KIEV, February 04, 23:55 /ITAR-TASS/. Ukraine’s Deputy Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara on Tuesday urged foreign politicians to refrain from making irresponsible statements or spreading unverified information that might aggravate the already complicated situation in this country, the Foreign Ministry press service said.
“The information contained in a statement by MEP Rebecca Harms stands at variance with reality,” Kozhara said. “The Ukrainian politicians mentioned in her statement don’t have the passports of any other countries except Ukraine.”
He also said Harms’ statement contained inadmissible assessments based on false suppositions.
“I urge all the foreign politicians to refrain from half-baked statements and to verify their data before publishing it,” Kozhara said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the press secretary of Ukraine's former Prime Minister, Vitaly Lukyanenko, refuted Harms’ claims that Nikolai Azarov had Austrian citizenship in parallel with the Ukrainian one.
"The information on /Azarov's/ Austrian citizenship, as well as on the ostensible properties and assets in that country stand at variance with reality," he said.
Lukyanenko made public Azarov's demand that Harms either present evidence of her claims or else revoke them and bring apologies for fluctuating unfair information.
"Otherwise the former Prime Minister will file a lawsuit with appropriate judiciary agencies," he said.
Harms’ press secretary said the MEP did not have evidence that Nikolai Azarov, acting Priem Minister Sergei Arbuzov and the chief of the presidential administration staff, Andrei Kliuyev, had Austrian passports.
Rebecca’s words might have been misinterpreted, the press secretary said, adding that her boss had spoken only of a hypothetical possibility of the aforementioned officials’ having the Austrian passports.
At present, however, no firm evidence is available, the press secretary said.