"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"
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 208
The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA), Huntingdon Valley, PA
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C.; Kyiv, Ukraine, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE"
The presidential campaign and election in Ukraine
Article By Radek Sikorski
The Spectator, London, UK, Sat, Nov 6, 2004
2. "WESTERN AGGRESSION"
John Laughland, The Spectator, London, UK, Sat 6 Nov 2004
3. UKRAINE'S BALLOT BOX REVOLUTION MUST NOT BE STIFLED
By Victor Yushchenko, Presidential Candidate, Ukraine
Financial Times, London, UK, Wed, November 3 2004
4.UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: SECOND TIME LUCKY?
The presidential election will be decided by a run-off. Probably
The Economist print edition, London, UK, Thursday, Nov 4, 2004
5. JOURNALISTS SAID "REBELLING AGAINST CENSORSHIP"
AT UKRAINE'S STATE TV PROVIDER
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 5 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, November 5, 2004
6. YANUKOVYCH CONFIRMS HIS INTENTION TO CONDUCT
POLITICAL REFORM AND BAN LAND SALE
PM will not allow land to become an object of business
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, November 5, 2004
7. YANUKOVYCH SAYS STATEMENT ON DELIBERATE DELAY
OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RETURNS ARE INCORRECT.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 4, 2004
8. "EAST OR WEST?"
Ukraine will play host to this month's other watershed election
REVIEW & OUTLOOK, The Wall Street Journal
New York, New York, Wed, November 3, 2004
9. POLISH PRESIDENT CALLS FOR "CLEAN" SECOND ROUND
IN UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish 0929 gmt 3 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wed, Nov 3, 20004
10. "PUTIN DESERVES A SWIFT KICK"
Vladimir Putin is trying to put the boots to Ukrainian attempts at reform.
He must be challenged, says ex-envoy DEREK FRASER
By Derek Fraser, former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine
The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Wed, Nov 3, 2004
11. "UKRAINE VOTE PANNED, PRAISED"
By Natalia A. Feduschak, The Washington Times
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, November 2, 2004
12. "WILL UKRAINE CHOOSE RUSSIA OR THE WEST?"
Ukraine's presidential race between Viktor Yanukovich and liberal
opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko is neck-and-neck. DW's
Ute Schaeffer weighs up the options.
OPINION: by DW's Ute Schaeffer
Deutsche Welle, Bonn, Germany, Mon, Nov 1, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 208: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. "YEARNING TO BREATHE FREE"
The presidential campaign and election in Ukraine
By Radek Sikorski
The Spectator, London, UK, Sat, Nov 6, 2004
The architecture of Independence Square in central Kiev is late Brezhnev but
the ambience is Prague 1989. Groups of people stand around tables scattered
with the propaganda of the various candidates, or make impassioned speeches
to cameras. The atmosphere of a genuine election, one in which the outcome
is uncertain--so rare now in the former Soviet Union--is unmistakable. Boys
and girls with orange scarves hand out campaign leaflets.
It's cool to be political and there is a sense of hope, urgency and
foreboding that I last witnessed when I was their age during the Solidarity
revolution in Poland in 1980. Several of them told me that if this election
is lost, their only choice is to emigrate. 'You are our last hope,' one
middle-aged woman told us, a group of international observers watching the
election. The hope that the democratic, all powerful 'West' can accomplish a
miracle also sounded familiar.
They are right to be worried. The goons are lurking in the background, and
this is not a metaphor. Foreign delegations are followed by young men with
short hair and leather jackets in only one instance of the unprecedented way
in which state power is used to manipulate this election. The instances of
cheating are just too numerous to allow a charitable explanation. Famously,
the main challenger, Viktor Yushchenko, fell mysteriously ill the day after
he ate supper with the country's intelligence chief and now looks 20 years
older, his face twisted and swollen as if he'd been burned by napalm.
Opposition rallies have been disrupted with electricity cuts or prevented
from happening at all by arbitrary cancellations of rented facilities or of
scheduled train and bus services. Government- and Russian-owned media pump
blatantly biased propaganda devoting, according to independent observers,
about 80 per cent of the time to promoting the Prime Minister, Viktor
Yanukovych. The only opposition-inclined TV station, Channel 5, had its
licence suspended just a few days before the first round of voting last
weekend. Radio and print journalists are routinely threatened; and this is
no joke in a country in which nosy journalists are apt to disappear without
trace.
Russia has intervened forcefully on behalf of its man, Yanukovych. To
welcome President Putin in Kiev for an unprecedented three days just before
the poll, Kiev's military parade to mark the city's liberation from Nazi
rule was brought forward a week. Russian government TV's idea of a
pre-election debate was to invite a Yanukovych supporter from Russia and
a Yanukovych supporter from Ukraine. Russian PR agencies are advising
Yanukovych, and thousands of voters received a 'Letter from Russia' which
warned that an opposition victory would mean higher energy prices.
The meddling is so blatant that even the Ukrainian communists are appalled.
I never thought I would sympathise with a communist, particularly as
unreconstructed a one as Oleksandr Paradovsky, who believes that
communism would have been all right if party bosses had not lost touch
with the masses. In an office with a Lenin statue, a large Lenin portrait on
the wall and Stalinist banners in the corner, he railed against election
violations.
'Mayors and school directors publish articles in the official media calling
on people to vote for the Prime Minister. The Putin visit is interference in
our internal affairs!' He seemed oblivious to the irony of his position.
I saw documents signed and sealed by a local authority chairman, consisting
of neat spreadsheets stipulating how many votes each council was to secure
for the Prime Minister, and how much money would be allocated to achieve
it. Government workers at all levels have been told to vote for the boss or
else; tax authorities have offered businesses VAT refunds on condition that
some of the money goes into the PM's campaign coffers. On the eve of the
election I saw an attempt to remove 150 election commissioners,
coincidentally almost all opposition candidates, from local electoral
commissions.
The chairwoman of the No. 138 territorial commission in the suburbs of
Odessa signed the motion to remove the commissioners, even though it was
obviously against the electoral law which stipulates that such changes
cannot be made less than 24 hours ahead. In a hopeful sign, the decision was
overturned by a judge, just as Ukraine's supreme court banned the attempt to
create 400 electoral districts in Russia, which would have given
opportunities for large-scale fraud. Ukraine's civil society is struggling,
but it is there to be defended, at least by comparison with what goes on in
neighbouring countries.
The election is so bitter because the choice is not so much between two
politicians as between two civilisations. Viktor Yushchenko, as chairman of
the National Bank, introduced Ukraine's currency and as prime minister in
the late 1990s got Ukraine's oligarchs to pay taxes, fought corruption and
staked the country's independent position in foreign policy. He is married
to a Ukrainian-American, but runs on a promise to withdraw Ukrainian troops
from Iraq. The young people in Independence Square say that Yushchenko is
the kind of man who would do whatever it takes for Ukraine to become a
candidate for Nato and the EU.
The current Prime Minister could not be more different. Subtlety is not his
strong suit. The creature of the Donetsk mafia which controls much of the
country's wealth, particularly in the industrial east, he has served several
years in prison for assault and robbery. His registration documents as
candidate contained several spelling mistakes, including in the title 'Prime
Minister' itself.
Yanukovych wants Ukraine to join the Russian-dominated Common Economic
Space, erroneously claiming that this is compatible with EU aspirations. His
campaign manager is the chairman of the National Bank, while the head of one
of the political parties which officially supports him is the chairman of
the Central Election Commission.
Despite all the shenanigans, Yushchenko and Yanukovych seem to have tied in
the first round with about 40 percent of the vote each. On a free vote, this
augurs well for Yushchenko, as both the Communist and Socialist candidates,
who took most of the remaining 20 percent, count as opposition. A Yushchenko
victory will not transform Ukraine overnight. This is still a desperately
poor country. Lenin statues dominate many city centres, the infrastructure
is dilapidated and GDP is below $1,000 per capita, although it is growing.
But at least Ukraine would get a chance to emerge from centuries of
oppression and partition.
On the other hand, a Yanukovych victory, particularly a stolen Yanukovych
victory, will complete the drawing of a new line across Europe. No longer
from Szczecin to Trieste, this time from the Barents to the Black sea, a
line will congeal with free-market democracy on the west of it, and with
thugocracies to the east.
Ukraine is pivotal. If 47 million Ukrainians manage to defend their fragile
democracy, autocrats in Minsk and Moscow cannot be sure that their citizens
too might not rebel one day. Or to put it in geopolitical terms, Russia plus
Ukraine is the Russian empire. Russia as a nation state can in due course
develop into a normal, rich and powerful country. But if Russia wastes its
energies on regaining a territorial empire, it will have neither the
tolerance for democracy at home, nor develop into the kind of successful
modern society that can match the growing power of China to its east.
Some people have become so blinded by anti-Americanism that they assume
that whatever Uncle Sam backs must be a bad thing. In this twisted logic, if
the U.S. Congress passes a "Belorus Democracy Act" or helps the struggling
Ukrainian independent media, that is interference, but when Russia pulls out
the stops for Yanukovych, that's just good old Slavic solidarity. In fact we
Slavs no more wish to live in kleptocracies, or be 'disappeared' by our
governments, than people elsewhere.
It's a pity that fellow-travelling, which in Soviet times used to be an
eccentricity of the Left, has now affected people who should know better.
Once you start with global conspiracy theories, it's hard to stop. In the
Yushchenko camp, for example, many are convinced that the U.S. Secretary
of Defense's recent visit to Crimea was no coincidence and that a deal was
stitched up: the U.S. will accept the stealing of the election in return for
leaving the Ukrainian battalion in Iraq.
Pick your paranoia.
The real shame is that, by comparison with the muted but so far honourable
U.S. stance, the EU has been uncharacteristically reticent. For an
organisation which likes to fire self-important broadsides on issues of
democracy and human rights, the European Union takes surprisingly little
interest in the fate of 47 million Europeans in Ukraine. The conduct of the
election campaign has been criticised at the low level of EU ambassadors in
Kiev.
No doubt the fate of Ukrainians is not worth straining the precious
friendships that Chancellor Schröder, President Chirac or Prime Ministers
Blair and Berlusconi feel for that well-known democrat Vladimir Putin.
Easier to bask in the splendour of the signing ceremony of the European
constitution, with its lofty declarations on democracy, than lift a finger
for the sake of an existing democracy that may be about to be extinguished.
If in five years' time we again have to increase our defence budgets to face
a threat from a reconstituted empire that, as usual, externalises its
internal strains, this is the moment when the process may become
irreversible, and we will have ourselves partly to blame. The dictum,
attributed to Burke, that for evil to triumph it is necessary only for the
good men to do nothing, applies in foreign affairs as well. It is now widely
accepted that the EU's lack of statesmanship in not offering a path to
membership to Yugoslavia in the early 1990s contributed to the slide towards
the wars of the Yugoslav succession. This year's NATO summit, which
rebuffed Ukrainian hopes as well as continued the EU's deafness to Ukrainian
aspirations, might one day look equally short-sighted. -30-
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Radek Sikorski is the director of American Enterprise Institute's (AEI)
New Atlantic Initiative. AEI is located in Washington, D.C.
LINK: http://www.aei.org/news/newsID.21506/news_detail.asp
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
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2. "WESTERN AGGRESSION"
John Laughland, The Spectator, London, UK, Sat 6 Nov 2004
A few years ago, a friend of mine was sent to Kiev by the British government
to teach Ukrainians about the Western democratic system. His pupils were
young reformers from western Ukraine, affiliated to the Conservative party.
When they produced a manifesto containing 15 pages of impenetrable waffle,
he gently suggested boiling their electoral message down to one salient
point. What was it, he wondered? A moment of furrowed brows produced the
lapidary and nonchalant reply, OTo expel all Jews from our country."
It is in the west of Ukraine that support is strongest for the man who is
being vigorously promoted by America as the country's next president: the
former prime minister Viktor Yushchenko. On a rainy Monday morning in Kiev,
I met some young Yushchenko supporters, druggy skinheads from Lvov. They
belonged both to a Western-backed youth organisation, Pora, and also to
Ukrainian National Self-Defence (Unso), a semi-paramilitary movement whose
members enjoy posing for the cameras carrying rifles and wearing fatigues
and balaclava helmets. Were nutters like this to be politically active in
any country other than Ukraine or the Baltic states, there would be instant
outcry in the US and British media; but in former Soviet republics, such
bogus nationalism is considered anti-Russian and therefore democratic.
It is because of this ideological presupposition that Anglo-Saxon reporting
on the Ukrainian elections has chimed in with press releases from the State
Department, peddling a fairytale about a struggle between a brave and
beleaguered democrat, Yushchenko, and an authoritarian Soviet nostalgic, the
present Prime Minister, Viktor Yanukovych. All facts which contradict this
morality tale are suppressed. Thus a story has been widely circulated that
Yushchenko was poisoned during the electoral campaign, the fantasy being
that the government was trying to bump him off. But no British or American
news outlet has reported the interview by the chief physician of the Vienna
clinic which treated Yushchenko for his unexplained illness. The clinic
released a report declaring there to be no evidence of poisoning, after
which, said the chief physician, he was subjected to such intimidation by
Yushchenko's entourage - who wanted him to change the report - that he
was forced to seek police protection.
It has also been repeatedly alleged that foreign observers found the
elections fraught with violations committed by the government. In fact, this
is exclusively the view of highly politicised Western governmental
organisations like the OSCE - a body which is notorious for the fraudulent
nature of its own reports, and which in any case came to this conclusion
before the poll had even taken place - and of bogus NGOs, such as the
Committee of Ukrainian Voters, a front organisation exclusively funded by
Western (mainly American) government bodies and think-tanks, and clearly
allied with Yushchenko. Because they speak English, the political activists
in such organisations can easily nobble Anglophone Western reporters.
Contrary allegations - such as those of fraud committed by
Yushchenko-supporting local authorities in western Ukraine, carefully
detailed by Russian election observers but available only in Russian - go
unreported. So too does evidence of crude intimidation made by Yushchenko
supporters against election officials. The depiction is so skewed that
Yushchenko is presented as a pro-Western free-marketeer, even though his
fief in western Ukraine is an economic wasteland; while Yanukovych is
presented as pro-Russian and statist, even though his electoral campaign is
based on deregulation and the economy has been growing at an impressive
clip. The cleanliness and prosperity of Kiev and other cities have improved
noticeably.
There is, however, one thing which separates the two main candidates, and
which explains the West's determination to shoo in Yushchenko: Nato.
Yanukovych has said he is against Ukraine joining; Yushchenko is in favour.
The West wants Ukraine in Nato to weaken Russia geopolitically and to have
a new big client state for expensive Western weaponry, whose manufacturers
fund so much of the US political process.
Yanukovych has also promised to promote Russian back to the status of
second state language. Since most Ukrainian citizens speak Russian, since
Kiev is the historic birthplace of Christian Russia, and since the current
legislation forces tens of millions of Russians to Ukrainianise their names,
this is hardly unreasonable. The continued artificial imposition of
Ukrainian as the state language - started under the Soviets and intensified
after the fall of communism - will be a further factor in ripping Ukraine's
Russophone citizens away from Russia proper. That is why the West wants it.
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LINK: http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php?id=5200&issue=2004-11-06
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
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3. UKRAINE'S BALLOT BOX REVOLUTION MUST NOT BE STIFLED
By Victor Yushchenko, Presidential Candidate, Ukraine
Financial Times, London, UK, Wed, November 3 2004
Ukrainians voted solidly for change in the country's weekend presidential
elections. Despite fears of government interference in the poll, voters
showed determination to exercise their constitutional rights to choose a
president in a peaceful and democratic way.
We will challenge Sunday's poll results, which put me - the opposition's
presidential candidate - neck and neck with Viktor Yanukovich, the incumbent
prime minister and presidential candidate. Already, however, government
officials are in shock that their man did not achieve an outright victory.
For the second time in as many years, voters reminded the incumbent regime
of its tenuous claim on legitimacy.
This was reinforced by the criticism from outside observer teams yesterday
of government interference and state media bias in the poll. The rejection
by many voters of the incumbent leadership should be seen by Kiev's power
brokers as another sign that Ukrainians are demanding change.
The complaints by international poll monitors show that the regime never
intended to conduct free and fair elections, despite declarations by Leonid
Kuchma, the outgoing president, and Mr Yanukovich. The Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe described the vote as a "step back"
from our 2002 parliamentary elections, while US, German and European
Union officials raised serious concerns.
Ukrainian voters must once again go to the polls, this time in a
presidential run-off on November 21. The choice for voters is clear: on one
hand, a vibrant opposition demanding a system of democratic values and
economic initiatives to jumpstart Ukraine's integration into Europe; on the
other, a candidate who represents an incumbent regime that values autocracy
and crony capitalism more than freedom and the rule of law.
The government must now decide whether to ensure the run-off is free and
fair. We must not allow again the voter intimidation and blatant government
interference displayed this past weekend before international observers and,
more importantly, millions of Ukrainians. We intend to put a stop to the
methods of vote-rigging and intimidation employed in the first round.
The main methods of interference included the use of falsified voter
registration lists provided by local governments to polling stations. The
opposition mobilised millions of voters to petition the courts to correct
such errors in advance, lest they be turned away from the polls.
Unfortunately, this process was time-consuming and costly for many people.
As we continue to tally parallel vote counts, we estimate that millions of
opposition supporters were denied the opportunity to vote on polling day or
were too poor to defend their right in court.
A second method could be seen at polling stations throughout the country,
where nearly half a million thugs were dispatched to intimidate members of
election commissions through tactics such as harassing telephone calls and
physical shadowing. These tactics went unchecked by local law enforcement
officials despite complaints and reinforced an atmosphere of fear that
spilled over to polling stations. Finally, in regions where the regime's
candidate looked certain to lose, organised groups engaged in multiple
voting through voter-absentee cards provided by local government officials.
Despite such sabotage efforts, we are certain Ukraine's election commission
will be forced to declare the democratic opposition candidate as winner of
the first round. Exit polls and parallel vote counts show the government
tried, but failed, to steal the election outright. We promised and delivered
the peaceful means to check government abuse in each step of the electoral
process. Going into the run-off, these civil rights activities will
continue.
Herein lies the significance of Ukraine's current election. In the 14 years
since declaring independence from the Soviet Union, the country became
obsessed with the formal attributes of statehood. For too long, we
overlooked the overt political and economic defects of our government,
emphasising the institutionalisation of an independent state and
safeguarding its sovereignty.
Today Ukrainians are prepared to address the essence of their young state,
that which demands an unwavering commitment to democracy and the rule
of law. When the final vote is cast later this month, it will either bring
Ukraine into Europe's fold or set it aside for an undefined period. This
weekend showed that given a fair chance, Ukrainians will make the right
choice via the ballot box. -30-
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The writer, a former Ukrainian prime minister, is the leading opposition
presidential candidate.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
========================================================
4. UKRAINE'S PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: SECOND TIME LUCKY?
The presidential election will be decided by a run-off. Probably
The Economist print edition, London, UK, Thursday, Nov 4, 2004
KIEV - UKRAINE, says an aide to Victor Yushchenko, one of two
remaining candidates for his country's presidency, is not quite a banana
republic. Grotesquely corrupt, maybe; flawed, the first round of its
presidential election on October 31st certainly was. But there are limits
to what malpractice can do. For all their efforts, which allegedly included
two assassination bids, Mr Yushchenko's foes could not stop him
advancing in a strong position to a second round, due on November 21st.
His opponent will be Victor Yanukovich, the prime minister and choice of
Leonid Kuchma, the outgoing president. Mr Yushchenko, a former head
of the central bank, was himself prime minister in 1999-2001, though he
later turned against Mr Kuchma. With the results of 98% of polling stations
audited, Ukraine's central election commission said that each Victor had
won just under 40% of the vote. The commission then suspended its count,
perhaps because it was reluctant to acknowledge that Mr Yushchenko
might be ahead.
Mr Yushchenko's allies insist that he did far better than the official tally
allows victory. According to the most reliable exit poll, he beat Mr
Yanukovich by six points. But some votes, it appears, counted for more
than others, and some did not count at all. Many Ukrainians could not vote
because of mistakes on the electoral rolls; others seem to have voted more
than once. Officials on local electoral commissions are said to have been
intimidated. Western observers criticised these failings, as did the
European Union and America.
It is also impossible to know how Ukrainians might have voted if the run-up
to the poll had not involved state-sponsored bullying, and if media coverage
were not so heavily skewed in Mr Yanukovich's favour. Serhiy Tihipko,
chairman of Mr Yanukovich's campaign, argues that his candidate's exposure
merely reflected his work as prime minister. But many in Ukraine's media
disagree: dozens of journalists working for television channels controlled
by Mr Kuchma or his allies called last week for an end to censorship.
That might yet help to make the second round fairer than the first. Problems
with the rolls and with multiple voting may be considered by Ukraine's
parliament. And the omission of the 22 other candidates from the first round
should improve the atmosphere. Several were of dubious provenance, and
used their statutory air-time to attack Mr Yushchenko. Russia's influence on
proceedings may also wane.
Presumably because of Mr Yushchenko's greater enthusiasm for joining
NATO and the EU, Russia's Vladimir Putin more or less openly backed
Mr Yanukovich. Since the vote, Mr Putin has moved hastily to make it
easier for Ukrainians to work in Russia, and to hold dual citizenship, which
Mr Yanukovich has also pledged to introduce. But such gestures may make
little difference at this late stage.
Moreover, despite the physical effects of what he says was a deliberate
poisoning in September, Mr Yushchenko should best his slower-witted
opponent in the televised debates now being planned. Olexiy Haran, a
political scientist at the Kiev-Mohyla Academy, detects signs of nervous
hedging by oligarchs and power-brokers, who had assumed a Yanukovich
win.
Whether that still materialises might depend on what happens to the
supporters of the ejected socialist and communist candidates, who between
them took 11% of the first-round vote. On the other hand, those in Mr
Kuchma's government with most to lose should Mr Yushchenko win may
yet risk a little banana republicanism disturbances -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
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5. JOURNALISTS SAID "REBELLING AGAINST CENSORSHIP"
AT UKRAINE'S STATE TV PROVIDER
Ukrayinska Pravda web site, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 5 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Fri, November 5, 2004
KYIV - Volodymyr Holosnyak, a presenter of the First National TV channel
[UT1] evening news bulletin, was not allowed to present the programme on
Wednesday [3 November] over his refusal to read out a statement on TV
debates released by [presidential candidate and Prime Minister] Viktor
Yanukovych's HQ and recommended for broadcasting.
Holosnyak agreed with the decision, which was made by Mykola
Kanishevskyy, the first vice-president of the National TV Company of
Ukraine, the press service of the journalists' movement for professional
rights has said.
Holosnyak was insisting that the Yanukovych statement should be
accompanied by information about the conditions on which the rival
[opposition leader] Viktor Yushchenko agreed to take part in the debates.
"Instead of Holosnyak, the programme was presented by Nataliya
Rozynska, who normally presents the daytime bulletins and does not
work in the evening, on the main bulletin," a source at the channel said.
"First National broadcasts have changed, which can be seen from its
reports, because journalists' attitude to their work is very principled,"
the source said.
In particular, the news on Wednesday featured comments by parliamentary
Budget Committee head Petro Poroshenko, who is a member of the
opposition faction Our Ukraine.
In addition, a review of political developments, which was recommended for
broadcasting in a "temnyk" [media coverage instruction allegedly issued by
the presidential administration], was not broadcast after all, because
journalists refused to prepare it.
The channel's management are now trying to have manipulative information
read out by presenters rather than be contained in reports prepared by
journalists.
"There aren't any releasing editors or chief editors on our side, and so a
discrepancy can be felt between lead-ins and balanced reports," the source
said.
The channel's staff are convinced that the problem can be solved if more
First National presenters and editors undertook a commitment to work in a
professional manner.
Last week, journalists protested against the way major TV channels cover the
current election campaign. They signed a statement saying they will work in
a professional manner and give balanced news coverage, reflecting different
points of view.
As of Friday [5 November] morning, the statement was supported by 329
journalists from 34 Ukrainian TV companies. Among them are journalists from
ICTV, Inter, Novyy Kanal, Tonis, NTN, One Plus One Studio, First National,
Era, STB and 5 Kanal.
[Ukraine's main television channels have been observed to tone down their
pro-government bias following the protests by the TV journalists - see BBC
Monitoring research in English 3 Nov 04.] -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208 ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Additional names for the distribution list are always welcome
========================================================
6. YANUKOVYCH CONFIRMS HIS INTENTION TO CONDUCT
POLITICAL REFORM AND BAN LAND SALE
PM will not allow land to become an object of business
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Fri, November 5, 2004
KYIV - Presidential candidate, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych has
confirmed his earlier stated intention to conduct political reform and ban
the sale of land if he is elected president. He made the comment to
journalists.
Yanukovych emphasized that political reform needs to be carried out since
life and the people requires this in as much as they expect that the
government will work more effectively in the interest of society and correct
the mistakes that were made in the past.
"I am a supporter of the process of renewing the state as a whole, including
government, and not only personnel changes," said Yanukovych.
He also noted that he considers it necessary to redistribute duties between
the center and the region in favor of the regions.
Speaking about the sale of land, Yanukovych noted that he will by no means
allow land to become an object of business, and so that it would be used as
another opportunity to rob the state and people. "By no means should this
be done now and I will not allow this," said Yanukovych.
As Ukrainian News reported previously, Yanukovych stated plans to conduct
political reform and he was also opposed to the introduction of land sale
during the election campaign.
The issue of conducting political reform and prohibiting the sale of land is
the main principle positions contained in the election platforms of the
Communist and Socialist Parties' leaders.
Yanukovych called on voters that supported Symonenko and Moroz in the
first round of the election to give their support to him in the expected
second round, noting that there are many areas in the policy of Symonenko
and Moroz that coincide with his platform.
The CPU decided not to support Our Ukraine bloc's leader Viktor Yuschenko
and Yanukovych in the expected second round of the presidential elections.
Socialist Party leader Oleksandr Moroz said that it is impossible for the
SPU to support the candidate from the government and he said that the party
might support Yuschenko in case he supports several provisions of the
party's program, including the conduct of political reform and the banning
of land sale. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
========================================================
7. YANUKOVYCH SAYS STATEMENT ON DELIBERATE DELAY
OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION RETURNS ARE INCORRECT.
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Thu, November 4, 2004
KYIV - Ukrainian presidential candidate, Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych described as ill-posed the statements by a number of
politicians that the Central Electoral Commission deliberately delays
the announcement of the October 31 presidential election returns.
Yanukovych disclosed this to reporters.
He said that the legislation had set the terms during which the Central
Electoral Commission must announce its decision.
Yanukovych also characterized as tactless the attempts of political forces
to give the assessment, as a rule negative, to the work of the Central
Electoral Commission. The Premier emphasized that he personally
refrains from commenting the work of the Central Electoral Commission.
He said there are monitors, including international, as well as courts, that
must draw their conclusions on the violations made during the ballot.
'If there are court verdicts, one may say then that falsifications or law
breaches took place in some or other region. I believe that unless such
decisions were not passed, it is timeless to comment or make biased
statements. I do not do that,' Yanukovych said.
At the same time, Yanukovych said he was not surprises that the negative
comments on the CEC work were made by its opponents, who, in his words,
build their election campaigns on all sort of shady enterprises. 'I believe,
we must learn political culture,' Yanukovych said.
As Ukrainian News reported earlier, a number of presidential candidates and
their headquarters express discontent and concern that the CEC has not do
far announced the final results of the presidential elections of October 31,
linking it to a possible falsification of the election returns. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 208: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Letters to the editor are always welcome
========================================================
8. EAST OR WEST?
Ukraine will play host to this month's other watershed election
REVIEW & OUTLOOK, The Wall Street Journal
New York, New York, Wed, November 3, 2004
Ukraine will play host to this month's other watershed election 17 days
hence. As in America yesterday, voters in that nation of 48 million must
choose between two very different presidential candidates. Unlike in the
U.S., this Ukrainian poll may well decide whether the country ever holds a
free election again. No higher stakes are imaginable for a budding
democracy.
In Sunday's first round, observers reported flawed voter lists, groups of
threatening and drunken men at polling stations, double voting, the
intimidation of students and state employees, the theft of ballot boxes,
among other "irregularities." And that was just election day. The campaign
itself was full of dirty tricks. Supporters of Viktor Yushchenko, the
opposition leader, tore down election posters of the state-chosen candidate,
Prime Minister Viktor Yakunovych. For his part, Mr. Yakunovych didn't
hesitate to use this government office to his advantage.
The police harassed independent NGOs and rounded up members of a student
movement, Pora. Channel 5, the only TV network not run by the state or its
close friends, had its broadcasting license revoked two weeks ago, prompting
a handful of employees to stage a hunger strike. Mr. Yushchenko claimed he
was poisoned, forcing him off the campaign trail for a month. Earlier,
someone tried to ram his car off the road.
So Ukraine's election, to put it kindly, hasn't been pretty or clean. Yet
for all its faults, Sunday's poll at least produced an outcome that leading
contenders can live with. The two Viktors -- Yushchenko and Yakunovych --
ended up with nearly identical results, around 40%, short of the majority
needed to claim victory in the first round. Ukrainian voters were treated to
a spirited and informative campaign that presented real choices -- a
privilege, alas, denied Russians and Belarusians, making this country a last
hope for democracy in the ex-U.S.S.R. The next, tougher, test will be the
Nov. 21 run-off.
The first round revealed a geographic split that reflected deeper divisions.
Eastern, Russian-speaking Ukraine sided with Mr. Yanukovych, drawn by his
promises to permit dual Russian citizenship and nurture closer ties with
Moscow. The nationalistic, Western half went for Mr. Yushchenko, as did the
capital, Kiev. The former prime minister wants to mold Ukraine into a
European state, tied to the EU and NATO. But both candidates attracted
voters in the middle. After 13 years of independence, Ukraine isn't about to
rejoin the Russian empire, for all the wishful thinking among some people in
Moscow.
Ahead of Nov. 21, the powerful tycoons and Kuchma cronies -- "the party
of power" -- will be desperate to get Mr. Yanukovych into office. As is
Vladimir Putin, making Moscow's preferences clear. On the other side, an
awakened, younger electorate is ready to defend, even fight, for its
recently won freedoms.
To all appearances, the least risky, not to mention the most noble, path for
Mr. Kuchma would be to ensure that the run-off will be a model election.
America and Europe have a pressing interest in seeing Ukraine , a
strategically located nation, stay in the democratic camp rather than in any
particular candidate. Unlike Russia, Ukraine has proved it can handle
democracy. In 1994, Mr. Kuchma won, fair and square, sending his predecessor
to a happy retirement. Mr. Kuchma could do the same. But vote rigging in
past polls, and their tactics in this, shows that his allies won't give up
power easily.
Stalin once remarked that it's not important how people vote but who counts
the ballots. In Ukraine , how the ballots are counted and campaigns run will
determine whether the Nov. 21 vote will be perceived, and accepted, as fair.
That's the real issue, not whether Ukraine turns east or west, or which
Viktor wins. Enough people are watching to make it nearly impossible to cook
the results unnoticed. If that is attempted, all bets are off. How much
simpler it would be for the Kuchma government just to play by the rules.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
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9. POLISH PRESIDENT CALLS FOR "CLEAN" SECOND ROUND
IN UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
PAP news agency, Warsaw, in Polish 0929 gmt 3 Nov 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Wed, Nov 3, 20004
WARSAW -November: President Aleksander Kwasniewski said on
Wednesday [3 November] that he hoped that all earlier irregularities
will be eliminated before the second round of the presidential election
in Ukraine.
"I would like these three weeks before [the second round of the] election
to be used to remove the irregularities that took place. These concern the
voter lists and the unequal access to the media," Kwasniewski said on
[commercial] TVN 24.
In the president's opinion, a good solution would be to hold a TV debate
between the two Ukrainian presidential candidates: Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych and the opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko. "We should
call for debates like this, and for the election to be clean. There should
be even more observers than during the first round of the election," the
president thinks.
He gave assurances that Poland will cooperate with whoever wins the
election in Ukraine. [Passage omitted: results of first round] -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
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10. PUTIN DESERVES A SWIFT KICK
Vladimir Putin is trying to put the boots to Ukrainian attempts at reform.
He must be challenged, says ex-envoy DEREK FRASER
By Derek Fraser, former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine
The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Wed, Nov 3, 2004
When I was ambassador to Ukraine, Ukrainian officials would claim that,
by using "administrative means," they could add 10 per cent to 15 per cent
to the votes of the government candidate.
The "administrative means" used in Ukraine's current presidential election
campaign, the dirtiest since independence, have probably added much more
than that to the vote for Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, the candidate
chosen by the current President, Leonid Kuchma, to be his successor. There
have been two apparent attempts on the life of the leading opposition
candidate, Viktor Yushchenko (one, a presumed poisoning, took him out of
the campaign for weeks). Opposition rallies have been blocked or broken
up.
The government administration has campaigned for Mr. Yanukovich. Students
and public- and private-sector employees have been ordered to support him.
Mainstream media have been told what to say; the rare opposition media
voices have been harassed; the central and regional election commissions
have been taken over; phony Yushchenko posters have been distributed, and
phony Yushchenko rallies have been organized to give the impression that
Mr. Yushchenko is a fascist.
The result: An electorate in which 70 per cent to 80 per cent initially
wanted a change of government had, in Sunday's first round of voting
(according to exit polls conducted by reputable Ukrainian firms using
Western methods), backed Mr. Yushchenko by 44.4 per cent and Mr.
Yanukovich by 38 per cent. The official Central Electoral Commission
count, as of yesterday, has converted these results into 39.22 per cent
for Mr. Yushchenko and 39.88 per cent for Mr. Yanukovich.
The European Union, the United States, the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe and the Council of Europe have all criticized the
first round for not meeting democratic standards.
Although opinion polls have indicated that the majority of those who
supported lesser candidates in the first round are likely to support Mr.
Yushchenko in the final round on Nov. 21, the tactics used to produce
Sunday's official result may lead to a Yanukovich victory. Ukraine under
Mr. Yanukovich could move further toward a dictatorship, as in Belarus.
Before becoming Prime Minister, Mr. Yanukovich ran the politics of his
eastern Ukrainian fief of Donetsk with authoritarian efficiency. In
elections, he could be counted on to produce whatever percentage Mr.
Kuchma wanted.
Should Ukraine become increasingly authoritarian, there will pressure in
the West to treat Ukraine under Mr. Yanukovich as we treat Belarus under
its dictator, Alexander Lukashenko -- that is, as a political pariah. The
problem is, such a policy will further isolate Ukraine, whose
independence, under Russian pressure, has already suffered from the
relative political isolation of Mr. Kuchma (arising from the strong
suspicion that he has had some of his political opponents murdered).
In considering what to do in confronting the gross violations of democracy
in Ukraine, we should look at Russia's role in bringing that country to
heel and in encouraging a Yanukovich victory. Moscow has taken advantage
of Mr. Kuchma's isolation to press Ukraine into becoming a member of the
Common Economic Space, which is, in Russian eyes, intended to become a
common market but with all the central institutions under Russian control.
It has pressed Ukraine to abandon its goal of joining NATO, the EU or
even, as an independent actor, the World Trade Organization. Its security
organs have co-operated with their Ukrainian counterparts in harassing Mr.
Kuchma's opponents. As in past elections, Russia has apparently poured in
money in support of Mr. Kuchma's interests. Mr. Putin's PR specialists
have worked for Mr. Yanukovich; Russian TV has campaigned for him. At
the end of the campaign, Mr. Putin used an official visit to Ukraine to make
a TV broadcast on Mr. Yanukovich's behalf.
Russia, in its efforts to recover its great power status, is trying to
construct a confederation with corrupt dictatorships: Belarus, Kazakhstan
and (it hopes) Ukraine. It is also seeking economic co-operation with the
West to recover its dynamism.
Russia should be forced to choose between the one or the other goal. We
should make it clear to Russia that, if the second round of voting in
Ukraine is as fraudulent as the first, Russia's candidacy to join the WTO
will be put on hold. -30-
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Derek Fraser, a senior research associate at the Centre for Global Studies
at the University of Victoria, was Canada's ambassador to Ukraine from
1998 to 2001. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Additional names for the distribution list are always welcome
========================================================
11. "UKRAINE VOTE PANNED, PRAISED"
By Natalia A. Feduschak, The Washington Times
Washington, D.C., Tuesday, November 2, 2004
KIEV - International observers criticized Ukraine's presidential
election yesterday, saying the race did not meet standards, but a group
of former U.S. congressmen said they had found the vote to be free
and fair.
The Central Election Commission (CEC), meanwhile, quit counting ballots
for the day with 5.6 percent of the polling places still to report and the
two leading candidates within one percentage point of each other. With 94.4
percent of the precincts counted, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych had
40.12 percent of the vote and opposition leader Victor Yushchenko had
39.15 percent.
The opposition leader led in 17 of Ukraine's 26 regions, including the
capital, Kiev, where most of the uncounted ballots were cast. Mr.
Yanukovych led in the remaining nine regions, mostly in the largely
industrialized, Russian-speaking east. Because neither candidate won 50
percent of the vote, the two will meet again in a runoff on Nov. 21.
Oleksander Zinchenko, Mr. Yushchenko's campaign manager, accused
the CEC of stopping its count for fear that the remaining Kiev ballots would
have put his candidate ahead. "It's understood how Kievites voted. And
then the CEC would be forced today to say that Yushchenko won the election.
That's why the CEC needed to take a pause, to figure out what to do now."
Bruce George, a special coordinator for the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, which sent 600 observers to Ukraine, said the
election had failed to meet "a considerable number of OSCE, Council of
Europe and other European standards for democratic elections."
Many of the violations concerned electors' names not appearing correctly
on voter lists or other technicalities, such as their names being
misspelled. Some Ukrainian lawmakers said the mistakes affected 30 percent
of voters.
Natalia Plotnyk, a resident of Kiev's affluent Pechersk region, was
nearly denied the right to vote because her family's last name appeared on
the voter list using the Russian transliteration, rather than the Ukrainian.
Elections officials allowed Miss Plotnyk's mother to vote, but said she
could not. It was only after she involved senior election officials and
neighbors vouched for her identity that Miss Plotnyk was allowed to cast
her ballot. In other regions of Ukraine, many voters waited for hours to win
court approval to vote because of similar problems.
U.S. federal Judge Bohdan Futey, an observer with the International
Republican Institute, said such incidents marked "a step back" for Ukraine's
democracy.
"This didn't happen before," said Judge Futey, referring to Ukraine's
two previous presidential elections, which received high marks. "The
government needs to take immediate steps" to resolve these issues before
the second round.
But observers from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States
said Ukraine's race was free and fair. So did a group of former U.S.
congressmen who visited 75 polling places in Odessa, Donetsk and Kiev.
"The elections took place within the framework of the law," said Bob Carr, a
former Democratic congressman from Michigan, according to the Unian news
agency. "They were transparent and the violations that were reported don't
put in doubt the wishes of the voters."
Mr. Yanukovych, who welcomed the results from Sunday's race, said it
was important to rectify issues before the runoff. -30-
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LINK: http://washingtontimes.com/world/20041101-104314-7985r.htm
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.208: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
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12. "WILL UKRAINE CHOOSE RUSSIA OR THE WEST?"
Ukraine's presidential race between Viktor Yanukovich and liberal
opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko is neck-and-neck. DW's
Ute Schaeffer weighs up the options.
OPINION: by DW's Ute Schaeffer
Deutsche Welle, Bonn, Germany, Mon, Nov 1, 2004
As Ukraine decides either to deepen ties with Moscow or pursue the liberal
policies of its western neighbors, early results Monday showed current Prime
Minister Yanukovich is just one percent ahead of his reformist challenger.
AN UGLY CAMPAIGN
The Ukrainian electorate was determined not to be compromised. A bitter
campaign of political mud-slinging and recrimination was not enough to deter
the voters from casting their ballots in what could prove to be a critical
poll for the former Soviet state.
They kept their eye firmly on the broader picture, unshaken as the
opposition accused the media of a pro-Yanukovich bias and supporters of the
establishment's candidate claimed that western-leaning Yushchenko was in
cahoots with both the CIA and radical nationalistic groups.
A DIVIDED COUNTRY
The two candidates represent two ends of Ukraine's political spectrum. Prime
Minister Yanukovich, backed by Moscow and voters in the Russian-speaking
industrial East, wants to strengthen the centralist power of the State,
while Yushchenko stands for liberal economics and social reform.
The outcome of Sunday's election shows how precarious Ukraine's future is.
In many respects, it's a divided country. Many of the younger generation
have studied or worked abroad. Today, they're increasingly alienated from
low-income and elderly voters, who can still remember the days of Soviet
rule, when life was predictable and economically secure.
Not surprisingly, the western part of the country -- which borders Poland
and therefore the EU -- proved to be a Yushchenko stronghold.
More surprisingly, Sunday's outcome suggested the "establishment candidate"
Yanukovich failed to win over the country's elite. Up to 75 percent of
voters in the capital came out in support of the opposition. As the downfall
of the Soviet Union fourteen years ago proved, leadership that lacks the
backing of the elite is clearly losing ground.
CRUCIAL FACTORS
The run-off next month will undoubtedly be decided by what now happens
behind the scenes.
Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma will want to know how much he can
rely on Yanukovich, were he to remain in office. And the oligarchs may
switch sides and decide to back Yushchenko. Its questions like these that
will influence the results of the run-off. Other crucial factors include the
possibility that Yanukovich again raises pensions and public sector wages.
The country's communists and radical left may also prove critical. Will they
choose West-leaning Yushchenko or Russia-oriented Yanukovich?
FLAWED DEMOCRACY
According to Ukrainian writer Andrey Kurkow, the country still lacks a truly
democratic candidate. It would be naive to see the presidential race as a
battle between traditionalists and reformers. Viktor Yushchenko's base
includes plenty of non-democratic elements, and if he assumes office, he
will have to make inevitable concessions.
Nonetheless, during his term as prime minister five years ago, Yushchenko
demonstrated that he acknowledges the nation's ties to Russia while
believing in social justice and understanding how to prompt market reforms.
Under his leadership, Ukraine might not become a flawless democracy, but
the country would get its best shot at gradual, lasting change. Ute
Schaeffer (jp) -30-
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LINK: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1382392,00.html
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