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On November 28th, the ex-speaker of the Ukrainian parliament, ex-candidate for President and the current leader of the Ukrainian Socialists, Alexander Moroz told a meeting of the supreme 'Rada' (Ukrainian Parliament) that he had the basis to confirm that the murder of famous opposition journalist Georgi Gongadze was personally ordered murdered by Leonid Kuchma and orchestrated by the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior Yuri Kravchinko.
According to Moroz the head of the presidential administration, Vladimir Litvin was also involved in planning the crime. As proof, Moroz has given the press a fragment of an audio recording of conversations between Kuchma, Kravchinko and Litvin. In the conversation they allegedly discuss variants for 'neutralizing' Gongadze.
Gongadze was killed in Kiev on his way home on the Evening of 16th of October.
1. A decoding of the cassette presented by Moroz to Journalists (in Ukrainian) and audio files.
2. A decoding of the cassette presented by Moroz to Journalist (translated into Russian).
3. A statement by the faction by the Socialists and Peasants part, 'Left Center' of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine. (In Ukrainian)
4. A statement by the faction by the Socialists and Peasants part, 'Left Center' of the Supreme Rada of Ukraine. (Translated into Russian)
5. A decoding of the cassette presented by Moroz to Journalists (translated from Ukrainian into Russian then into English)
Note: The voices on all phone conversation files are not identified and so are not named.
That evening, the Ukrainian press and political elite started to react to the news although with relative monotony.
The general idea of the reaction was that the news might be a provocation aimed at promoting the image of the head socialist (Moroz) and a blow against the President. And there is news that it might have an effect on the courts because the audiotape itself which Moroz gave to Journalists could not be entered as evidence. President Kuchma's representative Bezsmertny said that with today's level of technical advancement there is the possibility of faking the voice of anyone, even the President of Ukraine himself. The head of the presidential administration Litvin told a press conference that for the first time in his 43 years he is going to file a case in court...against Moroz. He even named the amount of the damages 33 hryvna (About $6- but a symbolic reference to 33 pieces of silver).
In a press conference, Kuchma (along with Georgian President Eduard Szhevardnadze), said the audiotape was the act of 'foreign provocation'. However these days, the implied foreign provocateur is more likely to be the Bear to the North than the Eagle to the West.
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