Ban Ki-moon Met Tyahnybok of Svoboda, UN Won't Say If Ban Knew in AdvancennBy Matthew Russell LeennUNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- The day after...
Ban Ki-moon Met Tyahnybok of Svoboda, UN Won't Say If Ban Knew in AdvancennBy Matthew Russell LeennUNITED NATIONS, March 24 -- The day after the UN confirmed to Inner City Press that in Kyiv UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with controversial Svoboda Party leader Oleh Tyahnybok, Ban's deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq refused to say if Ban knew in advance that Tyahnybok would be present.nn Tyahnybok, the leader of All-Ukrainian Union 'Svoboda,' has repeatedly been quoted that the country was led by a "Moscow-Jewish mafia." In the last week, parliamentarians from his party beat up a television news executive to make him resign. (Dujarric on March 21 told Inner City Press neither he nor, he thought, Ban had watched this widely available video.)nn Did Ban know in advance that Tyahnybok would be present? What would Ban Ki-moon as UN Secretary General have to say to Svoboda's Tyahnybok, he of the "Moscow-Jewish mafia"? Dujarric's e-mail to Inner City Press does not say. nn So Inner City Press went to the March 24 UN noon briefing and asked Dujarric's deputy Farhan Haq:nn...Inner City Press: Did he know who he was going to be meeting with in advance? That's one question that I wanted to know? Did he know? That's a factual question.nnDeputy Spokesperson Haq: The phrase "I don't have anything to what I've said" is exactly what it is. I have nothing to add.n Asking what Ban knew, and when he knew it, is not a request for an opinion: it is a simple factual question one might assume the UN would answer.nn Inner City Press on March 21 asked DujarricnnnInner City Press: Has he or you seen the video of the Svoboda party MPs beating up the television executive?nnSpokesman Stephane Dujarric: I have not and I doubt that he has.nn But more than 50 hours later, the "list of party members" who met with Ban had still not been provided or shared, nor was an explanation provided. Inner City Press asked, what should one infer from that?nn Then on the evening of Sunday, March 23 at 6:50 pm in New York, hours later in The Hague, Dujarric sent Inner City Press this e-mail:nnFrom: Stephane Dujarric [at] un.orgnDate: Sun, Mar 23, 2014 at 6:53 PMnSubject: Re: Press Qs A/RES/67/255, still Media Alert, Reed & Roed Larsen, thank you in advancenTo: Matthew R. Lee [at] InnerCityPress.comnCc: FUNCA [at] funca.infonnMatthew,nnI think you had a question about the parliamentarians the SG met.nnDuring his time in Kyiv the Secretary-General had a number of meetings with senior leaders, including the Acting President, the Prime Minister and the Acting Defence Minister.nnRight after his meeting with the Acting President met with Caucus leaders of the Rada, representing some of the major parties. They included:nn· Oleksander Doniy of the Sovreign European Ukraine Groupnn· Anatoliy Kinakh, head of the Parliamentary Groupnn· Adam Martyniuk, Deputy head of the Communist factionnn· Viktor Pynzenyk, Vitaliy Klytchko Party "UDAR"nn· Sergit Sobolev, Acting Head of the Parliamentary Faction of the All-Ukraine Union Batkivshcynann· Oleh Tyahnybok, Leader of All-Ukrainian Union "Svoboda"nn... Did Ban have any input into with whom he met? We'll keep digging. InnerCityPress.com Less
