the final stage of the operation to enlist volodymyr savchenko as a witness in the defense of former ukrainian president leonid kuchma took place in kyiv's premier palace hotel. tsvil called melnychenko's ex-collaborator insisting he meet with pinchuk's men. standing near the foyer of the hotel, tsvil offered savchenko some last minute advice: “don't fuck around. they're being courteous with you for now. they could just as easily stake out your apartment and haul you off to the woods.”

it's no secret that viktor pinchuk has deployed all means at his disposal to secure an innocent verdict for his father-in-law in the tapegate case. much has been written about public campaign, but only a few people are aware of what's actually been happening behind the scenes.

no blatant criminal acts have been committed against witnesses in the case by the interested party. agreements have been reached without physical intimidation and don't relate to providing outright false testimony in the case. however, pinchuk's men have been treading a fine line in the kuchma case.

a brief introduction of the main actors from the latest episode.

the operation was planned by konstantinovskiy, mokhortov and tsvil in the salyut hotel restaurant. according to tsvil, the men agreed on a 200,000 euro budget, with payment to be made in installments as results of the cooperation became apparent. the men agreed to use an intermediary to contact savchenko, who resided on kyiv's left bank troeshchina neighborhood. mokhortov showed up in person to inspect the goods, first meeting savchenko in a local eatery, the lost son [blyudniy syn], where tsvil introduced mokhortov. savchenko didn't even know who he was at the time of the meeting.

tsvil next delayed the deal, moving 'the goods' away from 'the customers.' he invited savchenko to his summer home in the carpathian mountains, where he told him about his acquaintanceship with melnychenko, hinting at the possibility selling the information for a lot of money. “getting to the truth about who ordered gongadze's murder” was, of course, the proclaimed objective.

leaving savchenko in the mountains with his trusted assistant, a former sbu officer, tsvil returned to kyiv for further negotiations with pinchuk's men, who were formally introduced in the dubki hotel complex outside of kyiv. the high-powered eastone executives showed up at the meeting with their bodyguards to demonstrate the seriousness nature of their mission.

the men proposed to savchenko that he find time to sit down behind his computer and “work on” the recordings together with a computer expert from eastone. the men talked over the proposal through the night, but savchenko refused. tsvil was upset at the failure. nevertheless, pinchuk's men didn't give up.

the final stage of the operation to involve volodymyr savchenko in kuchma's defense took place in the premier palace hotel. not long after the meeting in dubki, tsvil urgently invited him to another meeting with pinchuk's people. outside the hotel, tsvil did not mince words: “don't fuck around. they're being courteous with you for now. they could just as easily stake out your apartment and haul you off to the woods.”

[click here to read part ii ... for more on the melnychenko recordings, click here or here.]

volodymyr semenovych savchenko – a longtime companion of mykola melnychenko – is directly implicated in the operation to wiretap kuchma's office. namely he is the person who processed [listened to and trabscribed] the “melnychenko recordings” when they were made during 2000. according to tsvil, savchenko regularly met with oleksandr moroz to discuss the recorded chit chats. not long before the start of the “cassette scandal” in november 2000, savchenko fled to portugal. during his debriefing by cia agents in ostrava in april 2001, melnychenko named savchenko as his co-conspirator and asked his interlocutors to grant him political asylum in the us, if necessary.