"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
An International Newsletter
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
UKRAINE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION DAY - NUMBER THREE
Sunday, December 26, 2004
Kharkiv was quiet today. It was in the 30's with a light snow. There
are many international election observers in town meeting to lay out
their plans for monitoring the vote on Sunday. There are already
reports coming in regarding large advance activities related to voter
fraud in the mobile voting area. There was considerable discussion
in Kharkiv among observers about how to best watch for mobile
voting fraud. Whenever one leaves the hotel where we are staying
and goes a short distance to the left one runs right into the large
statue of Lenin that still glares out over the main square.
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 272
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
KHARKIV, UKRAINE, SUNDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1.UKRAINIAN COURT OVERTURNS PART OF NEW ELECTION LAWS
By Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times
New York, NY, Sunday, December 26, 2004
2. YUSHCHENKO HIT BY RENEWED FEARS OF ELECTION FRAUD
Victory today is likely, but a shock court ruling has quashed
reform intended to prevent fresh irregularities
Andrew Osborn, Sunday Herald, Scotland, Sun, December 26, 2004
3. VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO PROMISES TO JAIL UKRAINE'S
ELECTION FRAUDSTERS
By Tom Parfitt, in Kiev, The Telegraph
London, UK, Sunday, December 26, 2004
4. DAY 3 - THE TENT CITY ON INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
COMMENTARY: By Oksana Bashuk Hepburn for the
Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Canada, Sunday, December 26, 2004
5. U.S. HOPES FOR FAIR UKRAINE ELECTION
AP, Washington, D.C., Saturday December 25, 2004
6. RUSSIA LOOKS AT 'LITTLE BROTHER' ---AND WORRIES
COMMENTARY: By Anne Applebaum in Moscow
Telegraph, London, UK, Sunday, December 26, 2004
7. YUSHCHENKO SAYS HE WILL MEET WITH PUTIN IF ELECTED
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, December 24, 2004
8. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS HE HAS PUTS UP
WITH ELECTION FRAUD BY HIS RIVAL YANUKOVYCH
One Plus One TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian 2005 gmt 24 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, December 24, 2004
9. WEST STIRRING REVOLUTION IN UKRAINE SAYS PUTIN
Jeremy Page in Kiev, Times, London, UK, Thu, December 24, 2004
10. NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE TO RELEASE PRELIMINARY
STATEMENT ON UKRAINE'S SECOND ROUND PRES ELECTION
- Press Conference, National Democratic Institute (NDI)
- To Release Statement of NDI International Observer Delegation
- Tuesday, December 28, 10:00am
- UNIAN, Kreshchatyk Street No. 4, Kyiv
11. UKRAINE'S WEALTHIEST BUSINESSMAN CONCILIATORY
TO OPPOSITION LEADER YUSHCHENKO
Ukrayina TV, Donetsk, in Russian, 24 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, December 24, 2004
12. RUSSIA'S POLITICOS HEAD WEST
Ukraine Is Where The Election Action Is for Idled Operatives
By Alan Cullison, Staff Reporter
The Wall Street Journal, NY, NY, Thu, December 24, 2004
13. PORA READY FOR REVOTE, ROLE AS OPPOSITION BODY
By Yulianna Vilkos, Kyiv Post Staff Writer
Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Dec 23, 2004
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
========================================================
1. UKRAINIAN COURT OVERTURNS PART OF NEW ELECTION LAWS
By Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times
New York, NY, Sunday, December 26, 2004
MOSCOW, Dec. 25 - Ukraine's Constitutional Court on Saturday overturned
a new amendment to the country's election laws that had been intended to
minimize the chances for fraud, but it dismissed other legal challenges and
cleared the way for a second presidential runoff on Sunday.
The court ruled that a new limit on the number of Ukrainians who could vote
at home - a major demand of the opposition candidate, Viktor A. Yushchenko,
following the disputed runoff on Nov. 21 - violated the constitutional
rights of ill or disabled voters who would not otherwise be able to cast
ballots.
That law, adopted by Parliament this month as part of a compromise to end
the divisive electoral dispute, was among several challenged this week by
legislators loyal to Mr. Yushchenko's opponent, Prime Minister Viktor F.
Yanukovich. The court rejected the other appeals, however, including one
against new limits on absentee voting, which Mr. Yushchenko and
international election observers cited as a means for fraud during the
November election. Representatives of both candidates accepted the ruling.
"Nobody will ever say that the president who is elected is illegitimate or
elected unconstitutionally," the court's chairman, Mykola F. Selivon, said
in a news conference after the ruling, according to the Interfax news
agency.
As Ukraine heads toward a third round of voting, voters remain divided.
Still, Mr. Yushchenko, who led the mass protests that ultimately overturned
the last round, appears increasingly confident of victory. His spokeswoman,
Irina Gerashchenko, said in a telephone interview on Saturday that Mr.
Yushchenko's standing in polls leading up to the new vote now showed "an
indecent difference" between him and Mr. Yanukovich. The prime minister was
initially declared the winner of the Nov. 21 runoff by 870,000 votes, only
to see the election overturned after a popular uprising.
The court ordered the national and regional election commissions to ensure
that the homebound would be able to take part, a task that could leave
grounds for new appeals, which Mr. Yanukovich said this week he would file
if Sunday's voting was not fair. The amendment had sought to limit the
number only to the most severely disabled, but Mr. Yanukovich's supporters
said the change would have effectively disenfranchised three million voters.
In the first round and, especially, the second round, Mr. Yushchenko's
campaign argued that local governments and supporters of Mr. Yanukovich
abused the provisions on absentee and home voting. The Supreme Court
accepted those arguments, declaring the results invalid and ordered the new
vote that is to take place on Sunday.
Ms. Gerashchenko said that in this round, representatives of both
candidates, as well as election observers, would accompany ballot boxes
taken to homes. More than 10,000 observers are in Ukraine to monitor the
vote.
Even though Mr. Yushchenko's supporters had pressed for limits on home
voting, as well as absentee ballots, she said, "We are law-abiding people
and accept this decision." Valery I. Konovalyuk, a pro-Yanukovich member of
Parliament and lawyer who argued the appeals before the Constitutional
Court, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Yanukovich's campaign was
satisfied with the ruling. "A large group of Ukrainians was deprived of the
right to vote," he said. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nikolai Khalip contributed reporting from Kiev, Ukraine, for this article.
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.272: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
========================================================
2. YUSHCHENKOL HIT BY RENEWED FEARS OF ELECTION FRAUD
Victory today is likely, but a shock court ruling has quashed
reform intended to prevent fresh irregularities.
Andrew Osborn, Sunday Herald, Scotland, Sun, December 26, 2004
THE “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine is expected to reach its dramatic climax
today with an overwhelming majority of voters likely to endorse Viktor
Yushchenko, the pro-Western politician who has inspired thousands to take to
the streets. Today’s election will take place under the watchful eyes of
12,000 foreign observers, a record monitoring mission in modern history.
Opinion polls show that Yushchenko, who survived an attempt to poison him
and successfully cried foul over voter fraud last month, is 14% ahead of
Viktor Yanukovich, his pro-Russian rival. Barring a major upset Yushchenko
will therefore see himself inaugurated as president of the 47 million strong
former Soviet state after more than a month of street protests that have
broken the Soviet-era elite’s grasp on power.
But if Yushchenko thought he would have it all his own way he received a
last-minute shock yesterday when the country’s constitutional court quashed
a reform his supporters had brought in to reduce the chance of voter fraud.
Yushchenko had wanted strictly to limit the number of disabled and ill
people who could cast their vote from their homes – a major source of fraud
last time around. But the court ruled he had gone too far and said it would
allow extensive home voting after all.
It was uncertain last night what impact the ruling would have on the
outcome, which had previously seemed a foregone conclusion.
Assuming Yushchenko does win he will have little time to rest on his laurels
in any case if he is to reunite a country riven by bitter political,
linguistic and cultural differences and snuff out signs of regional
separatism or civil unrest. Although his victory may not be in doubt, what
is more uncertain is how the largely Russian-speaking east of the country
will react to the news.
The east is solidly behind Yanukovich and may feel it has been
disenfranchised, so great is the gulf between the candidates. The east,
Ukraine’s industrial powerhouse, fears Yushchenko will weaken the country’s
strong ties with neighbouring Russia, discriminate against Russian speakers
and close the coal mines and steel plants that provide the region’s
lifeblood.
Several eastern politicians have threatened to call referendums on autonomy
in the likely event of a Yushchenko win and Yanukovich himself has predicted
that the east will refuse to recognise the result. “If you think that you
are going to win and you are going to become President of Ukraine you are
wrong,” he told Yushchenko in a TV debate before today’s vote. “If you win
you can [only] become president of a part of Ukraine.”
Sensing defeat, Yanukovich has asked his rival if he could play a role in
the new government for the sake of national unity. But Yushchenko has ruled
that out, casting his opponent as the man who stole three million votes in
the now discredited November poll and arguing that he is too closely linked
to the old regime of incumbent president Leonid Kuchma. “You are Kuchma’s
number three man, his favourite child,” he told him in the TV debate.
Yanukovich, who has been deserted by Kuchma, his campaign manager and
some of his key advisers, has reinvented himself as a moderate intent on
holding the country together and preventing bloodshed. It is true that
fears of unrest have been raised, with Yushchenko supporters claiming pro-
Yanukovich “thugs” have been buying weapons from the Russian naval base
at Sebastopol to cause trouble in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, after voting.
However, there is no solid evidence to back this up.
Yushchenko is now likely to rush to repair badly damaged relations with
Russian president Vladimir Putin who openly backed Yanukovich in the past
and is worried about what he regards as “Western meddling” in Moscow’s
backyard. Indeed, Yushchenko’s first official foreign visit is likely to be
to Russia, a paradox considering he has styled himself as the man who will
take Ukraine into the EU and Nato.
Moscow is convinced, with some justification, that America has poured
millions of dollars into ensuring a Yushchenko victory and fears its
influence in a country that used to be part of the Russo-centric USSR is
about to be severely diluted. Its gas pipelines criss-cross Ukraine, its
only warm-water naval base is located at Sebastopol and it regards the
country as a buffer zone against the encroaching EU and Nato.
Yushchenko will therefore have to work hard to persuade Putin that he means
no harm and will also have to take concrete steps to show that Russian
culture will not be damaged. Taking his critics by surprise, he has already
promised to consider making Russian the country’s second official language.
Another key challenge will be to settle accounts with oligarchs who have
ruthlessly carved up Ukraine’s wealth since the collapse of the USSR in
1991. Yushchenko claims that a mere “three or four clan-like families” have
grown wealthy at the Ukrainian people’s expense and will want to wrestle
control of key assets from them. Indeed there has already been talk of
amnesties and backroom deals.
Reviewing the future of Kryvorizhstal, the country’s largest steel producer,
will likely be one of Yushchenko’s first tasks. Sold in an allegedly crooked
privatisation deal last summer to a company controlled by Kuchma’s
son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, many want the deal to be reopened and the
auction re-run.
Yushchenko will also have to weigh how far he is willing to go to repay the
Orange Revolution’s young radicals who can take much of the credit for
propelling him into power.
Firebrands, such as MP Yulia Tymoshenko, a woman who may become
Yushchenko’s prime minister, have demanded the prosecution of key
members of the old regime, including Kuchma.
Above all, Yushchenko will need to take care of his health. There is
speculation that he may fly to Israel for plastic surgery on his
poison-ravaged face, which he got after eating a bowl of soup in the
presence of the old regime’s security chiefs. Doctors will need to keep a
close eye on Ukraine’s new president, as the Agent Orange-like poison in his
veins is still dangerous. Medical experts have warned he may feel suicidal
at times and that his risk of contracting deadly diseases is high.
Yushchenko and his Orange Revolution may have emerged victorious but
the price he has personally had to pay has been dangerously high.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.sundayherald.com/46854
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.272: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
========================================================
3. VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO PROMISES TO JAIL UKRAINE'S
ELECTION FRAUDSTERS
By Tom Parfitt, in Kiev, The Telegraph
London, UK, Sunday, December 26, 2004
KIEV - Senior members of the present Ukrainian government will be prosecuted
for election fraud if Viktor Yushchenko, the country's opposition leader,
wins re-run presidential vote. A criminal investigation into "15 or 20 key
figures" could also implicate Viktor Yanukovich, the pro-Russian prime
minister, according to officials close to Mr Yushchenko.
Mr Yanukovich was accused of rigging the previous ballot last month, which
he won, apparently, by a narrow margin. The supreme court later annulled the
result. Allies of Mr Yushchenko, who leads in the polls, say he is
determined to sweep away the corrupt regime of Leonid Kuchma, the
outgoing president.
Hundreds of thousands of Mr Yushchenko's supporters brought Kiev and other
cities to a standstill during the "orange revolution", which followed the
election on November 21. More than 12,000 international observers will
monitor today's vote, amid fears that there may be fresh attempts to distort
the result.
Yesterday, however, in a blow to Mr Yushchenko, Ukraine's constitutional
court overturned some of the laws brought in to eliminate fraud.
Restrictions on the right to vote from home, which was one of the main ways
of cheating, were ruled to be unconstitutional.
Mykola Selivon, chairman of the court, insisted, however, that the law was
strong enough to ensure a fair ballot. "Now no one will be able to say that
the elected president is illegitimate or elected unconstitutionally."
Anatoly Grytsenko, Mr Yushchenko's chief strategist, told The Telegraph that
those suspected of fraud in last month's vote would be prosecuted, if the
opposition leader wins. "Those who must not be forgiven are mainly within
the state structure - the ones who organised the falsification," he said.
"Someone must be imprisoned because we cannot forgive this situation, which
sent a terrible message about Ukraine to the world. "It must be very clear
to society that this is not something we will tolerate in the future."
Mr Grytsenko named Mykola Bilokon, the interior minister; Viktor Medvedchuk,
head of the presidential administration; and Andriy Kluyev, the vice-prime
minister, as among the ringleaders who would be prosecuted. They would face
between three and 12 years in prison if convicted.
Asked if Mr Yanukovich would be pursued in the courts, Mr Grytsenko said:
"If people prove or say in court that 'I got orders from the prime
minister', then he too must be prosecuted." Secret recordings made at Mr
Yanukovich's campaign headquarters during the disputed vote, will be used as
evidence in the prosecutions.
The tapes allegedly capture the prime minister's team discussing the
progress of their attempts to manipulate the election results. International
issues will dominate Mr Yushchenko's first days in office, if he is the
winner. He said last week that his first foreign trip would be to Moscow, to
see Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.
Mr Putin backed Mr Yanukovich in the first vote, and last week criticised
the West for fomenting revolutions in the former Soviet sphere.
The visit to Moscow would aim to mend fences and show Russian-speaking
eastern Ukraine that Mr Yushchenko does not reject ties with Moscow.
International observers monitoring today's vote say that it should be fairer
because of recent changes to the membership of election commissions.
Mr Yushchenko told reporters on Christmas Eve that he expected the vote to
be disrupted by supporters of Mr Yanukovich but that it would not prevent
him winning. While his ratings are high and his supporters are confident of
victory, some commentators believe the result could be closer than expected.
"There's a very high degree of unpredictability about the outcome," said
Mikhail Pogrebinsky, a former adviser to Mr Kuchma. On the last day of
campaigning on Friday, Mr Yanukovich warned that if he was not victorious,
Ukraine would become a puppet of the West. "Either we will live at the whim
of a master who has a lot of money and power or will ourselves be masters of
our own land," he said. -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
========================================================
4. DAY 3 - THE TENT CITY ON INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
COMMENTARY: By Oksana Bashuk Hepburn for the
Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa, Canada
Sunday, December 26, 2004
'Twas the night before the elections
In Kyiv's Independence Square
How I wish you could see this historic sight
How I wish you were there.
The Tent City is alive with music, lights, fireworks, chatter, singing. I
walk through the length of the hundreds of tents, its, now, well- known
occupants; the wall of greeting, poems, slogans, hopes and messages on the
barricades. The walk becomes a lesson in Ukraine' history, its psychology
and its enduring desire for freedom and justice. It is an inspiration; a
fit message of hope at Christmastime.
At the edge of the Tent City I introduce myself to Volodymyr Hnat, 54 from
Lviv and his tent buddy Evhen, Eugene to us Canadians, Bylychev, 29, from
Simferopil. "How are you feeling" I ask. "Great" ; and they look it. "You'
re Canadian?" How can they tell? Apparently, it's my maple leaf pin and
Ukrainian Canadian accent. Each proclaims his love for Canada.
Has it been cold for them in the tents? Eugene laughs. He has been
keeping the vigil for about a month. It had dropped to -20 a few days ago.
"Do Canadians know that we have palms in Crimea and that the Black Sea
never freezes," he wants to know?
Why they are here? They are sure of their answers: for our children, for
all the children of Ukraine; because it must be done. "If we don't defend
our rights, who will," says Volodymyr. It's a statement, not a question.
I talk with Andrij Ostrozhnyj, 38, mechanic. His sign reads: DESCENDENTS
OF MAZEPPA from BATURYN for YUSCHENKO. I stop and hear a
frightening history lesson. In 1708 Myesnikov, Czar Peter the Great's
General eradicated 20,000 inhabitants of Baturyn. He crucified men, women
and children to posts and fences and sent them down Seim, the little river
that runs through the town, empties into the Dnipro and then the Black Sea.
Why?For resisting Russia and supporting Hetman Mazeppa and Ukraine's
independence. Andrij does not appreciate Russia's brutal methods to rule
here. He points to a big sign a few steps away: Putin! Hands off our
elections!
Luda Harasymenko, 55, from Luhansk, is sitting on a bench with a long list
of accusations against the regime. I ask for a translation because it's in
Russian. She is incredulous that a Ukrainian speaker cannot read Russian.
Here everyone does. To speak Ukrainian in Soviet times, a mere 13 years ago,
was to be labeled a fascist. Some still use it, with impunity, against the
Yuschenko forces.
I read the signs on banners, cardboard, Styrofoam. Thousands of them; they
define the orange revolution:
• We will live in a new and free Ukraine.
• Blessed be our Ukraine
• Yuschenko = Truth and Democracy
• Will exchange Kuchma and Yanukovych for coffee and fruit
• Custom officials for freedom
• Ukrainian workers in Italy (some 600,000 due to serious employment in
Ukraine): Yuschenko is our President
• Our country demands the regime be tried for corruption
• Donetsk is not the enemy; visit us for some pyrohy!
I do not see anyone wearing Yanukovych blue and white. However, I'm told
they come around and are greeted warmly. "They are people from my region
but misinformed and frightened," says Luda. "We try to make them
understand."
I hear the songs my mother used to sing when she participated in the
struggle for Ukraine's freedom some 50 years ago. And I hear my father, a
staunch Ukrainian patriot who spent two years in Auschwitz for his attempts
in establishing an independent Ukraine in 1941. "The struggle for
independence is eternal."
What will tomorrow bring? -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
========================================================
5. U.S. HOPES FOR FAIR UKRAINE ELECTION
AP, Washington, D.C., Saturday December 25, 2004
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration expects a cleaner election on
Sunday in Ukraine and while it professes to be above the contest for
president, it is hoping for a pro-Western outcome. That would mean a
victory
for Viktor Yushchenko and his Orange Revolution, which is pledged to fight
corruption and orient Ukraine toward the West. His opponent in the run-off,
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, has had the support of Russia, with
President Vladimir Putin campaigning for him.
"The question is whether the United States will have a friendly or hostile
Ukraine," said Anders Aslund, of the Carnegie Endowment for International
Peace. "From Putin's point of view, democracy in Ukraine is a threat to
authoritarianism in Russia."
Dimitri Simes, president of the Nixon Center, said he assumed Yushchenko
would win on Sunday "and it's probably for the better." "Not only will it
reflect the will of the Ukrainians, but he is the better candidate for
Ukraine, for the United States and, if he plays his cards right, for
Ukraine's relationship with Russia," Simes said.
The U.S. interest is free choice in Ukraine in a way that would not lead to
separatist movements or spoil Ukraine's relationship with Russia, Simes
said. Russia is subsidizing 50 million Ukrainians with cheap energy, and it
is in the U.S. interest not to "humiliate Russians just for the fun of it,"
Simes said.
In fact, Simes suggested accusations of Russian involvement in the Ukrainian
election were exaggerated. "I don't believe this was a serious exercise of
neo-imperialism," he said. There were a lot of political consultants working
in Ukraine, including Americans, he said.
But Radek Sikorsi, director of the new Atlantic Initiative at the American
Enterprise Institute, a Washington thinktank, said Yanukovych wants to
integrate Ukraine with Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan while Yushchenko says
he wants to integrate with the NATO military alliance and the European
Union. "So our club of free market democracies would grow if Mr. Yushchenko
should win," the former Polish deputy foreign minister said. "Overall, the
Bush administration has been pro-democracy in Ukraine without being
provocative towards Russia," Sikorski said.
"This country has a general interest in countries adopting free markets and
democratic principles and it is good if the Ukrainians make their own
democratic choice in this election" he said Thursday. He also praised the
administration for synchronizing its call for election reform with European
governments and said, "We should try it more often." -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
========================================================
6. RUSSIA LOOKS AT 'LITTLE BROTHER" ---AND WORRIES
COMMENTARY: By Anne Applebaum in Moscow
Telegraph, London, UK, Sunday, December 26, 2004
It was an institution I'd never heard of – the Foundation for Peace and
Co-operation – but the invitation to speak there came from someone at the
American embassy, the name sounded anodyne enough, and I thought the
audience, teachers from provincial Russia, in Moscow for a five-day course
on "civic education", might prove interesting.
On the appointed day, I made my speech. Then I asked for questions. One
of the first concerned Ukraine: Why is the West collaborating with the
Ukrainians to reverse the results of a legitimate election? I said the
election wasn't legitimate: several of my friends were election observers
and had witnessed massive fraud. The audience grew restless.
One of the next questions concerned Chechnya: Why is the West funding
Chechen terrorism? I said the West wasn't funding Chechen terrorism. The
crowd grew more restless still. On the podium beside me, one of the bigwigs
from the Foundation for Peace and Co-operation, sneered. "You should do a
bit more homework, and then you'll find out who is really funding Chechen
terrorism." Presumably, he meant the Bush administration. The whole room,
full of provincial teachers studying "civic education", burst into cheers.
I was taken aback. True, the hall where I gave my speech had felt like the
Soviet Union, with bad lighting, a dull programme, and uncomfortable chairs.
Also true - as I found out later - the Foundation for Peace and Co-operation
did indeed date back to communist times when it was called simply the
Foundation for Peace, and functioned as one of dozens of party front
organisations.
Still, I had not expected the audience to remind me of the USSR. But in
fact, their anti-Western sentiments were more paranoid than anything I
remember from the old days. Back then, most people felt far more sceptical
about things they heard on the evening news.
If that speech was a surreal experience, it was made more so by the fact
that a day earlier, I had attended a congress organised by what remains of
Russia's democratic political movement. Scattered around the hall were young
men with orange armbands and young women with orange T-shirts, all in
solidarity with the demonstrators in Ukraine. As the congress drew to a
close, I ran into a Russian friend who wanted to know whom she should call
in Washington to get advice on launching an "orange revolution" in Russia.
If there really was a Western conspiracy to spread democracy, she wanted to
be part of it.
The depth of the contrast helps to illustrate what is at stake for Russia in
today's repeat presidential ballot in Ukraine. For unexpectedly, events in
Ukraine – a country once known as "little Russia", and still considered a
"little brother" by most Russians – have led many Russians to think harder
about recent changes in their own country. For the past several years, the
increasing authoritarianism of President Vladimir Putin's government, the
restrictions on the media, the pressure on independent political
organisations, the active anti-Western propaganda on state-controlled
television, have all somehow slipped under the radar. No one abroad much
noticed, and most Russians considered them unimportant compared to the
recent prosperity, made possible by the high price of oil.
Until now, the same kinds of changes attracted no more attention in Ukraine.
In recent years, the thuggish administration of President Leonid Kuchma had
murdered journalists, cracked down on independent media and interfered
with political opponents – even, apparently, going so far as to poison the
opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, with dioxin. All of this took place
with the approval and apparent assistance of the Russian government, whose
leaders assumed that another manipulated Ukrainian election, and the
creation of another thuggish Ukrainian government, would attract little
comment, in Ukraine or anywhere else.
But they assumed incorrectly. The massive demonstrations on the streets of
Kiev, the international attention given to Ukraine's blatantly rigged
election, the visits from Javier Solana and Lech Walesa, all came as a
complete shock to the Russian government, and to ordinary Russians as well.
Officially and unofficially, Russians are blaming the West, largely because
they cannot grasp that there might be any other explanation.
Although the "civic educators" I met were perhaps unusual in their
virulence, the belief in the existence of a Western conspiracy to undermine
Russia is now widespread, and not by accident: Russian media hint darkly at
the "Western money" that is funding Chechen terrorism and Ukrainian
demonstrators, and most Russians, still more than willing to think ill of
the West, and still unable to understand how they are perceived in the
countries on their borders, don't disagree.
Although many pundits have also characterised the struggle in Kiev as one
between East and West, or Russia and Europe, that is not how it appeared to
the protesters in Kiev. Most seem to have believed that they were fighting
not for some geopolitical idea of the "West", but for the independence of
their own country. Vladimir Putin's ham-fisted support for "his" candidate,
Viktor Yanukovich, offended many. The blackened skin of Yushchenko,
evidence of the dioxin poisoning, frightened others.
Ukrainian businessmen looked hard at what has happened to Russian
entrepreneurs who grow too independent from the Kremlin – harassment and
prison – and decided that they wanted a different system. When Ukrainian
media actually began conducting independent broadcasts, when the Ukrainian
foreign ministry announced it was backing Yushchenko, when a part of the
Ukrainian secret services leaked a tape of Yanukovich advisers discussing
how to rig the election, ordinary Ukrainians decided to join in too.
But there are Russians who understand what happened in Kiev, Russians who
no longer believe their government's propaganda, Russians who understand
that this really was a popular movement, and not a Western conspiracy. It is
precisely those Russians whom the Putin administration now fears the most.
If Yushchenko really does emerge victorious, his election will have set an
example that others will inevitably try to follow. Ukraine, in the minds of
Russians, is not a tiny country with an odd language like Latvia or
Lithuania. Nor is it a decidedly "foreign" country like Poland.
Ukraine is big, it is close, and it is ethnically, historically and
linguistically close to Russia: If it happened there, it could happen here
too. Whatever the result, expect this Ukrainian election to be followed by
renewed surveillance of Russia's tiny democratic movement, increased
control of the media, and even louder anti-Western rhetoric. And – in spite
of all that – expect at least a handful of Russians to feel inspired. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Anne Applebaum is on the editorial board of The Washington Post
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.272: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
7. YUSHCHENKO SAYS HE WILL MEET WITH PUTIN IF ELECTED
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, December 24, 2004
KYIV - The Our Ukraine coalition's leader and presidential candidate Viktor
Yuschenko has promised that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the
first person he will meet with if he is elected as the president of Ukraine.
This was disclosed in a report of the press service of Yuschenko's central
election headquarters, whose text Ukrainian News has.
According to Yuschenko, the meeting with Putin will be among his first
activities as the president of Ukraine. According to the report, Yuschenko
intends to discuss the Common Economic Area that is being created on
the territories of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan with Putin.
"I imply the model, which is very important for forming relations," the
report quoted Yuschenko as saying.
The Our Ukraine coalition leader emphasized the importance of Ukraine's
economic integration eastward and spoke against blocking the country's
integration with other international markets.
Apart from this, Yuschenko says that the priority objectives of the new
government, should he be elected the President, will be granting Ukraine the
status of a free market economy country, accession to the World Trade
Organization and winning associate membership in the European Union.
Yuschenko told journalists on December 24 that the first thing he intended
to discuss with Putin is continuation of friendly relations with Russia.
"I am not interested in creating new problems," Yuschenko stressed.
Moreover, Yuschenko intends to discuss the development of trade and
economic relations with Russia on the basis of the principles of equal
interest.
In particular, Yuschenko wants to discuss ways of strengthening Ukraine's
status as the main country transiting crude oil and natural gas to Europe as
well as the operation of the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline, which, according to
Yuschenko, is practically not being operated as a transit pipeline.
As Ukrainian News reported, Yuschenko is also planning to visit Ukraine's
eastern provinces at the beginning of his presidency. -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
========================================================
8. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS HE HAS PUTS UP
WITH ELECTION FRAUD BY HIS RIVAL YANUKOVYCH
One Plus One TV, Kiev, in Ukrainian 2005 gmt 24 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, December 24, 2004
Ukrainian opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko has said he has put up with
election fraud by his rival, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Speaking in
an interview with the One Plus One TV on the last day of canvassing ahead
of the repeat second round of the presidential election on 26 December,
Yushchenko was confident that he is going to win this time.
Recalling the election campaign, Yushchenko said it was impossible to agree
with Yanukovych on an honest election before the first round. "Our goals
were completely different. Yanukovych's team, he personally and his
headquarters understood perfectly well that the authorities could not win
against the people without fraud. So it was and it is impossible now to
reach understanding in this aspect," he said.
Yushchenko considers his rival's suit to the Constitutional Court on the
legality of changes to the election law as an opportunity for Yushchenko to
question constitutional amendments that shift some power from the president
to parliament.
Speaking about the split among Ukrainians who support different candidates,
he said that he won in two thirds of the Ukrainian regions and in the
capital, and that the score in the presidential elections in 1994 and 1999
was much more equal.
Yushchenko refused to name possible candidates for prime minister if he wins
the election. However, he said the number of candidates is less than six and
they should unite parliament rather than split it. -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.272: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
=========================================================
9. WEST STIRRING REVOLUTION IN UKRAINE SAYS PUTIN
Jeremy Page in Kiev, Times, London, UK, Thu, December 24, 2004
KIEV - VLADIMIR PUTIN accused the West of fomenting “permanent
revolution” in Moscow’s back yard yesterday as he faced the prospect of
Ukraine’s pro-Western opposition leader winning the presidential election
on Sunday.
The Russian President said that Western governments risked sparking endless
conflicts in the former Soviet Union by sponsoring political movements such
as the “Rose Revolution” in Georgia last year and the “Orange Revolution” in
Ukraine. He used his end-of-year news conference to attack the US and
European governments, accusing them of double standards for endorsing
elections in Iraq while criticising voting in Chechnya and Ukraine.
“Today, according to our estimates, there are nine cities in Iraq where
there are hostilities but they still want to carry out elections,” he said.
“We do not understand how there can be an election in a country under
conditions of total occupation . . . It’s absurd. It’s a farce. Everything
is upside down.”
He said it was “complete nonsense” to accuse Moscow of trying to “devour”
its smaller neighbours and said that he would raise concerns that Washington
was trying to isolate Russia when he meets President Bush early next year.
His comments were the angriest yet in a reprise of a Cold War dispute over
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic of 48 million people wedged between an
expanding EU and an increasingly authoritarian Russia.
Mr Putin openly backed Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian Prime Minister,
whose rigged “victory” in the November 21 election was overturned after
hundreds of thousands of opposition supporters brought the country to a
standstill. Western governments deny backing any candidate but have poured
millions of dollars into pro-democracy organisations and student groups
which support Viktor Yushchenko, the opposition leader.
“It’s extremely dangerous trying to resolve political problems outside the
framework of the law — first the ‘Rose Revolution’, then they’ll think up of
something like blue,” Mr Putin said. “If you have permanent revolutions you
risk plunging the post-Soviet space into endless conflict.”
Mr Putin said he could work with Mr Yushchenko, who advocates joining
the EU and Nato, but warned him not to include anti-Russian figures in his
administration if he won. The Kremlin has distanced itself from Mr
Yanukovych since the last vote, amid mounting evidence to back Mr
Yushchenko’s claim that he was poisoned by his political opponents in
Ukraine or Russia.
Mr Yushchenko says he was poisoned at a dinner with the head of the
Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and his deputy on September 5, the night
he fell ill. But in a rare public statement yesterday the SBU denied any
involvement.
Mr Putin was especially critical of Western election observers, whom he
accused of being prejudiced and irrelevant. Observers from Russia and other
former Soviet states declared the last round of voting in Ukraine free and
fair.
This time more than 12,000 international observers will attend, many from
Western governments and institutions including the European Parliament, the
Nato parliamentary assembly and the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe. These are supposed to be neutral, but some openly
back Mr Yushchenko and were seen joining opposition protests and even
waving opposition flags after the last vote.
“You are supposed to maintain objectivity but it's hard to
control people,” one Western observer, who declined to be named, said.
“Obviously Western people instinctively support Mr Yushchenko because
of what he stands for. And some people do get carried away.”
Silver Meikar, an Estonian member of parliament, who observed
the last vote, abandoned his delegation to join protesters in their tent
camp near Independence Square. “I was just so moved. I wanted to be
part of history,” said Mr Meikar, who is now driving around eastern
Ukraine in a convoy of opposition activists.
Mr Yanukovych has repeatedly accused his rival, whose wife is an
American-born former State Department employee, of taking funds
from Western governments.
Two US congressmen have called for an inquiry into how $60
million of American foreign aid funds were reportedly used to support
activities that led to the “Orange Revolution”. -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Names for the distribution list always welcome
=========================================================
10. NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTE TO RELEASE PRELIMINARY
STATEMENT ON UKRAINE'S SECOND ROUND PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
- Press Conference, National Democratic Institute (NDI)
- To Release Statement of NDI International Observer Delegation
- Tuesday, December 28, 10:00am
- UNIAN, Kreshchatyk Street No. 4, Kyiv
Members of NDI's multinational delegation have been observing the Ukraine's
December 26 repeat of the run-off election. The 30-member delegation is led
by: Abner Mikva, former Member of the U.S. Congress, Chief Judge of the U.S.
Court of Appeals, and White House counsel; Bronislaw Geremek, former Foreign
Minister of Poland; and Patrick Merloe, NDI Senior Associate and Director of
Electoral Programs. The delegation includes elected officials, electoral
and human rights experts and civil society leaders from seven countries in
Europe, Asia and North America.
They will announce their findings at a press conference on Tuesday,
December 28. If members of the media have any questions before then,
please contact us at the phone numbers below.
NDI has also been working to support the efforts of Ukrainian domestic
election monitoring groups that trained and deployed thousands of monitors
around the country on voting day. In cooperation with Freedom House, NDI
has also supported the efforts of a 1,000-member delegation from domestic
election monitoring organizations from Eastern Europe and Eurasia. NDI has
been in close communication with these groups and with other international
observer delegations. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ann Duncan, +38 050 281 8429 (English)
Tanya Soboleva +38 050 331 9123 (Ukrainian)
NDI Ukraine +38 044 244 3801; e-mail: aduncan@ndi.org
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
=========================================================
11. UKRAINE'S WEALTHIEST BUSINESSMAN CONCILIATORY
TO OPPOSITION LEADER YUSHCHENKO
Ukrayina TV, Donetsk, in Russian, 24 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thu, December 24, 2004
Ukraine's wealthiest businessman, Rinat Akhmetov, has said he doesn't have
strong objections to opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko's becoming
president. In an interview with the Donetsk-based Ukrainian regional TV
channel Ukrayina, which is linked to him, broadcast on 24 December, Akhmetov
adopted a conciliatory tone to questions about a Yushchenko victory in the
presidential election on 26 December. The interviewer said the questions
were sent in by viewers.
There was no indication of when the interview was recorded. Akhmetov has
supported Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's presidential campaign. The two
have close business ties, and Ukrayina is the last TV channel to back
Yanukovych enthusiastically. Akhmetov was relaxed and smiling throughout the
interview, and often spoke in footballing metaphors.
The following is an excerpt from the report by Ukrayina TV on 24 December,
subheading inserted editorially:
[Presenter Alina Hubytska] We begin our programme with an exclusive
interview with the president of the Shakhtar Football Club, Rinat Akhmetov,
devoted to the pre-election situation in Ukraine. It is known that Rinat
Akhmetov practically never comments on the political situation in Ukraine.
[Ukrayina presenter Serhiy Ihrunov] Rinat Leonidovych, thank you for
agreeing to answer questions from our viewers. [passage omitted: charity
concert with Russian singer Igor Krutoy in Donetsk has no political
significance.]
SIGNALS WILLINGNESS FOR COMPROMISE
[Ihrunov] Rinat Leonidovych, there are two days to go before the election.
We can't escape the matter in the media. How do you assess the political
situation in Ukraine at the moment?
[Rinat Akhmetov, captioned as president of the Shakhtar football club] I
think it is very bad that the country has been divided geographically. The
division ought to be by ideological views. I want to give you an example
from footballing life in Ukraine. Three years ago I said that if we want to
join Europe our clubs must be trained by the best European trainers. I was
asked - where's your patriotism? I said that as I understand it a patriot is
not someone who was born in Ukraine but rather someone who works for the
good of Ukraine, for the glory of Ukraine. So we ought not to fear bringing
in foreign specialists as they will help us to reach a qualitatively new
level. That was one idea. Another idea from the president of the Dynamo Kyiv
Football Club was the opposite. He said we think that our own specialists
are no worse than the foreigners, and we will put the fate of our team and
the fate of our club in the hands of our trainers. And this position
deserves respect.
[Ihrunov, interrupting] Yes, it's a position you've got to respect.
[Ahmetov] And if you ask which idea is correct, we cannot say. Both ideas
have the right to exist. And they both have their supporters and opponents.
The main thing is that their fans can meet and talk, and time will tell
which approach was right. I would even prefer it in politics if it were not
regions but a struggle of ideas that decided matters.
[Ihrunov] Healthy competition.
[Akhmetov] Healthy competition.
FOR GOOD RELATIONS WITH ALL NEIGHBOURS
[Ihrunov] Rinat Leonidovych, what in the future, or maybe you can answer it
now, what do you prefer - friendship with Russia and the Single Economic
Zone [free trade zone of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan], or the
European Union and NATO?
[Akhmetov] You know, I'd answer like this. If you want to ask me whether I'm
for friendship with Russia, for economic partnership with Russia, I'd answer
unambiguously that I'm for it. And show me just one country that wouldn't
want to be friends with Russia. But if you ask me am I for friendship with
America, for economic partnership with America, I would also say precisely
the same - I'm for it. And show me just one country that wouldn't want to be
friends with America. If you ask me whether I think we ought to join the
European Union, I'd also say yes I'm for it. I don't think we need extremes,
meaning that if I make friends with one lot I have to break off ties with
the rest of the world. If I make friends with some I can't talk to others. I
think politicians -
[Ihrunov, interrupting] Politicians accuse us in the Donbass of being
devoted to the idea of developing friendship and ties specifically with
Russia, as we're here on the border with Russia. And moreover that this is
the be-all and end-all for people in the Donbass.
[Akhmetov] I think the whole world would want normal and constructive
relations with Russia.
ELECTION LOSER SHOULD QUIT GRACEFULLY
[Ihrunov] Rinat Leonidovych, how would you assess this - President
Yanukovych with Prime Minister Yushchenko? Or the other way round?
[Akhmetov] I'll say this. In a democratic state the party that wins the
election and gets the most votes takes power and responsibility. The loser
goes into opposition. It's difficult for me to say how the loser in this
case ought to act. But if you want to ask me what I would do if I stood for
president and lost, and they offered me the post of head of government,
whether I'd agree or not - I'll tell you unambiguously that I would not. I'd
stand for parliament and go into opposition.
Donbass will not suffer whoever wins
[Ihrunov] All the same, what do you think the Donbass can expect if Viktor
Yushchenko comes to power?
[Akhmetov] We still have to see who wins the elections on 26 December first.
I will say this. Whoever wins, whether it be Viktor Yanukovych or Viktor
Yushchenko, the Donbass will live, work and prosper. I am deeply convinced
of this. The phrase that no one will force the Donbass to its knees is not
appropriate here in my opinion. I think the newly-elected president cannot
think about how to force his people to their knees. A more serious task is
that he must decide how to put his own people -
[Ihrunov, interrupting] How to consolidate society.
[Akhmetov] - behind the wheel of their own car. And there ought to be a
choice, ideally, as to which car to buy.
Doesn't believe Tymoshenko quotation
[Ihrunov] This isn't a very pleasant question, but then the viewers have
asked it. Do you remember the quote and words of [leading Yushchenko ally]
Yuliya Tymoshenko that Donetsk and Luhansk Regions ought to be surrounded
with barbed wire and that you - I quote - ought to be forced to clean
hallways. How do you assess these words?
[Akhmetov] You know, I greatly respect any profession. But if this was said
about me, I would understand that it was purely an attempt to insult,
denigrate and slander me. I want to say that you can only take away my life,
you can't take away my honour or dignity. That's the first point. The second
point is that if you want to ask me whether I believe that Mrs Tymoshenko
said these words, I would answer thus. You can love or not love Yuliya
Volodymyrovna, respect or not respect her, share her views or not, but you
cannot say that she is a stupid woman. And so I think that these are
rumours. Only a limited sort of person could say such a thing. But it's not
me you ought to be asking this but Yuliya Volodymyrovna. Give her the
chance, give her live air time, and ask her whether she said that or not.
And then we can discuss and analyse her words.
[Ihrunov] Rinat Leonidovych, you have to agree with me nonetheless that
there are people in Yushchenko's entourage, apart from Yuliya Tymoshenko,
who are extremist-inclined leaders who nonetheless would like to exploit the
situation and force the Donbass to its knees.
[Akhmetov] You know, I've always said that I will be involved in football
and business. But if that really happens - and I don't think it will - I
will quit business and become a politician. I'll go into opposition and do
everything to ensure that they do not force the Donbass to its knees.
AKHMETOV NOT TO CHANGE HIS COLOURS
[Ihrunov] My last question. As you're the president of our favourite team,
Shakhtar Football Club, after the election what strip will our favourites
wear?
[Akhmetov] I think you've heard what Mr [Shakhtar trainer Mircea] Lucescu
said, that you can change your wife or lover, but not your traditions, and I
entirely agree. I'll tell you that I can influence everything at the club
but I will never, as they say, assassinate tradition. As for the orange
[Yushchenko campaign] colour, you know that there are lots of real-life
amusing stories about it in the country.
[Ihrunov, laughing] You're not wrong there!
[Akhmetov] I want to tell you such a story. It's from Kiev. A business group
supported Viktor Yanukovych at the elections. About a week-and-a-half later
their chief comes to work dressed entirely in orange. And they're all in
shock, and they ask what's happened? Have we changed our views, or our line?
The boss says no, everything's as it was before. So why are you wearing that
colour? You know, Stirlitz [Soviet-era hero of Second World War TV spy
series] also wore a German uniform! So I want to tell you that we played,
are playing and will continue to play in our own colours, the colours of
Donetsk Shakhtar.
[Ihrunov] Thank you, Rinat Leonidovych, thank you for the interview.
[Akhmetov] Thank you. -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
12. RUSSIA'S POLITICOS HEAD WEST
Ukraine Is Where The Election Action Is for Idled Operatives
By Alan Cullison, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Wall Street Journal, NY, NY, Thu, December 24, 2004
KHARKOV, Ukraine -- With politics at home in a Kremlin-controlled
deep freeze, Russian political operatives are flocking to Ukraine to ply
their trade.
Sergei Dorenko, a one-time anchorman for Russian state television, was in
the Maldive Islands last month when Ukrainian demonstrators converged on
Kiev to protest fraud in presidential elections. He quickly forgot about
his deep-sea diving and started surfing the Internet and satellite TV for
the latest news from Ukraine. Then he flew to Kiev -- to stump around the
country for opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko.
Mr. Dorenko has personal reasons for joining what the Kremlin regards as a
putsch against Moscow: Three years ago, the 45-year-old newscaster had a
falling out with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and was blacklisted from
state-run television. Since then he has been out of work.
"I have no voice in Russia anymore to speak of," says Mr. Dorenko, who is
now crisscrossing Ukraine as a guest on television and radio programs. "But
I can at least say what I want here."
Across Ukraine, big money and personalities are taking bets in a
presidential runoff Sunday. With the previous vote invalidated because of
fraud, Sunday's election could decide whether this country of 50 million
will move more closely toward Russia or to the West. While the rest of the
world ponders the geopolitical meaning, Russian politicos find the contest
important for other reasons: a rare chance to ply their trade.
Politicians, journalists and consultants from Moscow have found work in
recent months in the campaigns of both Mr. Yushchenko and his rival,
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. "All the same people who were
battling before in Moscow are now fighting in Ukraine," says Ivan
Safranchuk, director of the Center for Defense Initiative in Moscow. He
estimates that dozens of Russian political advisers are working in Ukraine
during the elections.
Some are drawn by lucrative contracts. Others are looking to revive sunken
political fortunes. Some even hope that one day, they could be doing this
again in Russia .
If a democratic system can take hold in Ukraine, it may give impetus to
Russia's moribund oppositionists, says Boris Nemtsov, who was once a
Russian deputy prime minister and head of the reformist party Union of
Right Forces. Last year, he started working in a bank after his party was
trounced in elections and pushed out of parliament, now dominated by
pro-Kremlin factions.
Mr. Nemtsov has traveled to Kiev four times since the beginning of
Ukraine's presidential campaign to speak on Kiev's Independence Square, and
he plans to return this weekend to campaign some more in the run-up to the
vote on Sunday. "It feels good to work in a place where people are
discussing issues," he says.
The migration to Kiev has put former colleagues on opposite sides. In
Russia , the Kremlin has been the main employer for high-profile political
strategists in the past few years. But in Ukraine, they are working for
both candidates. During the first two rounds of voting, a high-profile
political consultant for Mr. Yanukovych's camp has been Gleb Pavlovsky, a
Kremlin-connected spinmaster who is often credited with Mr. Putin's win in
Russia's 2000 presidential elections. Speaking for Mr. Yushchenko's
campaign lately has been Stanislav Belkovsky, a Kremlin-connected analyst
who prepared a report in 2003 claiming that Russia's oligarchs were staging
a "creeping coup" against Mr. Putin. The paper was the groundwork for the
government's attack on the OAO Yukos oil company.
Because they are working on both sides, Mr. Safranchuk doubts the influence
of Russian advisers can make or break either candidate. Even so, Ukraine's
oppositionists are hoping that the likes of Mr. Dorenko can make a
difference.
Mr. Dorenko is known as a "tele-killer" in Russia from his days as an
attack dog on state television in 1999, when he bashed Mr. Putin's rivals
in parliamentary and presidential elections on a weekly program. Today, Mr.
Dorenko makes few apologies for his work on state television. Like a lot of
people in the Moscow-based elite, he says, he was tired at the end of the
1990s of the chaos and corruption under former President Boris Yeltsin. He
thought the country needed a strong leader, like Mr. Putin, to put Russia
in order. But like many others, he became disillusioned as Mr. Putin
cracked down on political opposition and shuttered TV stations. "I thought
he was a kind idiot," Mr. Dorenko says. "Now I think he is an evil idiot."
Mr. Dorenko has put on some weight since TV viewers saw him last, and his
once-dark hair has turned gray. But his blunt delivery of opinions still
gives him plenty of appeal to viewers. When he arrived in Kiev Dec. 1 he
appeared before thousands of demonstrators. He met with Mr. Yushchenko and
other top leaders in the opposition movement and was asked to help persuade
the Russian-dominated eastern Ukraine, traditionally a stronghold of Mr.
Yanukovych, to vote for Mr. Yushchenko. Mr. Dorenko says he offered his
services free of charge.
Last weekend he traveled to Kharkov, a depressed industrial city on the
border with Russia , in a chauffeur-driven Mercedes minivan with a personal
bodyguard. He appeared on three TV talk shows and two radio programs,
where he accused Mr. Putin of interfering with Ukraine's internal affairs
with "massive vote falsification." He wrapped up the trip with a rousing
speech to a packed lecture hall at a local university. "Ukrainians have
to choose for themselves what they want to be," he told the students.
After the university speech, Mr. Dorenko strode back to his minivan -- and
through the center of a rally for Mr. Yanukovych. As he passed through the
crowd, some began to recognize him. They pelted him with insults and cries
of "traitor" and "hater of Russia ."
They expressed doubts that he was acting out of idealism. "Of course he's a
very talented man," said Alexei Muratov, 24, who said he had watched Mr.
Dorenko on TV the night before. "I just want to know who pays him."
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 272: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
13. PORA READY FOR REVOTE, ROLE AS OPPOSITION BODY
By Yulianna Vilkos, Kyiv Post Staff Writer
Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, Dec 23, 2004
Throughout Ukraine's highly contested presidential elections, Pora's public
campaign has garnered both national and international headlines. Vladyslav
Kaskiv, a 31-year old Ternopil oblast native, is one of the main
coordinators of Pora (It's Time), an activist movement that is widely
considered to have been at the forefront of the protests that erupted in the
wake of allegedly widespread falsification during the second round of voting
on Nov. 22.
Kaskiv, who met with the Post in Kyiv on Dec. 21, was eager to discuss the
upcoming revote and the future of Pora after the elections, including the
possibility of transforming it into an alternative opposition political
party. While stating that he has information about potential provocations
during the repeat run off, Kaskiv maintained that "judging from the TV
debates between the two candidates on Dec. 20, it seems everything is going
to be calm during the vote on Dec. 26. Yanukovych and his team have
practically given up the fight."
Pora's priority during the unprecedented repeat ballot on Dec. 26 will be to
maintain a presence at 500 polling stations assessed by Pora members as
being "most vulnerable to violations," based on evidence they gathered from
the previous rounds of elections. Most of those they've identified are in
the eastern and southern regions, and they expect to have two Pora observers
at each of these stations, said Kaskiv.
PORA AT CROSSROADS
As Ukraine's highly contested election nears its end, Kaskiv says Pora has
come to a crossroads. Its activists are in the process of decided whether to
disband or transform the movement into a more structured organization.
In an earlier interview with the Post, Pora's Kyiv coordinator Yuriy
Polyukhovych said the organization should dissolve after the elections in
the fashion of the Polish Solidarity movement did in the 1990s. Others seem
to think that Pora has the popularity and the potential to transform into a
more formal and institutionalized structure.
On Dec. 19, Pora activists from all over Ukraine gathered at a forum to
discuss the future of the campaign after its mission of ensuring honest
elections is accomplished. During the forum, three options for were
discussed - transforming it into a nationwide NGO, an international
institution that supports democratic movements in post-totalitarian
societies, or a political party.
Kaskiv said that most likely several separate structures will be created,
corresponding to the activists' particular interests and goals. He then
added that the vast majority of Pora's activists will probably not become
involved in politics or public life in the future.
"Their main incentive for joining us in the protests was their [perceived]
need to defend their own human and political rights, and not a desire for
power or political dividends," Kaskiv said. However, "the creation of a
political party would be a logical corollary of the campaign," Kaskiv said,
adding that creating such a party is not only quite possible, but also
justifiable.
"In my personal opinion, a new generation of Ukrainian politicians and
entrepreneurs today desperately needs to be represented in the country's
politics. It would voice their view of the future of Ukraine.
A NEW PARTY FOR NEW TIMES
The current political spectrum does not reflect the interests and, most
importantly, the world view of this latest generation, Kaskiv suggested.
Having grown up in an independent Ukraine, this generation has achieved
their successes through their own personal efforts and intelligence; they
have seen the world and crave a life of European values, he said.
In fact, Pora's base consists of young people with this "European" outlook,
who will, in Kaskiv's opinion, quickly and effectively lead Ukraine to
Europe.
"Right now I can not say for sure if they will decide to stay out of
politics - which is least likely - or form their own political party, or to
join existing ones and to try to reform them.
"But what is unambiguous is that Pora has brought together a group of people
with a new outlook who will build Ukraine's future," he said. "We,
unfortunately, did not have those individuals 15 years ago, when Ukraine
became independent."
ELECTIONS NOT OVER YET
Future plans for Pora are on the back burner for the time being because
nothing will change until the elections are officially over. Immediately
following the elections, Pora will announce a list of demands to the new
authorities. The demands are what activists like Kaskiv believe are
essential steps to quickly reforming the country.
Kaskiv dismissed media speculation that Pora will become the opposition to
Yushchenko should he become president, saying that this question cannot be
discussed until the elections are over.
"We should not idealize Yushchenko. Every politician makes mistakes. But he
is the most adequate current politician who can become president of
Ukraine," said Kaskiv, who believes that, in a healthy democracy, there is
always room for opposition.
The allegations of foreign financing of Pora and the democratic movement in
general in Ukraine have received much attention in the western media of
late. Kaskiv commented that the contributions of western organizations to
Pora have been few, and that they were mostly used to kick-start information
and PR initiatives. He singled out the American-based Marshall Foundation
and Freedom House in this regard.
"Today I can honestly state that Pora is a Ukrainian project. It was created
by Ukrainians, is supported by Ukrainians, and has been realized by
Ukrainians," Kaskiv said. "I am happy about this fact, as it allows Ukraine
to stand more firmly in the democratic community." -30-
=========================================================
ARTICLES ARE FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
Articles are Distributed For Information, Research, Education
Discussion and Personal Purposes Only
=========================================================
Ukraine Information Website: http://www.ArtUkraine.com
=========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-2004 MAJOR SPONSORS:
"Working to Secure Ukraine's Future"
1. THE BLEYZER FOUNDATION, Dr. Edilberto Segura, Chairman;
Victor Gekker, Executive Director, Kyiv, Ukraine; Washington, D.C.,
http://www.bleyzerfoundation.com.
2. BAHRIANY FOUNDATION, INC., Dr. Anatol Lysyj, Chairman,
Minneapolis, Minnesota,
3. KIEV-ATLANTIC GROUP, David and Tamara Sweere, Daniel
Sweere, Kyiv and Myronivka, Ukraine, 380 44 295 7275 in Kyiv.
4. ODUM- Association of American Youth of Ukrainian Descent,
Minnesota Chapter, Natalia Yarr, Chairperson.
5. THE ACTION UKRAINE COALITION (AUC): Washington, D.C.,
A. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COORDINATING COUNCIL,
(UACC), Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, NY
B. UKRAINIAN FEDERATION OF AMERICA (UFA),
Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson; Vera M. Andryczyk, President;
Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania.
C. U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President, Washington, D.C., Kyiv, Ukraine.
6. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Kempton Jenkins,
President, Washington, D.C.
=========================================================
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
A Publication Supported Financially By Its Readers
Please add your name to our list of financial contributors!
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04, is an in-depth news and
analysis international newsletter, produced as a public service by the
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS) and The Action
Ukraine Report Monitoring Service (TAURMS). The report is now
distributed to several thousand persons worldwide FREE of charge
using the e-mail address: ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net. This is
the 272nd Report issued so far this year, out of the more than 280
to be issued in 2004.
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" is supported through The Action
Ukraine Program Fund. Financial support from readers is essential to
the future of this Report. You can become a financial sponsor of The
Action Ukraine Program Fund. Individuals, corporations, non-profit
organizations and other groups can provide support for the expanding
Action Ukraine Program by sending in contributions.
Checks should be made out to the Ukrainian Federation of America,
(UFA), a private, not-for-profit, voluntary organization. The funds should
be designated for the Action Ukraine Program Fund (AUPF), and
mailed to Zenia Chernyk, Chairperson, Ukrainian Federation of
America (UAF), 930 Henrietta Avenue, Huntingdon Valley, PA
19006-8502.
For individuals a contribution of $60-$100 is suggested. Your contribution
to help build The Action Ukraine Program to support Ukraine and her
future is very much appreciated. -30-
=======================================================
If you would like to read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04
please send your name, country of residence, and e-mail contact information
morganw@patriot.net. Additional names are welcome. If you do not wish to
read "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"-04, around five times per week,
let us know by e-mail to morganw@patriot.net.
========================================================
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA);
Coordinator, The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC);
Senior Advisor, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF);
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council, Washington, D.C.;
Publisher and Editor, www.ArtUkraine.com information website
P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013,
Tel: 202 437 4707, E-mail: morganw@patriot.net
========================================================