Experts say Lazarenko unlikely to return to Ukraine

14:21

Former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko is unlikely to return to Ukraine before early 2010, experts have forecast.

"Will Lazarenko return to Ukraine? He won't return to Ukraine before January 2010. I don't think he's suicidal," political expert and President of the Open Policy Analytical Center Ihor Zhdanov said at a press conference at the Interfax-Ukraine news agency on Friday.

He said that the lawyers of Lazarenko would explain to him the dangers of his returning to Ukraine before the presidential elections. In this context, Zhdanov pointed to Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko's statement that Lazarenko would be arrested after his arrival in Ukraine, as the ex-premier is still on the international wanted list.

Chairman of the Board of the Laboratory for Legislative Initiatives Ihor Kohut, in turn, agreed with Zhdanov and said that "many people in Ukraine don't want Lazarenko to return."

Political analyst and Director of the Ukrainian Barometer Sociological Service Viktor Nebozhenko gave a differing point of view.

"I think that Lazarenko will come to Ukraine after Christmas," he said, adding that the ex-premier would participate in Ukraine's political life, but in local and parliamentary elections, rather than in presidential polls.

"The Regions Party will in any case have to reach agreement with Lazarenko," he said.

The media reported earlier that Lazarenko had vowed to return to Ukraine from the United States. In November, a U.S. court is to consider the question of releasing him from custody due to the expiration of his jail term. The ex-premier has said that as soon as the court takes a positive decision, he will immediately return to Ukraine.