Category Nation/CIS
Source RosBusinessConsulting

MOSCOW — Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky is said to have financed the election campaign of Ukraine’s president, Viktor Yushchenko. Ex-Ukrainian leader Leonid Kravchuk said Berezovsky had told him that his firms had transferred $15 million to the bank accounts of companies that financed Yushchenko’s campaign. Yushchenko’s representatives David Zhvania, Roman Bessmertny and Alexander Tretyakov had visited Berezovsky in London to discuss financial issues, Kravchuk said.

If that information is confirmed, an impeachment proceeding against Yushchenko should be initiated, Kravchuk believes. “According to the Constitution and other laws, if that information is confirmed, a commission shall be set up to investigate the allegations, and an impeachment proceeding shall be initiated against the President,” the ex-president told reporters.

“An impeachment proceeding is carried out in several stages. To be put on the parliamentary agenda, it requires the support of 226 deputies, then to go to trial and everything else, 300 votes. Impeachment requires 337 votes, three quarters of parliament deputies. In our current parliament, this is unreal,” commented Kravchuk.

Ukraine’s acting emergency minister David Zhvania denied his involvement in negotiations with Berezovsky. “Berezovsky had given money to Timoshenko, and there’s no need to associate Zhvania with it,” he said. Active premier Roman Bessmertny also denied his part.

Asked about his role in Yushchenko’s election campaign, Berezovsky did not say clearly whether he had funded the campaign. “I did talk to Leonid Kravchuk, and I told him that money transfers definitely did come from our company, but I did not say this was for Yushchenko’s campaign and his people such as Zhvania, Tretyakov etc,” Berezovsky told Ukrainian reporters. He confirmed that he had met with Zhvania, Tretyakov and Bessmertny in London.

“We discussed democratic reforms in Ukraine and the situation in the country, including the so-called ‘Orange Revolution’. Timoshenko has never approached me with any requests. She visited me two years before the Orange Revolution, and we discussed the political situation in Ukraine,” he said.