards that need to be caught and brought before the law.”
The president claims he first felt the symptoms of the poisoning after dinner on Sept. 5 with fellow political ally and businessman David Zhvania, then-SBU head Ihor Smeshko and his first deputy Volodymyr Satsiuk.
The late-night dinner was hosted by Satsiuk at his dacha outside of Kyiv.
Satsiuk, reportedly a suspect, fled to Russia soon after the Orange Revolution propelled Yushchenko to the presidency, as did his assistant, reportedly a suspect in the case. Both have repeatedly denied any role in the poisoning.
Satsiuk has said that boiled crayfish, Ukrainian cuisine, Central Asian rice stew called plov and desserts were served with beer, horilka (vodka) and cognac over the course of the dinner, which lasted for some four hours and ended at around 2 o’clock in the morning.
Yushchenko said that he could not fall asleep upon returning home due to a migraine headache and pain in his spine. His health did not improve over the course of the next week, and by Sept. 11 he was being treated in the Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna.
As speculation mounted concerning the cause of Yushchenko’s illness, pressure mounted on the candidate’s campaign and the Austrian clinic to make a statement.
In the weeks that followed, Ukrainian political rhetoric stooped to its lowest levels as political opponents and media blamed oak-root moonshine, bad sushi, herpes and botox for Yushchenko’s sudden illness.
A media war followed concerning the clinic, with Yushchenko’s campaign and parliamentary investigating committee issuing conflicting statements.
Yushchenko’s face grew increasingly pockmarked by chloracne and by mid-December international medical opinions converged that dioxin had indeed found its way into Yushchenko’s body.
Meanwhile, former SBU chief Ihor Smeshko has insisted that neither he, nor “anyone who worked for the SBU in the autumn of 2004 is responsible for Yushchenko’s worsening health.”
Smeshko has said that it is a mistake to consider the Satsiuk dacha theory as the only one in the investigation, particularly because of the victim’s vested interest in the case, as well as that of his entourage. Zhvania has also expressed doubts about the dacha-poisoning theory.
Missing middleman
Regarding the investigation into the 2000 murder of anti-Kuchma journalist Georgiy Gongadze, Nalyvaichenko said that it is not “hanging.” He said that the PGO, led by prosecutors viewed as loyal to Yushchenko’s archrival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, is making progress.
“Judging from the character of the operations the PGO is asking us [the SBU] to conduct, then this problem can be solved,” he said.
Three of four men accused of carrying out the journalist’s killing are currently on trial. The trial began in Kyiv in December 2005.
The fourth man wanted in the case – former police officer Oleksiy Pukach – fled the country during the Orange Revolution. Pukach is widely considered to be the link between the killers and those who organized and ordered Gongadze’s murder.
Another link in the chain of responsibility – former Interior Minister Yuriy Kravchenko – was found shot and dead shortly after the Orange Revolution. Voices similar to Kravchenko’s and that of former President Leonid Kuchma are heard discussing Gongadze’s fate in the so-called Melnychenko recordings.
Veteran criminal investigative journalist Stanislav Rechynsky was less optimistic that the investigation into who organized and ordered Gongadze’s killing would be resolved soon. He said that he was asked to come in for questioning in connection with his reporting on the case.
“The investigating teams have changed many times over,” he said.
“If I can find two of Pukach’s buildings and locate his secretary – and the investigators cannot – that means the investigation is not moving forward. They have not even questioned the secretary. They do not know how Pukach left the country – by car, train or plane. The investigation is not focusing on factual evidence,” said Rechynsky.
He said that the accused men in the Gongadze trial are currently undergoing psychological testing and that the court hearings will extend beyond the Sept. 30 elections, when the three former police employees – reportedly the driver and the muscle used to initially kidnap Gongadze – would likely be handed minimum sentences.
Timing and mistakes
When asked about the timing of the cases’ solutions and the Sept. 30 elections, Nalyvaichenko said that SBU officials are not running for parliament and the cases are in no way connected to the vote.
Nalyvaichenko also responded to concerns about Yushchenko’s early 2005 statement that the Gongadze case would be solved within a month.
“I can only say sorry for those who informed the president. Top government officials should not lie to citizens, particularly the president.”
