KIEV, October 8 (RIA Novosti) - The possible dissolution of Ukraine's parliament may be an attempt to cover up illegal deliveries of an advanced air defense system to Georgia, an opposition member of parliament said Wednesday.
Valery Konovalyuk, the head of an ad-hoc parliamentary investigation commission, said there are documents that confirm illegal sales of the Buk-M1 air defense system to Georgia, which was used to shoot down a number of Russian planes during the brief military conflict between Moscow and Tbilisi in August.
"Several laws have been violated during the transaction," Konovalyuk said, adding that the bulk of revenues from the sale were never transferred to the state budget.
Ukraine's State Council on Security and Defense immediately dismissed Konovalyuk's allegations calling them "absurd."
"These allegations have already damaged Ukraine's ties in the sphere of military-technical cooperation. They have spread disinformation and insinuations that blemish Ukraine's image in the international arena," the council said in a statement Wednesday.
The council reaffirmed that the arms sales to Georgia had been transparent and all respective documents had been timely sent to the UN Registry and other relevant international bodies.
Konovalyuk suggested that the potential dissolution of parliament could be designed to hamper his committee's investigation into the illegal arms sales.
"I do not rule out the possibility that the dissolution of parliament may be partially caused by the desire to hamper the work of the commission, but we will certainly finish our investigation and make the results public," the MP said.
"Our commission is assessing the damage caused to Ukraine's defense capability because the system was removed from combat duty," he added.
Konovalyuk accused Ukraine's State Security Service of working to undermine him and the members of his commission.
"I want to warn state security operatives, who are preparing provocations against some members of the commission and against me personally, that their attempts are futile - the commission will continue its investigation until the end," he said.
In its statement, the state council called on all Ukrainian politicians "to avoid fueling election hysteria by manipulating public opinion in the sphere of national security and defense."
Political turmoil in Ukraine restarted last month when the president's Our Ukraine quit the ruling alliance with the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc. The move followed a vote by lawmakers from the pro-Russian opposition, backed by the prime minister's party, to slash the president's powers and over the premier's refusal to support the president's condemnation of Russia's military operation in Georgia.
President Viktor Yushchenko held talks with political leaders Wednesday, offering them more time to put together a new coalition, but many experts believe he is determined to dissolve parliament and announce early elections.
