Inner City Press -- Investigative Reporting From the United Nations to Wall Street to the Inner City

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 25 -- When Ukraine's deputy foreign minister Danylo Lubkivsky held a press conference at the UN on April 25, Inner City Press asked him about his statements about wanting weaponry, and about the International Monetary Fund.

  At the IMF's April 24 press briefing, spokesperson Gerry Rice said that Crimea is included in the IMF's Ukraine data, used for the $14-18 billion program slated to be approved on April 30. Inner City Press asked Lubkivsky how this $14-18 billion would impact or help Crimea.

  "It should," Lubkivsky first replied. Then on this he added, "We feel and see good progress in that, hope good results." He added, "We are standing on very thin red line," citing a movie title.

  On Inner City Press' question about the debate on arming Ukraine, Lubkivsky said, "Yes, we are holding talks on military cooperation, absolutely, and this is a quite natural thing, when the sovereignty is threatened, we will look for any possible means to protect... our motherland against any invasion."

  This, this being the UN, he added, "in terms of military cooperation, our main option is to ensure peaceful solution to the conflict."

  It was first said Lubkivsky would be meeting with "Under Secretary General." Which one? Then he told a reported he would meet the "Deputy Secretary General."

  But a search of DSG Jan Eliasson's schedule did not find him listed. The web page, as of 3 pm, is here. Instead, Moroccan Ambassador Omar Hilale was listed at 3 pm, amid the consideration of the MINURSO mission in Western Sahara and whether it will, as Ban Ki-moon's since changed report said was a goal, have a human rights monitoring mechanism.

  Lubkivsky in his press conference said, "There are no extremists in the Ukrainian government." He was asked about Right Sector and the Svoboda Party, whose leader UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with, as party represented in the Rada, during his visit to Kyiv.

  When asked the identify of Ukraine's' national security adviser, he said Andriy Parubiy. But he was a co-founder of the Social-National Party of Ukraine, a Svoboda precursor. Watch this site.

Footnote: The Ukraine Mission's hard-working spokesman gave the first question to Pamela Falk who thanked him "on behalf of UNCA," the second to Inner City Press, who then offered thanks for the Free UN Coalition for Access. And so it goes.