Ukrainians seek to oust leader

Press, 11 September 1989, Page 11

Ukrainians seek to oust leader

NZPA-Reuter Kiev A new Ukrainian mass movement heard repeated calls at the week-end for the ousting and trial of the republic’s veteran Communist Party leader, amid signs of mounting official concern over its radical demands. One speaker at the founding congress of Ruk (Movement) even openly urged the Ukraine’s secession from the Soviet Union — a call likely to cause alarm in Moscow, which depends on the region for nearly half its agricultural output and much of its coal, iron, steel, and chemicals.

Speakers won resounding applause from the 1500-strong audience with

demands to dismiss the hard-line Ukrainian leader, Vladimir Shcherbitsky, and to bring him to trial for his handling of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

“There can be no talk of perestroika in the Ukraine when the grey cardinals responsible for Chernobyl are still in power,” said a member of the Soviet Parliament, Sergei Konvev.

In one of the hardesthitting speeches of the congress, a former political prisoner called for the complete independence of the Ukraine. “International law and the Soviet constitution give us the right to independence for the

Ukraine,” said Levko Lukyanenko, who spent 26 years in prisons and labour camps after his death sentence was commuted.

“Our whole history is a history of occupation, but we have suffered most under the Russians. “For this reason the principal goal of our movement ■ must be to leave the Soviet Union.” Others demanded sweeping economic and political reforms, attacked a planned new electoral law as undemocratic and called for unity ahead of the poll due in the republic in the next few months. Mr Konyev said this was the only way to end the “reign of the political dinosaurs.”