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Action Ukraine Report

"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"

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2005 FROM KYIV, UKRAINE

1. ORANGE REVOLUTION RALLY, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
Kateryna Yushchenko, Yulia Tymoshenko; Viktor Yushchenko,
Ruslana, Klitschko Brothers
Wednesday, December 22, 2005, Kyiv, Ukraine
[photograph with music, turn on sound]
CLICK ON THIS LINK: http://artukraine.com/newyear5.htm

2. ORANGE REVOLUTION RALLY, INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
Tuesday, December 28, 2004, Kyiv, Ukraine
[photograph with music, turn on sound]
CLICK ON THIS LINK: http://artukraine.com/newyear4.htm

THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 275
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
FROM: KYIV, UKRAINE, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2004

-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"

1. VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO TO HOLD PUBLIC INAUGURATION
IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Tue, 28 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Dec 28, 2004

2. UKRAINE MAY FINALLY BE OPENED FOR BUSINESS
The new president offers hope for a more open economic climate
Chris Stephen in Kiev, Irish Times, Ireland, Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

3. YUSHCHENKO FORMING HIS NEW GOVERNMENT
ANALYSIS: by Ivan Lozowy, The Ukraine Insider, Vol. 4, No. 7
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, December 29, 2004

4. "PASSION LED AMERICAN ON ROAD TO KIEV"
A Chicago girl became a Reagan aide and dreamed of liberty for her
family's homeland. Now she is poised to be Ukraine's first lady
By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, California, Tuesday, December 28, 2004

5. UKRAINE HAS EARNED ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN EUROPE
By Mary Dejevsky, The Independent, London, UK, Tue, Dec 28, 2004

6. AT LAST, A RESULT THAT GIVES PRIDE BACK TO UKRAINE
Leading Editorial: The Independent
London, United Kingdom, Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

7. UKRAINE ACCEPTS LONG WAIT TO JOIN EUROPEAN UNION
Sees membership as a realistic long-term goal
By Tom Warner and Stefan Wagstyl in Kiev
Financial Times, London, UK, Thursday, Dec 30 2004, Front Page

8. VOICES FROM KIEV: HOPES AND FEARS FOR THE FUTURE
By Nick Paton Walsh, The Guardian, London, UK, Dec 28, 2004

9. MP OLEG RYBACHUK SAYS VOTE-RIGGING TAPES GENUINE
Interview with Oleg Rybachuk, MP
Zerkalo Nedeli, Kiev, in Russian 25 Dec 04; p 2
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Dec 28, 2004

10. ELECTION COMMISSION REJECTS YANUKOVYCH APPEAL
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, December 30, 2004

11. SUPREME COURT REJECTS PM'S ELECTION COMPLAINTS
By Ron Popeski, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, Dec 30, 2004

12. "KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCKING ON EUROPE'S DOOR"
Ukraine needs our attention and support, and it needs it
now.
STATE OF THE UNION: Op-Ed by Mart Laar
The Wall Street Journal, NY, NY, Thu, December 30, 2004

13. "EUROPEAN DREAMS AND THE SOVIET LEGACY"
COMMENTARY: Mykola Riabchuk
Published by Suddeutsche Zeitung in German
English version from Mykola Riabchuk
Thursday, December 30, 2004
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
========================================================
1. VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO TO HOLD PUBLIC INAUGURATION
IN INDEPENDENCE SQUARE

TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Tue, 28 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Dec 28, 2004

KIEV - Ukrainian opposition leader and presidential candidate Viktor
Yushchenko has promised to hold a public inauguration on Independence
Square in central Kiev, where his supporters held massive rallies, demanding
a fair election after the invalidated second round on 21 November.

Addressing a rally of tens of thousands of supporters on Independence
Square, broadcast live on opposition-leaning 5 Kanal TV, he called on his
supporters to renew their blockade of the Cabinet of Ministers on 29
December to prevent prime minister and presidential candidate Viktor
Yanukovych from conducting a cabinet meeting there tomorrow morning.
Yushchenko described the government of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
as "illegitimate".

The following is an excerpt from Yushchenko's speech broadcast by
Ukrainian television TV 5 Kanal on 28 December:

[Yushchenko] Dear people. I am extremely happy when I hear these fervent
speeches by my partners, when I see thousands of Kiev residents and guests.
[Passage omitted: Orange revolution changed Ukraine.]

[Yushchenko] Isn't it a different country that we are living in, my friends?
In 30 days we made it a different country. There will be no government
that steals in this country any more. I am sure of this. There will be no
dishonest prosecutor or head of the Central Electoral Commission or
commission members who cannot honour their oath in this country. I am
convinced that this country will always have honest journalists, an honest
court that can protect not only voters but any violated right.

So, dear friends, I would like to outline the first and the most important
thing. Thanks to you, thanks to every person who is on the square now or
was here for three-four weeks, we have made a new place for Ukraine on
the world map. Ukraine is known regardless of where you ask about it, in
South America, North America, Africa or Australia. I think the times are
gone when someone was looking for Ukraine in Africa or Southeast Asia.
Everybody knows that Ukraine is not simply Europe. This is the centre of
Europe. A European heart is beating in Ukraine. [Passage omitted:
Yushchenko thanks people for support.]

[Yushchenko] Dear friends, it was announced today that the illegal
government, headed by former Prime Minister [Viktor] Yanukovych, will
begin its sitting tomorrow morning. [People chanting "Shame"] Dear friends,
there are perhaps very few examples in political history where a parliament
dismisses a government in line with the constitution and it says: I don't
want to resign, I will return and rule, I will represent the country
illegitimately. Dear friends, I would not like it to be a surprise to you
when bank drafts worth 700m dollars are being sent from one place in the
world to another, when ministers shoot themselves, when in the last days
everything they failed to steal so far is being "grabitized" [privatized
illegally].

Dear friends, I would like to state on behalf of the Maydan [Independence
Square] that there will be no sitting of the illegal cabinet meeting at the
government building in Hrushevskoho Street. An honest government should
enter there, which will be formed in accordance with Ukrainian legislation
and the constitution. So, I would like everybody, especially those living in
the tent city, to step up the blockade of the Cabinet of Ministers from
early morning tomorrow. In my view, I am convinced that the
Prosecutor-General's Office should take appropriate actions regarding the
so-called government meeting. [Passage omitted: Yushchenko invites people
to the square on 31 December for New Year celebrations.]

[Yushchenko] Dear friends, I have another piece of news for you. I am
inviting you to my public inauguration, which will be held on Independence
Square, the square where millions of Kiev residents, millions of Ukrainians
stood fighting for democracy and freedom in my country. Of course, the
day will be announced separately.

Dear friends, I am proud, as well as you are, these days that I am
Ukrainian, that we were born, are living and will leave on Ukrainian land.
Long live all of you! Long live Ukraine, and glory to God! -30-
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.275: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
========================================================
2. UKRAINE MAY FINALLY BE OPENED FOR BUSINESS
The new president offers hope for a more open economic climate

Chris Stephen in Kiev, Irish Times, Ireland, Thursday, Dec 30, 2004

KIEV - Ukraine's future is orange, following the success of the street
revolution of the same name, but is it bright? Dr Frank McGovern, the
Donegal-based director of the country's biggest software company, certainly
thinks so. Dr McGovern is scouting for an Irish IT company to go into
partnership with his firm, Kvazar-Mirco, confident that the Orange
Revolution means Ukraine is finally open for business.

"Everything's changed in Ukraine," he says. "Under the old regime there was
absolutely no incentive to do business. The last government didn't care
about business as long as they were doing okay." He is not the only one to
feel the new buzz. Mr Stuart McKenzie, managing director of Pulse, Kiev's
biggest advertising agency, says: "Before, it was all about the government
and their own people controlling things. The Orange Revolution should clean
it up."

Under the former regime of president Mr Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine was very
definitely closed for business. The economy was dominated by a handful of
tycoons so powerful they were nicknamed oligarchs because they bestrode
the worlds of business and politics.

Their power was made plain last summer when the state's biggest steel
combine, Kryvorizhstal, was sold for about half the price US bidders were
willing to pay to two tycoons one of whom, Mr Victor Pinchuk, just happens
to be Mr Kuchma's son-in-law.

Now, with a new president, Mr Victor Yushchenko, about to be installed,
business leaders in Kiev hope the arm-lock of the oligarchs will be broken.
"Now that the politics is sorted out, there's a very favourable business
climate," says Dr McGovern, who got a doctorate in philosophy before
turning to IT. "It's an exciting time; we're at the very beginning."

His faith is based on Mr Yushchenko's record. A former head of the Central
Bank, Mr Yushchenko was a prime minister under Mr Kuchma and was
credited with starting market reforms. He was sacked, say supporters, when
he ran up against the oligarchs. Mr Yushchenko's success, and the prospects
for western companies, will depend on whether, in the long-term, he can
wrestpower from these oligarchs.

Kvazar-Micro chairman Mr Evgeni Utkin shares his colleague's optimism.
"The revolution changed the country, it gave us confidence," he says.
"Ukraine before the revolution had no vision, no mission, no national idea.
Now Ukraine has a mission." That mission, he says, is enterprise. "People
voted not for Yushchenko but because we want to live in an individualist
Ukraine."

In Soviet times, Ukraine was a centre for science and technology and it has
a strong science base that companies such as Kvazar-Micro plan to exploit.
It has begun setting up an outsourcing department to take advantage of the
country's 25,000 certified programmers.

Mr Utkin is an ethnic Cossack, a proud people from southern Ukraine with
an intriguing heritage. He has produced a jazz CD containing the music
played to the crowds through the long cold weeks of protests and insists
jazz is a metaphor for the Ukrainian people, who prefer running their own
show to being organised, Russian-style, into big enterprises with harsh,
inflexible bosses.

Problems litter the road ahead. Beneath the surface, the machinery of
government and business are likely to remain the same for some time to
come: bureaucrats relying on bribes to supplement their incomes,
inefficiency and red tape.

But business leaders say that the revolution showed, above all, the hunger
of ordinary people to enjoy the lifestyles of their Polish, Hungarian and
Slovak neighbours, all now members of the European Union. Foreign
investors will also find a country that already has the basic services
needed for business: there are US and European chambers of commerce
and some specialised service companies to give advice. Enterprise Ireland
will offer Irish businessmen help, albeit without an office in the country -
the nearest one is Moscow.

Mr McKenzie says the market began to grow three years ago, with Nescafe,
Procter & Gamble and Jacobs all moving production plants to Ukraine, a
country with a lot of hungry, increasingly affluent customers. "There's a
good educated workforce, there's people doing business in the city, and this
was even before the change of government," he says. "And how many markets
of 50 million people are there left in the world?" -30-
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.275: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
=========================================================
3. UKRAINE WILL NEED WESTERN HELP IN THE COMING COLD PEACE

OP-ED: By Janusz Bugajski, Financial Times, London, UK, Thu, Dec 30 2004

The conflict over Ukraine may not herald a second cold war, but it could
signal the start of a prolonged cold peace between Russia and the west.
Although US and European officials have studiously avoided portraying the
Ukrainian upheaval as a west-east conflict, this is exactly how it has
evolved at two critical levels: political and strategic.

If "the west" means transparent democracy, civil society, open media and the
rule of law, and "the east" is synonymous with authoritarianism, statism and
centralisation, then these two distinct systems are battling over Ukraine.
The US government, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
and the European Union have promoted democratic institutions in Ukraine,
while Russian authorities endeavoured to uphold a corrupt proxy government
in Kiev - one that has now been decisively rejected by voters. This is not a
"clash of civilisations" but a collision between distinct socio-political
structures.

At the strategic level, Ukraine is also caught between west and east. If
"the west" signifies a system of collective security based around Nato, a
strong relationship with the US and a confederal Europe that stimulates
prosperity, and "the east" means that the Kremlin determines the security
arrangements, foreign policies and economic relations of its neighbours,
Ukraine has reached a crossroads as an independent state.

The "Orange Revolution" that ensured the election of Viktor Yushchenko
has many causes. It is a popular struggle for participatory democracy and
against arbitrary government and a political struggle between rival elites
and power centres. But above all, it is a national struggle for liberation
from increasing Kremlin domination. Moscow's central objective was to
ensure a vassal regime that will follow Russia's foreign policy directions,
and it has employed several strategies to achieve this goal.

The first failed dismally. President Vladimir Putin openly supported Viktor
Yanukovich, Ukraine's prime minister, in the initial presidential ballot,
calculating that he would be more accommodating to Russia and more resistant
to joining western institutions. When it became obvious that Mr Yanukovich's
cohorts had massively falsified the vote and public protests escalated, Mr
Putin's officials employed a second option, the separatist ploy.

Kremlin envoys, including the mayor of Moscow, participated in meetings with
regional leaders in eastern Ukraine to raise the spectre of partition.

Anti-American propaganda crafted by Russian advisers to Mr Yanukovich was
intended to divide Ukrainian society in preparation for a possible fracture
similar to the Moldovan model. The secessionist strategy was designed to
coerce Kiev while enabling Moscow to assume the role of mediator and
ultimate guarantor of Ukrainian integrity and security.

With Mr Yushchenko triumphant in the re-run ballot, Moscow may now employ
a third strategy through a tactical political truce with Kiev. Using its
extensive political, ethnic, economic, energy and security instruments, Mr
Putin may calculate that sufficient control over the new government can be
assured while undercutting Mr Yushchenko's western aspirations and eroding
presidential powers. The battle for Ukraine may disappear from television
screens but will continue in different guises. Mr Putin will not easily
surrender Ukraine to the west, as he would then lose his credentials as the
restorer of Russia's international power.

Mr Yushchenko seeks to deal with Moscow as a normal partner and not as a
subordinate. Russia will remain a key neighbour as the main energy supplier
and economic market for Ukrainian exports for the foreseeable future. But Mr
Yushchenko wants to limit the political leverage that can accompany these
economic links. He also intends to bring this pivotal east European country
closer to Nato, the EU and the US, understanding that only such a policy can
ensure lasting security and prosperity and prevent the realisation of any
future Kremlin ambitions.

Ukraine's neighbours remain deeply concerned about the country's instability
and Russian motives throughout the region, especially in Belarus, Moldova
and Georgia. They are equally worried by relative US passivity in dealing
with Mr Putin, who evidently thought he had a green light from Washington to
bring Ukraine more firmly within Moscow's orbit. While Colin Powell, the US
secretary of state, made several pointed statements about the crisis, the US
administration has avoided shining the spotlight on Mr Putin as a new
Russian imperialist who destabilises his neighbours.

Poland, America's staunchest central European ally and a new EU member,
has been closely involved in mediating the election crisis through its
president, Aleksander Kwasniewski. Indeed, it seems that Warsaw and other
central European states have injected more backbone into EU policy towards
Russia. They are now trying to convince Brussels to offer more than the EU's
limited "good neighbour" approach to a pro-western Ukrainian government.

The Ukrainian emergency has also presented an opportunity for the US and the
EU to restore greater cohesion in transatlantic foreign policy. Moscow needs
to be reminded by a united alliance that any forcible intervention,
political manipulation or economic destabilisation will have serious
repercussions for west-east relations.

For the longer haul, both Nato and the EU must offer Kiev a viable prospect
of membership, so the new administration has a destination in its difficult
reform programme. This will also enable Ukraine to defend itself more
effectively against future Russian pressures. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The writer, director of the east European project at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies [CSIS, Washington, D.C.] is the author
of Cold Peace: Russia's New Imperialism (New York/London: Greenwood/CSIS)
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.275: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
========================================================
3. "YUSHCHENKO FORMING HIS NEW GOVERNMENT"

ANALYSIS: by Ivan Lozowy, The Ukraine Insider, Vol. 4, No. 7
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, December 29, 2004

As expected, Yushchenko's campaign was unable to fill all of the election
commission positions available to their candidate after changes to the
election law were introduced on December 8 (See the Ukraine Insider, vol.
4, no. 5 from December 7, 2004). As a result, Yushchenko lost an
additional 5-10% to falsifications in the third round of voting on December
26.

Nevertheless, given his final, 7.8% lead over his rival Viktor Yanukovych,
Viktor Yushchenko looks set to become President of Ukraine sometime
around January 14, which is the probable date of his inauguration.

The lead should be enough to see off any lingering challenges from
Yanukovych's "crazed hit team" of Taras Chornovil and Nestor Shufrych.
Chornovil, a former member of the Reforms and Order Party, has accused one
of Yushchenko's campaign managers, Roman Bessmertny, among others, of
working for Kuchma. Meantime, Shufrych, a member of the Social Democratic
Party (United), has been busy trying to imply that eight deaths by natural
causes of voters on election day were somehow Yushchenko's fault.

Yanukovych's team, for all their rhetoric, realize he has no chance of
overturning the election results in the Supreme Court's Civil Chamber. His
eventual appeal to the Court is bound to fail, given the preferences of the
Court's Civil Chamber, which is probably why his lawyers are seeking a
plenary session of 85 judges, a hold-over from the Soviet period that
currently is not foreseen by law.

In the meantime, Yushchenko has chosen a quick timetable for forming his
new government. A working group has been formed, including the leaders of
the parties in the "Our Ukraine" coalition Borys Tarasiuk (Popular Movement
of Ukraine), Viktor Pynzenyk (Reforms and Order Party), Yuriy Kostenko
(Ukrainian People's Party), Petro Poroshenko (Solidarity), as well as
coalition outsiders Yulia Tymoshenko, Oleksandr Moroz and Anatoliy Kinakh
with Yushchenko's campaign manager Oleksandr Zinchenko as the group's
coordinator. They have until January 6 to come up with a list of
candidates for government positions, including 24 ministerial posts and
also the heads of 26 state committees, 19 agencies, 8 banks, 27 oblast
administrations, over 600 raion administrations and, of course, the
Presidential Administration itself.

Each of the working group members is compiling their own list of
candidates. The probable solution to the multiplicity of lists will be a
points-based system, according to which each of the participants will spend
points assigned go specific government positions based on their level of
importance. Such an approach, however, is unlikely to be entirely smooth
inasmuch as Yushchenko's surrounding is "hungry" and he is likely to
intervene personally, as he has in the past, in the final dispositions
made. Thus Tarasiuk, for example, is almost a definite Minister of Foreign
Affairs, regardless of who becomes Prime Minister.

Some around Yushchenko believe that the Prime Minister, whoever they
turn out to be, should be given the benefit of the doubt in forming their
own "team." The likeliest candidates for Prime Minister are Yulia
Tymoshenko and Petro Poroshenko. Tymoshenko is more well known,
has the support of the Orange Revolution crowds, but has a high negative
rating and, in addition, her recent warnings of "responsibility" by the
Kuchma regime were received by some with ill grace. Poroshenko is
one of Yushchenko's key financiers and has the support of the campaign's
main sponsor, Mykola Martynenko.

The problem facing both is that Yushchenko has set a firm limit in that any
candidate he would put before parliament has to be a shoo-in and needs to
have the firm support of at least 250-270 MPs. Our Ukraine has 101
deputies while Moroz and Tymoshenko's Block have only 20 and 19 deputies,
respectively. Even counting on 14 MPs in the "Center" faction and most of
the 47 unallied deputies, the numbers fall far short.

While Poroshenko, who is more moderate and correspondingly has fewer avid
enemies in parliament, has a slight chance of making the mark, Tymoshenko
is currently ruled out. She has already brought on board several of the
independent MPs, including influential oil and gas magnates, but this is
far from sufficient. That is why, in order to buttress her support,
Tymoshenko is looking, of all places, to Yanukovych's parliamentary
mainstay, the Party of Regions, which numbers 61 deputies and may be ripe
for picking.

The rough going for the two main Prime Minister candidates means that the
quite unlikely figure of Kinakh has a good chance of making it through the
finals. He has practically no support inside Our Ukraine and no
parliamentary base of his own, but this makes him more appealing to a wider
range of MPs and he may win out as a compromise candidate.

Moroz, for his part, though he has some support among the Reforms and
Order crowd, is unlikely to emerge the winner.

Following the abuses of the Kuchma-Medvedchuk period, Yushchenko has
an understandable desire to transform the Presidential Administration from
an all-powerful super-ministry into a chancellery. The likeliest head of
the Administration is Oleh Rybachuk, currently head of the "Office of Viktor
Yushchenko," one of three main headquarters used by Yushchenko. The
Administration's oversight functions will be shifted to the National
Security and Defense Council, which should become the key body for
developing and introducing presidential policies. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Correspondence should be addressed via the Internet to: lozowy@i.com.ua
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
========================================================
4. "PASSION LED AMERICAN ON ROAD TO KIEV"
A Chicago girl became a Reagan aide and dreamed of liberty for her
family's homeland. Now she is poised to be Ukraine's first lady

By Johanna Neuman, Times Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles, California, Tuesday, December 28, 2004

WASHINGTON — When she was growing up in Chicago, an all-American
girl who liked school, dancing and boys, they called her Kathy. These days
she is known as Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, and if election tallies
are certified, she will be the first lady of Ukraine.

During the election campaign of her husband, Viktor Yushchenko, critics
tried to make an issue of her American citizenship and implied that the CIA
was trying to manipulate the election results.

But those who knew Katherine Chumachenko when she was a public liaison
official in the Reagan White House remember a fervent anticommunist who
was passionate about bringing democracy to her parents' homeland — a
consummate Cold Warrior.

"She was extraordinarily dedicated and energetic," said Rep. Christopher
Cox (R-Newport Beach), who served with her in the White House. Hired
by Rebecca Range, now Cox's wife, Chumachenko served as liaison to
American voters with roots in Eastern Europe.

When Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev visited, Chumachenko reassured
Americans who were worried that he would retreat on human rights. "In high
school, she was voted most likely to succeed," said Lydia Moll,
Chumachenko's older sister, who lives in Woodstock, Ga. Moll used to tease
her much younger sister about keeping her room clean.

"I told her, 'You better learn to clean up your room, because you won't have
maids when you grow up,' " Moll recounted in an interview. "And she'd say,
'Oh yeah? Watch me.' "

Katherine Chumachenko graduated from Georgetown University and became,
her friend Bruce Bartlett said, one of the few nonprofit management majors
at the University of Chicago School of Business, known for its commitment to
freewheeling capitalism. Bartlett, a fellow at the National Center for
Policy Analysis, a think tank in Dallas, said Chumachenko's feeling for
Ukrainian democracy was "the zeal of the recently converted. I remember
her complaining that Lydia's children didn't even speak Ukrainian."

Katherine was close to her father, Mikhailo Chumachenko, an electrician who
had been forced to work in Nazi labor camps during World War II. He "really
spoiled her," Moll said. "She was on his lap all the time, learning the
history of Ukraine."

Mikhailo Chumachenko died in 1998 and was buried in Kiev, the Ukrainian
capital, next to his wife's parents. "My husband was very much like her; she
looks like him," said Sophia Chumachenko, Katherine's mother, who lives in
Spring Hill, Fla. "He told her everything about the kind of life we had. We
had a very bad life because of the Communists."

Shortly before the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Katherine and her parents
visited Ukraine, reuniting with relatives whom her parents had not seen for
50 years. A month later, after Ukraine declared its independence, Katherine
called her father.

"I was jumping around the room screaming, 'Tato, we're free!' That is how I
remember Aug. 24, my father and I over the telephone, both weeping. It was
truly joyful," she said in an interview with the Ukrainian Weekly.

Eager to contribute in her parents' homeland, she left her Washington job
for Kiev. In 1993 she became country manager for KPMG, an American
consulting firm that provided training and technical advice for Ukraine's
financial managers. One of them was Viktor Yushchenko, then governor of
Ukraine's central bank.

Kateryna, now 43, and Viktor, 50, have three children: Sophia, Christina
and Taras. "She is smart, charming and capable," said Rudolph G. Penner,
her former boss at KPMG and now a fellow at the Urban Institute, a
Washington think tank. "Viktor was something of a hero to most Western
bankers. When he was governor of the central bank, he controlled inflation.
It was enormously courageous."

It was also courageous, Penner said, for Kateryna to marry a Ukrainian
politician. "You're in trouble all the time," he said.

Doctors in Vienna recently determined that Yushchenko had been poisoned
with dioxin. Kateryna has said that she tasted something strange on his lips
when she kissed him on the night he fell ill. The poison disfigured
Yushchenko's face, but Kateryna predicts that it will heal once the poison
leaves his body — much as the country will recover from communism, she adds.
========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
========================================================
5. UKRAINE HAS EARNED ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE IN EUROPE

By Mary Dejevsky, The Independent, London, UK, Tue, Dec 28, 2004

Russia, the US, Europe: we have all of us been guilty of the same conceit -
that the Ukrainian election was somehow about us. We made it into a contest
between East and West, right and wrong, democracy and dictatorship, freedom
and captivity. We summoned up all the ghosts of the Cold War, and had them
dance before us one last time.

But the Ukrainian election was never about us, it was about Ukraine and what
sort of country it wanted to be - and Sunday's vote gave a decisive answer.
It sees itself as a democratic, European nation-state and, by conducting its
electoral dispute through constitutional and political channels, it deserves
to be treated like one.

This is not the first time in recent memory that Ukraine has been sorely
underestimated by condescending outsiders. Thirteen years ago to the month,
I was trudging around the polling stations in the city of Lviv - then
officially still marked on maps in its Russian form, Lvov - to report on
Ukraine's referendum on independence from the Soviet Union, one of the
decisive chapters in the disintegration of the Soviet empire.

Then, as now, Lviv, was one of the most nationalistic cities in the country.
Small children were decked out in the yellow and blue of Ukraine's national
flag, and their parents lifted them up so they could cast the ballot paper
into the box. "It is your future we are voting for," they said with misted
eyes.

Just as last month, in the aftermath of the annulled second round of this
presidential election, there were forecasts that the country would split in
two: the expectation was that the west of the country would vote for
independence, while the east would vote to stay Soviet. Then, as last month,
the Americans and the Russians both overplayed their hand. The first
President Bush gave what subsequently became known as his "chicken Kiev"
speech, telling Ukrainians that their best interests lay in not
destabilising the post-war settlement (by voting to separate from Moscow.)
Soviet Russia, in the person of then President Mikhail Gorbachev, issued
similar warnings to Ukraine about the cataclysmic risks of going it alone.

And then, as now, Ukrainians took their fate into their own hands. The west
and the east of the country both voted, overwhelmingly, for independence:
they were Ukrainians first and pro-West or pro-Russian second. After
Sunday's re-run second round, Ukraine remains one country. It may assume
a more federal structure, but it will not split, and the east will not be
absorbed into Russia.

Anticipating defeat, after the polls closed on Sunday night, the more
Russophile candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, said that he would work to form
a strong opposition. And recognising reality, President Putin said last week
that he was confident he could work with whichever candidate Ukrainians
elected. So far, so good: this is how democracies are supposed to work and
how foreign leaders are supposed to respond to them. Let us hope this
climate of constructive realism lasts.

Whether or not it does, however, Ukraine's month-long electoral trauma has
provided a useful corrective to an assumption with which we have become all
too comfortable. When the Soviet Union evaporated on 25 December 1991, it
left remarkably few violent conflicts in its wake. One reason, now noted and
favourably contrasted with the behaviour, for instance, of the former
Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, was that neither Mr Gorbachev nor his
erstwhile rival, Boris Yeltsin, exploited the ethnic Russians beyond
Russia's frontiers for their own political purposes. Nor is there any
evidence that this has changed under Vladimir Putin.

This left millions of Russians with a choice between making the best of
their new citizenship or trying their luck in a country - Russia - where few
of them had ever lived. Russia's weakness may have left it with no choice
but to abandon its former citizens, but doing so may have prevented half a
dozen or more civil wars.

That the dissolution of the Soviet Union was essentially peaceful, however,
does not mean it was pleasant or easy for those involved, or that forming,
or reviving, nation states from subjugated Soviet republics is at all
simple. In many of these new states, indeed, the process is not only nowhere
near completion, but has hardly begun. Georgia may have accomplished its
"rose" revolution, but this was its second attempt to throw off an
undemocratic regime, and success for President Saakashvili's modernisation
efforts is not guaranteed.

Moldova and Belarus await new efforts at post-Soviet democratisation, while
all the Central Asian republics still have the same leaders they had in the
late Soviet years. In Azerbaijan, the presidency passed from father to son,
with scant popular resistance. Any political reforms have been conducted
within strict limits designed to keep the existing regimes in power.

With the exception of the three Baltic states - whose accelerated admission
to the EU was essentially an act of contrition on the part of Europe for a
great historical injustice - Ukraine is, in fact, the first former Soviet
republic to have given its people a real choice in an election and ushered
in a new regime through the ballot box.

The question whether Ukraine is anything more than a vast buffer zone
between Russia and Europe was asked many times during the long weeks of
this exciting, and disconcerting, election. With Viktor Yushchenko's
conclusive election to the presidency, we have the answer: if Ukraine was
not a nation before, it certainly has earned the right to that status
now. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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E-mail: m.dejevsky@independent.co.uk
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
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6. AT LAST, A RESULT THAT GIVES PRIDE BACK TO UKRAINE

LEADING EDITORIAL: The Independent
London, United Kingdom, Tuesday, Dec 28, 2004

THE UKRAINIAN people have delivered a decisive verdict on who should
be their next president. Viktor Yushchenko has defeated his rival, Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovych in the Boxing Day poll. And the size of the
turnout - 77 per cent - leaves little room for Mr Yanukovych's campaign to
mount a legal challenge to the result. The verdict of the 12,000 independent
electoral observers yesterday was also decisive. They ruled that, despite
some continued problems with voter lists, this poll constituted a fair
election. The widespread intimidation and fraud witnessed in November's poll
were, thankfully, absent this time. This alone vindicates the decision taken
by the Ukrainian Supreme Court a few weeks ago to call a fresh run- off
election.

The fact that Ukrainians came out in such large numbers to vote, as well as
cementing their reputation as a democratic nation, has done much for their
credentials as an aspirant member of the European Union. But caution is
necessary. The Ukrainian economy is still in poor shape. EU membership in
the near future could actually do more harm than good. The same could also
be true of the prospective Ukrainian membership of Nato. Mr Yushchenko is
keen to ally his nation diplomatically with the West, but with Russia on
Ukraine's doorstep it might be more appropriate to remain neutral for the
time being. Mr Yushchenko must be mindful of the dangers of alienating the
Russian-speaking population of the Ukraine, many of whom remain deeply
suspicious of his intentions. Ukraine, of course, must decide its own
destiny, but any steps towards integration with the West ought to be slow
ones.

But this is not the time to dwell on what pitfalls the coming years may
bring. It is a time for Ukrainians to take pride in what they have achieved.
The protests that began only last month, against a blatantly rigged
election, have achieved a substantial victory for democracy. The resolution
displayed by Mr Yushchenko's orange-clad supporters who have camped
out for weeks on the snowy streets of Kiev deserves great respect. Their
patience and spirit have been amply rewarded. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.275: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
7. UKRAINE ACCEPTS LONG WAIT TO JOIN EUROPEAN UNION
Sees membership as a realistic long-term goal

By Tom Warner and Stefan Wagstyl in Kiev
Financial Times, London, UK, Thursday, Dec 30 2004, Front Page

The victors in Ukraine's re-run election accept that the country's Orange
Revolution will not lead to early European Union membership, according to
the chief foreign policy adviser to Viktor Yushchenko, the president-elect.
But they see membership as a realistic long-term goal to be achieved after
working initially under the EU's "Neighbourhood Programme".

In an interview with the Financial Times, Boris Tarasyuk, a former foreign
minister who is widely expected to return to the job under Mr Yushchenko,
outlined the main principles of the delicate compromise that he saw being
worked out with Brussels. The EU is eager to signal that it welcomes Mr
Yushchenko's European aspirations but is not prepared to designate Ukraine
as a potential future member.

Mr Yushchenko made EU integration a central component of his campaign for
the election, which he won on Sunday with 52 per cent of the vote to 44 per
cent for Viktor Yanukovich, the prime minister. Mr Yanukovich yesterday
conceded his grip on power was weakening.

The compromise sketched by Mr Tarasyuk would involve Kiev accepting
that it will initially have to develop its relations with the EU under the
Neighbourhood Programme, which was designed for countries with no EU
membership prospects.

Mr Tarasyuk said he disliked the "Neighbourhood" name, which he said implied
Ukraine was outside Europe. "But we have a saying: once the song is written,
it's hard to omit a word." He said Mr Yushchenko's team was expecting "very
concrete" new proposals from Brussels.

The recent EU summit rejected a Polish proposal for a renegotiation of
Ukraine's action plan. Instead, ministers asked Javier Solana, the EU
foreign policy chief, and Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the commissioner who
handles the Neighbourhood policy, to produce additional offers to show the
EU was serious about upgrading the relationship.

Mr Tarasyuk said the most important component of Mr Yushchenko's European
policy would be to demonstrate that Ukraine was serious about adopting
democratic values. Ukraine would also press to join the World Trade
Organisation by the end of next year, but would go more slowly with Nato,
which his country could apply to join in three or four years. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
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8. VOICES FROM KIEV: HOPES AND FEARS FOR THE FUTURE

By Nick Paton Walsh, The Guardian, London, UK, Dec 28, 2004

Ivan Sergeuk, 38, from Lutsk, has been in the tent camp in central Kiev
since the protests began-
I am here for freedom. The people have woken up and Yushchenko will be
president. The country will not be split and the economy will definitely get
better. Our president has been an economist, a prime minister and a banker.
He's a business professional and so is his team. The people in the east have
been living with disinformation for years. They are human too, and will soon
come round.

Sasha Pravchuk, 45, from Kiev
Maybe Yushchenko will lose 1% or 2% of his lead in the courts, but he'll be
president. Nobody wants to see [Leonid Kuchma] any more on TV. Yushchenko
is a smart guy, and the US and EU will help him build up the economy. If
Yanukovich was president, only Russia would help us. Only seven people have
all the wealth in Ukraine, and Yushchenko will restore order - if someone
doesn't kill him, that is.

Larissa Harpush, 19, from Kiev
There was massive falsification in Kiev. Last time Yanukovich got 20%, and
now he has 17%. They just didn't let some voters into the station. We have
not lost, and we will blockade parliament worse than [the Yushchenko
supporters] did. The courts are bought up in this country. The election did
not recognise our opinion and there will be nobody to represent us.
Yushchenko talks of "our nation", but we are not his nation. I don't trust
him and he will close the mines.

Anatoli Shevchenko, 22, from Donetsk
I worked in Kiev for nine years, but left my job because the boss was orange
[a supporter of Yushchenko]. The court declaration [saying some disabled
people were being denied the vote by election law changes] was too late. And
where did he get 2.5m more votes from. If he becomes president, he will
close the mines and factories. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.275: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
=========================================================
9. MP OLEG RYBACHUK SAYS VOTE-RIGGING TAPES GENUINE

Interview with Oleg Rybachuk, MP
Zerkalo Nedeli, Kiev, in Russian 25 Dec 04; p 2
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Dec 28, 2004

KIEV - The Security Service of Ukraine has confirmed the authenticity of
recordings of wiretapped telephone conversations in which senior officials
are allegedly giving orders to rig the presidential election in favour of
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, opposition MP Oleh Rybachuk has said.
Speaking in a newspaper interview, Rybachuk, who published the tapes, said
those involved in vote rigging should now be brought to justice.

The following is the text of Rybachuk's interview, published in Ukrainian
independent weekly Zerkalo Nedeli on 25 December under the title "Oleh
Rybachuk: 'The SBU has already established that the recordings of
conversations at Yanukovych's headquarters are genuine'"; subheadings have
been inserted editorially:

[Interviewer] Oleh, Messrs [Hryhoriy] Dzekon [chairman of the board of the
Ukrainian telecommunications company Ukrtelekom] and [IT consultant Yevhen]
Zimin think that your demonstration of the recordings of conversations in
which their names feature as being those of persons supposedly involved in
penetrating the Central Electoral Commission's [CEC's] server is an
unfounded accusation.

[Rybachuk] But I haven't accused them of anything. They are merely the
technical operatives, not the organizers. Let the competent bodies deal with
them. These people are of no interest to me personally, since I am not
carrying out the investigation. I do think, though, that, with their help,
the inquiry can trace the organizers.

As far as I know, it is Zimin who is the technical "brain" behind the
project for penetrating the Elections [computer] system. If it had not been
for him, no-one would have been able to connect up with the system. Dzekon
and Zimin have now started to talk because they are well aware that, once
the degree of responsibility of [Deputy Prime Minister Andriy] Klyuyev and
[then CEC chairman Serhiy] Kivalov has been determined, they will be dealt
with next.

They are ideal candidates for "taking the rap". They are ideal "fall guys".
I knew about the involvement of these gentlemen in the operation long before
recordings were obtained of the conversations of the chiefs at [Prime
Minister and presidential candidate Viktor] Yanukovych's headquarters. I
have seen a report saying that penetration of the Elections system had been
detected and that one of them played a direct part in that.

NO PERSONAL INTEREST IN THE TWO
[Interviewer] Hryhoriy Dzekon maintains that you are creating political
popularity for yourself by means of this scandal and that, in fact, the
leaders of [opposition presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko's political
bloc] Our Ukraine, primarily Petro Poroshenko and Oleksandr Zinchenko [a
deputy speaker of parliament], have no complaints against Ukrtelekom and
even cooperate with it very successfully in various fields.

[Rybachuk] My political popularity does not depend on this scandal. I have
now deliberately distanced myself from the case. I no longer have anything
to do with MPs' requests for information or MPs' monitoring of the
investigation. Other people are handling the matter. I think the material
was given to me because I am not connected with any single pressure group
in Our Ukraine and I head the office of the actual party leader. But, to
make sure that no-one raises any questions and that politics doesn't
interfere with the inquiry, I have stepped aside from it emphatically. I
want the judgment to be made exclusively on the basis of the law and
justice - for the first time in such a high-profile scandal in Ukraine.

When I rang Dzekon, I hoped that he would realize it was time to repent.
Unfortunately, most of those who banked on the victory of the "Great Don"
[i.e. Yanukovych] miscalculated. They don't understand that the rules of the
game are now equal and transparent. They think that, if they've done a deal
with someone in our camp, that will be an extenuating circumstance. In the
usual way: someone phones someone, and the matter is hushed up. No,
chaps, those times are over.
OFFENDERS MUST FACE JUSTICE
Poroshenko and Zinchenko had a word with me. I'd had some "callers" asking
me not to mention either Dzekon or Zimin. I'm not going to mention them. Let
the competent bodies assess their activities. I recommend these gentlemen
not to go through the telephone book, looking for someone in Our Ukraine to
ring and "suck up" to, but to study the Criminal Code and look for good
lawyers. My personal view is that, if lawyers manage to save them from
liability in the face of the evidence that exists, then [ex-premier Pavlo]
Lazarenko is a totally innocent angel [he has been convicted of
money-laundering charges in the USA].

Their guilt can be mitigated by only one thing - a frank account in court of
how [the president's chief of staff, Viktor] Medvedchuk, Klyuyev and Kivalov
"leant on" them and forced them to carry out illegal operations. Then the
organizers will receive their just desserts, and the court will go easy on
the operatives. Yes, these boys from Ukrtelekom and subsidiary bodies played
a double game, working for the two teams so as to be able to tell the victor
later on about their services. But they broke the law in the course of their
games, and the time of impunity has now passed.

[Interviewer] What is the basis for your conviction that senior state
officials will inevitably stand trial? What evidence does the inquiry
possess?

[Rybachuk] According to my information, there is not one, but several cables
through which the CEC server was penetrated. There are dozens of witnesses,
and some of them have already started to talk. That's only the start. There
is direct evidence and proof. I have no doubt that the court proceedings
will be most instructive and informative.

SECURITY SERVICE CONFIRMED AUTHENTICITY OF TAPES
[Interviewer] Will the trial feature a person who will confirm the
authenticity of the recordings of the conversations at Yanukovych's
headquarters and prove that such information was obtained lawfully? After
all, that is the most sensational evidence - especially since, according to
our information, SBU officers will have to come forward as witnesses.

[Rybachuk] Absolutely. The authenticity and lawfulness of the recordings
will be proved. And there is not just one witness, but several. As far as I
know, the authenticity or otherwise is no longer an issue for the SBU.
Everything has already been checked and established. This is a secret of the
inquiry, and it must be respected for the sake of the witnesses' safety. If
anyone is in any doubt, I'm not going to argue. The witnesses will speak
only at the trial. I assure you that, at the trial, we shall hear some far
more sensational revelations. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Names for the distribution list always welcome
=========================================================
10. ELECTION COMMISSION REJECTS YANUKOVYCH APPEAL

Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, December 30, 2004

KIEV, Ukraine -- Ukraine's election commission rejected Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych's appeal of results showing he lost this week's repeat
running because he failed to prove there were mass violations, a commission
member said. Mr. Yanukovych will now appeal to the Supreme Court, said
his campaign manager, Taras Chornovyl.

The prime minister has refused to accept results showing a solid victory for
Western-leaning opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in Sunday's vote.
That balloting was a repeat of a Nov. 21 race between the two men in
which a Mr. Yanukovych victory was thrown out by the Supreme Court
because of widespread fraud.

"We will call on our supporters, which are 15 million, not to split the
state, to observe the law and not to recognize Yushchenko as a legitimate
president," Mr. Chornovyl said.

Mr. Yanukovych had submitted 27 volumes of complaints to the commission,
claiming at least 4.8 million people -- mainly disabled and sick -- were
deprived of their right to vote by election reforms introduced after the
first runoff.

"Evidence submitted in the claim does not prove mass violations" and could
not "influence or effect the results of the vote," said Commissioner Marina
Stavniychuk, reading from the Central Election Commission's decision.

The final count by the commission shows Mr. Yushchenko winning over
Mr. Yanukovych with a margin of some 2.3 million votes, but the results
cannot be deemed final until all appeals are exhausted. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
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11. SUPREME COURT REJECTS UKRAINE PM'S ELECTION COMPLAINTS

By Ron Popeski, Reuters, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, Dec 30, 2004

KIEV - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich's dogged bid to overturn his liberal
rival's victory in Ukraine's presidential election all but collapsed on
Thursday after the Supreme Court threw out all of his complaints. With
West-leaning Viktor Yushchenko already discussing his post-election program
and holding a lead of about eight percentage points in the preliminary
count, the prime minister has vowed never to concede defeat.

He has refused to bow to demands from his opponents to step down as premier
and an aide has said he plans to file further legal challenges once the
poll's result is officially published. Supreme Court spokeswoman Liana
Shlyaposhnikova said judges had now rejected all four complaints submitted
by Yanukovich's team concerning the organization of last Sunday's re-run of
the Nov. 21 poll, which had been rigged in Yanukovich's favor.

"The last complaint will not be considered. All four complaints were
rejected," she said, adding that two were filed too late and two were not
clearly drawn up.

Parliament's speaker, a key figure in resolving weeks of turmoil,
congratulated Yushchenko on his victory. And he told Ukrainians that the
protests against fraud which led to his election proved they had at last
created a true civil society. Yushchenko has begun setting down the aims of
an administration he says will encourage business, uproot corruption and
improve ties with western Europe.

But, in a sign of possible trouble ahead, autocratic Turkmenistan announced
it was suspending vital natural gas supplies as of Jan. 1 in a row over
pricing. The Central Asian state supplies nearly half of Ukraine's gas
needs. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
12. "KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCKING ON EUROPE'S DOOR"
Ukraine needs our attention and support, and it needs it now.

STATE OF THE UNION: Op-Ed by Mart Laar
The Wall Street Journal, NY, NY, Thu, December 30, 2004

If you are visiting Kiev, it's clear what this season's coolest color is:
orange. It was the color of protest. Now it is the color of victory.

Ukraine used to be the forgotten country. The Western world wasn't
interested in its fate, believing that the country belonged in Russia's
backyard. The only message that Ukraine got from the West was that it was
not wanted: Former European Commission President Romano Prodi said that
Ukraine won't join the EU -- ever. The U.S., meantime, recently concentrated
all its efforts on Russia.

The Kremlin got a clear message: Ukraine is and will stay in its sphere of
influence. With this in mind, Russia's efforts to stop the victory of the
pro-Western candidate, Viktor Yushchenko, in the presidential race were
perfectly logical. Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian
candidate, was supported not only by Russian money and spin-doctors, but
also directly by Vladimir Putin himself, who publicly campaigned on his
behalf.

The Russian president, in retrospect, did Ukraine a favor. He woke the
Ukrainians up. In response to such blatant Russian intervention in their
affairs, the people came out and voted for Mr. Yushchenko. And when his
victory was stolen last month, they came out to the streets and won their
right to choose their leaders for themselves. They also woke up the world,
which probably for the first time noticed Ukraine. Largely thanks to the
efforts of the EU's new member states, Europe condemned the fraud and helped
mediate the compromise that brought Sunday's rerun of the second round,
which Mr. Yushchenko won handily. As in most cases, the U.S. has tended to
be more active than the EU in Ukraine -- except this time around.

The West's support for Ukraine was important during the last weeks. But it's
even more important that this support continue. Mr. Yushchenko's victory is
only the first step down a long, hard road. To fight for freedom on the
barricades is a joy. The realities of everyday life are another story. For
Ukraine and the Ukrainians, the hardest time is still ahead.

The nightmare scenarios are easy to imagine. The coalition of the democratic
opposition parties can split and start to fight each other, hampering or
destroying prospects for reform. Russia can play the "secessionist" card as
it has so successfully done in other regions of the former Soviet Union and
spark the breakup of the eastern regions from Ukraine.

Having seen similar developments myself or having actually been part of
them, I know that in such moments international solidarity is crucial to
success. Ukraine needs reform -- always unpopular and painful. There is no
time to waste. At this moment President-elect Yushchenko enjoys tremendous
authority. That won't last. Past experience in other former communist
countries proves that the "window of opportunity" for real and radical
reforms will be open for a year, maximum a year and a half.

The new government needs to launch an economic-reform package and reorient
the economy from East to West. Ukraine must also introduce radical political
changes. The hurriedly amended constitution is a mess. The recent changes to
weaken the presidency threaten to lead the country back to the era of the
18th-century Polish Sejm, when anybody could block any decision with the
liberum veto. That's the wrong way to go. The parliament also must be purged
of its oligarchs.

Ukraine needs a chamber ready to adopt the necessary laws for economic and
social development. The government and administration are crying out for an
overhaul. Representatives of the former regime will need to go. It sounds
harsh but that's the only way to fight down the biggest disease in the
country: corruption. At the same time, an independent court system needs to
be strengthened, guaranteeing rule of law in Ukraine. Cases of criminal
privatization must be cleared and property rights guaranteed. All this is
easier to suggest than to do.

My country, Estonia, shows that it's doable. Twelve years ago, we were in a
worse situation than Ukraine is in today. A clear perspective can help bring
success. At this moment, only the European Union can provide such clarity
through its accession process, giving Ukraine -- as it did the new entrants
into the EU -- a road map for reform.

This month, Europe decided to start membership talks with Turkey. Ukraine
is in most aspects probably more "European" than Turkey. It is nonsense to
start enlargement negotiations with Turkey and deny at the same time even
the possibility of the same for Ukraine. Mr. Yushchenko has proposed to
integrate Ukraine with the West. His plan calls for Ukraine to join World
Trade Organization, conclude an association agreement with the EU and then
start the negotiations to join the EU.

It's time for the EU to rethink its position. Brussels must declare that
when Ukraine fulfills the Copenhagen Criteria, the EU will be ready to start
negotiations on an association agreement, paving the way for possible
membership. Whether Ukraine joins the EU will be, in the end, up for the
Ukrainians and the Europeans to decide. But in keeping that option open, the
EU can help extend the "window of opportunity" that this critical country
will have to change. Ukraine needs our attention and support, and it needs
it now. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Laar is a former prime minister of Estonia.
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 275: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
13. "EUROPEAN DREAMS AND THE SOVIET LEGACY"

COMMENTARY: Mykola Riabchuk
Published by Suddeutsche Zeitung in German
English version from Mykola Riabchuk
Thursday, December 30, 2004

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the USSR and, at the time, a strong
opponent of Ukrainian independence, has compared recently the Ukrainian
"orange revolution" to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Volodymyr Lytvyn, the
head of Ukrainian parliament, has defined the event as the definite end of
the Soviet Empire, its final and irreversible break-up.

All the lofty rhetoric aside, the both politicians are essentially right.
The crumbling of the formidable Communist Empire, unleashed by the
Gorbachev's perestroika, resulted in an impressive chain of democratic
revolutions in Central East Europe in 1989. But the processes stopped short
at the Soviet border. Only three, the least Sovietized, Baltic nations
managed not only get independence in 1991, as the Soviet Union collapsed,
but also get rid of the local nomenklatura and thoroughly and profoundly
change their political systems.

Today, all those developments can be understood as an uprising of the
new-born civil society against the senile authoritarian state. In the
Baltics, like in Central East Europe, the society proved to be strong enough
to take over the state and transform it in a Western-style liberal democracy
based on the rule of law. In Central Asia, where civil society was very weak
or even non-existent, the late Soviet authoritarianism had just mutated into
peculiar forms of local despotism.

Yet, in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova neither state nor society were
strong enough to get upper hand. The unstable equilibrium of the essentially
opposite forces had been perceived initially, in the early 90s, as a sort of
a "young", "immature" democracy - "democracy in transition". It created at
least some political pluralism, semblance of democratic procedures and
independent media.

The authoritarian state of the Leninist type had not been however changed
in its main structures, habits, political practices that stem from the
Soviet political culture; nor the ruling elite called "nomenklatura" had
ever been substantially replaced. Instead, it created a weird symbiosis with
criminal world, known today as "oligarchy". In mid-90s, the state resumed
its offense on civil society. First in Belarus and Transcaucasian republics,
then in Moldova, and lately in Russia, the full-fledged authoritarianism was
re-established, while independent society was oppressed and marginalized.

In Ukraine, however, the growing authoritarian pressure encountered the
growing resistance of the society. The tension climaxed in late November,
as the authorities brutally falsified the results of the presidential
elections on behalf of the pro-government candidate, and caused
unexpectedly mass protests in Kyiv and all over Ukraine.

Within just three weeks, Ukrainians proved to be as mature in civic terms
as their Central East European neighbours, scoring at least three dazzling
achievements. FIRST, they gave a significant majority of votes to the
opposition candidate - despite the smear Goebbels-style propagandistic
campaign carried out against him by the pro-government media, despite an
enormous administrative pressure, bribery, blackmail, and all sorts of
provocations. SECOND, hey set on the streets to defend their choice,
their civic rights, within 17 frosty days and nights, without a single act
of violence, and despite the real threat from the coercive government and
little, if any, hope for the solidarity from the Putinophile West. And
THIRDLY, they managed to skillfully negotiate and to peacefully settle
a conflict that might otherwise lead to bloodshed if not civil war and
break-up of the country.

Why Ukrainians, who had not been much different, in Western eyes, from
Russians and other "Soviets", managed to be, in actuality, so profoundly
and unexpectedly different?

The simplest albeit a bit simplistic answer would be that Ukraine, besides
the Baltics, had always been the most Westernized part of the former
USSR. In spite of widespread stereotypes, it had little to do with Russia
(or, rather, Muscovy at the time) until the end of the 18th century when the
bulk of Ukrainian territories - the "Right Bank" Ukraine - was incorporated
in Russian Empire after the partition of Poland.

The only part of contemporary Ukraine which had been never exposed to
other than Russian (and Soviet) civilization, is a vast steppe zone in the
south-east of the country. Historically, it was a no-man land, loosely
controlled by the Crimean Khanate until the end of the 18th century and
eventually colonized by the Russian Empire.

Little surprise that political map of Ukraine largely reflects these
historic divisions. Regions where Yushchenko won presidential elections
roughly coincide with the historic reaches of Rzeczpospolita at its highest
points. Regions where Yanukovych won, had never, in fact, existed beyond
Russia's rule until 1991, and had therefore deeply internalized Soviet
values and patterns of civic or, rather, uncivic behaviour.

It is very important to understand these differences since many foreigners
still believe that Ukraine is divided primarily by ethnicity and/or
language. True, one may find certain correlations between, say, ethnicity
and political preferences: e.g., only 20% of Russians supported Yushchenko,
and only 30% of Ukrainians supported Yanukovych. But apparently this is a
far cry from rigid determinizm, ethnic schism and insurmountable ethic
fault-line. Especially, if one takes a look at the correlations between
political preferences and people's education and age. The higher the
education the stronger support goes to Yushchenko, from both Ukrainians
and Russians.

The older the people are, the greater sympathy they express for Soviet-style
Yanukovych. These correlations are, in fact, more important than the ethnic
ones because they reflect much more viable and prospective tendency: both
Ukrainians and Russians are typically more pro-Western, pro-democratic,
and pro-Ukrainian (in civic terms) if they are better informed (through
education) and less exposed to Soviet stereotypes (because of their younger
age).

The everlasting Soviet legacy, rather than ethnic division, is the major
problem the new Ukrainian government would face. It would certainly
compromise with Sovietophile regions giving them some economic,
administrative, and perhaps cultural/linguistic concessions. But it seems
impossible to compromise in values - to reconcile western-style democracy
with Russian-style authoritarianism, rule of law with semi-feudal
paternalism, European openness with neo-Soviet intolerance, freedom of
information with virtual censorship.

The new government would inevitably have to find a particular combination
of sticks and carrots for its regional policy, and to define a thin line
between the possible compromises with the ancient regime and inadmissible
betrayal of fundamental values, ideals and strategic goals. The main key to
a good regional policy is, however, a good national policy, which means
vigorous and coherent reforms - legal, political, economic, administrative.

Yushchenko seems to be very firm in three interdependent issues: to separate
business and power, to ensure a fair jurisdiction, and to fight the
corruption that has infiltrated the state and government. He suggested that
some, the most scandalous, privatization deals will be reconsidered but no
redistribution of property would follow. Some oligarchs would just have to
pay the remainder to the state coffer. He promised also to lower taxes but
to make everybody paying them. This was a clear hint at numerous privileges
and loopholes that the government-connected oligarchs used to pillage the
economy.

Yushchenko's previous record from 1999-2001 when he was a prime
ministers, proves that he can be skillfull and firm in cleaning up the
economy, and that such a policy can bring immediate positive results. But
the long-term goal is to attract substantial investments and to reconstruct
the outdated albeit not so backward economy. To achieve this, the legal
reform is the must, and Yushchenko seems to understand that the whole
business climate depends primarily on the rule of law, not just a momentary
anti-corruption campaign.

Since 2006, as the new Ukrainian parliament is elected on the purely
proportional basis (from the national party list), the president will have
limited powers - ceding substantial parts of them to the parliament and
prime minister. This is a part of the constitutional deal signed by the
authorities and opposition on December 8. The reform undoubtedly introduces
better balance of powers, encourages party-building and makes Ukrainian
political system better structured and more transparent. It stipulates also
a substantial administrative reform that gives much power (and
responsibility) to the regions, both administrative and financial, albeit
stops short at the federalization of the country.

In 2005, however, Yushchenko would still enjoy huge presidential powers
inherited from the predecessor and guaranteed by the 1996 constitution.
He would certainly do his best to introduce the radical changes within the
country and, at the same time, to avoid any sharp switches in the foreign
policy. He has sent a reconciliatory message to Putin, saying that Russia
remains Ukraine's major strategic partner and that he would like to make
his first visit as president to Moscow.

And he confirmed Ukraine's strategic goal to join the EU and NATO but
recognized that it is far beyond today's national agenda. The primary goal
is to reform the country, and to make it a reliable and predictable partner
for both European and Russian neighbours.

Twelve years ago, an American publicist called Ukraine an «unwanted
step-child of the Soviet perestroika». The step-child grew up now, and is
about to launch its own perestroika that might substantially influence the
both step-parents.-30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mykola Riabchuk is a Ukrainian writer and publicist, co-founder and a
member of the editorial board of the Kyiv-based "Krytyka" monthly.
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