Party of Regions faction lawmaker Vassyl Khara states that Raisa Bohatyryova knew about her eventual appointment as the National Security and Defense Council Secretary, but she did not have time to discuss that with Victor Yanukovych.
He claimed this to “Ekonomicheskiye Izvestia” newspaper #230(763) of 25 December 2007.
“She had to talk this issue over with Victor Yanukovych and the Party of Regions faction, but as soon as she received this information, there appeared the decree on her appointment”, he said.
According to V.Khara, the President’s decision to appoint R.Bohatyryova as the security chief was aimed at building a counterbalance to Yulia Tymoshenko. “We expected, and Raisa Vasylivna [Bohatyryova] also expected, to occupy the post of first Vice Speaker”, he said. According to the lawmaker, the President is doing everything to prevent any unification of BYuT and the Party of Regions for the sake of carrying out an early presidential election.
As UNIAN reported earlier, on 24 December President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko signed a decree, appointing R.Bohatyryova as the National Security and Defense Council Secretary. At the same time, Party of Regions leader Victor Yanukovych claimed that R.Bohatyrova did not agree to become the security chief. In particular, Victor Yanukovych claimed: “We decided to transfer to opposition, and this does not stipulate our participating in ruling the state. We cannot head state institutions, which will implement programs that do not coincide with our vision of the Ukraine’s perspective”.
