Orange Revolution
Democracy Emerging in Ukraine

BURRIAL OF THE HEADLESS BODY OF JOURNALIST GONGADZE 

GONGADZE and KUCHMA'S LEGACIES - Wall Street Journal 

2002 MASSIVE PROTESTS AGAINST KUCHMA'S REGIME - Japan Time

2002 KUCHMAGATE - THOUSANDS OF PROTESTERS - Time

KUCHMA'S INVOLVEMENT IN A BEHEADING - Myroslava Gongadze

VOICE TAPES INCLUDING THAT OF PRESIDENT KUCHMA AND 
THE JOURNALIST GEORGY GONGADZE 
 

====================================================

BURRIAL OF THE HEADLESS BODY OF JOURNALIST GONGADZE 
Tuesday, 3 September, 2002, 17:53 GMT 18:53 UK 
BBC  
 
Extract 

... Gongadze received the injuries in his lifetime and his 
head was disconnected from the body not after his death 
 
Prosecutor General Svyatoslav Piskun ... The announcement 
came after another round of tests on the body - the 
latest in a long, bungled investigation - resulted in a 
new confirmation that it was that of internet journalist 
Georgiy Gongadze. 

Officials also confirmed that he was beheaded while still 
alive. 

The disappearance of the journalist, and the release of 
tapes in which President Leonid Kuchma's voice was heard 
apparently telling the Interior Minister to "throw out" the 
journalist, fuelled massive opposition demonstrations in 
Kiev last year. 

This week opposition leaders announced a new round of 
nationwide protests against the president in two week's 
time, to mark the second anniversary of Mr Gongadze's 
disappearance. 
 
... a search for the missing head was continuing. 
 
The investigation was re-launched earlier this 
year by Mr Piskun, after he was appointed to 
replace his discredited predecessor Mikhailo 
Potebenko. 

The US and other Western governments had long 
been calling for a full and transparent investigation. 

As well as making new tests on the body, Mr 
Piskun has also sent the recordings of Mr Kuchma's 
voice for new checks on their authenticity. 

The call for protests this month is backed by a 
number of Ukrainian opposition parties, in a rare 
act of unity. 

Communists, socialists and the centre-right party 
led by the former prime minister, Viktor Yushchenko, 
and other opposition movements have joined forces. 

The protest leaders say they will call for early 
presidential elections, the removal of the old 
elite from the government and the establishment of 
an independent judicial system. 
 
====================================================

GONGADZE and KUCHMA'S LEGACIES 

Wall Street Journal Europe, September 25, 2003 
Adrian Karatnycky
Mr. Karatnycky, counselor and senior scholar at Freedom House, 
is co-editor of Nations in Transit 2003: Democratization in 
East Central Europe and Eurasia (Rowman & Littlefield). 


Gongadze's Legacy for Ukraine

Three years ago this month, Ukrainian journalist Heorhiy 
Gongadze was forced into a car and spirited away into the 
Kiev night. Seven weeks later, his headless, decomposing 
body was found in a shallow grave about an hour's drive 
from the Ukrainian capital. Mr. Gongadze had launched a 
hard-hitting investigative website, www.pravda.com.ua1, 
well-known for writing about corruption within Ukraine's 
ruling circles.

The scandal sparked by the murder, bubbling to this day, 
has played a role in the political evolution of post-communist 
Ukraine, stunting the growth of democratic institutions 
while -- paradoxically -- helping bring to life a host of 
new opposition parties and civic groups.

The unsolved murder has also forced the U.S. and Europe, 
who've strongly backed an independent Ukraine, to reassess 
their approach to this strategically-placed country. As long 
as the Gongadze case remains open, Washington and Brussels 
must think carefully about closer relations with President 
Leonid Kuchma.

The president eagerly wants Western friendship. Ukraine has 
contributed 1,600 peacekeepers to Polish-led brigade in Iraq, 
hoping to set aside the Gongadze case as well as allegations 
by the U.S. last year that Mr. Kuchma approved the sale of an 
advanced radar to Saddam Hussein.

The death of Gongadze could have remained just another 
unsolved murder if not for the emergence of tapes of Mr. 
Kuchma's conversations with security aides implicating him 
in the journalist's disappearance. The office recordings were 
made by a bodyguard, who fled the country and was offered 
asylum in the U.S., and were released by Mr. Kuchma's rival, 
former Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Moroz.

The Kuchma administration claims the tapes were doctored. But 
last October, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation 
authenticated portions of the tapes in which Mr. Kuchma 
approved the surreptitious sale of the early warning radar 
system to Iraq. Excerpts from the tapes in which the president 
urges the harassment and abduction -- though not the murder 
-- of Mr. Gongadze were said to be authentic by Bruce Koenig, 
a former FBI forensics expert who is a specialist in the 
analysis of audio and video 
recordings.

The evidence of corruption and criminality in the tapes fueled 
public 
outrage and brought tens of thousands of people into the 
streets in 2001. Those protests fizzled and Mr. Kuchma hung 
on, yet the country continues to feel the effects of the 
scandal.

Efforts to suppress protests have reflected the 
authoritarianism of President Kuchma and his inner circle, 
making life difficult for the opposition and free media. Among 
the troubling trends is greater state control of mass media, in 
particular national television.

Last September Mykola Tomenko, head of the parliament's 
committee on freedom of speech, provided evidence of the 
practice of theme directives (temnyky) issued by the 
presidential administration. These daily missives to news 
directors and editors provide instructions on which politicians 
and topics are to be covered and how. The "theme directives" 
also instruct editors to suppress the discussion of specific i
ssues and block opposition politicians from the airwaves.

Over the last three years, the State Tax Administration, the 
Prosecutor General's office and the police have also been used, 
according to various charges, to pressure political opponents 
and ensure discipline among political supporters.

As importantly, the Gongadze case and its aftermath has e
xposed Ukraine's glaring absence of independent judicial 
institutions and parliamentary checks and balances on 
presidential authority. Judges who have opened cases 
against Mr. Kuchma or ruled against his interests have 
been censured or investigated, according to charges. And 
the president has used executive power to impede legislation 
that would provide Ukraine's parliament with the resources to 
look into official wrongdoing.

Mr. Kuchma's troubles have led to his isolation and estrangement 
from Europe and the U.S., making him more dependent on Russian 
support. In return for the Kremlin's support, Mr. Kuchma now 
appears ready to agree to a far-reaching economic pact to 
establish a Russia-dominated trade and economic zone that would 
link Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakstan.

Despite these negative trends, there is basis for guarded 
optimism as the EU and NATO move eastward next year, up to 
Ukraine's western flank. The Gongadze case led to nearly 
universal public disaffection with the Kuchma administration. 
The Gongadze case and the tapes have helped Ukrainians 
develop a very negative view of their rulers.

Last year's parliamentary elections Ukrainians elected three 
times as many parliamentarians (171) from opposition parties 
as from parties supporting Mr Kuchma (54) in a party-preference
 vote. Mr. Kuchma was only able to prevail in parliament by 
winning the vast majority of seats in single-mandate districts, 
where pro-Kuchma parliamentarians were elected by running as 
"independents."

And Mr. Kuchma's decision on Sept. 19 to link Ukraine's 
economy to Russia's through a "common market" has generated 
dissent among some of his supporters, including the speaker 
of the parliament and several key ministers, who argue that 
such a step would impede Ukraine's long-term objective of 
integration into Europe.

According to recent opinion polls, Mr. Kuchma remains highly 
unpopular (with less than 10% support). Opposition politicians
 and political parties continue to outpace pro-Kuchma forces 
by a combined margin of three to one. And ousted Prime Minister 
Viktor Yushchenko runs well ahead all other candidates for the 
presidency a year before an October 2004 vote.

With Mr. Yushchenko gaining in popularity, Mr. Kuchma and his 
allies are now trying to rewrite the rules of the political 
game with constitutional amendments that would reduce the 
powers of the presidency. While the success of this effort 
is far from certain, many experts believe that even if the 
pro-Kuchma forces succeed in changing the Constitution, they
 will not be able to stave off defeat in future parliamentary 
elections.

Ukraine is at an important crossroads in its history. 
Opposition parties show strength and there are rumblings 
of discontent among some of Mr. Kuchma's supporters. This 
presents an opportunity for the EU and U.S. Washington and 
Brussels should continue to distance themselves from Mr. 
Kuchma while supporting the opposition and reaching out 
to moderates and centrists who in the past have been 
pressured to make common cause with Mr. Kuchma.

The EU, in particular, should make clear that the door 
is open to Ukraine's eventual integration, provided the 
country makes a clean break with corrupt practices, 
thoroughly investigates the Gongadze case and other political
 crimes, and conducts free and fair elections.

Ukraine's contradictory trends make clear that the tragic 
death of Heorhiy Gongadze has not been in vain. It has 
awakened civic consciousness, created uncertainty within 
President Kuchma's inner circle, and kept open the 
possibility that -- with internal and external pressure -- 
Ukraine may yet jettison its stifling legacy of corruption 
and misrule.

Mr. Karatnycky, counselor and senior scholar at Freedom House, 
is co-editor of Nations in Transit 2003: Democratization in 
East Central Europe and Eurasia (Rowman & Littlefield). 
   
 
===================================

2002 MASSIVE PROTESTS AGAINST KUCHMA'S REGIME 
FORECAST MASSIVE 2004 PROTESTS AGAINST KUCHMA'S CRONIES 


Tuesday, September 17, 2002 at 09:30 JST
Japan Today 


KIEV, Ukraine — In one of Ukraine's largest demonstrations 
in years, tens of thousands of held protests across the 
country Monday demanding that President Leonid Kuchma resign 
or call early elections.

In the capital Kiev, about 20,000 protesters from several 
opposition groups blocked the city's downtown area for hours, 
shouting "Away with Kuchma!" 



Many marched to the presidential administration building, 
where they set up tents in heavy rain as night fell. They 
vowed to stay until Kuchma steps down.

It was one of the country's biggest demonstrations since 
Ukraine independence from the Soviet Union 11 years ago. 
Political tensions in Ukraine have been rising steadily 
since parliamentary elections in March, in which opposition 
parties won the bulk of the popular vote.

The demonstrators represented the full spectrum of Ukrainian 
politics, from communists to progressive reformers. All 
claimed Kuchma's government is so corrupt that democratic 
rule and economic development have been smothered.

"I'm here because of the unemployment, lack of money and ... 
the bleak future for my children and grandchildren," said 
Tetiana, an unemployed woman from the depressed eastern 
Luhansk region, who declined to give her last name.

Kuchma did not respond to the protests. He was in Austria 
on Monday, pressing political and business leaders to 
support Ukraine's distant hopes of joining the European 
Union.

The demonstration was timed to coincide with the second 
anniversary of the disappearance of investigative j
ournalist Heorhiy Gongadze. The October 2000 discovery 
of a beheaded body, believed to be Gongadze's, touched off 
months of protests against Kuchma. Opposition groups 
accused him of being involved in the journalist's death, 
which Kuchma denies.

Socialist party leader Oleksandr Moroz opened Monday's 
protest in Kiev with a minute of silence to remember 
Gongadze and other "victims of the (Kuchma) regime."

One protester's banner called for the two-term president 
to be jailed. "The third term for Kuchma will be in prison,
" the banner read.

Columns of protesters marched into Kiev's European Square 
in the city center, which officials had earlier banned them 
from entering. Police looked on but there were no reports 
of violence.

Similar demonstrations with lower turnouts took place in 
other cities across Ukraine. In the second largest protest, 
some 12,000 people took to the streets of the western city 
of Lviv, a stronghold of Ukraine's most popular opposition 
politician, former Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko.

Opposition leaders traveled around the country for two weeks 
ahead of Monday's nationwide protest to drum up support. They 
got a boost Sunday when Yushchenko declared he would join 
the demonstration, after weeks of waffling.

As the protesters gathered in Kiev and other cities on Monday 
morning, many television channels were blacked out for what 
officials called routine maintenance. Some of the channels 
were back on the air by mid-afternoon, but opposition leaders 
called the blackout politically motivated.


"Without your true information about what is happening ... 
the nation will be blind," Yushchenko said. (Wire reports)

 
=========================

KUCHMAGATE 

Thousands of protesters take to 
the streets of major Ukrainian cities 
to observe the second anniversary of 
the disappearance of an opposition 
journalist  

Irina Sandul/Odessa 
TIME 
Thursday, Sep. 26, 2002 

Chanting "Away with Kuchma!" some 15,000 
protesters marched through the centers 
of Kiev and other Ukrainian cities last 
week. The protest is believed to be the 
largest such demonstration since Ukraine 
gained its independence 11 years ago. 

The protests — which marked the second 
anniversary of the disappearance of 
independent Internet journalist Georgy 
Gongadze — were directed against Ukrainian 
President Leonid Kuchma. Gongadze's 
headless body was found in late November 
2000. The president was implicated in the 
murder after a former bodyguard released 
tapes containing incriminating conversations 
that allegedly took place in the president's 
office. 

The 16 September protests united 
representatives from radically opposed 
political backgrounds: ultra-left 
communists, socialists, the centrist 
Our Ukraine bloc headed by former prime 
Minister Victor Yuschenko, the Yulia 
Timoshenko bloc, and the ultra-right 
Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. 
The unity was welcomed among the parties 
involved in the action. "It does not make 
any difference which hand hits Kuchma in 
the face," Serhiy Holovaty of the Yulia 
Timoshenko bloc told the Russian newspaper 
Gazeta. Oleksandr Moroz from the Socialist 
Party agreed, adding, "The only difference 
is whether you are left- or right-handed." 
Yulia Timoshenko, apparently seeking a 
knockout punch, concluded, "The best would 
be to [hit Kuchma] with both hands." 

Demonstrators signed a resolution demanding 
Kuchma's resignation or early presidential 
elections. That contest is currently set 
for 2004. The Kiev group later marched to 
the president's office to give the resolution 
to Kuchma's administration. The president 
himself was attending the European Economic 
Summit of the World Economic Forum in Austria 
from 15 to 17 September. 

Volunteers erected approximately 150 large 
tents in front of the president's office and 
in the Lypky district of Kiev. Protest leaders 
said that the tents — which can sleep 
approximately 10 people each — would remain 
in place until Kuchma steps down. The tents 
blocked traffic throughout the night in some 
parts of Kiev. 

By early morning, however, police had destroyed 
the camps and arrested more than 60 people. 
Police said the protestors had not adhered to a 
12 September Kiev court ruling that mandated that 
the planned demonstration be held outside of Kiev. 
Prosecutor-General Vyacheslav Piskun indicated 
that criminal cases had been opened against 
those who were arrested. "Nobody has a right to 
force the president to do anything," Piskun told 
Gazeta. "There can only be three reasons for the 
president's resignation: his own decision, death, 
or impeachment. All other methods are unlawful." 

Speaking from the European Economic Summit, 
Kuchma told the Viennese daily Der Standart that 
"we're all learning democracy and the means of 
expressing our disagreement. If people take to 
the street and share their grievances, this is 
understandable. However, this is happening during 
a time of economic growth and increase in salaries 
and pensions." Ukrainian Prime Minister Anatoly 
Kinakh meanwhile assured journalists that there 
was "no revolutionary situation in the state." He 
appealed to Ukrainians to "get out of their 
permanent state of fighting and work instead at 
bringing up children, communicating with friends 
and nature, and developing themselves." 

In what opposition activists are calling a related 
development, all of the major Ukrainian television 
channels — state-owned UT-1 and UT-2 as well as 
privately held Inter, 1+1, and ICTV — were switched 
off on the morning of the demonstrations. The 
manager of the Kiev Regional Broadcasting Center, 
Valerian Dorenko, said that the shutdown was part 
of planned protective technical measures that had 
been scheduled last November and was not related to 
the protests. 






==================================

KUCHMA'S INVOLVEMENT IN A BEHEADING  

Myroslava Gongadze endorses 
Jaroslaw Koshiw's book "Beheaded"
Oksana Zakydalsky
The Ukrainian Weekly, May 11, 2003, No. 19, Vol. LXXI 

Extract

Jaroslaw Koshiw was recently in Canada and the 
United States to introduce his book "Beheaded: 
the Killing of a Journalist"  ... 
published in January of this year ... 
the book examines the case of journalist Heorhii 
Gongadze - his investigative work in Ukraine on 
television, radio and the Internet - exposing 
corruption in high places, his disappearance and 
murder, and evidence that points to the 
involvement of President Leonid Kuchma in the 
case. 

I met Myroslava Gongadze, widow of the murdered 
journalist, at the Association for the Study of 
Nationalities Conference held recently at Columbia 
University,  
... special screening of the BBC film on the 
Gongadze case "Killing the Story." I spoke to her 
about Mr. Koshiw's book.

Q: Can you give your general opinion about the book 
"Beheaded: the Killing of a Journalist"?

A: When he began to work on the book, Yarko Koshiw 
came to me in Kyiv and said: "I am planning to write 
this book." I really did not believe that it would 
happen. When he was in Washington recently, I reminded 
him that I had not believed that he would do it. It is 
an admirable project and a job well done. He undertook 
a very difficult task and I think that he produced a 
work of quality. 

I am very glad that he puts the problem of the murder 
of Heorhii into a historical context. He does not merely 
relate what happened with him; he tells what happened to 
other journalists and political activists up to the time 
that Heorhii was killed. Basically, he opens our eyes to 
the large number of crimes that have been committed in 
Ukraine, a country under the leadership of President Kuchma. 
This book is a documented history of the investigation 
process, of the killing of Heorhii and, basically, a 
documented history of contemporary Ukraine. The book 
includes a large number of facts and it explains, in great 
detail, the investigation process which, I think, is its 
primary achievement.

Q: To provide insight into the case, Koshiw takes excerpts 
from the Melnychenko tapes supposedly made in the 
president's office and compares them to what actually 
happened. Do you think his method is persuasive?

A: I think it is the only method that one could use, and 
it is one that enables the reader of the book to understand 
clearly the process involved. What he does is basically 
establish the link between the events and the tapes, and 
we get to see how the events develop. It is Koshiw's use 
of the tapes which makes the book a document and a history, 
and not just literature. 

Q: You were at Koshiw's book presentation in Washington. 
How did the audience react to the book and the author?

A: There was a lot of interest, and the author sold a large 
number of books. People were very interested in the details 
of the investigation process and in the author's 
understanding of the process. I personally asked the author 
why he had written this book and he replied that he had l
ong wanted to do that kind of book. His first motivation 
was the fact that his friend and colleague, Mykhailo 
Boychyshyn had disappeared [in 1994]. He wanted to i
nvestigate that disappearance but, at the time, there was 
no evidence to pursue. When Heorhii disappeared and some of 
Melnychenko's tapes were made public, Koshiw saw that, 
finally, "I have a chance to prove the criminality of the 
Ukrainian government." I am very glad that he wrote the 
book. I know it was difficult - even technically difficult - 
and that he took a risk, as do all of us who are involved 
in this case. He worked long on the book and published it 
with his own money.

Q: On the outside it appears that the case of your husband's 
disappearance has reached a dead end. It seems that people 
are waiting for something to happen, although they are not 
happy with the situation. Do you think that something will 
happen to kick-start a resolution to the case?

A: I work every day on keeping the issue alive. The case has 
been presented to the courts in the U.S. There is also a 
special committee at the Council of Europe investigating this 
issue. We have made some progress with the investigating 
committee at the Verkhovna Rada. Some of the Melnychenko 
tapes have been handed over to the U.S. Department of Justice
 for identification - I think this will help a lot. 

Of course, a lot of things that are being done are not made 
public. I, personally, have not folded my hands and I am glad 
that there are, both in the American government and in the 
Verkhovna Rada, committees that are investigating the killing 
of Gongadze. A lot of people are helping and trying to do something.

I believe that this crime will be solved. Maybe we won't see 
that soon but, as you know, we have examples here in the United 
States of cases that take up to 20 years and only after a long 
time are solutions found. But, personally, I am not afraid of this
 because I am convinced that, if we do not get answers to the 
Gongadze investigation, if the guilty are not brought before the 
courts - then we will not have a stable Ukraine. 

Q: How do you answer people - often called "derzhavnyky" - who 
believe that criticism of the president of Ukraine and accusations 
against him made on the world stage do harm to Ukraine? 

A: The only thing I can say is that we must remember that truth 
never threatened anybody. Only truth can help a country to be 
reborn and, I will repeat this, if we do not find a solution to 
this case, if we see no results, if there are no answers to the 
questions that have been raised, then there is no hope that 
Ukraine will develop normally. If these "derzhavnyky" are really 
concerned about the fate of Ukraine, their first task should be to 
find the answers, to find the truth.

I am absolutely certain about my mission and confident about what 
I am doing. And I will continue to act consistently. Many people, 
including many young people, who once were afraid to talk to me, 
now approach me and squeeze my hand as a sign of support. Even 
people who work at the Embassy of Ukraine, who work at various 
Ukrainian representation establishments in Europe, earlier - say 
a year or two ago - were afraid to approach me. Now they 
understand that only truth can save us and they themselves feel 
the falsity of their positions. They don't say this officially, 
but when they talk to me, they tell me so. They say: help us to 
free ourselves. 

Q: I know several people who were familiar with the Gongadze case 
and have said that they found the Koshiw book convincing. Do you 
think this book will help in the case of Heorhii Gongadze?

A: Yes, the book is very readable and clearly explains the whole 
process. I think everyone should read it and find out how it all 
really happened.

* * *

The book "Beheaded: Killing of a Journalist may be ordered online 
at www.artemiapress.com.uk. The price of $25 (U.S.) includes 
postage. It is also available in Canada through the Ukrainian 
Book Store in Edmonton, www.ukrainianbookstore.com. 

=================

VOICE TAPES INCLUDING THAT OF PRESIDENT KUCHMA
AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JOURNALIST GEORGY GONGADZE 
 
Posted by Ihor on December 01, 2000 at 17:07:56:
http://www.brama.com/survey/messages/4121.html
KPNews.com’s English-language translation of the 
tape released by Oleksandr Moroz allegedly l
inking President Leonid Kuchma in the 
disappearance of journalist Georgy Gongadze:

Episode 1
- Hello.
- Hello.
- You give me this same one at Ukrainska Pravda 
and ... we will start to decide what to do with 
him. He's simply gone too far already.
- Started a case.
- Wha-?
- Started a case... (undecipherable)
- Good
- (undecipherable)
- No, I don't necessarily need a case. ... 
Ukrainska Pravda, well, this is completely 
already, blyad, isnolence. Bastard, blya. 
The Georgian, Georgian, blin.
- Gongadze, or what?
- Gongadze.
- Well, someone finances him...
- Well, he actively works with this, with 
Moroz, with Grani (Web site). I will on Saturday 
him... with Matvienko.
- Maybe people's deputies here to court, let the 
lawyers bring him to court. 
- This goes to the prosecutor, right?
- No, Let Kravchenko... (undecipherable)
- (undecipherable)
- It's just, blya, ... there is some kind of 
limit, son-of-a-bitch, blya. ...
- Deport him, bliat, to Georgia and throw him 
out there f*** him.
- Drive him out to Georgia and throw him there.
- the Chechens should steal him. ...

Episode 2
- So that I don't forget, there's this one 
Gongadze...
- I think I heard this kind of surname.
- Well, bastard, blya, final limit 
- Gongadze. He already came our way somewhere...
- Wha-?
- He passed by somewhere. Looking for him.
- That means, what he constantly writes in some 
kind of "Ukrainska some kind of Pravda", he pushes 
it into the Internet, understand. Well who, someone 
finances him 
- (undecipherable)
- But the main thing he needs to be pushed back. 
Volodya says the Chechens should steal him and 
drive him to Chechnya to f*** himself and ask for 
a ransom.
- Eh, we'll just somewhere him...
- Eh, these sort of people (laughter) totally major...
- Don't spread anything.
- Well, and drive him out to Georgia, and that's 
it.
- Meaning, in the first place, will we be giving 
(official) permission, not permission, that head of 
the rayon division..., oh, you remember, the one 
that in Chernihiv oblast said: "Let the president 
pay you "
- Yeh-yeh-yeh.
- They've already released the vice head. They 
started a criminal case against him. Meaning on 
165 this is for official service violations, and 
185. So I think that he's here. And this week 
we'll him 
- Yeh. Yeh. Let's
- We'll also show who to say what to.

Episode 3
- On Gongadze there is besides that that he works 
together with Moroz.
- For Moroz he's been writing there in his Grani 
still from the very summer. How does he finance (?)...
- Well, this is the type of garbage. I wouldn't be 
surprised that with them there with the socialists 
there are ties there. ... Well, we'll take care of 
things with them. I think this is...
- There are outlines. This is Medvechuk and Surkis?
- This is that there is a tie between them this is...
- No, that's how once...
- I remember this game near Kievskie Vedomosti 
(newspaper). Surkis, blya, why do we need a Jew, blya.
- Come on, why do you need a Jew 
- And now I read some of those same conversations of 
theirs 
- Eh, it's he that posts them. That was there method 
then. And it still exists. They're creating a problem 
there, later, as if, they go to a person and help and 
later it turns out that that person is dependent on 
them. And it is in this way that they here... This is 
a big spectacle at such a level, I don't know, maybe, 
national. They played it out and it made hits... Eh, 
this is this kind of thing. ... And, this, maybe, is 
all.

Episode 4
- I would like to ask you about this kind of form. I 
mean to use, so that I don't forget.
- This Georgian.
- I'm, we're working.
- Meaning... - 
- I'm telling you, drive him out, throw out. Give him 
to the Chechens. (undecipherable) and then a ransom.
- We'll think it over. We're do it in such a way, so 
that 
- Meaning drive him out, undress him, blya, leave him 
without his pants, let him sit there.
- I'd do it simply, blya, they told me about it today. 
We're learning the situation: where he's walking, which 
ways he walks. We've got someone sitting there 
connected up. We have to study it just a little bit, 
we'll do it. The team I have is a fighting one, such 
eagles, everything you want, they'll do. Meaning this 
is the present.
- For some reason you're not saying anything about 
Gongadze?
- To stay quiet (undecipherable)
- Honest. Well I'm reporting to you. There we made 
somewhat of a mistake.
- There he's got a team headed by the last name they 
told me, blya. 
- Meaning he wrote a complaint to the general prosecutor.
 Well, I think...
- Who.
- Him.
- I made a bit of a mistake here. Well now I think, why 
did I make a mistake. Now I'll tell you. I went to the 
deputy head of running the city of Kyiv Opanasenko. I 
think that Opanasenko, I think that the group, it's 
closed. So Opanasenko through his to get to the bottom 
of what kind of machine this is and wrote Potobenko, that 
is, a complaint.
- Who, Opanasenko?
- No, Gongadze.- And here he gives the numbers that were 
destroyed a year ago. I am changing the plan here a 
little because... I want to get rid of that Opanasenko. 
My doubts were over when they reported to me all the way 
in Kirgizia (?) that Opanasenko is interested in the 
numbers so I said wait, , so that it...
with the numbers I'll do it. I simply, so that it, I 
mean, so that it doesn't work out anywhere. Well, 
He'll be here tomorrow. He'll sign that this could be 
like a settlement for such matters. 
- Well, so that it doesn't go, because they are 
throwing dirt into Russia through the Internet. You 
know, into the Internet through Russia.
- Clear.
- I'm not letting Gongadze out. Simply for us a 
question has arisen I also it... Are there indeed 
already contacts... And there were... armed surveillance 
I want to study up on his contacts. What it...
- To know if there isn't a team there. They named some 
kind of surnames there. They're scribbling this trash 
- There are three of them.
- We have them. We have them all.
- Well I want to start with him. Well and this... the 
general (prosecutor's office) will react. There are no 
numbers, I don't know.
- And what connection the General (Prosecutor's Office) 
to Gongadze?
- Well their declaration is there. This is official.
- well, and so what 
- the declaration is official.
- Well why does every sh** have to write to the general 
prosecutor,
- Leonid Danylovych...
- There you go just send it to the rayon prosecutor.
- I don't know what the prosecutor there will say. This 
is the prosecutor...
- I bid you all the best.

Episode 5
- Well, Leonid Danylovych, what's new?
- About Gongadze
- ...

Episode 6- How should I tell you... Kravchenko promised 
to take care of it 
- How should I tell you (undecipherable) The Georgian 
embassy made an official announcement and made an 
anonymous call which was in the embassy that the Moscow 
rayon needs to be searched and Volkov is dealing with 
this matter, Kravchenko and... one can't place 
politics... undermine it... in order to undermine... 
this is also not tolerable...
- The ambassador has to be summoned 
- Me too... and make some kind of notation or warning, 
or have a conversation.
- A call has to be made... and get rid of him to hell 
this kind of ambassador, blin.
- (on the phone) Koval, you need to be removed. Were 
you taking care of things there with the Georgian 
embassy?
- (answer) We will now start taking care of things 
- And get him here, blya, Let him make a reply, 
otherwise I'll call Shevarnadze to call him back the 
hell with him.
- Okay- And say, that I'll call Shevarnadze, to take 
him out the hell with him.
- okay, okay, I'm calling on him right now.

Episode 7
- Listen, now they just showed me newspapers, blyat, 
all these, blyat, that are published. Well, Hrysha 
Omelchenko is continuing to put out a paper in 
Kremenchug (pause) Well, what are you bullsh**ing. E
h no, right now the 15th of September he put out a 
paper. (pause) And I'm telling you, September 15 put 
out a fresh newspaper. Svoboda (newpaper) blya, is 
being published, and you're still about that again...
 Well there, well there, there are such caricatures 
there, and also insults, blya totally on the president. 
(pause) So then you invite Yulia. F*** your mother, 
you invite Yulia, and ask: "dear one, what are you 
bitch blya doing? Do you want for us to blya you blya 
completely or what." And say: "why are you financing 
Omelchenko, why are you doing that-that." You don'y 
know the method of your job or what, how that's done 
all over the world. So if they aren't one f***ing bit 
afraid of you. F*** your mother, well why are you this 
way. Why should you be feared? It is our service that 
they are afraid of. ... It was I who appointed you. So 
that's why let's go.

Episode 8
- Listening. And where are you looking. In Poltava 
oblast in Kremenchug this bastard Omelchenko is 
publishing such a newspaper, blya, simply incredible. 
With caricatures, blya, they're throwing dirt on the 
president with their publications. So therefore, the 
security service and the prosecutor can't start a 
criminal case together. So there, these lawyers 
looked at this, and say that there are grounds to 
start such a case. Where's the Service. Well yes 
then why aren't they reporting now. They bring me 
this newspaper... Newspapers, blya they deliver to 
me here, while the service doesn't report one f***ing 
thing. (pause) And that's what's the most interesting. 
I'll look who participates there, in this same. All 
these anti-presidential correspondents.
... Yeh, and that includes Korobova of Grani. F*** 
your mother, imagine, this bitch, blya, this 
prostitute (who?) of newspapers into which he 
took her. ... That Gongadze, blya, good-bye-good 
riddance.
- It's time with them all...
- The level of influence of the Verkhovna Rada 
is 4 percent, the level of influence of the Cabinet 
of Ministers or the premier 0...
- On mass media?
- Well yeh.
- Understand, which it is counting on so that God 
forbid a finger isn't pointed at it 
- ...
- Well, of course.
- ...

Episode 11
- Leonid Danilovych, I want to report. I think, 
that I wrestled out all of his structures competely, 
yes. And now the team is muffling the matter. Meaning 
everything, it seems, we took out which is his.
- The fund Zlahoda, yeh?
- everything is there, everything. I looked there.
- Well an aside from the newspaper Toavarish they 
also have this new newspaper?
- Leonid Danylovych, well, we will have all the 
structures. Well, and now that gang, that distributed 
leaflets from Holovaty?
- Yeh.
- Meaning, the day before yesterday he ended up all 
the way in Sumy oblast, the one that distributed. And 
they gave it to him there in such a way (laugher). And 
he yells: "It was Holovaty that me " (laugher) And he 
came home, and there, meaning, the dacha was occupied, 
and the door burned 
- Whose?
- His (both laughing) Understood.
- ... 
- And he distributed one or....
- We him... the sh** came out again with a new packet. 
That same day 15 cops... And he was with 3 guards. 
Later he came out without anybody, they put him in a 
car. When they went forward... "I won't anymore, this 
is Holovaty. Who's your chief? Who's your chief? I'll 
be a witness. Well, to keep it short...
- ... (undecipherable) I have such a subdivision, their
 methods, they have no moral principles, they have 
nothing. So that God forbid... So meaning they have 
nothing. So that simply means me. I have a group and 
they're beginning to muffle. Well I with your permission 
will then talk things over with Azarov.
- I have an example, that I should also participate.
- Azarov also has an example.
- Well, something could get mixed up for us. But we are 
continuing to work. 
- Is it interesting with them?
- What could they have interesting there...

Editor's note: English-language grammatical accuracy 
has been sacrificed in this translation in order to 
attempt to get across the tone of the original 
conversation. 

Comments:
: KPNews.com’s English-language translation of 
the tape released by Oleksandr Moroz allegedly 
linking President Leonid Kuchma in the 
disappearance of journalist Georgy Gongadze:


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