Two Ukrainian government officials who could have served as key witnesses concerning financial wrongdoing and vote rigging by your allies President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych have died under suspicious circumstances.

Banker Yuri Lyakh, 39, dies on 03-Dec-2004

Yuri Lyakh (spelled also Yuriy, and also Liakh), chairman of the Ukrainian Credit Bank founded by Presidential Administration chief Viktor Medvedchuk, died when his neck arteries were severed by an envelope opener.  Lyakh had been Medvedchuk's personal advisor, and knew the financial details of the Kuchma regime.  He is thought to have been siphoning off bank funds for the Yanukovych campaign.


Transport Minister Heorhy Kyrpa, 58, dies on 27-Dec-2004

Heorhy Kyrpa (spelled Georgy or George among other possibilities, and also Kirpa), Ukrainian Minister of Transport, found dead on 27-Dec-2004 of a single pistol shot to the temple, seems to have been either murdered by the Kuchma-Putin-Yanukovych coalition, or else driven by that coalition to suicide, because his loyalty was doubted and because he knew too much.

Viktor Yanukovych

Kyrpa is thought to have been the vote-rigging mastermind who transported tens of thousands of Yanukovych supporters around the country to cast illegal multiple votes, and who attempted to bully railway employees to vote for Yanukovych.  Then, too, he appears to have diverted into Yanukovych election coffers a vast amount of money that had been allocated for the building of a Kyiv bridge.

Kyrpa is rumored to have been in touch with the opposition, possibly to trade information about the government�s criminal activities in return for immunity from prosecution.  That Kyrpa had become disenchanted with Kuchma-Putin-Yanukovych might be inferred from an event that took place three weeks before his death: Viktor Yanukovych, perhaps in an attempt to persuade Kyrpa to stronger loyalty, punched out two of his teeth:

07-Dec-2004  16:38 MSK UKRAINE: Prime Minister Assaults Minister of Transport UKRAINE, Kiev.  (Our Correspondent).  Prime Minister of Ukraine, presidential candidate Victor Yanukovich, assaulted Transportation Minister Georgi Kirpa because he allowed the arrival of several trains of demonstrators from Western Ukraine to Kiev, and also because he was unable to force all railway workers to vote for Yanukovich. A medical worker at one of Lvov�s hospitals, who asked that his surname not be used, informed a correspondent of PRIMA-News on December 6th, that Kirpa was in hospital.  According to the medical worker, �Victor Yanukovich took out some of the minister�s teeth�.  Other sources assert that Yanukovich �knocked out two of the minister�s teeth�.  According to physicians, George Kirpa said of Yanukovich and his followers: �In all my life, I�ve never seen such gangsters�. Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma once awarded Kirpa the title of �Hero of Ukraine� for his �outstanding contribution to the development of railway transportation�. Translated by OM Kenney PRIMA-News Agency [2004-12-06-Ukr-07] Prima News, 07-Dec-2004  www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2004/12/7/30513.html    Yuri Kyrpa is probably not indicating here with his fingers the number of his lost teeth.

Vladimir Putin

Much has been written in recent days about Russia's "loss of Ukraine," concerning which I venture to add my own comment.

Russia alienated Ukraine by relying on Kremlin Chekists and spin-doctor mountebanks who all labored under the misconception that voters can be gulled by even the crudest deceptions and the most primitive manipulations.  Now that it has been proven that the Chekist-mountebank modus operandi doesn't work, an alternative that you might try consists of treating everyone as if he had done to you what you have seen him do to others.  For example, you saw Viktor Yanukovych tearing earrings off women's ears; you should have reacted to him as if he had torn earrings off your ears � which is to say, you should have withdrawn you support and denounced him, as I have earlier recommended in my 21-Nov-2004 letter to you titled Only insane people could elect such a president at  www.ukar.org/putin/putin07.html).

Similarly, when you saw Viktor Yanukovych punching out Yuri Kyrpa's teeth, you should have responded as if he had punched out your teeth.  If your mind had been flooded with images such as the one on the left, you would have withdrawn your support of Viktor Yanukovych and you would have denounced him.

No Kremlin functionary and no spin doctor gave you wiser advice than to admonish Viktor Yanukovych with the words, "Whatsoever you do unto the least of my brethren, you do unto me."  Had you adopted this ancient wisdom, you would have won the gratitude and friendship of Ukraine.  Your choosing instead to follow the course set by Kremlin Chekists and spin-doctor charlatans left Ukrainians with the memory of your attempting to rule them through a surrogate who spurs his followers to greater effort by knocking out their teeth.




Lubomyr Prytulak