Gadafy's Ukrainian nurse and companion returns to Kiev

IN HIS struggle to retain control of Libya, Col Muammar Gadafy has apparently lost the woman described by US diplomats as one of his closest companions: Ukrainian nurse Galina Kolotnitska.

Ms Kolotnitska returned home on a flight from Tripoli to Kiev in the early hours of Sunday, and was taken by relatives to the family apartment in Brovary, a small town outside the Ukrainian capital. The newspaper Segodnya reported that she had bought an apartment there.

In a 2009 cable published by WikiLeaks, US diplomats said Gadafy “relies heavily on his long-time Ukrainian nurse, Galina Kolotnitska, who has been described as a ‘voluptuous blonde’”.

The US embassy in Tripoli also cited a source as saying Gadafy “cannot travel without Ms Kolotnitska, as she alone ‘knows his routine’” and noted other contacts’ claims that the two were romantically involved and that several Ukrainian nurses “travel everywhere with the leader”.

Ms Kolotnitska refused to speak to journalists gathered outside her apartment block in Brovary yesterday, but her daughter, Tatyana, said “Mum is so tired right now. Let her have some rest.”

One Ukrainian newspaper quoted Ms Kolotnitska as saying, “Don’t bother me, I am in such a state”, while her mother denounced suggestions that the nurse had been Gadafy’s lover, saying they “slandered and tarnished the reputation of my daughter . . . I’ll just tell you one thing: Galina will not return to Libya again!”

Ms Kolotnitska moved to Tripoli nine years ago, working in a hospital before being recruited by Col Gadafy.