The Ukrainian Weekly 2010-44

7/31/2019 The Ukrainian Weekly 2010-44

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Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association

$1/$2 in UkraineVol. LXXVIII No. 44 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2010TheUkrainianWeekly

InsIde:

Valentyn Nalyvaichenko of Our Ukraine visits D.C. page 3. Ambassador Pifer: democratic space may be shrinking page 5. Symposium on Modernism in Ukraine held in Toronto page 9.

ing the Canadian governments concernabout recent developments in Ukraine thatpoint to a deterioration of freedoms.

He told students at UCU: Rememberthat in Canada you have friends, friendswho respect and admire Ukraines heart forfreedom, its spirit of national self-determi-nation and the courage of its people, a cour-age that has never deserted you, even in the

darkest nights of your long history.During his one-on-one meeting in Kyivwith President Yanukovych, the Canadianprime minister noted that Ukraine is thehomeland of more than 1 million Canadiansof Ukrainian descent. Canada has alwaysbeen very proud of its relations withUkraine, particularly after your countrygained independence, Mr. Harper said,recalling that Canada was the first Westerncountry in 1991 to recognize the indepen-dence of Ukraine.

Later, during a joint press conference,Mr. Yanukovych echoed those sentiments,saying, Ukraine and Canada are linked byhumanitarian relations. Canada is home toover 1.2 million Ukrainians. So I would liketo emphasize: this is what unites us evenmore. We are proud that Ukrainians livingin Canada are making a positive contribu-tion to this wonderful country.

Mr. Harper stated that Canada and theCanadians feel deep love for Ukraine andthe Ukrainian people and noted that theUkrainian community in Canada is the thirdlargest in the world after those in Ukraineand Russia.

He added, This special relationship

between our countries is carved in our histo-ry, but a lot of work remains to be done,in particular to develop trade relations.

Also during the press conference, whenasked by journalists which human rightsissues he had discussed with the Ukrainianpresident, Canadas prime minister said Mr.Yanukovych had assured him that he iscommitted to democracy and freedom.

However, he did not disclose any detailsabout their discussion.Mr. Harper also mentioned during the

news conference that Canada has alwayssupported Ukraines plans to join theEuropean Union, however, its up toUkraine and the European community todecide on Ukraines integration into the EU.The topic was not on the agenda of hismeeting with Mr. Yanukovych, heexplained.

At a meeting with his Canadian counter-part, Ukraines Prime Minister MykolaAzarov said, We have a lot to offer toCanada. I think that Canada too has some-thing to offer Ukraine. Mr. Azarov under-scored that the level of trade between thetwo countries does not correspond to the

potential of economic and trade relations.While in Kyiv, the Canadian prime min-ister also held meetings with YuliaTymoshenko, leader of the Batkivschynaparty, and Volodymyr Lytvyn, chairman ofthe Verkhovna Rada.

Ms. Tymoshenko, a leader of the opposi-tion in Ukraine, said to Mr. Harper: Thank

Canadas PM brings strong message

of support for freedoms in Ukraine

President Viktor Yanukovych welcomes CanadianPrime Minister Stephen Harper during official cere-

monies in the Ukrainian capital on October 25.

Official Website of Ukraines President

PARSIPPANY, N.J. Prime Minister StephenHarper of Canada paid his

first visit to Ukraine onOctober 25-26, traveling toKyiv and Lviv, and sendinga strong message of supportfor democracy and freedom.

The Globe and Mail,Canadas national newspa-per, reported: The messageto Ukrainian PresidentViktor Yanukovych wasunmistakable: Canadawants closer ties withUkraine, but only if Ukraineis free.

Indeed, during a jointpress conference in KyivPrime Minister Harper stat-ed: Canada will continue to

support Ukraine whenever itmoves forward for freedom,democracy and justice.

In Lviv, the prime minis-ter visited the UkrainianCatholic University and theN a t i o n a l M e m o r i a lM u s e u m Pr i s o n o nLontskyi, further underscor-

(Continued on page 13)

by Zenon Zawada

Kyiv Press Bureau

POLTAVA, Ukraine ValeriiAsadchev, 57, of the pro-WesternUkrainian Peoples Party is running forthe chair of the Poltava City Council(mayor) against incumbent AndriiMatkovskyi, a Ukrainophobe supportedby the Batkivschyna party, and the Partyof Regions candidate, OleksanderMamai, among others.

Mr. Asadchev was appointed by for-mer President Viktor Yushchenko in 2006to serve as chair of the Poltava OblastState Administration, the governmentorgan thats responsible for promoting the

presidents policies.Mr. Asadchev was involved in the

Rukh independence movement beforejoining the Ukrainian Peoples Partywhen it splintered from Rukh in 1999under the leadership of Yurii Kostenko.Hes a Kyiv native but now is among thefavorites to win the election in Poltava

On the ground in Poltava:

a pre-election interview

Valerii Asadchev, candidate for CityCouncil chair in Poltava.

Olha Aivazovska, board chair of Opora.

Yulia Tymoshenko of the Batkivschynaparty.

Zenon Zawada

Zenon Zawada

www.tymoshenko.ua

because of his leadership there.He granted an interview to The


by Zenon Zawada

Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV Violence, protests and accusa-tions of criminal activity nationwidemarred the final week of election cam-paigning before the October 31 localelections, casting doubt on whether theywould meet international standards.

Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenkosaid she would not recognize the resultsof the Kyiv Oblast, Lviv Oblast andTernopil City Council elections, wherethe Batkivschyna local organizationswere hijacked by clones, or fake partiescreated by members who became loyal tothe Party of Regions.

Election commissions controlled bythe Party of Regions recognized theseclones, but refused to recognize the realBatkivschyna organizations, resulting innumerous conflicts and hunger strikesthat left several Batkivshyna membershospitalized.

Political and criminal responsibilitylies personally with President [Viktor]Yanukovych for the falsification of elec-tions, which are in full gear, Ms.Tymoshenko said at an October 25 pressconference.

Batkivschyna members reported scoresof other election violations, including the

Activists warn local electionswont meet international norms



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No. 44THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 20102

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Yanukovych sees provocations as threat

KYIV President Viktor Yanukovychconsiders provocations a major possiblethreat to the local elections. Speaking onOctober 26 at a meeting with ambassadorsand heads of observer missions, he said, Ifthere are no specially trained teams of pro-vocateurs, there will be no problems. But Ibelieve that the real fraud, provocations willbe seen by the observers. At the same time,the president expressed confidence that boththe central and regional authorities will doeverything to ensure that these elections arefair, transparent and democratic, noting thathe has already warned officials at all levelsabout their responsibility for any irregulari-ties. Mr. Yanukovych stressed the impor-tance of future elections for the country.These elections are very important giventhat the budgetary year is ending, theParliament is working on the Tax Code,which in fact, is a tax reform. We have setourselves the task to conduct this reform thisyear and adopt the new budget based on the

new Tax Code, he said. The local electionsare very important also in terms of strength-ening the system of government in Ukraine,because a presidential election was heldthis year, the majority was formed in theParliament, the reforms have started in thecountry, and in the basis of all these actionsis the program of President Yanukovych,which was supported by the Ukrainian peo-ple, he emphasized. It is important thatpoliticians, who will be elected in the localelections, met the mood of the society, thehead of state said. Implementation of mostreforms in the country, he underlined, willbe held in the regions. So it is importantthat there is no blockage or confrontation atthe level of local authorities, Mr.Yanukovych stressed. (Ukrinform)

CVU on legality of elections

KYIV The Committee of Voters ofUkraine (CVU) rules out the possibility ofdeclaring all local elections of October 31illegal, CVU chairman OleksanderChernenko told the press on October 26.No one will declare the elections illegalthroughout Ukraine. In some regions, ofcourse, there will be appeals, attempts todeclare the vote illegal at separate polling

stations. But, from my experience, I dontthink these attempts will succeed, hestressed. Mr. Chernenko added that the cur-rent law on local elections does not providethe possibility of declaring elections illegal.The CVU chief said that 15,000 local elec-

tions will be held in Ukraine on October 31.(Ukrinform)

Lytvyn dismisses talk of election fraud

KYIV All talk about possible fraudduring the October 31 local elections inUkraine and the use of administrativeresources is merely election tactics,Verkhovna Rada Chairman VolodymyrLytvyn told visiting Canadian PrimeMinister Stephen Harper. Mr. Lytvynbriefed the Canadian leader on October 25about political developments in Ukraine.The analysis of the current situation, thepolitical landscape and my personal contactswith people show that there will be no devi-ation from a democratic platform, the Radachairman stressed. (Ukrinform)

80,000 police to maintain order

KYIV More than 80,000 policemenwill be engaged in maintaining public orderon the day of local elections, October 31,Kostiantyn Stohnii, an adviser to the internalaffairs minister, told Channel 5 on October22. Another 4,500 policemen will be inreserve, he added. Moreover, at least twolaw enforcement officers will be on duty ateach polling station. (Ukrinform)

Tymoshenko threatens mass protests

KYIV The leader of the oppositionparty Batkivschyna, Yulia Tymoshenko, saidshe believes the objective of local electionsis to stop the current policy of the team ofPresident Viktor Yanukovych, according to

news reports of October 22. If these localelections do not stop the authorities and theydo not start thinking that they have createdfor the people impossible conditions of life,after the elections these anti-social authori-ties will be simply swept away by a wave ofthe people, Ms. Tymoshenko said at a meet-ing with representatives of student and com-munity organizations in Sumy. The YuliaTymoshenko Bloc leader has warned that a


ANALYSIS

In CANDIDACY DENIED: Popularmayor cant run after SBUs sting opera-tion by Zenon Zawada (October 17), itwas reported that Kamianets-PodilskyiCity Council Chair Anatolii Nesteruk is amember of the Batkivschyna party. Infact, Mr. Nesteruk submitted his resigna-tion from the Batkivschyna party on

September 14, a week before his arrest.Also, Mr. Nesteruk won a pre-term elec-tion for his post held in June 2008 (hewas not elected City Council chair in2006 as written).

In the same story, it was reported thatMykola Nechai was caught accepting acash payment of $37,500. In fact, he wascaught accepting $7,500 in cash out of atotal alleged bribe of $37,500.

Corrections

by Taras Kuzio

Jamestown Foundation Blog

Venezuelas eccentric President HugoChavez visited Ukraine on October 18 tocement an economic, political and securityrelationship. As the director of KyivsInstitute of World Policy, AlyonaHetmanchuk, noted, the new alliance wasgiven a name by Ariel Cohen ofWashingtons Heritage Foundation: VIRUS

which brings together Venezuela, India,Russia and Syria. Perhaps Ukraine, Ms.Hetmanchuk muses, is planned to be theU in the new strategic alliance of VIRUS?

Mr. Chavez travelled to Ukraine after vis-iting Russia and Belarus. From Kyiv, he vis-ited Iran, Syria, Libya and Portugal. I wasvery pleased to hear about your victory,about your return, which was secured by theUkrainian public. That very day I said tomyself that I cannot waste time anymore, Imust go to Ukraine and shake ViktorYanukovychs hand, I have to embrace [thepresident] and convey the warmest greet-ings to the Ukrainian people, Mr. Chavezsaid.

Kyivs relationship with Venezuelaharms Ukraines relationship with Georgia.During the same week that Mr. Chavez vis-ited Ukraine, the procurators office re-opened the case of alleged illegal armssales to Georgia during President ViktorYushchenkos rule.

Venezuela and Nicaragua are two of thefour entities that recognize the indepen-dence of Georgias occupied provinces ofSouth Ossetia and Abkhazia (the othersbeing Nauru and Moldovas Trans-dnister).In September 2008, the Party of Regions

Yanukovychs new best friend:

Hugo Chavez of Venezuela

and Communist Party of Ukraine supporteda resolution in the Ukrainian Parliament thatrecognized the independence of SouthOssetia and Abkhazia but it failed to beadopted. A similar resolution in the CrimeanParliament succeeded after it was supportedby the Yanukovych bloc, which unites theParty of Regions and Russian nationalistswith the Communists.

Mr. Yanukovych has not acted upon thisstep since becoming Ukraines presidentand now claims he supports the territorialintegrity of states such as Moldova. Mr.Yanukovych claimed that this was becausewe always stand for territorial integrity.

However, it seems as though the Party ofRegions has one rule when in the oppositionposition and another when in power.

Besides the inevitable arms exports toVenezuela, both sides discussed economicprojects. These included Ukraines develop-ment of oil and gas fields in Venezuela, thetransportation of 10 million tons ofVenezuelan oil through Ukraine to Belarus,the opening of embassies in both countries,and the purchase of AN-74 planes for trans-port and marine patrol operations.Venezuela currently uses 15 AN-140 andAN-74 Antonov planes.

Venezuela is interested in cooperation inthe fields of energy, petrochemicals, agricul-ture, industry and education. The widelycriticized minister of education, Dmytro

Tabachnyk, could very well become asenior adviser to the Venezuelan Ministryof Education.

Both sides discussed the issues of democ-racy and freedom of speech, a discussionduring which it would have been fascinatingto have been a fly on the wall. One can onlymuse at the thought of Presidents Chavezand Yanukovych discussing their uniquecontributions to building democracies andupholding free media in Venezuela andUkraine.

Both, after all, have similar habits of say-ing one thing and doing another. Mr.Yanukovych has promised to punish thosewho will undertake election fraud in theOctober 31 local elections, while at thesame time his political force is preparing toundertake massive election fraud. Is Mr.Yanukovych really unaware that the partythat he led for seven years, and which isnow led by loyalist Prime Minister MykolaAzarov, controls a majority of officials ineach election commission?

Mr. Yanukovych had strong words ofadvice for Western journalists, saying, Ithink that you will have to undertake great

Venezuelas President Hugo Chavez with President Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine.Official Website of Ukraines President



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3THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2010No. 44

WASHINGTON Vice-PresidentJoe Biden spoke with President ViktorYanukovych of Ukraine on October 14in advance of Ukraines local electionson October 31.

According to the readout providedby the White House, Office of theVice-President:

The v ice-pres ident thankedPresident Yanukovych for the difficulteconomic reforms he has pushedthrough so far and for his support forour common nonproliferation agen-da. The vice-president underscored the

importance of free and fair elections onOctober 31 and media freedom assigns of Ukraines commitment todemocracy and European integration,and emphasized the Obama adminis-trations support for these goals.

In addition, the vice-president rein-forced to President Yanukovych thatthe process of constitutional reforme m e r g i n g f r o m t h e O c t o b e r1 Constitutional Court decision shouldinclude checks and balances and gener-ate a Constitution for all the people ofUkraine.

Biden and Yanukovych discusselections, constitutional reform

RFE/RL

KYIV/KHARKIV A Ukrainianhuman rights activist and a journalist saythey have been subjected to policesearches of their apartments or officesdesigned to put pressure on them due totheir activities, RFE/RLs UkrainianService reported on October 19.

The incidents involve activist DmytroGroisman of Vinnytsia and journalistPetro Matviyenko of Kharkiv.

Mr. Groisman, the coordinator ofVinnytsia Human Rights Group, said hewas in Kyiv on a business trip when hisflat in Vinnytsia was searched by policeon October 15. He said police wereinvestigating him for allegedly spreadingpornography.

He told RFE/RL on October 18 thatthe case was connected with his LiveJournal blog, which included a link to avideo, widely distributed on the Internet

earlier this year, showing clips of threeRussian opposition activists having sex.In a blog entry posted in May, Mr.Groisman commented that Russias FSBsecurity service was spying on the three.

Mr. Groisman said pol ice alsosearched the office of the VinnytsiaHuman Rights Group and removed docu-ments and financial reports. He saidpolice had a court order to search hisapartment but not the office. It was rob-bery, without a court order, Mr.Groisman told RFE/RL.

Instead of viewing the office of theVinnytsia Human Rights Group, theyhave started to take out all our equip-ment, all files. Their purpose was to getto our database of refugees and victims of

torture. Vinnytsia police have not com-mented on the case.

A spokesman for the ProcuratorGenerals Office, Yurii Boichenko, toldRFE/RL his office will check whether itacted legally, adding that the answer islikely to be ready within 10 days.

Ukraines Helsinki Human RightsUnion has described the case as a grossviolation of Ukrainian laws. The groups

chairman, Yevhenii Zakharov, told RFE/RL the accusations of spreading pornog-raphy were only a pretext. Mr. Groismanis a former RFE/RL correspondent in

Vinnytsia.In a separate development, Kharkiv

police on October 15 searched the apart-ment of Mr. Matviyenko, the deputy ofmissing editor Vasyl Klymentyev. Mr.Matviyenko, deputy editor of the NovyiStyl newspaper, said police took awaycomputers, including a laptop belongingto his child.

All my documentation is there,including my sources, my articles and mydrafts, my private correspondence, thusmy privacy is being infringed [upon], hesaid.

Mr. Matviyenko told RFE/RL on thatthe police are punishing him for the factthat he is trying to publicize the case ofhis colleague, who went missing inUkraine in August. Previously Mr.Matviyenko criticized the investigationinto Mr. Klymentyevs disappearance as afarce.

Investigator Valerii Lehenevskyi, whochaired the police group that searchedMr. Matviyenkos flat, declined to com-ment to RFE/RL about the case.

Vice Minister of Internal AffairsLeonid Zyma promised RFE/RL onOctober 18 that he would explain the sit-uation within a few days, when the policecommission overseeing the Klymentyevinvestigation arrives in Kharkiv fromKyiv. Earlier the police promised tocheck all versions of Mr. Klymentyevsdisappearance.

Both Mr . Groi sman and Mr .Matviyenko have asked for international

assistance to protect their dignity.

Copyr ight 2010, RFE/RL Inc .Reprinted with the permission of RadioFree Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC20036; www.rferl.org. (See http://www.rferl.org/content/Ukrainian_Human_

Ri gh ts_A ct iv is t_ Jo ur na li st _Prot es t_Police_Searches/2195240.html.)

Vinnytsia activist, Kharkiv journalist

protest police searches in Ukraine

Leader of Our Ukraine party pays a visit to WashingtonUkrainian National Information Service

W A S H I N G T O N V a l e n t y nNalyvaichenko, leader of the OurUkraine political party and former chiefof the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU),visited Washington on October 18-21 andmet with various government and non-governmental officials.

After recently being elected chairmanof the partys political committee, Mr.Nalyvaichenkos sought to convey theoppositions perspective on the currentpolitical dynamic in Ukraine. Of primeimportance in the leaders discussions inWashington were the upcoming localelections to be held in Ukraine onOctober 31.

W h i l e i n W a s h i n g t o n , M r .Nalyvaichenkos meetings were orga-nized by the Ukrainian CongressCommittee of America (UCCA) and itsWashington bureau, the UkrainianNational Information Service (UNIS).

On Capitol Hill, Mr. Nalyvaichenkomet with congressional staff members ofthe Senate Foreign Relations Committee

and House Foreign Affairs Committee.Each committee is responsible for con-

gressional policy for international rela-tions, including U.S. relations withUkraine. Discussions were also held withgovernment off icials at the U.S.Department of State and the NationalSecurity Council.

Mr. Nalyvaichenkos schedule alsoconsisted of discussions with variousprominent non-governmental (think-tank)organiza t ions , among them theInternational Republican Institute (IRI),the National Endowment for Democracy(NED), the United States Institute ofPeace, the Heritage Foundation, and theNational Democratic Institute (NDI).

Other meetings included an interviewon the Voice of America TimeTV program, a breakfast symposium onbusiness dynamics in Ukraine hosted bythe U.S.-Ukraine Business Council, and ameeting with the Lithuanian ambassadorto the United States.

As the Ukrainian American communi-ty is concerned with the current politicalsituation in Ukraine, Mr. Nalyvaichenkomet with representatives of UkrainianAmerican organizations. At a meeting

organized by the UCCA, representativesf rom the Mi l l ennium Chal lenge

Valentyn Nalyvaichenko (standing third from right) with representatives ofUkrainian community organizations.

Corporation (MCC), the UkrainianNational Association, the Ukrainian

National Womens League of America,the Ukrainian American CoordinatingCouncil, The Washington Group, theUnited Ukrainian American ReliefCommittee, the New Wave UkrainianOrganization, and Judge Bohdan Futey

related their concerns about the backslid-ing of democratic tendencies in Ukraine

and how best to assist the Ukrainiannation assert their civil rights.

Mr. Nalyvaichenko was also a featureddiscussant at Ukraines Quest for MatureNation Statehood Roundtable XI confer-ence in Washington.

KYIV Marking European Anti-Trafficking Day, the international and non-governmental organizations supportingUkrainian efforts to combat human traf-ficking on October 18 called for the adop-tion of a comprehensive anti-traffickinglaw and the State Program Against HumanTrafficking for 2011-2015.

At the request of Ukraines Ministry forFamily, Youth and Sports, the projectCoordinator of the Organization forSecurity and Cooperation in Europe(OSCE) assisted the Ukrainian authoritiesin drafting the anti-trafficking law and thestate program.

This comprehensive legislation willhelp prevent human trafficking, protect therights of the victims and support prosecu-tion of these crimes. It is also a tool to pro-vide solid background for various stake-holders, both governmental and non-gov-ernmental, to join efforts in combatinghuman trafficking in accordance with therule of law and human rights principles,said Ambassador Lubomir Kopaj, OSCEproject coordinator in Ukraine.

This legislation and program will helpUkraine implement a comprehensiveapproach in combating human traffickingand comply with commitments the coun-try made when it adopted the OSCEAction Plan to Combat Trafficking inHuman Beings in 2003, said Mr. Kopaj.

According to the Internat ionalOrganization for Migration (IOM)Mission in Ukraine, most of the 827 vic-tims identified in 2010 have been traf-ficked to the Russian Federation andPoland, and more than half are exploitedas forced labor. There is an increase ofpeople trafficked internally within

Ukraine. Exploitation in the constructionand agriculture sectors is also on the rise.Trafficking for forced prostitution is stillseen as a predominant feature of modernday slavery.

IOM hopes that fighting human traf-ficking will remain high on the agenda ofthe government of Ukraine. We welcomethe fact that the draft new State ProgramAgainst Human Trafficking focuses alsoon rendering direct assistance to victims oftrafficking, said Manfred Profazi, Chiefof the IOM Mission in Ukraine.

However it is vital to ensure sufficientbudget allocations to social service provid-ers so that help remains available to vic-tims of this crime even after internationaldonor funding subsides, he added.

Kateryna Levchenko, president of theInternational Womens Rights Center LaStrada-Ukraine presented an open letter ofthe Ukrainian NGOs to the Ukrainianauthorities regarding the development ofnew State Program Against Human

Advocacy groups call for adoptionof comprehensive anti-trafficking laws



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CANDIDACY DENIED: Kamianets-Podilskyi mayor denied right to run for re-electionby Zenon Zawada

Kyiv Press Bureau

This is the conclusion of a two-partarticle examining the arrest and incarcer-ation of Kamianets-Podilskyi CityCouncil Chair (Mayor) Anatolii Nesterukamidst the campaign for the October 31local elections. Arrested on September 20

and imprisoned three days later, Mr.Nesteruk was denied his constitutionalright to run for re-election by governmentofficials.

KAMIANETS-PODILSKYI, Ukraine Despite his incarceration, Kamianets-Podilskyi City Council Chair (Mayor)Anatolii Nesteruk still had the constitu-tional right to run for re-election. Thenew rules required that candidates find anendorsement from a party, but not neces-sarily be a member.

Mr. Nesteruk signed a letter onSeptember 14 terminating his member-ship in the Batkivschyna party (led byMs. Tymoshenko) after four years ofinvolvement. He was arrested less than a

week later, drawing suspicion that thetwo incidents were somehow related.

Mr. Nesteruks position was that thecitys mayor ought to be independent ofany party. Yet he came to that realizationthree weeks into the election campaign.

Numerous relatives and advisors toMr. Nesteruk, contacted by The Weekly,declined to mention any specific reasonsfor his decision to leave the party, otherthan vaguely hinting at certain conflicts.Indeed its details of these conflicts thatcould offer insight into the real reason forhis imprisonment.

I h o r Ze m s k o v , c h a i r o f t h eBatkivschyna faction of the Kamianets-Podilskyi City Council, told The Weeklythat Mr. Nesteruk in fact signed a cooper-

ation agreement with the Party ofRegions before his arrest. He hinted thatMr. Nesteruk was among the hundreds ofpoliticians eager to jump onto the newbandwagon.

We met with him and he explainedthat he wanted to be independent frompolitical forces, he said. Well now yousee how independence turns out. Hewent independently, the Party of Regionspromised him support, and thats it. Hewas thrown into prison.

Both of Mr. Nesteruks advocates spokeswoman Veronika Vlasyuk and law-yer Viacheslav Zarechniuk declined toconfirm or deny to The Weekly the exis-tence of such an agreement.

Given that Mr. Nesteruk was in con-flict with his fellow party members, itsalso possible the Batkivschyna party issmearing him, not having offered anyevidence of such an agreement. Its lead-ership acted suspiciously even before Mr.Nesteruks resignation, Ms. Vlasyuk said.

A month earl ier , City CouncilSecretary Valentyna Voloshyna, aBatkivschyna party member, paid formore than 30 billboards to be postedthroughout the city announcing her can-didacy for the mayoralty, she said.

Yet Mr. Nesteruk was still a partymember at the time. Ms. Voloshynadeclined The Weeklys request for aninterview, stating that she was too busy.She hosted numerous visitors during thenext hour that The Weeklys correspon-dent spent in the vicinity of her office.

As he was no longer a Batkivschynamember, most any party in Kamianets-Podilskyi was willing to recruit Mr.Nesteruk as its surefire candidate. Pollsconducted by local political scientistsindicated the 84 percent margin of victo-ry he enjoyed in local pre-term electionof June 2008 would be repeated.

Moreover his supporters held out hopethat a landslide re-election would lay the

bribery scandal to rest and ultimatelyabsolve him of any criminal charges.

Yet the events that followed confirmedthat powerful forces wanted the October31 vote to put a decisive end to Mr.Nesteruks tenure as City Council chair.

He chose the Party of Industrialists andEntrepreneurs of Ukraine (PIEU) to helphim, which was led by his city councilvice-chair, Oleh Marunchak. (Mr.Marunchak quit his government post andvanished the same day Mr. Nesteruk wasincarcerated, September 23.)

Not yet convicted of a crime, Mr.Nesteruk had the constitutional right asany citizen to run for office. Yet his strug-gle to become registered faced hurdles atevery step a trend widely reported inthe run-up to this years local elections. Ifthe Yanukovych administration wantsyou out of the way, it will find a way,opposition leaders said.

All branches of power in Ukrainetoday are working towards distorting thewill of citizens in the local elections andcleaning the field for victory for the Partyof Regions and its supporters on all lev-

els, said an October 1 statement releasedby the Lviv organizat ion of theBatkivschyna party.

A conference of the Party of Industrialists and Entrepeneurs was heldon October 1 to officially nominate Mr.Nesteruk as its mayoral candidate, whichwas witnessed by three members of theterritorial election commission (TEC),including its chair, Tetiana Ostafiichuk(Party of Regions), and deputy chair,Larysa Tkachuk.

Their purpose of their presence toprevent Mr. Nesteruks nomination wasimmediately apparent when Ms.Ostafiichuk began claiming the confer-ence was illegitimate because its partici-pants didnt present their passports as

identification, Ms. Vlasyuk said.That didnt hold water as participants

were registered party members and hadpassports in their possession.

Ms. Ostafiichuk left after 20 minutes,but Ms. Tkachuk remained, offering herown attempt to de-legitimize the confer-ence by claiming the party leaderscouldnt transport its participants by bus.Yet the election law doesnt forbid pro-viding transportation for nominating con-ferences.

Only several days later did the electioncommission officially declare the partycongress illegitimate, citing a new pretextit hadnt yet mentioned.

As it turns out, Ukraines election lawrequires that a party inform its TEC oneday in advance of a decision to move thevenue of its congress. The PIEU offeredonly 20 minutes notice, Ms. Ostafiichuktold The Weekly on October 18.

Mykhailo Stadnyk, the director ofPIEU oblast organization, didnt answercalls placed by The Weekly seeking tounderstand why the party leadershipdecided to move the party conferencelocation at the last minute.

In an interview with a local newspaper,he accused Ms. Ostafiichuk of cherry-picking election laws in order to preventMr. Nesteruk from competing by anymeans necessary as part of a greater con-spiracy.

Their reason was the conferencedidnt occur at the address mentioned inour announcement, Mr. Stadnyk said.

But if the commission believes the con-ference didnt occur, then why did thethree election commissioners appear atthe new address? These three saw theparty members personally registering andvoting with their mandates, which werecorded on video. I believe the commis-sioners actions are illegal and preju-diced, denying our right to elect and beelected. We view the commissions

actions as a conspiracy.Ms. Ostafiichuk told The Weekly her

commissioners didnt single out PIEU forscrutiny, claiming she dispatched com-missioners to all 24 party conferencesthat occurred in the city. She said no oneordered her to forbid Mr. Nesteruks can-didacy.

The TEC was merely following thelaw when reaching its decision, whichstates the party must inform the commis-sion of a change in venue in writtenform, not later than a day before the con-gress is held, she said.

The day that the TEC invalidated theconference is significant because PIEUmembers were unaware of any decisionon the nominating conference until afterthe six-day window to register hadclosed, Ms. Vlasyuk said. Commissionersintentionally withheld that informationuntil it was too late to appeal.

During that time, Mr. Nesteruks wife,Zoya, who has power of attorney, madeseveral attempts to submit documents onhis behalf, which Ms. Ostafiichuk refusedto accept. In this case, she was correctwhen insisting the election law stipulatedthat Mr. Nesteruk had to submit the docu-ments personally.

A final attempt to register Mr.

Nesteruks candidacy was made onOctober 6. Ms. Ostafiichuk decided towait until the last eligible day to send twocommissioners, chosen by Mr. Nesteruk,to travel to the prison in Khmelnytskyisdowntown.

Trouble was immediately apparentwhen the TEC waited until the afternoonto reach its official ruling. By the time thecommissioners reached the prison, they

learned the director had mysteriouslyvanished. And so did his assistant. Andthen they were made to wait.

We sat there for an hour and a half,said Mr. Zarechniuk, who accompaniedthe two commissioners. He still wasshocked by their insolence, This hap-pened before my very eyes!

At about 5:15 p.m., they were greetedby Investigation Unit Deputy DirectorMykola Shnyra, who reviewed their writ-ten requests.

Prison officials arent usually sticklersfor grammar, yet Mr. Shnyra saw theneed to correct misspelled words and spotmissing punctuation marks far moreurgent than Mr. Nesteruks re-electionhopes. He demanded that they rewritetheir letters.

While theyre rewriting, Im notallowed in, Mr. Zarecniuk said. By thetime we found paper, by the time all wasrewritten, its 5:55 p.m. We approachShnyra, I call the Procurator GeneralsOffice, they give the order to allow theregistration. But no! How? Times up.

That was the last hope Mr. Nesterukhad of becoming a candidate. It remainsunclear what day the TEC issued its rul-ing de-legitimizing the PIEU congress.

Ms. Vlasyuk alleged the ruling wasmade the evening of October 6, only afterthe commissioners were denied access toMr. Nesteruk, for the purpose of gainingextra insurance that his registration wouldbe prevented.

Ms. Ostafiichuk said she didntremember the day of the decision, but itwas certainly earlier than October 6. The

Kamianets-Podilskyi City CouncilChair Anatolii Nesteruk, who has beendenied the opportunity to run for re-

election.

Viacheslav Zarechniuk, AnatoliiNesteruks lawyer, said governmentofficials denied the Kamianets-Podilskyi City Council chair his consti-tutional right to run in the October 31

elections.

Kamianets-Podilskyi Territorial ElectionCommission Chair Tetiana Ostafiichuk isaccused of preventing imprisonedKamianets-Podilskyi Mayor AnatoliiNesteruk from running for re-election.

She said shes just following the law.

Ihor Z emskov , cha i r o f t heTymoshenko Bloc parliamentary fac-tion in the Kamianets-Podilskyi City

Council.

Zenon Zawadawww.nesteryk.com

Zenon Zawada



5/24


Ex-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine says democratic space may be shrinkingA recent publi c opinion poll by the

International Foundation for ElectoralSystems (IFES) found that a majority ofUkrainians are either concerned oralarmed about reversals of democraticrights and freedoms under President ViktorYanukovych. RFE/RLs Ukrainian Servicedirector, Irena Chalupa, spoke to StevenPifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings

Institution who served as U.S. ambassadorto Ukraine in 1998-2000, about the state ofUkrainian democracy.

The last time we spoke was February just after the inauguration of President[Viktor] Yanukovych. We talked aboutthe legacy that former President [Viktor]Yushchenko was leaving behind. Youmade the observation that Yushchenkohelped embed democracy in Ukraineand that he helped create a democraticspace for all politicians to participate in,even his political opponents. Do youthink that democratic space still exists?

I think If you look at the last six monthsthere are grounds for concern that that

space may be shrinking with the reportsabout pressure on the media, the activitiesof the SBU which appear to be in someways relatively unconstrained and I thinktheres a lot of concern in the West aboutthe decision by the Constitutional Court [onOctober 1].

Ukraines Constitutional Courtrecently reversed constitutional changesenacted after the Orange Revolution thatcurbed presidential powers and expand-ed the powers of Parliament. It lookssomewhat like a power grab and it raisesthe question: Why bother to go throughthe trouble of enacting these changesonly to get rid of them a few years later?Is this a power grab in your view?

Im not a constitutional lawyer, so I real-ly cant debate the particulars of the courtsdecision. But when you stand back, the per-ception in the West is, in 2004, with thesupport of over 400 members of the Rada,

Ukraine adopted these constitutional chang-es and theyve been implementing them forfive years. And all of a sudden theConstitutional Court comes out and says,Oops, we made a mistake? The appear-ance, I think, is not good for Ukrainiandemocracy. It does look like Ukraine ismoving backwards.

And I think from the perspective ofmany in the West, while the reform situa-tion produced in some ways gridlock andyou saw it in terms of the battles betweenthe executive branch and the Rada overseveral years during the Yushchenko presi-dency it had a greater balance of powerbetween the Rada and the president, and itprovided for some checks and balances.And it seems that the government now, orthe president now, wishes to move awayfrom that system. And I think that willcause concern in the West, both in theUnited States and Europe, about wheredemocracy in Ukraine is going.

When you were U.S. ambassador toUkraine, [Leonid] Kuchma was presi-dent, and he had all the powers to

appoint and fire ministers he was theultimate authority. Now were back tothat kind of arrangement. Looking backon the kinds of things that were happen-ing in the Kuchma years when youworked in Ukraine, would you say thatwas an effective form of government? Asopposed to the Yushchenko years, eventhough the system was flawed, and notpretty and loud, was it a good way topractice democracy?

Ill bring an American perspective tothat, and it goes back to the American sys-tem of government where weve alwayspreferred a system where there are checksand balances, where difference branches ofthe government have the ability to balanceone another. And I think that was one of the

problems of the model in the 1990s, thepresident in some ways had too muchauthority and it was difficult for the Rada,in many ways, to have an effective way ofchecking him or balancing him.

Thats where the 2004 reforms, with alltheir flaws, were seen as an advancebecause [they] did create a better balance ofpower both between the executive branchin Ukraine and the Rada, but also betweenthe president and the prime minister. And ofcourse it didnt work as well as people hadhoped in the Yushchenko years, but thatwasnt so much a flaw of the system as itwas just a reflection of the different person-alities.

But [looking at] what happened lastweek, just to suddenly say oops and turnback the clock like that by six years ifUkraine was going to make that kind ofdecision, it would have been better if it hadbeen done in an inclusive political processthat took [into] account [the] views of allparties, including the opposition.

I think people have to ask, this goes nowto a system which gives a lot of authority tothe president, and that may be of interest to

the Party of Regions when their person hasthe presidency, but I think that if theyretaking a longer term perspective they oughtto be asking the question, what happensdown the road when theyre in the opposi-tion? Is this going to the type of system thatwill serve them well politically, and thatwill serve Ukraine well politically?

How does all of this look to a Westernscholar like you?

I wanted to give the Yanukovych presi-dency the benefit of the doubt because Ithink it was very important that they won afree and fair election [and] that they playedby the rules to get there. It is of concernthough, that they seem to be trying tochange the rules now in ways that look like

theyre trying to turn the clock back andover the last couple of days Ive talked toboth American government officials andEU officials and theres a lot of concernabout whats going on there.

I think its important that the West stayengaged in Ukraine, but to the extent thatUkraine is seen as going backward ondemocracy, it will be harder to keep peoplein the West interested in where Ukraine isgoing.

How so?

Let me take the case of the EuropeanUnion. The European Union now has alot of issues that require an inward focus.The European Union is still trying to dealwith the fallout from the 2008 financialcrisis. Theyre just putting in place new

foreign policy mechanisms, and I thinktheres still a little bit of a hangover fromthe last wave of enlargement. Looking atnew states, looking at the periphery [ofEurope] is not high on the EUs list. Andif Ukraine is now seen as regressing ondemocracy its going to be even harder tosustain that interest.

If you take the American agenda, firstand foremost the United States is going to

Ambassador Steven Pifer

be focused on Iraq and Afghanistan, under-standably so. But sustaining interest inUkraine is going to be harder if Ukraine isseen as moving backwards on democracy.

What can the West to do keepUkraine on the path toward democracy?

I think its very important, to the extentthat Western governments have these con-cerns and again, my perception is thatthey do I think they need to make it veryclear to President Yanukovych that this iscausing a change in how Ukraine is viewed.I do believe that President Yanukovych isconcerned about his image in the West, andthat strikes me as giving the West someleverage.

In our last conversation, you said themost important thing for a newly electedleader is to enact badly needed but pain-ful reforms early in his tenure. Mr.Yanukovych has been president for a lit-tle more than six months; have you seenhim implement any reforms?

I will give him and the Ukrainian gov-ernment credit for their decision and its a

hard decision, politically to raise pricesfor gas, which they did over the summer.And thats certainly hard and it will createsome hardships for some, but it seems to bethat that is a necessary step if Ukraine isever going to put its gas sector into positionwhere its economically sustainable, whereit doesnt have to soak up billions of dollarsof subsidies each year. So its a painful step,I think its the right one, as politicallyunpopular as it may be, but its necessary ifUkraine is going to put its energy house inorder.

Ukraine is getting ready to hold localelections at the end of October. The newelections law, which was enacted somemonths ago, is very crafty in that itdoesnt allow small parties that arent in

Parliament to have access to the districtelection committees. Its written in sucha way that it gives the ruling party theparty with a parliamentary majority almost complete control over the elector-al process. In eastern Ukraine and cen-tral Ukraine were seeing incidentswhere people arent allowed to registertheir candidacy. This isnt a good begin-ning for an election that I would assumeUkraine would like to have the Westjudge as free and fair.

Its not going to be good for Ukrainesimage, or for the image of the current gov-ernment, if the first national election heldafter the presidential election in February isseen as dramatically worse in terms of dem-ocratic standards. Thats not going to begood. My worry about it is that it thenbecomes harder to keep Western interest inUkraine alive.

How do you view some of the stepsthat the Yanukovych government hastaken that involve reversing stepsYushchenko had taken, in terms of rein-stating national memory, all of the atten-tion devoted to the dark periods ofUkrainian history the Famine-Genocide, the repressions that took placeduring the Stalinist era? Yanukovych hassort of put this all on the back burner,changing history books, returning towhat really is a Soviet mold. Do youthink that the Ukrainian people aregoing to tolerate this?

The Ukrainian population is going todecide how they react to that. It does seemto me that some of those steps are risky inpolitical terms because they provoke con-troversy, which the new government mightnot need.

The Ukrainian population is some-times accused of being passive and long-

RFE/RL

KYIV A fresh survey suggests thataround one in five Ukrainians is will-ing to sell his or her vote in the upcom-ing local elect ions, RFE/RLsUkrainian Service reported on October

22.The findings emerged from a survey

of 2,000 people conducted earlier thismonth by two Ukrainian non-govern-mental organizations, the DemocraticInitiatives Fund and Opora.

Less than one in 10 (8.5 percent) ofthose surveyed said they think the localelections to be held on October 31 willbe fair. The vast majority of respon-dents said they expect there to be vio-lations in the elections, but they aredivided over whether the irregularitieswill significantly alter the results of thevote.

Many said they are ready to takepart in falsifications themselves morethan one out of every five respondents

said they would be willing to sell theirvote to the highest bidder.

A number of voters are ready tosell their vote for a certain sum, saidOpora civic network head OlhaAjvazovska. Unfortunately, this cate-gory [of people] is large it is morethan 21 percent. Thus, this number ofvoters is sufficient for a candidate,

using bribing schemes, to create cer-tain advantages for himself and even toactually win an election.

The majority of those who are readyto sell their vote said an acceptableprice is some 500 hrv ($60). The main

reasons for selling their votes weregiven as difficult financial circum-stances and an indifference to all can-didates.

The average monthly salary inUkraine is less than $300.

Despite the skepticism of therespondents about the elections, amajority said they are likely to vote inthe upcoming elections: 47 percentsaid they will definitely go to the pollsand 29 percent said they are highlylikely to.

The most popular Ukrainian politi-cal forces are the ruling Party ofRegions, the Batkivhchyna party head-ed by former Prime Minister YuliaTymoshenko, the Communist Partyand Strong Ukraine.

Copyright 2010, RFE/RL Inc.Reprinted with the permission of RadioFree Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC20036; www.rferl.org. (See http://www.rferl .org/content /Survey_Shows_

Eve ry_ Fif th_ Ukr ain ian _Re ady _To_Sell_Vote/2197889.html.)

Survey shows every fifthUkrainian ready to sell vote



6/24


Three years ago, on November 1, 2007, the GeneralConference of UNESCO adopted a resolut ion on

Remembrance of Victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor)in Ukraine.

A working group composed of Argentina, Canada, Egypt, Germany, Kazakhstan,Norway, Poland, the Russian Federation, Serbia, Ukraine, Tajikistan and the UnitedStates was established to draft the resolution. The draft resolution, submitted byUkraine, was co-sponsored by 44 countries.

The resolution noted that the Holodomor took innocent lives of millions ofUkrainians in 1932-1933, and equally commemorated the memory of millions of

Nov.

12007

Turning the pages back...

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harpers official visit to Ukraine was, from ourperspective, an unqualified success. His message to Ukraine, its people and its leaderswas simple and direct: Canada will continue to support Ukraine whenever it movesforward for freedom, democracy and justice.

It was a message that needed to be articulated.Canada has taken a principled stand, setting itself apart from the United States,

which of late is so focused on a reset with Russia that it cant see the forest for thetrees, and most European states, which value stability above all else, with rights andfreedoms relegated to a secondary position. Prime Minister Harper must be commend-ed for his position.

Even before he left Canada for Ukraine, the prime minister emphasized in an exclu-sive interview with the Edmonton-based Ukrainian News (published in the issue datedOctober 14-28) that the promotion of democracy, freedom, human rights and the ruleof law is the cornerstone of Canadas foreign policy and said that Canada sharesconcerns that have been expressed regarding the new Ukrainian governmentsrecord on freedoms and rights.

In Kyiv, Mr. Harper reminded Ukraines leaders of the importance of freedoms andhuman rights, even while he and President Viktor Yanukovych discussed a free-tradeagreement and witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on youthexchange programs. Asked by journalists during a news conference about humanrights issues he had raised with Mr. Yanukovych, Mr. Harper did not disclose detailsof their one-on-one discussion, but did say that the Ukrainian president had assuredhim he is committed to democracy and freedom.

While in Kyiv the prime minister also met with Verkhovna Rada ChairmanVolodymyr Lytvyn, and the focus of their discussion was reported to be the upcominglocal elections in Ukraine, whose fairness and credibility are being questioned.Likewise he made it a point to meet with opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, whothanked him, and Canada as a whole, for supporting democracy from the time ourcountry gained independence. (Canada was the first Western country to recognizeUkraines independence in 1991.)

And in Lviv which, according to media reports, Mr. Harper visited due to his con-cerns about pressures brought to bear by Ukraines authorities on those who do notshare their viewpoints the prime minister visited the Ukrainian Catholic University(UCU), meeting with its rector, the Rev. Dr. Borys Gudziak, and addressing students.Father Gudziak, readers will recall, was visited by the Security Service of Ukraine(SBU) and advised that students of his university would suffer consequences if theyparticipated in protests against the Yanukovych administration. Mr. Harper told UCUstudents: As Canadians, we believe that a government must work in the interests ofits people, not the other way around. We believe that countries which respect the rightsof their own people are more likely to respect the rights of other nations and to begood world citizens.

Mr. Harper also visited the National Memorial Museum of Victims of OccupationRegimes, Prison on Lontsky, whose director, Ruslan Zabilyi, was recently detained bythe SBU. The SBU began an investigation against Mr. Zabilyi for allegedly planningto divulge state secrets, but observers say the real reason for the SBUs actions is theyoung historians research into Ukraines liberation struggle of the 20th century atopic that was taboo under the Soviet regime and appears to be taboo under theYanukovych regime as well.

Canadas message was delivered loud and clear in Lviv, both in word and in deed.It is also worth underscoring that Prime Minister Harper paid his respects to the

millions of victims of the Holodomor of 1932-1933 in Ukraine, even though his host,President Yanukovych, refuses to recognize that genocide. In Kyiv the Canadian lead-er referred to the Holodomor as one of the great crimes of history, and in Lviv hereminded his listeners that the Canadian government had recognized the Holodomoras genocide in 2008. Again, message conveyed.

As one Ukrainian Canadian put it, the Harper visit to Ukraine was hardly a busi-ness-as-usual trip The itinerary was extremely well thought out, Lisa Shymko ofthe Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Center commented to The Globe and Mail. Prof.Frank Sysyn of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (who happens to be onsabbatical in Lviv) explained to the newspaper that The regime pushes constantly,everywhere, to see if there is a reaction. If there is no reaction, they push harder, andhe praised the Canadian prime minister, saying, Harper has struck exactly the righttone.

Prime Minister Harper stressed to UCU students: remember that in Canada youhave friends. Friends who respect and admire Ukraines heart for freedom, its spirit ofnational self-determination and the courage of its people, a courage that has neverdeserted you, even in the darkest nights of your long history. His trip to Ukraine dem-onstrated at every point that these were not mere words.

Canadas message to Ukraine

The UkrainianWeeklyWINDOW ON EURASIA

by Paul Goble

The war of words between Dmitry

Medvedev and Alyaksandr Lukashenka ismore than just the product of tensionsbetween Moscow and Minsk, Russiananalysts say. Instead, it is part of a broad-er and growing alienation between theRussian Federation and the former Sovietrepublics, one that has its roots in clash-ing visions of the future.

But both because of the Wests hostili-ty to Mr. Lukashenka and his regime, oneusually labeled the last dictatorship inEurope, and because of the Wests desireto curry favor with Moscow in pursuit ofone or another goal, this general trend,widely noted by commentators in theregion, has been largely ignored, let aloneexploited, by Europe or the United States.

The clearest expression of this argu-

ment can be found in a commentary onGrani.ru published October 4. In it,Dmitry Shusharin, a regular writer forthat portal, points out that the exchangeof angry words between Messrs.Medvedev and Lukashenka is part ofMoscows current propensity to be angrywith all leaders of the post-Soviet states.

Russias tandemocracy, he says, hadplaced great hopes on new UkrainianPresident Viktor Yanukovych, but exactlywhat these would in fact look like issomething that President Medvedev andPrime Minister Vladimir Putin, alongwith the rest of the Russian powers thatbe, clearly did not themselves know atleast in any specific detail.

In an ideal outcome, the Russianleaders see relations with Ukraine,

Belarus, Georgia and the other nearbyneighbors if not as they were before inthe USSR then as those which the SovietUnion had with the countries of theWarsaw Pact a vision that they andothers should have understood was notgoing to be realized.

For Messrs. Medvedev and Putin, theorientation of the leaders of these statestoward Western values and norms ofpolitics is completely unacceptable,Mr. Shusharin says. That is why theyplaced such hopes on Mr. Lukashenka,

whose ideology is a Russophile form ofBelarusian ident i ty, and on Mr.Yanukovych who does not have any ide-

ology at all.But now the Moscow leaders have

been rejected by the first, and soon theyare likely to be rejected by the second aswell, the commentator continues, an out-come Messrs. Medvedev and Putin wouldhave anticipated if they had rememberedthe real basis of the Warsaw Pact ratherthan the idealized version of it in whichthey apparently believe.

That military organization, led byMoscow, was tank socialism that is,Mr. Shusharin continues, the singlesource, reserve and guarantee of theCommunist regimes in these countrieswas the Soviet Union and its militarypresence. When that disappeared, so toodid the Warsaw Pact.

But even before the events of the late1980s, Mr. Shusharin points out, thoseleaders who had alternative sources ofpower like Yugoslavias Tito and ChinasMao Zedong could act independently.The only difference was that the firstbroke with Moscow early on, while thesecond for a long time led the SovietUnion by the nose and used its assis-tance.

Those experiences, Mr. Shusharin sug-gests, should serve as a lesson toMoscow, but Russian leaders have notassimilated them. Moscow doesnt under-stand that for the politicians in the for-mer Soviet republics even if they areoriented toward Moscow and make use ofits support relations with Russia are not

as critical as relations with their ownpopulations, the source of their powerwithin [their] countries.

Just as Western Europe and the UnitedStates dealt with the problems of the for-mer Warsaw Pact countries and post-TitoYugoslavia without the particularlyactive participation of Russia, Mr.Shusharin says, so now the authoritarianregimes in Ukraine and Belarus willeventually ask for help from WesternEurope and the U.S., not Russia.

The reason that is so, he argues, is thatRussia does not guarantee [their] nation-al sovereignty. Instead, its leaders act asif the former Soviet republics are not full-fledged independent countries but rathersomething less than that, places whereRussia must enjoy greater deference and

influence than any of them want to offer.The current leaders of these countries

do not intend to divide power withMoscow, and they are very much awarethat is what the Russian powers that bewant. Consequently, sooner than manymay expect, they will turn to Westerncountries, something that again will besomething completely unexpected forthe latter.

Moscow is alienating more

than Minsk, analysts say

Paul Goble is a long-time specialiston ethnic and religious questions in

Eu ras ia who has serve d in var iouscapacities in the U.S. State Department,

the Central Intelligence Agency and theInternational Broadcasting Bureau, aswell as at the Voice of America and

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liber ty andt h e C a r n e g i e E n d o w m e n t f o r

International Peace. Mr. Goble writes ablog called Window on Eurasia(http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com/).This article above is reprinted with per-mission.


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7/24


NEWS AND VIEWS

A bad joke in Ukraine?by Askold S. Lozynskyj

Ukraine is about to take another majorstep backward. On Sunday, October 31,the citizens of Ukraine will go to thepolls to elect their local officials. Unlessall men are inherently good with no polit-ical or personal ulterior motives, the elec-tions may be marred by pervasive fraud,resulting in an overwhelming consolida-tion of power unknown to democracies.More disconcerting is that this fraud maybe perpetrated with international com-plicity.

The height of political irresponsibilityregarding democracy in Ukraine by theinternational community came onFebruary 8, following the previous dayspresidential election. A press conferencewas held by representatives of variousinstitutions from the OSCEs Office forDemocratic Institutions and HumanRights Election Observation Mission,which included in addition the OSCE

P a r l i a m e n t a r y A s s e m b l y , t h eParliamentary Assembly of the Councilof Europe, the NATO ParliamentaryAssembly and European Parliament.Their consensus was that the electionshad been conducted in accord with demo-cratic norms.

What was unsaid at the press confer-ence was that this conclusion wasreached and enunciated despite the factthat the various international observersfrom the Organization for Security andCooperation in Europe visited a scant 7.7percent of the polling places and that themajority of their observers spoke neitherUkrainian nor Russian, relying instead ontranslators.

So President Viktor Yanukovych took

office and proceeded to consolidate hispower in several ways, one of which wascalling for local elections on October 31,and securing victory simply by stuffinginitially the various commissions moni-toring the elections with his people whichwould lead to stuffing the ballot box withvotes for his people.

The electoral monitoring structure inUkraine has three levels: the CentralElection Commission (CEC), territorialcommissions and local commissions. Thefirst consists of 15 members, nine ofwhom are affiliated with the ruling Partyof Regions. This commission has the dutyto appoint the second in accordance withthe new law of Ukraine on the election ofdeputies to the Supreme Council of the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea, thelocal councils and village, township andcity mayors. The local contingents of thethree parties within the Verkhovna Radawho formed the majority coalition may

each constitute up to three members of a15-member territorial commission withthe remaining six members chosen fromthe remaining political parties.

The second (the territorial commis-

sions) choose the local commissions.There is no provision in the law for anequitable distribution of executive posi-tions between the ruling parties and theopposition parties. Thus, the chair andsecretary of both the territorial and localcommission may both come from themajority coalition parties.

Finally, the law does not prescribe aquorum for commission meetings. As aresult, commissions can rule and evencount ballots by a simple majority ofthose present, irrespective of any quorum.

What followed from this election lawand subsequent ru l ings by theCEC, according to statistics made publicby the opposition, is that the current com-position of all territorial commissionsconsists of the following: 2,009 represen-tatives from the Party of Regions (Mr.Yanukovych), 1,954 representatives fromthe Peoples Party (Volodymyr Lytvyn),1 ,943 representa t ives f rom theCommunist Party (Petro Symonenko) andonly 1,380 from Batkivschyna (YuliaTymoshenko) and 1,708 from all the rest.Thus, the majority coalition totals 66 per-cent and the opposition has 34 percent.

As to executives in the territorial com-missions the majority coalition controls1,028 positions (68 percent) and theopposition controls only 476 positions(32 percent), an even greater disparity.

An interesting component of this new-est attempt to consolidate power by Mr.Viktor Yanukovych and his people is thatduring the last parliamentary elections onSeptember 30, 2007, the three electionfactions making up todays majoritycoalition totaled 43.72 percent of the totalvote while those constituting todaysopposition totaled 44.86 percent with theremaining percentages distributed amongelection factions which failed to break therequired 3 percent barrier.

The percentages reflected in todayselection commission are not even close tothose results. Mr. Yanukovych managedto secure new numbers by inspiringmembers of Ukraines Parliament toswitch sides and persuading the courts torubber stamp their approval, despite thefact that all members of UkrainesParliament were elected pursuant to elec-toral fraction lists. No one was elected

individually.Mr. Yanukovych has been derided by

many as being intellectually too weak toserve as president. Suddenly, the objectof both home and international lampoon-ing is becoming quite dangerous, still ill-suited to be president but de facto becom-ing very much a dictator. The internation-al community has played a major role inhis rise. Hopefully, its not too late.

Askold S. Lozy nskyj is an atto rneybased in New York City. He is a former

pres id en t of th e Uk ra in ia n Wor ldCongress.

Ukraine 2020:

Where is the truth?Dear Editor:The story Ukraine 2020 chairs meet

with Ukraines ambassador to the U.S.(October 17) by Oksana Yakovenko, ofthe U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, statesAmbassador Motsyk also stressed thatthe Ukrainian government is firmly com-mitted to straightening democracy in

Ukraine and building a truly democraticEuropean state.

This was stated by the Ambassador on

September 29 at a gathering at the officeof the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation inWashington.

However, when one reads the same inThe Ukrainian Weekly or any other inter-national free press on what is going on inUkraine, one sees a different scenario.

Who is telling the truth?

Jerry ZinyczVenice, Fla.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

IN THE PRESS: Ukraines futureUkraine seeks a European economic

future, by Aleksander Kwasniewski(president of Poland, 1995-2005), TheFinancial Times, October 24:

the approach of Ukraines new gov-ernment is more pragmatic and reform-minded than most people expected.Provided the West can frame the right poli-

cies, the scope for encouraging changethrough engagement is still considerable.

For a range of economic and politicalreasons, [President Viktor] Yanukovich [sic]and his backers remain committed toUkraines independence as much as the restof the country.

The decision to seek warmer relationswith Russia by cancelling plans to joinNATO and extending the lease of the Black

Sea fleet should not therefore be seen as partof a return to Moscows orbit. It reflects apragmatic judgment that Ukraine, situatedbetween the European Union and Russia,needs friendly relations with both neighbors.

The removal of Ukraine as a potentialtheatre of geopolitical competition is some-

thing the EU should welcome. If the hopedfor EU-Ukraine free trade zone is estab-lished, it will exert more influence overRussia if it is carried out by a Ukrainiangovernment deemed not to be hostile toRussian interests.

The message from the EU should bethat Ukraines efforts to modernize its econ-

COMMENTARY

by Alexander J. Motyl

Viktor Yanukovychs recent trip to Paris,coming on the heels of his junket to theU.N. General Assembly, demonstrated onceagain that Ukraines all-powerful president

still has no foreign policy.On September 24 Mr. Yanukovych told

the Atlantic Council in New York thatUkraine was committed to non-alignment,while repeating stock phrases about hiscountrys strategic partnership with theUnited States, eventual membership in theEuropean Union, and improved relationswith Russia.

On October 8 Mr. Ianoukovitch (as hisname would be transliterated in French)delivered a rambling speech at the FrenchInstitute of International Relations in whichhe noted that, for the first time, the inter-ests of the United States, the EU, and Russiawere in alignment, that past lines of divi-sion could finally be overcome, that anew ideology of European unity and a new

ideology of European security could becreated, and that Ukraine strives for and isready actively to participate in this process.

All very nice, but wheres the policy?Non-alignment seems a tad out of date 20

years after the collapse of the Soviet Unionand the end of the Cold War. Strategic part-nerships with the United States are great,but only if youre ready to be an Americanstrategic asset. Eventual EU membership isalso swell, especially if no one knows justwhen itll come about.

The bottom line is that Mr. Yanukovychsonly genuine foreign policy initiative isUkraines seismic shift toward Russia asmanifested by the April 21 Kharkiv accords,in which he extended the Russian Black SeaFleets basing rights in the Crimea for 25years, in exchange for a ridiculously lowrent and a gas price reduction that Ukraineshouldve gotten anyway.

Mr. Yanukovychs reset with Russia isa geopolitical blunder of historic propor-tions, testifying to his shocking inexperienceor gross incompetence or both. It goes with-out saying that normal relations with Russiaare both good and necessary for Ukraine, ifonly because it has no choice but to live inthe shadow of its huge neighbor.

Every Ukrainian president since indepen-dence in 1991 has pursued that goal bymeans of a multi-vector policy of balanc-ing between East and West. The first,Leonid Kravchuk, split the difference. Thesecond, Leonid Kuchma, balanced towardRussia. The third, Viktor Yushchenko, bal-anced toward the West (and that tiny shift

led to an apoplectic reaction in the Kremlin).But because all three were committed to

Ukraines eventual membership in NATO(as was Yanukovych, in an earlier incarna-tion as prime minister), balancing worked

and they were able to pursue a more or lessindependent foreign policy premised onUkraines security interests.

Enter President Yanukovych. Having for-mally rejected NATO membership and bentover backward to accommodate VladimirPutins Russia, Mr. Yanukovych has nocards to play in his dealings with Moscow,

Paris, Berlin and Washington. Each of themis unabashedly promoting its geopoliticalinterests, while openly treating soft poweras window dressing.

Russia wants a zone of influence in itsbackyard and will engage in military inter-vention to get it; France wants to balancethe Americans and will sell weapons toRussia to prove that point; Germany wantsRussian gas and will disregard Polandsinterests to procure it; and the United Stateswants friends at a time of strategic over-extension and will overlook their authoritar-ian peccadillos as a result.

Mr. Yanukovych, by contrast, hopes tosubstitute handshakes for policy.

Sooner or later, Moscow will up the ante.Unable to say no to the Kremlin, Mr.Yanukovych will turn to the West andunderscore his desire to be a pal. He mayeven remind Le Figaro that he said jaimebeaucoup la France in an October 7 inter-view.

At that point, however, his lack of a stra-tegic vision will assert itself with a ven-geance. Yanukovychs new friend NicolasSarkozy (who inducted him into the Ordrenational de la Lgion dhonneur a privi-lege he now shares with Mr. Putin) willprobably sell him down the Volga, whileBerlin will shed crocodile tears. Ironically,only that champion of NATO Washington may appreciate that losingUkraine would be a strategic disaster forthe West.

The article above appeared on the World

Affairs journals Ukraines Orange Bluesblog by Alexander J. Motyl on October 22.(http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/new/blogs/motyl). It is reprinted here with theauthors permission.

Monsieur Ianoukovitch goes to Paris

Non-alignment

seems a tad out of

date 20 years afterthe collapse of the

Soviet Union and

the end of the Cold

War.



8/24


340,000 tons. We built two elevators alongthe Dnipro, so that grain doesnt have to behauled to ports in Odesa and Illichivsk any-more. We immediately haul them on specialgrain barges and can transport them abroad.The oblast harvested under my leadershipmore than 4.5 million tons of grain.Poltavschyna has unique chornozem,which is why the agro-industrial complexdeveloped there most dynamically.

A lot was done in other spheres. I practi-

cally completed gasification of the oblast,which also brought good investment. Greentourism has begun to develop, which simplydidnt exist earlier. We began to clean riversand create recreation zones. We built agigantic, 129,000-square-foot oblast hospi-tal, which offers among the best maternitywards in the country.

I changed the system of management asmuch as I could. I would have dissolvedthis administration long ago because its aSoviet system, which still has this type ofSoviet rudiment. But its not so simple todissolve because its tied to thePresidential Administration head, but alsothe chain of command in the ministriesand local organs.

Regardless, I introduced a system whichI call investment management, in which aperson was appointed to chase away allthose who interfered with an investor andworked directly with the top manager wholed an investment project. They kept trackof all deadlines to approve documents. Ifsomeone attempted to deny approval ordelayed the matter, I was immediatelyinformed and we immediately eliminatedthis. That enabled the construction of theMetro supermarket chain and the Epitsentrhardware supermarket under my leadership,as well as large shopping malls. That com-mercial infrastructure was built practicallyin four years. Thats not only Poltava, butKremenchuk and Myrhorod. A good invest-ment climate was created.

We didnt have politicization in theoblast. We were able to find agreement with

all the political forces, and I dont remembera single strike under my leadership. Driverswent on strike, but they were striking morebecause of [Poltava City Council ChairAndrii] Matkovskyi than me. There wasnteven an incident of dissatisfaction duringthose four years. The government was veryopen.

Which of the citys economic sectorsdemand the most attention?

Public works. We had a paradox here inPoltava, because its leadership has donevery little for investment. When we broughtthis German investor for the recycling plant,I brought him to Poltava because theres acatastrophic situation here with garbage.This mayor [Andrii Matkovskyi] showed

him around for a year and then demandedsomething, after which the Germans saidtheyre leaving. Then I took them toKremenchuk, which had a more sensiblemayor [Mykola Glukhov]. We resolved theproblem there and gave them the recyclingplants. We fulfilled this project there thefirst of its kind in Ukraine. It was fulfillednot with loans, but with grants given by theGerman government. I personally traveledto Germany and negotiated with the envi-ronmental minister.

Yet the public services here are in veryneglected shape. Roads and buildings,everything that fal ls under Mr.Matkovskyis functions, are in bad shape.He neglected all this very seriously, andthats why he has problems with his pollnumbers and hell lose this election.

Whats the situation with the IvanMazepa and Symon Petliura statues?

Nothing with Petliura. It was made noteof, but nothing was done.

What about the Petliura plaque?

Well, we established the plaque [at thesite of the planned statue], after which thecity said that it cant allow it to be estab-

lished there. We backed off the issuebecause it didnt go anywhere. The situationis entirely different with the Mazepa monu-ment. There was a presidential decree hon-oring the 300th anniversary of the Poltavabattle, for the fulfillment of which the citymade all the decisions to establish theMazepa monument. They designated theplace, conducted a topographical survey,held a contest and announced its winner.Finally the monument was prepared. The

crisis came when it was made, and I didntremove the $185,000 (1.5 million hrv) thatwas earmarked in the budget. I found inves-tors instead. When it was supposed to beerected, the city government didnt allow it,not executing its own decision.

This monument stands today in Kyiv inthe yard of this business, awaiting its fate.Its very beautiful. Campaigning here, I saidthat if Im elected I will conduct a poll ofthe population. I am convinced people willagree and well bring it here. Althoughmany have suggested that I take it to anothercity, because its such a beautiful monu-ment. Well, since I looked for the invest-ment its practically my private ownershipsince no one else is claiming it. Thats thesituation with Mazepa.

But you wont raise the issue ofPetliura? Is it too controversial?

No its not controversial. Ill put it thisway you cant begin with politics. As anold Rukh member, I have a lot of experiencebecause I stood at the beginnings of theUkrainian state, and Ive learned the mental-ity of Ukrainians. Although I think its thementality of other people too. People wantsomeone to do something at first. There areurgent social problems which need to beaddressed first. If you resolve them, thenpeople will view other things, particularlypolitical issues, either with indifference, ornot disagreeing. But if youve done nothingand begin immediately with monuments,then its perceived as very negative and youhave a poor position against the opposition.

So, I think if were able to do in the firstyear or two at least half of what we did inthe oblast, then believe me, I am convincedthat people wont disagree in any case. Theopposition forces will keep silent, while thepatriotic forces will support it. I think weresupposed to be wiser in this sense.

That was probably PresidentYushchenkos mistake.

Unfortunately Yushchenko made manymistakes, and that wasnt the biggest.

His biggest mistake was that he didntcancel the reforms, which he was told to doon the second day, after his inauguration.Its unclear what his advisors advised him.Yet Yanukovych canceled them after fiveyears, although he did it illegally. And most

interestingly Yushchenko did swear an oathon this 1996 Constitution.Now Yanukovych also has the problem

that hes illegitimate himself because hedidnt swear an oath on the 1996Constitution. Yet power is granted by thepeople. You cant come with one form ofpower, and afterwards expand it. Youresupposed to return to the people, so that theygrant you legitimacy.

Do you believe authoritarianism hasreturned to Ukraine?

Undoubtedly. Ukraine is copying Russia.Of course, its a more muted form becauseRussians, by their mentality, are moreauthoritarian. They have the tsar in theirheads. But Ukrainians are freedom-lovingKozaks. Our will is a natural phenomenon

thats inherited.When authoritarianism is formed here, it

always ends up badly. And it can end upbadly for Ukraine because Ukraine is goingdown its traditional path gaining indepen-dence, rebirth and resurgence, then every-one argues with one another, followed byruin and the disintegration of the state. Wetruly are living through very difficult times.Thats the truth.

Weekly on October 25 at his Poltava cam-paign headquarters.

How is the election campaign inPoltava under President ViktorYanukovych? Is there order in the sensethat one can campaign freely? Are thereviolations to the election law?

Well, firstly, I will say that I served asoblast state administrator, or governor, forfour years, during which two elections wereheld. I didnt participate in these electionsas a director, or from a campaign. That wasmy position even during the parliamentaryelections. I was offered to lead a campaignstaff because before the governorship I led[Viktor] Yushchenkos staff, still under thepLeonid] Kuchma presidency. I said thenthat I will either leave my position as gov-ernor to work as a campaign staff director,or I will remain as governor and willengage in managerial affairs, without get-ting involved in politics. I worked here forfour years.

In elections, the single thing we ensuredwas material-technical items. We receivednot a single complaint. We hosted manyobservers. We were always open, honest,and evidence of that is the opposition won,which says that the elections were demo-cratic and honest.

Regarding the present moment, first ofall, I can say that the very election law is aserious step backwards in terms of democra-cy. I would refer to a very piquant bill,which was drafted by the Justice Ministryfor a single party [Editors Note: Party ofRegions of Ukraine], which is supposed tobe first on all the ballots, using some admin-istrative mechanisms. Thats simply laugh-able. Determine the order in a democraticway, whoever is first or fifth. Thats how italways was. Here they invented a registra-tion in which the first to register, both hereand other oblasts, is the first on the ballot.

The ruling party [Party of Regions] didntallow people into buildings simply becauseit wanted to be registered first.

They invented this type of gimmick inwhich theyre supposed to be No. 1 on all ofUkraines billboards. We had a problem inthe Kremenchuk District where they didntregister first, and their members almost hada heart attack for failing to do so. That factalone tells us that its very hard to speak ofsome democratic norms.

As for the system of forming electioncommissions, then theres no system at all.In the commission where Im running forthe post of City Council chair, theres not asingle representative from my party[Editors Note: Ukrainian Peoples Party],even though we nominated a person who

was a commission chair more than once. Interms of expertise, the person was supposedto be at least a commission member.

Today the commission chair is a personwho never worked on elections at all, andhes performing very poorly when there areother commission members who know whatto do. So the commissions were formed inan absolutely undemocratic way, which tellsus that theyre preparing for some grand fal-sifications.

We see the Party of Regions ratings fall-ing in relation to ineffective policies.Re-introducing the mazhorytarna (single-winner) system is correct on the one hand,in my view, so that the voter at least knewthe name of his deputy. On the other hand,all the oblasts main players were pressuredto join the Party of Regions. Otherwise, theentrepreneurs were threatened with serioussanctions and reviews. If there were civilservants, they wouldve been dismissed.

This truly happened here?

Undoubtedly. This was throughoutUkraine, including Poltava. I dont want tomention people by names, because they willsuffer repercussions, but there are more thanenough of these facts. We even had well-

known farmers who were in our party atfirst because we supported their ecologicaland clean farming practices. But they wereforced to leave the party. At first they saidthey wouldnt be involved at all, and after-wards they were forced to campaign for theParty of Regions. I dont know how this willall turn out.

Can you discuss specific violationsagainst your election campaign?

My competitors are writing all kinds ofnonsense about me. Regarding commis-sions, we havent given the pretext for themto review us. Election day is ahead of us,and its hard to say what the situation willbe.

You said one of your commissionerswas denied?

We dont have a single representative ofour party on the commission of our oblastcouncil, where our party is campaigning,and the citys territorial election commission(TEC).

Have you noticed indifference amongthe people towards the elections?

Yes, there is significant indifference, verysignificant disenchantment, and, honestly,

its quite difficult to work. On one hand, thisdisenchantment comes from the Orangeteam being blamed for many problems,which is true, because [former PrimeMinister Yulia] Tymoshenkos managementin the last year, especially during the crisis,was extremely unsuccessful. Her natural gasagreement with Moscow saddled Ukrainewith debt. On the other hand, theYanukovych team came after also promis-ing a whole lot, criticizing Tymoshenko agreat deal, but after a half-year has drivenUkraine into a greater abyss. This includesthe Kharkiv agreement, the governmentsunsuccessful policies, particularly ineffec-tive policies towards small- and middle-sized businesses.

People are lost and dont know where to

find some relief a political force they canjoin or support. The disenchantment is enor-mous. They say that everyone lies, no onetells the truth and they fool everyone.

People also think that politicians forgetabout them after they come to power.How are you different from such politi-cians?

I have enormous experience, because notonly did I serve as governor, I also led alarge district in Kyiv for seven years. I was anational deputy for eight years. I didnt planto campaign for City Council chair. Thisposition wouldnt be the highest I held. Butthe leading candidate here has a criminalbackground [Editors Note: OleksanderMamai of the Party of Regions], who is sup-ported by the current government. I wouldnot want this person to come to power inPoltava. Thats the main reason I came andIve only been working since October 1.

If I began this campaign three monthsago at least, I think I would have won. Nowits hard to say because theres very littletime, although the situation is not bad, in myview. But its hard to say whether Ill suc-ceed in such a short time. But if a goodmanager ran for office, then I simplywouldnt have run. I would campaigned forthe oblast council, or not run at all.

Name your two most significantaccomplishments when you served as theoblast state administration chair.

They were recognized by the presentgovernment, when Poltava was recognized

for the most investment which we broughtto the oblast foreign and domestic. Weattracted excellent investment fromGermany for recycling plants and electro-energetic generation. Theyll soon beginconstruction of the recycling plant. But thegreatest success was, of course, in the agro-industrial complex. We built 15 of the stron-gest grain elevators in the last four years one of which is the biggest in Europe at

(Continued from page 1)

On the ground...


9/24


Symposium focuses on Ukrainian Modernism in international contextby Oksana Zakydalsky

TORONTO Modernism in Kyiv, ajust-publis hed monumental work, con-tains articles by twenty scholars whoseaim is to examine the cultural develop-ment in Ukraine (specifically in Kyiv) inthe significant years 1905-1926, when thepolitical situation ws defined by the

existence of two powerful revolutionarymovements socialism and nationalism with competing social visions.

To help launch this work, theShevchenko Scientific Society of Canadaorganized a symposium in Toronto titled U k r a i n i a n M o d e r n i s m i n a nInternational Setting, inviting both edi-tors of the book, Prof. Irena Makarykfrom Ottawa and theater director VirlanaTkacz from New York as well as fourother contributors to the book to offermodernism for discussion and provide ataste of the books contents.

The October 16 symposium highlight-ed the wide-ranging aim of the publica-tion was highlighted at the symposium to learn about the historical, intellectual

and artistic complexity of Kyiv in theearly years of the 20th century and toexamine the variety of cultural a

The Ukrainian Weekly 2010-44

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