"ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
In-Depth Ukrainian News and Analysis
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 2004, Number 47
Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C., FRIDAY, March 26, 2004
INDEX OF ARTICLES
1. TOP U.S. DIPLOMAT PRAISES UKRAINE'S IRAQ CONTRIBUTIONS
By Tim Vickery, Associated Press Writer
Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday,, March 25, 2004
2. U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY RICHARD ARMITAGE HAILS ECONOMIC
PERFORMANCE IN UKRAINE
Agence France-Presse, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu, Mar 25, 2004
3. UKRAINE ASKS U.S. HELP IN WTO BID
U.S. Deputy Secretary Armitage Meets with Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 25 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thursday, Mar 25, 2004
4. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD ARMITAGE
PRAISES RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE
US Deputy Secretary Armitage Meets with Foreign Minister Hryshchenko
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 25 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thursday, Mar 25, 2004
5.ARNOLD SCHWARZENGGER MAY VISIT HIS WORLD CHAMPION
WEIGHT LIFTING FRIEND IN UKRAINE NEXT SPRING
Interfax-Ukraine, Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, Thursday, Mar 25 2004
6. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER LAZARENKO PROTECTED MONEY
FROM PRESIDENT KUCHMA, SAYS SWISS BANKER.
Compiled by Roman Kupchinsky, RFE/RL
Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 25, 2004
7. OFFICIALS DOWNPLAY CONCERNS OF UKRAINE'S TB EPIDEMIC
AP Online, Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Mar 24, 2004
8. UKRAINE WEB SITE SAYS UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT SMEARING
WESTERN CRITICS SUCH AS THE EUROPEAN UNION, THE
US STATE DEPARTMENT AND GEORGE SOROS
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 24 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mar 24, 2004
9. TEN WAYS UKRAINE IS A NEO-SOVIET COUNTRY
OP-ED by Taras Kuzio, Ukrayinska Pravda, Kyiv, Ukraine, 25 March 2004
10. THE CURTAIN RISES ON CONTINENT'S LATEST DRAMA
Three other countries figured large in the Vilnius group's
discussions: Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus
EUROPEAN OBSERVER By Fred Kempe
The Wall Street Journal., NY, NY, March 24, 2004
11. TOP UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST PETRO SYMONENKO AND
OPPOSITION LEADER YULIYA TYMOSHENKO DEBATE ISSUES
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 24 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mar 24, 2004
12. VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO: VICTOR OR VANQUISHED?
HELP IS NEEDED, AND FAST
OP-ED by John Conlin, Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
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1. TOP U.S. DIPLOMAT PRAISES UKRAINE'S IRAQ CONTRIBUTIONS
By Tim Vickery, Associated Press Writer
Kiev, Ukraine, Thursday, March 25, 2004
KIEV, Ukraine (AP)--A top U.S. diplomat Thursday praised Ukraine's
"outstanding'' role in Iraq, highlighted Washington's interest in improving
political ties but noted concern over Kiev's crackdown on the media and
political opposition.
The two-day trip by Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, the
highest-level U.S. official to visit Kiev since it sent 1,650 troops to Iraq
in August, comes amid renewed calls in Ukraine to withdraw them. Some here
fear Ukraine could become a target for terrorist attacks.
Armitage hailed Ukraine's peacekeeping role as "enormously important'' for
global security, saying he came to thank President Leonid Kuchma for his
"courageous decision'' to join the U.S.-led coalition.
"Ukraine is not in Iraq as a favor to the United States,'' Armitage said,
but because Kiev decided it was "in Ukraine's interests.''
Armitage played down the decision by Spain's new prime minister to pull out
its troops if the United Nations doesn't take over in Iraq by June 30.
"Withdrawal shouldn't be on the agenda just because terrorists try to make
corrections in this or that country,'' added Ukraine's Foreign Minister
Kostyantyn Gryshchenko.
Ukraine opposed the U.S.-led war on Iraq but now has the fourth-largest
non-American contingent there. Its troops serve in the Polish-led force
patrolling southern Iraq. Three Ukrainian peacekeepers have been killed
there.
Armitage underscored that bilateral economic and security ties between
Washington and Kiev were good, but political relations were difficult,
adding that he would ``make it very clear'' to Kuchma the United States
wants ``a fully productive'' relationship.
Kuchma's administration drew criticism from Washington this month for
shutting down or threatening independent media outlets, especially radio
stations that rebroadcasted the U.S.-funded Radio Liberty.
The Bush administration and other Western governments have called on
Kuchma and other top officials to stop using administrative resources and
tax police to hamper opposition political activities ahead of Ukraine's
presidential election in October. (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
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2. U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY RICHARD ARMITAGE HAILS ECONOMIC
PERFORMANCE IN UKRAINE
Agence France-Presse, Kiev, Ukraine, Thu Mar 25, 2004
KIEV (AFP) - US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he could
"barely believe" the economic improvements in Ukraine during a brief visit
to the former Soviet republic.
"My eyes can barely believe the changes that they see. The people of Ukraine
have the right to be enormously proud... of an unbelievable economic
performance," the US State Department number two said, after talks with
Foreign Minister Konstantin Hrishchenko.
Armitage arrived in Kiev Thursday for a one-day visit during which he is due
to meet with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma in an effort to promote
democratic reforms.
Armitage said he would thank Kuchma for contributing 1,300 troops to Iraq,
where they serve in a southern district overseen by Polish troops. "I am to
thank the president for his courageous decision to support the coalition in
Iraq," Armitage told reporters.
Touching on thornier issues, Armitage was expected to raise the issue of
press freedom with Kuchma, after the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty (RFE/RL) was pulled off the FM airwaves last month in Ukraine,
unleashing a storm of criticism both in Ukraine and abroad.
Armitage's Ukraine visit is part of a regional tour and he is due to travel
to Armenia and Azerbaijan after leaving Kiev, state department spokesman
Richard Boucher said in a statement earlier this week. (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
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3. UKRAINE ASKS U.S. HELP IN WTO BID
U.S. Deputy Secretary Armitage Meets with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 25 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thursday, Mar 25, 2004
KIEV - Ukraine intends to seek entry into the World Trade Organization and
much in that respect depends on the US position, [Ukrainian] Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych said at a meeting with US Deputy Secretary of State
Richard Armitage in Kiev on Thursday [25 March].
Kiev expects that Washington will resolve issues relating to granting
Ukraine the status of a market economy, which is very important to foreign
economic relations, Yanukovych said at the meeting.
The prime minister said that the Ukrainian-US committee for economic
cooperation would meet on 8-9 April in Washington, where Ukraine would like
to hear from the USA about its current position on the issue. "It's very
important to receive an appropriate signal assessing the situation, and we
would like the signal to be positive," the prime minister said.
Yanukovych said that trade turnover between Ukraine and the USA rose by 23.5
per cent to 1.64bn dollars last year, which was a very good indicator. He
also recalled that the USA was one of the biggest investors in the Ukrainian
economy, with 1.07bn dollars invested as of the beginning of 2004.
Yanukovych gave Armitage his assurances that the Ukrainian government would
continue to boost investment and trade between the two countries. [Please
send queries to kiev.bbcm@mon.bbc.co.uk] (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Major Articles About What is Going on in Ukraine
Current Events Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
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4. U.S. DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE RICHARD ARMITAGE
PRAISES RELATIONS WITH UKRAINE
U.S. Deputy Secretary Armitage Meets with Foreign Minister
Kostyantyn Hryshchenko
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian, 25 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Thursday, Mar 25, 2004
KIEV - The USA is striving to improve political relations with Ukraine, US
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has said. Speaking at a news
conference in Kiev on Thursday [25 March] after a meeting with Ukrainian
Foreign Minister Kostyantyn Hryshchenko, Armitage positively described
Ukraine-US relations in the trade and security areas.
However, he noted insufficient progress in the development of political
dialogue between the two countries. "That is why we are trying to find ways
to improve political relations," Armitage said.
"Bearing that goal in mind, I will have meetings with the representatives of
the government and the opposition - so that we could discuss all the issues
and find ways to improve relations and make them more productive," Armitage
said.
He added that he was going to meet Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma on the
same day. "I would like to pay tribute to the Ukrainian president for his
brave decision regarding Iraq and thank him for great bravery of those
Ukrainian servicemen who are working in Iraq," he said.
A diplomatic source in Kiev told Interfax-Ukraine that the main goal of
Armitage's visit to Ukraine was to persuade Ukraine not to withdraw its
troops from Iraq. "The USA fears that Ukraine will decide to withdraw its
peacekeepers from Iraq after the statements by Spain [to withdraw its troops
from Iraq on 30 June]," the source said. [Please send queries to
kiev.bbcm@mon.bbc.co.uk] (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
Exciting Opportunities in Ukraine for Travel and Tourism
Travel and Tourism Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/tourgallery.htm
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5. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER MAY VISIT HIS WORLD CHAMPION
WEIGHT LIFTING FRIEND IN UKRAINE NEXT SPRING
Interfax-Ukraine, Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, Thursday, Mar 25 2004
ZAPORIZHZHYA, Ukraine - California Governor and actor Arnold
Schwarzenegger may visit Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine, in spring 2005, Ruslan
Zhabotinsky, son of athlete Leonid Zhabotinsky and head of the charity
foundation named after his father, said at a press conference in
Zaporizhzhya.
He said the visit would be timed to coincide with an international
tournament of weight lifters. The American actor and politician will visit
Zaporizhzhya at the invitation of an old friend of his, Olympic and world
champion Leonid Zhabotinsky. Schwarzenegger says Zhabotinsky is his only
idol, and their meeting in the 1960s changed his entire life.
Leonid Zhabotinsky is visiting the United States as a guest of honor at the
Arnold Classic international tournament. Ruslan Zhabotinsky said
Schwarzenegger had gladly accepted the invitation to visit Zaporizhzhya and
attend the international tournament, in which leading athletes from ten
countries will take part.
Zhabotinsky has lived in Zaporizhzhya for a long time and regards it as his
hometown. He quit professional sports in the middle of the 1970s, after
becoming Olympic weight lifting champion in 1964 (Tokyo) and 1968 (Mexico
City), four-time world champion, two-time European champion, eight-time
champion of the Soviet Union and a holder of 19 world records. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
The Story of Ukraine's Long and Rich Culture
Ukrainian Culture Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/cultgallery.htm
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6. UKRAINIAN PRIME MINISTER LAZARENKO PROTECTED MONEY
FROM PRESIDENT KUCHMA, SAYS SWISS BANKER.
Compiled by Roman Kupchinsky, RFE/RL
Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, March 25, 2004
The second week of the landmark money-laundering trial in a U.S. court of
former Ukrainian Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko (May 1996-July 1997) got
under way in San Francisco on 22 March with testimony from a Geneva bank
officer who claims Lazarenko requested an $85 million bank wire to protect
the funds from President Kuchma.
Lazarenko is charged with using U.S. banks to launder at least $114 million
stolen from Ukraine, but he insists the proceeds were earned legally and
that he is being persecuted for having mounted a political challenge to
Kuchma's presidency ahead of a 1999 election.
Andre Walkowicz was the bank officer at Credit Suisse who handled the
accounts of Lazarenko and his business partner, Petro Kirichenko. In a
videotaped deposition, Walkowicz claimed Lazarenko was willing to pay
substantial penalties in the late summer of 1998 for early withdrawal in
order to rush the $85 million to an offshore account in Guernsey in the
British Channel Islands. In a private conversation the same day, Lazarenko
told Walkowicz that he was taking the unusual step to protect his money from
the Ukrainian president, whom he accused of seeking to punish him for his
political temerity.
Walkowicz was asked whether Credit Suisse took steps to conduct due
diligence on the source of the money in Lazarenko's and Kirichenko's
accounts, and what level of management made the decision to deal with those
two clients. Walkowicz replied that such decisions were made at the highest
levels of the bank, for only they had access to reliable information about
such funds. In order for Lazarenko and Kirichenko to open accounts,
Walkowicz testified, they needed senior approval at Credit Suisse, which has
been accused by critics of failing to safeguard sufficiently against illegal
transactions.
Swiss banks have long been accused of lax efforts to combat illegal
transactions. Anonymous coded or numbered accounts present major hurdles to
law-enforcement agents trying to combat the laundering of ill-gotten funds,
particularly funds flowing out of postcommunist Europe and Russia. The
Kremlin property manager under President Boris Yeltsin in the early 1990s,
Pavel Borodin, was accused of using Swiss accounts to launder some $30
million in illicit proceeds in connection with the Mabetex
Kremlin-reconstruction scandal. Borodin was found guilty by a Swiss court
and ordered to pay a fine of $700,000, but refused to comply with that
order. Swiss police confiscated $743,000 from the Swiss account of Russian
State Duma Deputy and singer Josef Kobzon late last year, insisting that
those funds stemmed from illegal activities.
In his deposition, Walkowicz said another customer of his bank was
Konstantyn Hryhoryshyn, a prominent Ukrainian businessman living in Russia
who presented himself as a "partner of Lazarenko." Hryhoryshyn is also
regarded as a business partner of Viktor Medvedchuk, the head of President
Kuchma's administration, and oligarch Hryhoriy Surkis, who is also among the
leaders of the Ukrainian Social Democratic Party. Hryhoryshyn was briefly
held in Kyiv last year on gun- and narcotics-possession charges. Hryhoryshyn
said the charges were trumped up and that the real reason for his arrest was
his refusal to provide money to Medvedchuk for political campaigns. RK
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
The Genocidal Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933, HOLODOMOR
Genocide Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm
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7. OFFICIALS DOWNPLAY CONCERNS OF UKRAINE'S TB EPIDEMIC
AP Online, Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, Mar 24, 2004
KIEV - Ukrainian health officials on Wednesday declared the nation's
tuberculosis epidemic under control, saying that four times fewer infections
were recorded in 2003 than in the previous year.
As the country marked global TB Day, First Deputy Health Minister Olha
Lapushenko attributed the positive change to accurate monitoring backed by a
doubling of government funding since 2002 which has eased diagnosis and
treatment.
But Lapushenko also noted that some 130 clinics across this ex-Soviet
republic of 48 million people do not have sewers, so TB-infected waste
enters the general wastewater system.
Volodymyr Zahorodniy, deputy health minister, also noted that 70 percent of
the country's predominantly Soviet-era medical equipment needs to be
replaced.
Ukraine's post-Soviet economic meltdown has degraded the state-run health
care system and contributed to this country having one of the world's
fastest growing infection rates.
Officially, some 670,000 Ukrainians are infected with tuberculosis, but the
International Red Cross estimates the real figure could be three times
higher.
Last year, the Health Ministry received US$480,000 from the Global AIDS Fund
to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, while the World Bank signed an
agreement for a US$60 million loan to help the cash-strapped government
implement a comprehensive prevention, diagnosis and epidemic control
program.
Meanwhile, the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross said in
a statement Wednesday that the spread of tuberculosis among prisoners in the
former Soviet Union continued to be a major concern.
The ICRC said it was involved in programs in the ex-Soviet republics of
Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia, but it warned that many prisoners were
released before completing their treatment, bringing "the disease back with
them into society." It called for better cooperation between authorities
inside the prison and those coordinating the national TB programs.
(am/tv/mb) (END) (ARTUIS)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Ukraine's History and the Long Struggle for Independence
Historical Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/histgallery.htm
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8. UKRAINE WEB SITE SAYS UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT SMEARING
WESTERN CRITICS SUCH AS THE EUROPEAN UNION, THE
US STATE DEPARTMENT AND GEORGE SOROS
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 24 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mar 24, 2004
The Ukrainian opposition web site Ukrayinska Pravda has said it has obtained
secret government orders to national TV channels to ignore Western
criticisms of the political situation in Ukraine. The web site also accused
the government of waging a campaign to discredit the international financier
and philanthropist George Soros ahead of his visit to Ukraine on 29 March.
In an article published on 23 March, Ukrayinska Pravda said it had received
copies of what it described as written instructions regularly sent out to TV
channels by the presidential administration. The instructions, known as
"temnyky", define the channels' news agenda and the spin editors are
required to put on the news, the web site said.
It published excerpts from the document saying that highly critical
statements by the European Union and the US State Department on the closure
of prominent opposition media in Ukraine should be ignored.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"On 18 March, reports were released about the European Union's statement
regarding freedom of speech in Ukraine," the web site quoted the document as
saying. "No commentary on the issue," the document went on. It also told the
channels to ignore comments made by the US and British ambassadors to
Ukraine.
As a result, the two leading Ukrainian TV channels, Inter and One Plus One,
completely ignored the EU statement, Ukrayinska Pravda said. It added that
both channels were linked to presidential administration chief Viktor
Medvedchuk.
In the group of three smaller broadcasters linked to influential
pro-presidential MP and business tycoon Viktor Pinchuk, only one, STB,
mentioned the EU statement.
GEORGE SOROS
On 24 March, Ukrayinska Pravda published more excerpts from the "temnyky"
and alleged that the government is orchestrating a smear campaign against
George Soros, a prominent critic of President Leonid Kuchma's
administration. The document tells TV channels to feature analysts
criticizing Soros.
"Soros acquired his riches in a dubious way," the document reads. "He uses
his money to obtain confidential information... and encourage `brain drain',
especially from the former Soviet states... He actively interferes in other
countries' internal affairs, which leads to tragic consequences (hundreds of
casualties in Yugoslavia in 2000 and the violent overthrow of the government
in Georgia, which has put the country on the brink of economic collapse and
civil war)."
A similarly worded comment was later featured in the main evening news
bulletin on Inter, the web site said.
The Ukrainian government has come under harsh Western criticism over the
closure of opposition media outlets ahead of the October presidential
election. The government denies any political motives behind the problems
faced by the opposition TV 5 Kanal, Radio Kontynent, Radio Roks and several
smaller broadcasters.
The two articles in Ukrayinska Pravda will be processed as excerpts and
released by 26 March. [Please send queries to kiev.bbcm@mon.bbc.co.uk]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
The Rich History of Ukrainian Art, Music, Pysanka, Folk-Art
Arts Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/artgallery.htm
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9. TEN WAYS UKRAINE IS A NEO-SOVIET COUNTRY
OP-ED by Taras Kuzio, Ukrayinska Pravda, Kyiv, Ukriane, 25 March 2004
Until Ukraine removes its neo-Soviet culture and replaces it with Western
values, its chances of ever being admitted into the EU (or even NATO) are
poor. As Glyn Ford, a British MEP, said during this months European
Parliamentary debate on Ukraine: "Genuine partnership can only develop on
the basis of shared common values - in particular, democracy, the rule of
law and respect for human and civil rights".
Relations between Russia and the EU have floundered in recent months over
the growing realisation in Brussels that Russia does not share the same
values as the EU. This was clearly seen in the December and March elections.
What of Ukraine? Like Russia, Ukraine's elites are continuing to adhere to
neo-Soviet political culture. Unlike Russia, Ukraine is seeking EU
membership! At least Russia is the more honest of the two countries in
understanding that the neo-Soviet policies it is pursuing at home rule out
integration into the EU. Ukraine's leaders, in contrast, continue to espouse
the rhetoric of Euro-Atlantic integration which has led to widespread
"Ukraine fatigue" in the West.
This "fatigue" is a consequence of Ukraine's political culture which can be
divided three ways. This ranges from the Soviet culture of the Communist
Party of Ukraine (KPU) through to the anti-Soviet political culture of the
national democrats, such as Viktor Yushchenko's national democrats.
What though of the centrists who succeeded the KPU in August 1991 and have
ruled Ukraine ever since? As will be argued in this article, Ukraine's
centrists - just like centrists elsewhere in Russia (i.e. Vladimir Putin)
and the CIS - exhibit a neo-Soviet political culture.
Recent developments in Ukraine confirm a trend evident since Leonid Kuchma's
re-election in 1999 of a consolidation of neo-Soviet political culture in
Ukraine. Evidence of Ukraine's neo-Soviet culture is clearly seen in ten
areas.
Firstly, attitudes towards state institutions and political power. In
Ukraine pro-presidential centrists aim to maintain a monopoly of control
over all state institutions. When this control was threatened, as after the
2002 elections, they quickly ensured a rapid take over of parliament, the
government, National Bank and other institutions.
When the threat of loss of control has appeared at the end of the Kuchma
era, constitutional changes have been railroaded through parliament. The aim
is to maintain power by passing it from the executive which, they fear will
fall into Viktor Yushchenko's hands after the elections, to the prime
minister and parliament which they will control until the 2006 elections.
The 2003 official campaign for constitutional reforms represented a return
to Leonid Brezhnev-era methods. Factories, educational institutions and
government offices were herded to meetings and made to endorse pre-printed
support for "reforms". These were then publicised as "proof" of the
executive's public support.
Secondly, of the three main oligarchic clan parties of power, the Social
Democratic united Party (SDPUo) most closely resembles that of the Soviet
era KPU. The chairman of the SDPUo is also the head of the presidential
administration, Viktor Medvedchuk. The presidential administration (and de
facto SDPUo HQ) are located in the same building as the Soviet era KPU
central committee.
Thirdly, attitudes towards non-state actors. Attempts are made to co-opt
non-state institutions in a corporate partnership type arrangement which
allows centrists to control them indirectly. Centrists abhor independent
players on the domestic scene as this restricts their activities and leads
to calls for public accountability.
The wide gulf separating the elite and the public continues to resemble that
of the Soviet era. 80-80 per cent of Ukrainians, according to 2003 polls by
the Razumkov Centre, feel they have no influence over central or local
affairs. A Ukrainian scholar has argued that this situation resembles that
of an "occupation army" ruling Ukraine, totally indifferent to the
population while enriching itself from the country's resources and state
budget.
As Western scholars have increasingly argued, Ukraine therefore resembles a
"virtual state" where declarations and rhetoric are totally at odds with
realties. This view is confirmed by Inna Bohuslovska, a member of the
pro-presidential Winter Crop Generation party in the 2002 elections, who
said after resigning from the government in January that: "The authorities
are super-virtualised. They have created their own virtual space with their
own understanding of what is taking place in society. Society lives
completely separately by other rules" (Zerkalo Tyzhnia, 24-30 January).
Fourthly, as in the Soviet era the opposition are attacked as "nationalists"
and "Nazis". This is especially prevalent in SDPUo-controlled media and
directed predominantly against the "Nashists" (a play on Nasha Ukrayina [Our
Ukraine]) resembling "Nazis". As in the Soviet era, "Nashists", are labelled
as rabid west Ukrainian nationalists seeking to incite inter-ethnic
conflict.
Fifthly, the rule of law exists only on paper. Ukraine has a very democratic
constitution, excellent legislation, a functioning parliament and an
opposition. But, this is only a "potemkin" or "electoral democracy", as
Western scholars have dubbed Ukraine and other CIS states, where the country
has an authoritarian system that is occasionally challenged in elections.
Duplicity and legal nihilism have become the norm.
Legislation is routinely ignored or flouted. As in the Soviet era, informal,
unwritten instructions ("telephone law") trump real legislation. The
presidential administration meanwhile, plays a "good cop", "bad cop"
routine, issuing democratic decrees which are then undermined by informal
instructions ("temnyky").
Sixthly, attitudes towards the media mirror these other facets of neo-Soviet
culture. Centrists do not tolerate independent media and have dealt with it
through buy outs, violent intimidation or closure.
The last of the Western radio stations were closed down in Ukraine, two
weeks after Radio Liberty was taken off the air. There is a return to
Soviet-style jamming, especially of programmes with defectors from the
regime.
"Temnyky" are issued to state and oligarch-controlled television stations
which has led to a bland conformity in coverage of the news and the blocking
of access to the opposition. Only Channel 5, controlled by Our Ukraine,
provides a balanced coverage but it is also now threatened with closure.
Ukraine has only one national Ukrainian-language newspaper ("Ukrayina
moloda") left after "Silski Visti" was closed in January.
Seventh, the Security Service has returned to Soviet-era KGB methods against
the opposition, as revealed by recent SBU defector Valeriy Krawchenko. They
are assisted by a post-Soviet institution, the State Tax Administration, and
a hotbed of corruption, the Interior Ministry.
Eighth, the main tenets of Soviet nationality policy remain, with Russian
still perceived as a more important language while Soviet anniversaries are
celebrated. In 2003 the 85th anniversary of the birth of Volodymyr
Shcherbytsky, KPU leader from 1971-1989 during which most centrists
developed their careers, was commemorated. Last month the anniversary of the
1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav, which brought Ukraine and Russia into an alliance
was commemorated. The Treaty was central to Soviet nationality policies
proving that Russians and Ukrainians should live in close union.
Ninth, anti-Americanism has played a central role in the Ukrainian elite
rhetoric and policies since Kuchmagate in 2000. Recent examples of this
include hostility towards Radio Liberty, a widely held belief in the US
being behind the Serbian and Georgian democratic revolutions and demands
for the financing of NGO's to be investigated. Opposition groups, such as
Our Ukraine, are accused of obtaining their orders from abroad.
Tenth, repeated incantations about Ukraine integrating into Euro-Atlantic
structures is as devoid of domestic policies to fulfil it as incantations
that the USSR under Brezhnev is moving towards another end goal, communism.
Then and now, those in charge (who are in effect the same people) do not
really believe their own rhetoric.
A country that permits that which took place against Our Ukraine in October
shows it has a neo-Soviet political culture within its ruling
pro-presidential centrists. Such a country -if ruled by these people - will
never become a member of the EU or NATO. Minister of Defence Yevhem Marchuk,
who is a supporter of Ukraine's NATO membership, as are many military
officers, should be visibly angered by the authorities undermining the July
2002 decree calling for Ukraine to strive to join NATO. Ukraine is also
undermining its desire to join the EU. In reality, there is "Ukraine
fatigue" in the West due to the large Soviet-style gulf between rhetoric and
reality.
Election infringements systematically undertaken since 2002 in UKRAINE do
not bode well for the October presidential election, despite President
Kuchma's public rhetoric in favour of free elections. Ukraine's neo-Soviet
leaders is blatantly ignoring critical resolutions and statements made since
January by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the EU,
European Parliament, NATO, US and British officials. If the October
elections are not free and fair, Ukraine's relations with the USA, Western
Europe, EU and NATO will sharply deteriorate and Ukraine will become as
isolated as Lukashenka's Belarus.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Taras Kuzio is a resident fellow at the Centre for Russian and East
European Studies, and professor, Department Political Science, University of
Toronto. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
The Rich History of Ukrainian Art, Music, Pysanka, Folk-Art
Arts Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/artgallery.htm
=========================================================
10. THE CURTAIN RISES ON CONTINENT'S LATEST DRAMA
Three other countries figured large in the Vilnius
group's discussions: Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus
EUROPEAN OBSERVER By Fred Kempe
The Wall Street Journal., NY, NY, March 24, 2004
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia -- Fate is a cruel dramatist.
In a few days, NATO will add another seven countries as members, after which
40% of its group will be former communist nations. A month later on May 1,
the European Union seals its largest enlargement ever -- to 25 countries
from 15, including three Baltic lands that were captive provinces of the
Soviet Union. These are the delayed but still exhilarating final acts of
that 20th century thermonuclear thriller known as "the Cold War."
But don't run the credits and turn up the lights up just yet.
Terrorists in Spain have ignited a new European drama before the world has
had a chance to see the last one's final frames. And extremists in Kosovo
have reminded us as well that Europe's story is far from finished, with the
worst violence there since the Balkan war ended. The 21st-century European
sequel may be more complex than that of the 20th, a time of two world wars
and a third cold one, but it could be even more critical.
With the Middle East emerging as the pivotal battlefield, Europe's role will
be more central than most appreciate, both due to its greater geographic
proximity and its far larger Islamic population than the United States. The
Spanish attacks of March 11 are hence an event of no less potential
importance to the war on terror than America's Pearl Harbor was to World War
II. Yet while Pearl Harbor and, more recently, 9/11 were devastating attacks
that resulted in mobilization against the enemy, the upshot of the Madrid
bombings is far less certain.
The problem is that the European Union remains so distracted by internal
squabbles that it hasn't yet reached consensus about how to tackle the
mounting external threats. Many Europeans argue their union has grown too
large and thus threatens to break down. But the problem is rooted more in a
lack of purpose. A clearer mission would make it easier to gain agreement
from feuding parties for the necessary institutional reform that would make
Europe more efficient. What one needs for this 21st-century drama is a new
group of script-writers who can conjure the elements of a happy ending --
and fast. Luckily, they are offering themselves up.
An alternative plot line suggested itself at a ministerial meeting late last
week here of a group known as the Vilnius 10. It is a gathering of
presidents, prime ministers, senior officials and think-tankers from Eastern
and Central Europe's relatively new democracies. Their first meeting four
years ago created a musketeer-like, one-for-all-all-for-one movement to come
into NATO and the EU as a larger, unified group rather than as squabbling
bits. No one back then could have imagined the full extent of their success
by this year. And that appears to be emboldening some of them further.
Rather than resting on their laurels, they instead seem anxious to reshape
Europe in three ways.
They want it to avoid future strategic breakdowns with the United States, to
use the lure of its membership to further stabilize the Balkans, the Black
Sea region and the Caucasus, and to more assertively join Washington in
taking on Islamist terrorism and other external threats.
First, the consensus is that Europe must keep the United States on board as
its only true security guarantee at a time when Europe isn't yet up to the
job. They badly want to avoid a repeat of the trans-Atlantic "strategic
confusion" that overtook Europe last year and could resurface in the
aftermath of the Madrid bombings. They realize their freedom wouldn't have
come without the United States, and still don't trust the European Union
entirely to look after them.
"Europe is not strong enough yet to deal with global problems," says
Romanian Prime Minister Adrian Nastase.
Second, the Vilnius group wants to ensure European Union doesn't rule out
membership someday for neighboring countries in the Balkans, Black Sea
region and the Caucasus. To get things rolling, Mr. Nastase wants the EU to
make the decision in December to begin membership talks with Turkey because
he recognizes the potentially decisive value of a secular, Islamic European
state on his border.
Three other countries figured large in the Vilnius group's discussions:
Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus. Georgia was the opportunity to be seized --
the January Rose Revolution in the Caucasus is something upon which the West
should build. Ukraine was the new chance -- where a growing opposition might
just produce change in fall elections. Belarus was the problem they were
determined to fix, like newly converted missionaries of democracy determined
to take their faith to the Continent's worst authoritarian and human-rights
offender.
Finally, the Vilnius clan wants Europe to grow increasingly active and
assertive abroad in spreading democracy. They take the proper lesson from
the Spain bombings and the resulting socialist election. They fear the
outcome will only embolden terrorists who see their own propaganda
confirmed -- that the West is weak-willed and will bend or even break when
threatened. Slovak Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda says the region didn't
fight this long for parliamentary democracy to stand by and see it perverted
by terrorists.
The Spanish attacks have struck fear in Slovaks, he says, but instead of
cutting and running he's instead spending more time on radio and television
explaining to his citizens why countries are only fooling themselves if they
think they can buy peace by staying to the sidelines in the war on terror.
Romania's Mr. Nastase has 400 troops in Afghanistan and 800 in Iraq. He lost
more countrymen in the Spanish bombing than any country other than Spain.
Yet he says Romania remains convinced removing Saddam was the essential
prerequisite to starting any democratic movement in Iraq or the Mideast,
partly because of its own experience in removing the dictator Nicolai
Ceausescu. "We perhaps understand the problems of the Iraqi transition
period better than others."
This new European drama won't be easy watching. For all their bold words,
New Europe's influence in Brussels remains limited. Meanwhile, the EU
remains deeply divided over Iraq, and is too often distracted by internal
squabbles of lesser significance. Some would still rather define themselves
against Washington than as partners on a new mission. More likely than not,
there will be more and worse terrorist attacks in Europe before the EU
unifies behind a clear and assertive policy.
One can't predict the outcome, but this new drama isn't likely to have a
happy ending unless the clearer thinkers of New Europe take their ideas to
Brussels and fight for them. As Europe's most recently liberated countries,
they know best the cost of inaction and the rewards of engagement.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Frederick Kempe writes the European Observer column regularly.
Write to Frederick Kempe at fred.kempe@wsj.com
Kempe draws upon experience and rich sourcing for a reporting-based column
that looks into how Europe is coming to terms with a period of historic
challenges. Europe is implementing a single currency, it is enlarging
eastward, it is writing a new constitution and it is coming to terms with
U.S. power on the global stage. In short, it is in a period of historic
transformation and definition which the column attempts to track.
Kempe is the European Editor of the global Wall Street Journal and
frequently appears as a commentator on British, German and U.S. television
and radio. He is the author of three books, including his newest,
"Father/Land, a Personal Search for the New Germany," "Siberian Odyssey, a
Voyage into the Russian Soul" and "Divorcing the Dictator: America's Sordid
Affair With Noriega." He graduated from both the University of Utah and
Columbia University, both of which have given him their top alumni
achievement
awards. He lives between Brussels and London. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
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11. TOP UKRAINIAN COMMUNIST PETRO SYMONENKO AND
OPPOSITION LEADER YULIYA TYMOSHENKO DEBATE ISSUES
TV 5 Kanal, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 24 Mar 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mar 24, 2004
The leader of the Communist Party of Ukraine, Petro Symonenko, has ruled out
the possibility of his party backing either centre-right opposition leader
Viktor Yushchenko or his main rival from the propresidential forces, Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovych, if the two politicians were to face each other
in a presidential election runoff.
Speaking during a live talk show on an opposition TV channel on 24 March,
which was also attended by centre-right opposition faction leader Yuliya
Tymoshenko, Symonenko cast doubt on the credibility of popularity polls
indicating he was trailing behind Yushchenko and Yanukovych. "Speaking about
my personal stance as a citizen and Communist, I would support neither of
those two candidates, and I will do my best to ensure that citizens back
neither of the two," Symonenko said. "Both represent clans, similar
oligarchic clans."
Tymoshenko avoided a direct answer to the question about support for any
specific politician, saying that if the opposition succeeds in "uniting and
fielding a single candidate", that candidate "will surely win" the election.
She called on all opposition factions to join forces in fighting "the
[President Leonid] Kuchma gang": "Why can't we, four opposition forces, find
a common goal and sweep the current authorities out of power? Alone, we
cannot break this machine. We must unite, and I believe in this."
Meanwhile, Symonenko rejected accusations of walking away from opposition
accords: "Communists have never agreed to collaborate with the authorities
on issues where we defend the people's interests and where we safeguard the
rights of the honest citizen," the Communist leader stated. "We have never
betrayed anyone because from the very start there was no prospect of the
[opposition] foursome fielding a single candidate.
We united and conducted a joint fight when we set ourselves the aim of
shaking the regime and bringing society into a state where it would demand
that Kuchma should resign as president, as well as his inner circle. That
was the main aim. Regarding the goal of fighting for power, it was clear
from the very outset that the foursome could not carry out that fight
jointly because the ideologies and views on state development [of the four
forces] are very divergent."
Tymoshenko criticized the Communists for backing a constitutional reform
bill on a switch to a parliamentary republic, saying they were being
manipulated by pro-Kuchma forces and his chief of staff Viktor Medvedchuk.
She said political reform would curtail the president's power, handing most
of it to the "300 millionaires in parliament" and would allow the pro-Kuchma
forces to stay on.
"If we want the people to retain power, why should we deprive the people of
the right to elect a full-fledged president with sufficient power? Currently
the people have two rights: to elect parliament the way they want it, and to
elect the president the way they want it," she said. "By carrying out this
reform, we would effectively deprive the people of one crucial right. So,
are we really handing power back to the people? We are taking this power
away from the people!" [The talk show lasted for 30 minutes. No further
processing planned.] (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 47: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
=========================================================
12. VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO: VICTOR OR VANQUISHED?
HELP IS NEEDED, AND FAST
OP-ED by John Conlin, Kyiv Post, Kyiv, Ukraine, March 18, 2004
The Kyiv Post's blistering March 11 editorial ("What protest?"), offering
criticisms of the political and organizational ineptness of Viktor
Yushchenko, stimulated a resounding "amen" last week among international
diplomats, Ukrainian businessmen, civic leaders, and ex-pats in Ukraine.
Their reaction: "Finally, someone has broken the silence and correctly
described the Yushchenko campaign as a classic example of how a good man can
lose an election."
Yushchenko has dropped from a spring 2001 voter support level of 30 percent
plus, with big momentum, to only 24 percent of the vote in the March 2002
parliamentary election, to 22 percent in December 2003, to a current 20
percent, with no momentum.
With Yushchenko's campaign management team inexcusably one year behind where
it should be in the campaign, westerners and Ukrainians are shaking their
heads in disillusionment, wondering whether Yushchenko could win the runoff
in November. If he had organized earlier and accepted professional help, he
may have won even in the first round this October.
In the U.S. or Western Europe, a candidate slumping like this would do what
U.S. Sen. John Kerry did at the end of 2003. He took charge, fired his
campaign manager, and brought in a new manager and professional experts from
the outside. Together they turned around his campaign.
Russian President Boris Yeltsin did the same thing in his second
presidential campaign, when his daughter and Anatoly Chubais brought in
American experts who, in just a few months, guided Yeltsin from six percent
in the polls to an election victory.
ELECTORAL POLITICS 101
Post writer Stephan Ladanaj, in his March 11 opinion piece ("If Yushchenko
wants to help, he should just step down") accurately portrayed the
frustration and disappointment with Yushchenko and his inexperienced
campaign staff that is present among the Ukrainian middle class and
intellectual and business circles. But his recommendation that Yulia
Tymoshenko now become the democratic opposition's candidate may be
premature.
Much of the international and Ukrainian business community and western
diplomatic corps in Ukraine would be pleased to see Yushchenko as president,
with Tymoshenko as prime minister to put discipline and efficiency into his
cabinet. They believe Yushchenko should be given one last chance to get a
professional campaign together immediately.
Even if he did not win the presidency, they reason, a well-organized
campaign would be in a better position to impact or win the next
parliamentary elections and bring further reforms. Yushchenko could still
win the runoff, if he and his financial backers wake up and make some
dramatic changes, like the establishment parties are wisely doing. Critics
can't understand why Yushchenko isn't doing the things normally needed to
win a presidential campaign. For example:
1. You put together early a coalition of natural allies. In Yushchenko's
case, these would be Yulia Tymoshenko and Oleksandr Moroz. You do this so
that you can integrate their strong field forces into a merged organization
at oblast, region and precinct levels, creating a united front under a new
umbrella name that will resonate nationally.
You don't listen to the selfish voices of aides who want to keep others out
of your inner circle, calling attention to others' negative points. When
someone in a politician's inner staff wants to isolate a politician for his
own power dreams, it's a real kiss of death.
2. You drop any talk of a referendum. Referenda are a waste of time, energy,
and money.
And while we're at it, if you're going to spend time and effort on street
rallies, learn from the leftists in the West how to organize a mass street
protest, and do it on a Saturday or Sunday when the working poor and middle
classes have the day off. It is not someone's birth or assassination date
that counts. It's the cause, and using a non-working day will bring people
out.
Furthermore, if your side is going to collect signatures on petitions, for
goodness sakes do it right next time, so that staff can database their names
and addresses and recruit new volunteers. Don't waste three million
signatures and a quarter million hours of labor.
3. Winners come up with a compelling, believable message, based on astute
survey results. They get on a "positive solutions" campaign, avoiding
negative campaigning. They keep the message simple and focus on a strategy
people want and respond to, applying it in a consistent way.
PROFESSIONAL HELP
4. Winners get a professional audit done of their campaign organizations.
An audit would include preparation and plans by a highly experienced western
campaign manager, preferably one who knows Ukraine. The purpose would be to
find weaknesses in methodology, organization, preparation and personnel, and
then give suggestions and solutions for healing and improvements, like a
skilled doctor would.
When something is desperately wrong in a campaign, only an outside auditor
will tell the truth, and how to correct the problem. Relying on local
politicians or staff who are novices in campaign strategy, management, and
message development, with the understanding that only Ukrainians can
understand Ukraine, is a fatal fallacy. This year is the first presidential
campaign in which a democratic challenger to the establishment figures - an
establishment that has much more campaign experience, yet isn't too proud to
get outside help.
Yeltsin's daughter and Chubais didn't have any ego problems to bring
American experts. Serhiy Tihipko retained President Clinton's
pollster/consultant Doug Schoen; Viktor Yanukovych and Volodymyr Lytvyn
reportedly are using Clinton and Russian consultants; average voters don't
care who your helpers are. What they want is your message, and to feel
confident they'll get results from you!
Frank Luntz, a top Republican pollster and campaign strategist in the U.S.,
volunteered to show Yushchenko and his team how to sweep the parliamentary
elections in 2002. He was brushed off because, with only a Ukrainian
grandfather and grandmother, he wasn't "Ukrainian enough." The fact that he
brought the Republicans majority control of Congress after 40 years, and has
won nationwide campaigns in the U.S., Europe, Latin America, and Italy (for
Silvio Berlusconi), was not enough.
As one member of Yushchenko's inner circle reportedly said a year ago: "We
want to use your American technology, but not your methods."
What stubborn, peasant nationalist foolishness it is to try and separate
technology from winning methods, especially since Americans have learned so
much over the course of a million campaigns.
GROUND VS. AERIAL CAMPAIGNS
5. When you can't run a so-called "aerial campaign" as is the case now when
most of Ukraine's media is in establishment hands, you change tactics and
run a ground campaign.
Informed sources say Yushchenko's campaign organization has about the same
number of "ground" volunteers in its database as two years ago. That's not
good enough. He needs tens of thousands more, and could get them by using
the correct methodology.
His campaign team should by now have written his entire campaign literature,
and it should be camera-ready for printing. It should detail daily campaign
schedules and tactics through October. As for those several hectic
second-election weeks in November, the literature should provide for the
possibility of Yushchenko's opponent being either Yanukovych or Lytvyn.
If these things aren't being done, somebody is inept, unorganized, slothful,
or a saboteur, or all of these things. And this election campaign may be
very short.
6. Winning presidents do not rely primarily on parliamentarians elected on a
list to build a volunteer campaign organization for them. Major winning
campaigns in the West rely on full-time organizers/specialists, not on Rada
members who are too busy with parliamentary work, their businesses, their
personal lives and ambitions, and buttering up the candidate.
A challenger needs to use full-time, experienced community organizers who
live and recruit day and night in their regions.
7. A winning candidate imposes message discipline on all leaders, and
designates alternative spokesmen.
A candidate can't have his faction leaders and Rada members popping off
half-cocked on various subjects, stoking their own egos in the press.
8. "Take your message to the people" is always the winning rule. A
challenger without media support has to be out in the oblasts and regions
most of the time, meeting and winning the hearts and minds of voters, using
a detailed schedule of eight to 10 daily appearances.
It is hard work. It is not pleasant to sleep in different beds each night
and be on the move every hour to a different group, factory, church, school
or organization. But if one wants to win, one must get out of the capital
city and on the road. There's no point wasting time with ineffective
"forums." If Yushchenko and his staff are too lazy to work that hard, then
perhaps people will conclude Stephan Ladanaj's recommendation has merit when
he says Yushchenko should "step aside and let Yulia lead the charge."
9. Winning candidates, even professional speakers like Ronald Reagan, submit
to a professional political speech coach, and to a campaign speechwriter.
That's what businessman Silvio Berlusconi did to win the post of Italy's
prime minister. While a candidate's thoughts need to be sound and his
personality pleasant, his speeches and Q&A responses also need to be
positive, concise and effective. That's the best way to attract supporters
and voters.
10. Citizens want a president who is organized, decisive, and concentrates
his message, offering specifics on fulfilling their needs.
If Yushchenko wants to win, he had better take charge of his campaign now
and make the needed changes. If he wants to win, he better start working as
if it all depends on him; and start praying as if it all depends on God,
because Viktor is definitely going to need God's help.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hon. John Conlan is a former U.S. congressman and state senator, who has
won 12 elections and managed 25 campaigns. He lives much of the time in
Kyiv, where he works as an investment consultant. (END) (ARTUIS)
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