Global Security Newswire

A Ukrainian parliamentary commission investigating the illness of opposition leader and presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko said yesterday that it has found no evidence to support allegations that Yushchenko had been poisoned (see GSN, Oct. 1).

Last month, Yushchenko traveled to a hospital in Vienna twice for treatment after becoming sick. Yushchenko’s campaign chief, Oleksandr Zinchenko, said that doctors suspected that a “biological weapon” may be to blame. Yushchenko has given permission for biological weapons experts to be involved in his case, the Associated Press reported.

Commission head Volodymyr Syvkovych said yesterday, though, that the panel “was unable to find evidence that could ascertain that an assassination attempt was made against Yushchenko.”

However, Serhiy Shevchuk, the commission’s deputy leader, argued that the panel’s “conclusions are far from the truth” and called the report a “forgery” (Aleksandar Vasovic, Associated Press, Oct. 7).