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...AND STRESSES KREMLIN'S PREFERENCE IN UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION. In the same interview, Pavlovskii said that Russia openly supports Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the race for Ukrainian president because the Kremlin likes the main parts of his platform. Pavlovskii, who recently returned from Kyiv where he met with Yanukovych campaign officials, said that in the event that he is elected, Yanukovych has pledged to introduce dual Ukrainian-Russian citizenship and make Russian the second state language in Ukraine. He has also promised that Kyiv would not join NATO. "The first point means that we will have two economies, but one common business; the second point means we will have two nations, but one community," Pavlovskii said. As for Yanukovych's pledge about NATO, Pavlovskii said it will help Ukraine preserve its military-industrial complex, which under NATO membership would be redundant. Pavlovskii also criticized the leader of Our Ukraine and the main opposition presidential candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, for "his efforts to engage the West in an anti-Russian game." VY

OUR UKRAINE REVEALS LARGE STOCKS OF DIRTY CAMPAIGN LEAFLETS. A group of Our Ukraine lawmakers and supporters on 2 October found some 100,000 leaflets caricaturizing opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko as a promoter of U.S. interests in Ukraine, Ukrainian news agencies reported on 4 October. The leaflets were discovered on the premises of the Novyy Druk printing house in Kyiv, which is reportedly co-owned by Vyacheslav Pustovoytenko, son of lawmaker and former Prime Minister Valeriy Pustovoytenko. Vyacheslav Pustovoytenko reportedly was beaten in a scuffle that ensued after the discovery of the leaflets. Police have opened a criminal investigation into the alleged beating of the younger Pustovoytenko, while Our Ukraine has filed a suit against Novyy Druk for disseminating illegal publications. Moreover, on 2 October, another group of Our Ukraine deputies revealed some nine tons of anti-Yushchenko materials stored at a knitting factory in Kyiv. JM

MAJOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES REFUSE TO DEBATE ON UKRAINIAN TELEVISION. Two leading presidential candidates, Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, have refused to take part in planned campaign debates on the national Ukrainian Television ahead of the presidential ballot on 31 October, Ukrainian news agencies reported on 4 October. Yanukovych's election staff announced that their candidate will take part in such a debate after he qualifies for the second round. Socialist Party leader and presidential candidate Oleksandr Moroz, who agreed to take part in a draw that determined pairs of candidates for the televised debates, also withdrew on 5 October. Moroz said he would prefer a debate between the four major candidates: Yushchenko, Yanukovych, Petro Symonenko, and himself. "Only in such a format the debate could become not only an opportunity to demonstrate the art of oratory but also a realistic possibility to present different views and approaches regarding the resolution of state affairs to our compatriots," Moroz's press service said in a statement. JM