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Yushchenko links poison to meal with secret police
Financial Times ^ | December 16 2004 | Tom Warner

Posted on 12/16/2004 2:15:10 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe

Viktor Yushchenko, the Ukrainian opposition leader, claimed on Thursday he was poisoned at a dinner in early September with the heads of the country's secret police.

"That was the only place where no one from my team was present and no precautions were taken concerning the food," he said.

"It was a project of political murder, prepared by the authorities."

An official investigation by the Ukrainian prosecutor general into the poisoning of Mr Yushchenko is under way. The investigation was launched after the Rudolfinerhaus clinic in Vienna, where Mr Yushchenko underwent tests, confirmed last weekend he was suffering from dioxin poisoning.

"I have no doubt that within several days or weeks this path will lead to the authorities, to specific people representing the government," he said.

The concentration of dioxin found in Mr Yushchenko's blood was the second highest recorded in human history, said Abraham Brouwer, professor at the Free University in Amsterdam, where blood samples were sent.

What constitutes a lethal dose of dioxin has never been established, because nobody has ever been known to die from it.

The dinner where Mr Yushchenko said he was poisoned was hosted by Volodymyr Satsyuk, who was dismissed this week as deputy chief of the SBU secret police. The speaker of Ukraine's parliament claimed on Wednesday that judges were under pressure to give Mr Satsyuk immunity from prosecution.

People close to Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing president, had tried earlier to play down Mr Yushchenko's poisoning allegations.

Soon after Mr Yushchenko first claimed he had been poisoned, in a speech to parliament on September 21, Mr Kuchma's businessman son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, travelled to Vienna and discussed the claims with doctors at the Rudolfinerhaus clinic. He and his wife - Mr Kuchma's daughter, Elena Franchuk - had established contacts with Vienna's tight-knit medical community when their daughter was born in a different Vienna hospital in June 2003.

A team of public relations experts from EuroRSCG, part of the Paris-based Havas Group, also came to Vienna, headed by Yffic Nouvellon, who had worked with Mr Pinchuk and Ms Franchuk in Kiev.

Mr Nouvellon's team arranged a press conference where Lothar Wicke, the Rudolfinerhaus's general manager, contradicted Mr Yushchenko's poisoning allegations. Mr Nouvellon also contacted international media, including the Financial Times, offering evidence that Mr Yushchenko had not been poisoned.

Mr Nouvellon did not reveal his connection to Mr Pinchuk, and when confronted about it insisted he did not know Mr Pinchuk and that he had never been to Kiev. Michael Zimpfer, the Rudolfinerhaus's president, said he had cut the clinic's contact with Mr Nouvellon's team after Mr Yushchenko had informed him of EuroRSCG's ties to the Kuchma family.

"It was a big mistake to involve a company that was clearly biased to one side," Dr Zimpfer said.

Mr Pinchuk said he and his media businesses, which carried reports casting doubt on the poisoning allegations, "had only one goal, to find the truth. All our investigations at that time showed no trace of poisoning."


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: kuchma; pinchuk; soros; ukraine; yushchenko
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Viktor Pinchuk (Kuchma's son in law), Soros
and Olena Franchuk (Kuchma's daughter)

Shaken oligarchs keep their money on Yanukovich - Mr Yushchenko has pledged to review the controversial privatisation of Kryvorizhstal, Ukraine's biggest steel mill, which was sold to Mr Pinchuk and Mr Akhmetov earlier this year for $800m (€604m, £424m), far less than foreign bidders were prepared to offer.

1 posted on 12/16/2004 2:15:10 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Soros soup!


2 posted on 12/16/2004 2:22:53 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: RedBloodedAmerican

Why would he eat with the secret police? Isn't that sort of like Salman Rushdie accepting a dinner invitation from the Ayatollah?


3 posted on 12/16/2004 2:24:23 PM PST by Betaille (Harry Potter is a Right-Winger)
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To: Betaille

Moral of the story;sup Not with the Devil,whither thou hast a Long Spoone....


4 posted on 12/16/2004 2:27:09 PM PST by gripper ("Does this mean we can hit back ,now?")
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To: Tailgunner Joe
...he was poisoned at a dinner in early September with the heads of the country's secret police.

Old Scots saying: "Who sups wi’ the devil needs a long spoon."

5 posted on 12/16/2004 2:28:11 PM PST by Grut
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To: gripper

Curses! Beaten by 1:02.


6 posted on 12/16/2004 2:30:01 PM PST by Grut
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To: Grut
>Old Scots saying: "Who sups wi’ the devil needs a long spoon"

It's like going out
with Lewinsky, then whining
someone Lovelaced you . . .

7 posted on 12/16/2004 2:30:19 PM PST by theFIRMbss
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To: Tailgunner Joe; Lazamataz

Note to self: no more meals with the secret police.


8 posted on 12/16/2004 2:31:19 PM PST by B Knotts
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To: Tailgunner Joe

"Here, have hunters goulash, so good! And also, must have this, sourcrout soup! Just like home cooking! Now, a toast! To the future!"


9 posted on 12/16/2004 2:43:05 PM PST by GOP_1900AD (Stomping on "PC," destroying the Left, and smoking out faux "conservatives" - Take Back The GOP!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Soros has a big stake in Ukraine. Read this.

You are way behind the times. Note the date -- Soros wanted to replace Kuchma with Yushchenko since 2001!

Posted by MM on March 02, 2001 at 12:34:39:

Soros calls on Kuchma to step aside, make way for Yushchenko
Ukrainian News

KYIV, Mar. 2 (Ukrainian News) - Major international financier George Soros in a letter published by the Financial Times on Friday called on President Leonid Kuchma to step aside pending the outcome of an official investigation into the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze.

In his letter, entitled "Step Aside, Mr. Kuchma," Soros calls on Kuchma to hand over his duties to Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko while the investigation into Gongadze’s murder goes forward.


http://www.brama.com/survey/messages/7549.html


====

And here is the link to the actual Soros letter, which appeared in the Financial Times on March 2, 2001.


COMMENT & ANALYSIS: Step aside, Mr Kuchma: George Soros says the Ukrainian president should hand over his duties pending an inquiry into alleged criminal:

Financial Times; Mar 2, 2001

By GEORGE SOROS

http://www.ukar.org/kuchma19.html

"I (Soros) established the Ukrainian Renaissance Foundation in 1989, two years before Ukraine became an independent country. Since then I have given more than Dollars 100m to support Ukraine.

"If Mr Kuchma cares about Ukraine's survival as an independent democratic state, he must take responsibility for his actions and hand over his duties to the prime minister" (Who was Yushchenko, at the time!)


10 posted on 12/16/2004 3:16:11 PM PST by QQQQQ
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To: QQQQQ
That implies a rebuke of Kuchma, but not an endorsement of Yushchenko. He asked Kuchma to step down in favor of Yushchenko only because Yushchenko was PM at the time.
11 posted on 12/16/2004 3:38:05 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: Tailgunner Joe

And who does Soros thinks he is, not only telling the president of a country to step down, but telling him, who should take over.

Yushchenko hasn't been prime minister in a long time. He was asked to leave some years ago.

Soros thinks he owns Ukraine. It's Soros against Putin, not "democracy against communism".

Here is another article for your consideration, if you are sincere about finding out the truth.

Ukraine undecided; George Soros "spending millions on the campaign against Mr. Yanukovych"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1292704/posts

Also, as in the American election, billionaire George Soros, who poured millions of dollars into efforts to defeat President Bush, is also spending millions on the campaign against Mr. Yanukovych, said Eduard Prutnik, the prime minister's adviser, on a visit to The Washington Times yesterday.

Iraq is also an issue, with Mr. Yanukovych pledging to keep Ukraine's 1,600 troops within the U.S.-led coalition and Mr. Yushchenko promising to withdraw them within weeks if he is elected.


12 posted on 12/16/2004 3:45:12 PM PST by QQQQQ
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To: QQQQQ
"I (Soros) established the Ukrainian Renaissance Foundation in 1989, two years before Ukraine became an independent country.



Soros is getting way too involved in the Sovereignty of nations. In the old days we used to have corporate raiders, now we have a nation raider. In spite of what he says I don't think he is doing it for anyones benefit but his own.
13 posted on 12/16/2004 4:03:48 PM PST by oldbrowser (You lost the election.....................Get over it.)
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To: oldbrowser

And he poured in $100 Million by his own admission.

Does anyone really think he got nothing in return?


14 posted on 12/16/2004 4:06:08 PM PST by QQQQQ
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To: QQQQQ
Who does Putin think he is? He thinks he owns Ukraine.

It's not Soros against Putin, it's Ukraine against Russia.

Soros did not even support Yushchenko, but he has funded Yanukovych's supporters. Edward Prutnik helped Yanukovych steal the election.

15 posted on 12/16/2004 5:03:46 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: oldbrowser; All
....connecting dots: Dick Morris is probably being paid by Soros, fwiw. Morris worked on the Yushenovich campaign, as told to Sean Hannity this week. Soros likely recruited him.

Morris, of course, is familiar with prostitution, so this doesn't surprise me.

16 posted on 12/16/2004 5:39:50 PM PST by chiller (1 down (Jf'nK) and 1 to go (old media))
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To: chiller

Yushenko rather than Yushenovich....they all look alike.


17 posted on 12/16/2004 5:40:46 PM PST by chiller (1 down (Jf'nK) and 1 to go (old media))
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Given Puty-poots background, I'll bet this poisoning could be eventually traced back to him. I'd like to see Yuchenko make that accusation.


18 posted on 12/16/2004 5:44:44 PM PST by chiller (1 down (Jf'nK) and 1 to go (old media))
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To: chiller; Chieftain

Soros is the biggest prostitute of all...He's another Michael Moore...its all about his financial self interest...always is, always was. And to think this slimeball acts like he's interested in values and morality.

Oh, yeah, the other thing he has in common with Moore. They are both exceedingly ugly. Just goes to show money can't buy values or looks.( well...maybe they just didn't spend Enough!ha.)


19 posted on 12/16/2004 6:50:58 PM PST by Recovering Ex-hippie (Move the UN to Paris...NOW!!!)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Stop excepting those invitations!


20 posted on 12/16/2004 7:23:47 PM PST by nickcarraway
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