Yanukovich – Yet Another Victim of Political Repression?

Former premier and runner for the Ukrainian presidency Viktor Yanukovich has been summoned for questioning at the Department of Fight against Organized Crime of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.

A spokesman of the department told journalists that V. Yanukovich had to report for questioning at 11.00 a.m. on May 30.

V. Yanukovich, leader of the pro-Russian north-eastern part of Ukraine, would reportedly be questioned in connection with a criminal case involving the allocation, by a government ruling of June 17, 2004, of about 1 million Grivnas to the Donetsk Regional Administration for the purchase of specialized equipment for the "Donetsk" International Airport. The airport is reported to be the communal property of the Donetsk Regional Council.

It is hard to tell now if V.Yanukovich will suffer the same lot as befell another leader of opposition to Yushchenko's regime, former head of the Donetsk Regional Administration, Boris Kolesnikov, who was arrested on April 6, 2005, on suspicion of extortion when he came to give evidence at the Head Investigating Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs.

During and after the presidential election in Ukraine B. Kolesnikov, one of the leaders of the Donetsk Region and political ally of Viktor Yanukovivh, had called for granting the eastern, traditionally pro-Russian, regions of Ukraine a special administrative status, which would in fact lead to the federalization of the country.

Manifestations are being regularly held in Donetsk and Kiev in protest against the arrest of B. Kolesnikov. If V. Yanukovich gets arrested too, the scope of protest actions may considerably increase – he still enjoys great popularity in many regions of Ukraine.