Former Ukrainian President (1994-2005) Leonid Kuchma has described as absurd the claims of a former officer of the Department of State Guard of Ukraine, Major Mykola Melnychenko, that he [Kuchma] was involved in organizing an attempt on the life of Ukrainian Progressive Socialists Party leader Natalia Vitrenko.
"You have the possibility to analyze all his [Melnychenko’s] statements… I can’t understand why a sane man would say this," Kuchma said before his visit to the main investigative department of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office on Wednesday.
As reported, in 2006 Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko offered the ministry’s protection to leader of the People’s Opposition parliamentary bloc Natalia Vitrenko, as he feared an attempt on her life by "the organized political gang" that financed her election campaign. The People’s Opposition stated that Vitrenko received no offer from the Interior Ministry and described Lutsenko’s statement as "political hysteria."
