Viktor Yushchenko_The Attempted Murder of Viktor Yushchenko

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• published: 09 Jul 2015
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President Yushchenko describes how he was poisoned during the campaign. TRANSCRIPT I would like to start with saying that during the 2004 [presidential] election campaign, that poisoning was not the first attempt to remove me from the election campaign. The very first attempt was when my car, which I was driving, had been attacked by a large cargo truck. That had happened in the south of Ukraine; and I saw the attack as a warning. Later, as I went on with my campaign, there were several occasions when car bombs were positioned near my collegues and me. Criminal cases were opened, based on that, and in each case a legal investigation was carried out. And, so to speak, the attempt to poison me in September 2004 could be seen as the final item on that list. As you remember, that was, in fact, the peak of the election campaign when literally days or a couple of weeks could decide the winner or loser. I was invited to attend a meeting with representatives of Ukrainian special agencies – security agencies of Ukraine. That was Sunday [September 5, 2004]. After a large rally on Sunday, which I finished at about 6 p.m. Many times I had categorically refused to attend the meeting. However, there were certain people who believed that I have to attend the meeting, because that was, perhaps, the one and only channel of communication with authorities. President [Leonid] Kuchma did not like communicating with the opposition; there were neither public nor private channels for such a communication. And due to that, to submit, so to speak, demands or warnings to the authorities had been possible only by the way of contact with representatives of the highest rank in the security agencies of Ukraine. I would like to repeat: I was not a supporter of conducting this September 5 meeting, but I was persuaded; and around 10 – 10:30 p.m. I went to the meeting; the meeting was conducted for several hours in suburbs of the city of Kyiv. There was some food was served and there was a lot of talking; mainly, as usual, on the electoral process, the situation with the elections, and whether the authorities will have enough courage and political will to provide honest elections. The meeting was over, I think, around 2:00 a.m. or, perhaps, later. Towards the end of meeting I felt, as it seemed at first, some slight pain, which at the time I did not pay much attention to, and I thought that it is easier just to get home because I am so tired already. Then, when I was already driving in the car and there were still about 12 – 15 kilometers to cover, or around 20 – 30 minutes of city driving, I again started to feel a pain, which is hard to describe now because it cannot be compaired to anything. The pain, which I never felt before, and I had no medicine. And I had just one thought – to come home; and there my wife will give me some medicine. To be honest, I always was skeptical towards medicine and medications. I never liked taking medications – maybe that I inherited from my father. Meanwhile, I was impatiently driving without a word, and now I remember only the most severe pain and one wish – to reach home soon. When I walked inside, I kissed my wife, and she asked me: “Hey Viktor, why do you have this metallic smell?” My family seldom uses words like this – that is why it seemed so unusual. I thought: Now I will take some medicine, and everything will return to normal. At first my family started treating me – they gave me some painkillers, but nothing helped. Then they gave me another dose. Again, painkillers did not help at all. It is 5:00 – 6:00 a.m. already. We called an ambulance. They came and I was examined for several hours, including tests and treatment. However, there is no progress at all. I cannot sleep. I cannot sit. It seems now that in the afternoon of that day I gave American journalists – I gave an interview. But then I was already on my knees, because I could not sit or stand in front of our coffee table. But I yet had an inexplicable hope, that it will go away, that it is just an episode.