Heads of regional organizations of political parties in Volyn - the "Batkivshchyna" All-Ukrainian Association, the "Svoboda" All-Ukrainian Association, the Ukrainian People's Party, the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists, the People's Movement of Ukraine, the "Reforms and Order" party, and the Ukrainian Republican Party "Sobor" - sent an appeal to Ukrainian People's Deputies Borys Zahreva, Yevhen Kyrylchuk, Volodymyr Bondar, and Serhiy Slabenko, in which they reported that from reliable sources they had learned about the preparation by the leadership of the regional state administration of a large-scale punitive action against opposition forces in Volyn, the press service of the Ukrainian People's Party reported. \nIn turn, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine sent a parliamentary inquiry from a group of people's deputies to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and Prosecutor General Hennadiy Vasyliev "On the criminal intentions of the Volyn Regional State Administration and the region's law enforcement agencies to neutralize opposition political parties and mass media during the presidential election period." \nAs the heads of regional organizations of political parties reported in their appeal, "an operational meeting has already been held at the Volyn Regional State Administration regarding the preparation of the punitive action, with the participation of a narrow circle of heads of several structures. According to available information, units have been created under the Sixth Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to monitor the leaders of opposition political parties and exert appropriate influence on them in order to neutralize political activity." \n"First of all, they will intimidate and blackmail heads of regional, city, and district party organizations and journalists who cover the work of the opposition," the appeal states. "We regard these actions as the beginning of a dirty, unlawful election campaign on the part of executive authorities." \nAll of this is linked to the start of the 2004 presidential election campaign and the desire of current officials at the national and regional levels to remain in power at any cost, disregarding the principles of democracy. \nHeads of regional organizations of political parties put forward an initiative to consider this political-criminal situation in the region at the Consultative Council of Political Forces under the head of the regional council and to raise the issue of convening a special session of the regional council to identify the authors of the shameful action and hold them accountable. They also reserved the right, in the event of continued similar provocations by the authorities, to organize an indefinite, large-scale picketing of the regional and district administrations, and to appeal to central media, national and pan-European institutions. \nIn turn, the parliamentary inquiry to the head of the Government requests that the law enforcement agencies be checked regarding the creation of the above-mentioned units within law enforcement structures in the recent period, that it be verified what instructions were given by executive authorities and the top leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, that preventive measures be taken to prevent the creation of such units within law enforcement structures, and that their use in unlawful actions against the opposition be prohibited. \n