"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"
U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL !!
"US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday roundly rejected
scathing Russian criticism of the West's role in Ukraine's election
crisis, saying the United States and its allies were interested only in
freedom for the Ukrainian people. In addition, he hit out at Moscow's
suggestions that the West, through the Organization of Security and
Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) election monitoring teams, were
"interfering" in former Soviet states." [article number one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 04, Number 251
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, TUESDAY, December 7, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1.U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ROUNDLY REJECTS
RUSSIAN ACCUSATIONS ON UKRAINE'S ELECTION CRISIS
Agency France Presse (AFP), Sofia, Bulgaria, Tue, Dec 7, 2004
2. UKRAINE'S 'GODDESS OF REVOLUTION'
By Marina Denysenko, BBC NEWS, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, Dec 5, 2004
3. "A MODEL REVOLUTIONARY"
Tom Reed, The Independent, London, UK, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
4. "TIME TO GET CRACKING"
ANALYSIS: By Ivan Lozowy
THE UKRAINE INSIDER, Vol. 4, No. 5
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, December 7, 2004
5. UKRAINE: CHANNEL 5 TV POPULARITY RISES
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 6 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
6. CANDIDATE'S U.S.-BORN WIFE FIGHTS FOR UKRAINE
Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko
By Russell Working, Tribune staff reporter
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Sun, December 5, 2004
7. WHY AN IMMUNITY DEAL MEANS SO MUCH TO KUCHMA
Irish Times, Ireland, Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004
8. "ORANGE U.S.-RUSSIA FALLOUT"
ANALYSIS: By Peter Lavelle
United Press International, Moscow, Russia, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
9. NARROW CIRCLE, SOVIET-ERA VIEWS BLAMED FOR KREMLIN
LEADER'S FOREIGN POLICY MISTAKES IN ITS OWN BACKYARD
David McHugh, AP Worldstream, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
10. YUSHCHENKO'S ILLNESS PUZZLES DOCTORS
By Elisabeth Rosenthal, International Herald Tribune
Europe, Saturday, December 4, 2004
11. PORA PHENOMENON FOR THE PEOPLE?"
Ukraine's youth movement at crossroads
By Oleh Pokalchuk, Ukrayinska Pravda web site
Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Friday, 3 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 251: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE COLIN POWELL ROUNDLY REJECTS
RUSSIAN ACCUSATIONS ON UKRAINE'S ELECTION CRISIS
Agency France Presse (AFP), Sofia, Bulgaria, Tue, Dec 7, 2004
SOFIA - US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Tuesday roundly
rejected scathing Russian criticism of the West's role in Ukraine's election
crisis, saying the United States and its allies were interested only in
freedom for the Ukrainian people. In addition, he hit out at Moscow's
suggestions that the West, through the Organization of Security and
Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) election monitoring teams, were
"interfering" in former Soviet states.
"Some countries have recently argued that the OSCEs field work constitutes
interference in internal affairs, that the OSCE has 'double standards', and
that the OSCE has concentrated its efforts in the former Soviet republics
for political reasons," Powell said. "I categorically disagree," he told an
OSCE ministerial meeting here. "All OSCE participating states signed up to
the proposition that fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law are
of legitimate concern to us all."
Earlier, Powell had denied sharp allegations by Russian President Vladimir
Putin who on Monday accused the West of playing "sphere of interest"
politics in Ukraine and destabilizing the former Soviet Union by pushing its
own interests in the name of democracy. "The people of the Ukraine are
playing democracy in the name of freedom," Powell told reporters after
meeting with Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy.
"Spheres of influence, I think, is a term that really isn't relevant to the
circumstances that we are facing today," he said, maintaining that foreign
policy strategies had changed radically since the end of the Cold War.
"We're not competing or fighting over these places," Powell said, referring
to Ukraine, Georgia, the countries of Central Asia and the Caucasus. "We
are not asking them to choose between the East and West.
"It's a different world we're living in where people want freedom, they want
democracy, they want to be able to select their own leaders, they want to be
able to select their own partners and friends." he said. "You can have
friends in both the East and to the West," Powell added.
On Monday, Putin lashed out at the West supporting Ukrainian opposition
leader Viktor Yushchenko, who he said was demanding power no matter what
the voters decided. While he stressed that Russia would work with any leader
who ultimately emerged from elections in Ukraine or any other part of the
former Soviet Union, Putin seized on concerns that the West is trying to
expand its influence in the former Soviet Union through democratic
revolutions.
"We in Russia cannot support this sort of development... even if someone
wants to call that 'democracy'," Putin told Russian journalists accompanying
him on a trip to Turkey. He warned this would lead to new divisions with
some countries "being dictated to by a kind but strict uncle telling them
what conditions they will live under. "And if they don't obey, they will be
beaten with a rocket and missile club, as happened in Belgrade," Putin said,
referring to the NATO-led war on the former Yugoslavia over Kosovo.
Putin had openly supported Ukraine's pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovich against the pro-western Yushchenko to succeed outgoing President
Leonid Kuchma in the November 21 contest. He congratulated Yanukovich,
the announced victor, twice after the vote despite observers' claims that
the
polls were riddled with fraud and massive street protests in Kiev that led
to the election's invalidation by Ukraine's Supreme Court, EU mediation and
the scheduling of a new run-off vote on December 26.
Powell said he was hopeful that the parliament would on Tuesday adopt a plan
to move forward with a new run-off election as well as resolve other
disputes that have emerged. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.251: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
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2. UKRAINE'S 'GODDESS OF REVOLUTION'
By Marina Denysenko, BBC NEWS, Kyiv, Ukraine, Sun, Dec 5, 2004
KIEV - Orange-clad protesters call her "Goddess of the Revolution" while
outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and some of the oligarchs - Ukraine's
business and political elite - are believed to hate her. Lady Yu has already
hinted she wants to be next prime minister.
Glamorous Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the key figures of the ongoing Orange
Revolution in Ukraine, ignites passion on both sides. She is a close ally of
Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the Ukrainian opposition that believes he
won the bitterly disputed presidential run-off on 21 November.
Recent events have elevated Ms Tymoshenko's popularity to new heights,
literally. On one occasion, riot police guarding Mr Kuchma's office raised
their shields to allow her through to where talks were being held. On
another, she perched on top of a bus, from where she whipped the crowd
into a frenzy with her calls for the government's resignation. "I would even
prefer her to be the president," one of the Kiev protesters says.
CONTROVERSIAL CHARACTER
In her speeches, Ms Tymoshenko has referred to Mr Kuchma as a "red-haired
cockroach". And when talking about the supporters of Viktor Yanukovych,
who claimed victory in the election, she suggested they should hang
themselves on the blue and white scarves they wear.
Yushchenko and Tymoshenko are symbols of the Orange Revolution Her
opponents say she is demagogic and pretentious. She sports an elaborate
hairdo reminiscent of a peasant plait, meant to appeal to ordinary
Ukrainians. But her followers point to her intelligence and charisma.
Ms Tymoshenko is seen as one of the candidates for the post of prime
minister in post-Kuchma Ukraine, and that makes many Ukrainians feel
uncomfortable.
They point to her controversial past when in the 1990s she reportedly made a
fortune from questionable gas trading. She was briefly arrested in February
2001, but the next month a court in Kiev quashed all the charges and
annulled the arrest warrant.
She became one of the key players in Mr Yushchenko's government of
1999-2001, launching an all-out assault on the oligarchs' interests in
Ukraine's highly corrupt energy sector. As the result of her efforts, some
$2bn were re-directed into the state budget. Ms Tymoshenko's critics say
that once she is in power she is likely to be driven by revenge for those
oligarchs in the energy sector.
LADY YU'S CHARISMA
Her radicalism is offset by the more moderate tactics of Mr Yushchenko. "If
Tymoshenko had been in charge, the breakthrough would have already been
achieved," BBC Kiev office head Svitlana Dorosh says. But local observers
agree that Mr Yushchenko's team needs such a personality. With a new poll
just days away, it is essential to keep the momentum of the street protests
going, they say. And the charisma of Lady Yu may be indispensable. Mr
Yushchenko's flamboyant aide is adored by the crowds that seem to have
forgotten that she used to be an oligarch herself. -30-
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4070663.stm
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.251: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
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3. "A MODEL REVOLUTIONARY"
Tom Reed, The Independent, London, UK, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
In the past seven years, Julia Tymoshenko has endured imprisonment, the
jailing of her husband and several assassination attempts. But, even
considering the drama that has accompanied her life, she could never have
imagined the events that saw her emerge as a leading actor in one of the
most unexpected political upheavals of recent history.
Since 21 November, Tymoshenko has been the force behind the protests that
have kept up to half a million people camped outside the parliament in Kiev,
the capital of Ukraine. And as the country gears up for one last push
towards true democracy, the pressure grows on her - a glamorous radical, and
deputy to the opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko - to keep up the momentum
for reform.
Yet no fanfare, and no visual frisks from men carrying Glock firearms, greet
my arrival at her dacha outside Kiev. I simply push open the back door, and
there she is: a tiny, pretty woman with a mass of honey-blonde hair, wearing
pink jeans and a black polo-neck, smiling that amazing smile.
I recall an article in The Economist warning that, though she may look like
Audrey Hepburn, anyone who has got this far in a country where politics
often resembles a Jacobean revenge tragedy must have an edge. If so, it's
difficult to discern as she flutters her hands apologetically: "Would you
like some coffee, some tea?"
I feel wrong-footed, embarrassed. Surely I should be the nervous one? After
all, her enemies have dubbed her the "Gas Princess" and portray her as a
ruthless oligarch. She's been demonised as a robber baroness who bilked
Ukraine's energy industry as the people froze and factories closed during
the frenzied privatisations of the 1990s. Her supporters, just as many,
consider her a saint. Village crones travel to Kiev to bring her icons; some
have photos of her on their walls. To her admirers, she is Ukraine's answer
to Aung San Suu Kyi; a Marianne for the post-perestroika generation.
"Ukraine is always told that its elections are critical," Tymoshenko says,
leaning forward on the sofa. "But I can say for sure that in the last four
years, the power of the eastern clans has been solidified so much that if
the people don't take power back now, we never will."
Born in 1960, in Dnepropetrovsk, a Russian-speaking village that was also
the birthplace of Leonid Brezhnev, Tymoshenko trained as an economist before
amassing a huge fortune through her dealings in the energy industry. She
then decided to enter politics. She made the transition from a member of
Ukraine's disliked new moneyed elite to become the deputy prime minister
in 2001, at the age of 41.
"I had no idea how democracy worked," she says. "The first time I voted, it
was for myself as a parliamentary candidate. We had set up a business, a
commodity brokerage, trading steel, coal, cotton, things like that, for
Russian gas. You have to understand that, after the fall of the Soviet
Union, the old trade links broke down and Ukraine had no proper markets
for its raw materials. I saw an opportunity to help restore them, but there
was no legislation to support private business. The government was still
essentially Communist and didn't want to change anything."
Trying to get things done led her to enter parliament. "I soon realised that
most of the decisions taken there were just rubber-stamping President
Kuchma's decrees." So she called for his impeachment. "He took bribes to
allow nomenklatura privatisations. He took bribes to appoint people to
positions of power. He said, `On condition you work for me, I will sell you
this factory or this property for a nominal sum.' He's the head of the
shadow economy."
Appointed energy minister in 2000, her success at breaking the power
of the regional business clans triggered a swift fall from grace. She proved
to be a little too good at her job. Through intermediaries, Ukraine's
oligarchs
tried to "persuade" her to abandon the reform programme, or face
unspecified consequences. She refused.
First, the Ukrainian government cancelled her company's contracts with
Russia, then demanded that the business repay the state $5bn and return to
Russia all the gas Ukraine had already burnt in its homes and generators.
The company, UESU, collapsed under its weight of debt, but her enemies
didn't stop there. They hauled Oleksandr, Julia's husband and fellow UESU
executive, off to prison, and then they seized her father-in-law. And, on 13
February 2001, machine gun-wielding police from the Prosecutor General's
office burst through her front door to arrest her.
"After my husband's arrest, I knew that soon they would come for me," she
says. "I packed an overnight bag. I carried it everywhere with me. I could
have left and asked for asylum, but I never really considered that. I felt
that if I left the country it would be capitulation, and if they chased away
all the normal people the country would not survive. I was in prison for 43
days."
Oleksandr escaped and is now in hiding outside the country. Her father-
in-law, Gennady, was recently released after several years in prison.
Julia's daughter Zhenya said: "He has been kept in horrible conditions and
almost died. They took him to intensive care at the last minute. He is still
learning to walk again." Now Julia lives with her daughter, two housekeepers
and, occasionally, a discreet bodyguard.
Slightly awed that she still describes herself as "normal", I ask her what
conditions were like in the prison where she was held. For the first time,
her poise falters. I realise she is about to cry. Absurdly, I want to pat
her on the knee. But she is not interested in telling me about how much she
suffered. She only wants to tell me about her fellow inmates, and the fate
of the judge who ordered her release; his career and his children's were
destroyed.
On the face of it, an opposition victory looks almost impossible. Moscow,
which fears creeping Westernisation on its borders, has signalled its
support for the current regime. And with impeccable timing, its prosecutors
have charged Tymoshenko with corrupting Russian officials. As well as an
election campaign, she is fighting attempts to extradite her and lives in
fear of kidnap by security officials.
So what will the opposition do if it should win? Will she move against the
oligarchs? Similar attempts to clamp down on Serbia's shadowy businessmen
cost that country's prime minister, Zoran Djindjic, his life when he was
gunned down by a sniper last year. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin took
a different tack, giving an informal amnesty to the oligarchs who remained
after Boris Yeltsin's presidency.
Suddenly, Tymoshenko smiles that amazing smile. "We can't start with
economics. We need to re-establish the rule of law and a free press.
Besides, the oligarchs are cowards. As soon as they realise that the system
has changed they will be forced to change their methods or go to jail."
And, crucially, which way will Ukraine lean once it becomes a properly
functioning country again? Will it lean towards Europe, or will it look to
Russia for guidance?
"I am not a market fundamentalist," Tymoshenko says. "I dislike both
[Francis] Fukuyama and Marx - these radical philosophers shouldn't hurry
with forecasting the end of the world. I find utopias boring. It's time for
Ukraine to grow up." -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 251: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
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4. "TIME TO GET CRACKING"
ANALYSIS: By Ivan Lozowy
THE UKRAINE INSIDER, Vol. 4, No. 5
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, December 7, 2004
With a re-vote in the presidential elections scheduled for December 26 the
government will soon realize, if it has not already, that its best course
of action is to do a repeat of the second round, held November 21, which
the pro-government candidate Viktor Yanukovych won. After all, the
machinery for mass falsifications is already in place in the form of
election commissions, formed or bought off by the regime, local government,
organized crime and law enforcement officials working hand-in-hand with the
experience of two rounds of voting behind them.
For his part, Yushchenko's inability to control the situation on the ground
was staggering. Prior to the first round, leaders from "Our Ukraine"
quoted wildly different figures for the number of observers mobilized by
Yushchenko's campaign. Initially, they said 300,000 observers were ready,
then the figure became 180,000. Before the second round Yushchenko
himself quoted a figure of 80,000.
Several days before round two, responding to a telephone call-in complaint
that Yushchenko's Zaporizhya campaign office was dismissive of assistance
offers, Yushchenko's representative MP Mykola Tomenko said on television:
"There is no need to go to the regional campaign offices."
Yushchenko's regional campaign offices in most of Ukraine have become a
by-word for inefficiency and, worst of all, many are working against their
candidate's interests (See the Ukraine Insider, vol. 4, no. 4 from November
30, 2004).
Even the central campaign headquarters is leaky. After the second round
of voting, one student from Donetsk submitted, confidentially, a detailed
list of specific election violations to Yushchenko's central campaign
headquarters only to find himself harassed by local officials only days
later.
This sad state of affairs is all the more discouraging given the very
favorable conditions which Yushchenko started with. After his removal as
Prime Minister on April 26, 2002, he had unprecedented, high poll ratings.
He had two years in which to prepare for his presidential bid. Best of
all, he has impressive financial support from some of Ukraine's richest
people.
For example, Channel 5, which provides intense exposure for Yushchenko,
is funded to the tune of millions of dollars by Petro Poroshenko, a close
supporter of Yushchenko. Another Yushchenko supporter, Mykola
Martynenko, is in the top ten of Ukraine's richest.
Yet a chronic indecisiveness has plagued Yushchenko's campaign. For two
years the headquarters of Our Ukraine's parliamentary faction, the largest
in the Rada, headed by former Kuchma aide Roman Bessmertny and
endowed with close to a hundred staff in a four-story building, did next to
nothing.
In a belatedly late recognition that all is not right Yushchenko appointed
Oleksandr Zinchenko as his campaign manager four months before election
day. Instead of assuming Bessmertny's post, Zinchenko got himself a
separate, two-story building, which quickly filled up with new staffers.
Earlier, Oleh Rybachuk, an MP among those closest to Yushchenko, had
occupied a separate three-story building styled as the "Office of Viktor
Yushchenko."
As the largest faction in the Rada (or parliament), Our Ukraine receives a
large amount of technical support on the state budget, office space,
equipment, salaries, transportation, communications. This wealth of
resources, which should have been used to support work in parliament and
prepare Yushchenko's bid for the presidency, is run by Vira Ulianchenko,
or "Baba Vira," as she is not so fondly known. Her co-workers claim she
shows up in her office about once a month.
As a result of wasting resources on separate campaign offices regional
representatives have seen few campaign materials. Few apartments in Kyiv
have seen any Yushchenko campaign materials brought to their doors.
Worst of all, massive voting falsifications conducted at the polling station
level have gone unchecked. Thus, following the second round Yushchenko
has been unable to point to a large stack of protocols, video and audio
records of election violations.
Yushchenko's lack of decisiveness was evident during negotiations with
Kuchma and Yanukovych held under the auspices of the EU and the OSCE
on December 1. Yushchenko went in to the meeting with parliament's no
confidence vote in the government in his pocket. At that time even Kuchma
was talking of replacing Prime Minister Yanukovych. Yushchenko came out
of the meeting having given away talks on the so-called "political reform,"
which would deprive the post he is about to win of some critical powers.
He also promised to remove pressure on the government in the form of
blocking its office buildings.
The event caused a mini-crisis in the Yushchenko camp. His otherwise
stalwart ally, Yulia Tymoshenko, publicly criticized Yushchenko, saying he
had "failed to consult the Maidan," or Independence Square on which
hundreds of thousands of people are protesting. The "Pora!" youth
organization called for a halt to negotiations and warned that they could
switch allegiance to Yushchenko as leader of the opposition. In their
circles Tymoshenko is more popular as a decisive leader, whose nickname
is "Goddess of the Revolution."
Following this fiasco, instead of focusing on a specific target,
Yushchenko's allies have been all over the map with their demands, some
asking for the Prime Minister's resignation, others targeting the Central
Election Commission, others seeking the removal of separatist-minded
governors.
Yushchenko's choice today is clear. With Kuchma and his entourage delaying
any real changes in the rules for the December 26 vote, Yushchenko should
call their bluff. In order to do so, however, he would have to bring order
to his fragmented, ineffective campaign.
There is no way of avoiding the fact that, if he had an organized campaign
effort, Yushchenko would be President by now. Given his ingrained
inability to be decisive, Yushchenko's only hope now is luck. -30-
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information on Ukraine's ongoing struggle toward a free and democratic
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Ivan Lazowy: lozowy@i.com.ua
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.251: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
Please send us names for the free distribution list
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5. UKRAINE: CHANNEL 5 TV POPULARITY RISES
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, in Russian, 6 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service,UK, in English, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
KIEV - The [pro-opposition] 5 Kanal TV was the third most popular
channel in Ukraine on 22-28 November, following Inter and One Plus
One, the GfK-USM TV rating company has announced. 5 Kanal had
10.98 per cent of the audience in that week, 1+1 had 16.08 per cent
and Inter had 22.63 per cent.
In October the audience of 5 Kanal was only 1.26 per cent and it occupied
the 13th position in the rating, while the share of Inter was 24.21 per cent
and One Plus One had 20.78 per cent.
The popularity breakthrough of 5 Kanal was caused by viewers in Kiev and
western Ukraine, where it was the first in terms of audience (27.82 per cent
and 26.99 per cent respectively). In the central and northern regions it was
third (10.16 per cent and 11.745 per cent), and in southern and eastern
regions the channel was holding the seventh and ninth positions (5.27 per
cent and 2.14 per cent respectively).
The market leaders have the lowest popularity in the capital (Inter has
13.76 per cent and One Plus One 11.65 per cent). These channels have the
highest rating in Ukraine's east (Inter has 27.76 per cent and One Plus One
17.78 per cent).
Novyy and ICTV channels concluded the top five on 22-28 November with
audiences of 7.03 per cent and 6.37 per cent respectively. They have fewer
regional differences: Novyy has from 5.89 per cent in western regions to
8.02 in central regions. ICTV has 5.07 per cent in western Ukraine to 7.79
in northern regions.
The other five TV channels, according to GfK-UCM includes state-owned UT1
with 6.28 per cent, Ukraina TV with 4.66 per cent, STB with 3.36 per cent,
Era with 2.37 per cent and Russian ORT International with 1.55 per cent.
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.251: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
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6. CANDIDATE'S U.S.-BORN WIFE FIGHTS FOR UKRAINE
Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko
By Russell Working, Tribune staff reporter
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Sun, December 5, 2004
KIEV - As presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko barnstormed Ukraine
this fall, he was often greeted by signs that read, "American son-in-law, go
home!" His opponents have circulated leaflets and posters portraying him
as Uncle Sam, his wife as a CIA agent and the United States as a mosquito
sucking the blood of the Eastern European nation.
The reason for the attacks was his Chicago-born wife, Kateryna Chumachenko
Yushchenko. The daughter of Ukrainian immigrants, the Prospect High School
graduate has found herself in the maelstrom of one of the world's most
bitterly fought elections.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have taken to the streets to protest a
Nov. 21 vote that many say was stolen from Viktor Yushchenko, who seeks
closer ties with the West. They have been countered by protesters for Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovych, who is supported by Ukraine's lame duck
president and the Kremlin. Ukraine's Supreme Court overturned the election
Friday and ordered a new runoff vote between the two, saying the vote was
marred by "systemic and massive violations."
The ferocity of the campaign against Viktor Yushchenko and his wife has
outraged his supporters. "It's very painful, very dirty," Chumachenko
Yushchenko, 43, said in an interview from Kiev. "But after a while, you
become used to it. I would get many, many letters from people saying, `It's
become ridiculous. The more they attack you, the more we like your
husband.'"
Chumachenko Yushchenko, a former White House and State Department
official, has journeyed from Cook County's Ukrainian community to a
marriage that could yet make her the first lady of a foreign state. If so,
she would follow a path forged by Princess Grace of Monaco--formerly the
American actress Grace Kelly--and Queen Noor of Jordan, born to an
Arab-American family.
ELECTRICIAN'S DAUGHTER
Chumachenko Yushchenko grew up in Chicago and Mt. Prospect, the
daughter of an electrician and a seamstress who gave up her job to raise her
children.
Her father, Mykhailo, had been taken prisoner when he served in the Soviet
Army, and he was sent to work in Germany in World War II. The Germans also
forced her mother, Sofia, to labor in that country when she was 14. The two
met there.
The couple came to Chicago in 1956 at the invitation of a Ukrainian Orthodox
church. (They moved to Florida in the 1980s, and after his death in 1998,
Mykhailo was buried, at his request, in Kiev.)
Chumachenko Yushchenko's earliest memory is of her father taking her to
Humboldt Park to sniff the flowers and climb on the buffalo sculptures. She
fondly remembers trips to look at the dinosaurs at the Field Museum and
animals at Lincoln Park Zoo. They moved to Mt. Prospect when she was 9.
The Chumachenkos strove to keep their culture alive for their children,
their daughter said. She spoke Ukrainian at home, took lessons in national
dance and attended a Ukrainian school and Orthodox church. "I think our
parents felt they had a responsibility to preserve that which they felt was
being destroyed in the Soviet Union," she said.
After receiving a bachelor's degree from Georgetown University and a
master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago,
Chumachenko Yushchenko held a series of jobs in Washington. She worked
as an adviser on Eastern European ethnic affairs in the Reagan White House
and in the State Department's human rights office.
When the Soviet Union began to fall apart in 1991, she cofounded the
U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, a non-profit organization that facilitates
democratic development and free market reform in the European country.
Chumachenko Yushchenko moved to Kiev just before Ukraine became
independent. The daughter of immigrants always had her heart there, said
Nadia McConnell, president of the Washington-based foundation.
Chumachenko Yushchenko was active in an organization that helps Ukrainian
orphans, and she has even tried to help the scraggly mutts she noticed in
Kiev, McConnell said.
'SHE HAS A BIG HEART'
"One time when I visited her, she had a whole bunch of dogs in her
apartment," McConnell said. "She was picking up strays from the street, and
she actually helped organize some shelters for dogs. She has a big heart."
In 1993, Chumachenko Yushchenko met Viktor Yushchenko, now 50. She was
working for KPMG LLP--an international audit, tax and advisory firm--and she
led a study tour that brought Ukrainian bankers to several U.S. cities,
including Chicago. At the time, Viktor Yushchenko was head of the Central
Bank, and he joined the trip. Unlike many Ukrainian bankers then, she said,
he was well-versed in free-market economics, and he was eager to reform a
system struggling to emerge from communism.
Chumachenko Yushchenko admired her future husband's broad mind and
interests. He carves wood, makes ceramics and climbs mountains, and he
relaxes by tending to his beehives (he owns more than a million bees), she
said. Besides, she couldn't help noticing that "he was very handsome and
very young for a central banker."
The relationship was professional at first, but in time, they drew close as
they worked together on behalf of Ukrainian orphans. The two married in
1998, and they have three children ranging in age from 8 months to 5 years
old. He has two adult children from a previous marriage.
"One of the reasons that he and I became close and fell in love is that
we're both committed to the same goals," Chumachenko Yushchenko said.
"We're strong believers in God, and we strongly believe that God has a
place for each one of us in this world, and that he has put us in this place
for a reason."
MYSTERIOUS ILLNESS
Their commitment to Ukraine has been tested by fire in this campaign,
particularly after Viktor Yushchenko fell mysteriously ill early in
September. One night, he came home late from a banquet saying he felt sick
and had a headache. When they kissed, his wife noticed a strange taste on
his lips, something medicinal and unpleasant. "He had never taken any type
of medicine," Chumachenko Yushchenko said. "I asked him what that could
be. And he said, `Oh, maybe it was a little wine or cognac that I had.' I
said, `No, it had much more a metallic taste to it.'"
Within days he was desperately ill, she said, and they flew to Austria for
treatment. The doctors said that the illness was inconsistent with any known
disease, wasn't caused by food poisoning and might have been the result of
poisoning, according to the Yushchenko campaign. The doctors said he
probably would have died if he had gotten there any later, Chumachenko
Yushchenko said.
Viktor Yushchenko was left with a blistered face and in constant pain, and
he appears to have aged many years. He can't stand looking at himself in the
mirror, his wife said. If he sees himself on television, he changes the
channel.
Yushchenko's doctors in Kiev, the Ukrainian capital, said they had
determined that "chemicals not of a food origin" triggered the illness,
according to a CNN report. Austrian doctors were unable to determine whether
he had been poisoned, because Yushchenko checked into the clinic days after
the symptoms appeared--too late for tests that could confirm such a
diagnosis.
MANY SUSPECTS
If the candidate was poisoned, there would be many suspects. Yushchenko
made enemies during his time at the Central Bank by stepping up tax
collection and launching a campaign against corruption, according to news
reports. But Yushchenko's camp alleged he was poisoned in a bid to derail
his election campaign at a time when he was ahead of his pro-Moscow rival,
according to a BBC report.
The Yanukovych campaign and Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's
office--which supports Yanukovych--have said that the idea of poisoning is
ludicrous. Pro-government media have blamed Yushchenko's illness on
everything from spoiled food to a plot by overzealous supporters hoping to
gain sympathy by poisoning their own candidate. Reached by phone in Ukraine
Friday, Igor Nikityuk, spokesman for Yanukovych's Party of the Regions,
declined to comment on the campaign. The press center for Kuchma also
declined to comment.
Viktor Yushchenko's suffering has become a symbol, his wife said. "One time
he said in the Parliament, `I could excuse myself for my face, but the face
really is the face of Ukraine today, because all the poison that has been
poured out on the people is similar to what has happened to me," she said.
After the illness, the family, including Yushchenko's two older children,
moved from Kiev to a secluded home. They have received death threats,
Chumachenko Yushchenko said, and enemies have threatened to kidnap
the children, Sophia, 5; Chrystyna, 4; and Taras, 8 months.
On Friday, minutes after the Ukrainian Supreme Court ordered new elections
by Dec. 26, Chumachenko Yushchenko fielded a call from a reporter. She
and her husband had just learned of the victory.
A MOMENT OF JOY
"We're about to go out and announce it to half a million people," an
exuberant Chumachenko Yushchenko said. As Viktor Yushchenko prepared
to take the stage with his American wife, an irony lingered. Chumachenko
Yushchenko has applied for Ukrainian citizenship, but "for obvious political
reasons" the government has refused to process the papers, she said.
Perhaps her decision to cast her lot with Ukraine is puzzling to former
Soviet citizens who would gladly immigrate to the comfort of life in
America. But for Chumachenko Yushchenko, the answer is simple. "I married
a man who would never leave Ukraine," she said. "If he's abroad more than
three days from Ukraine, he misses it. By marrying him, I set my fate."
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.251: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
Your comments about the Report are always welcome
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7. WHY AN IMMUNITY DEAL MEANS SO MUCH TO KUCHMA
Irish Times, Ireland, Tuesday, Dec 07, 2004
UKRAINE: A puzzle involving a headless body, secret tapes and a crusading
journalist holds the key to the political deadlock now gripping Ukraine's
Orange Revolution, Chris Stephen reports from Kiev The story started in
early 2000 when two journalists, Georgy Gongadze and Olena Pryktula, sick
of the censorship gripping the country's press, launched their own Internet
news site.
Calling the website Ukrainska Pravda, or Ukraine Truth, they built-up a
readership rapidly, publishing uncensored stories, sometimes fed them by
fellow journalists, about the goings-on in the corridors of power. What
infuriated the authorities most was the popularity of the site with the
expatriate Ukrainians, who began agitating against President Leonid Kuchma,
accusing him of tolerating corruption on a massive scale.
Gongadze ignored attempts to silence him, laughing off criticism. "He was a
big guy, broad shoulders, full of life..., full of energy," Pryktula tells
me, when we meet in the cramped city-centre apartment that is the office for
Ukrainska Pravda. On the night of September 16th, 2000, Gongadze (31), left
Pryktula's apartment to go home to his wife and two young daughters, but he
never arrived.
At first, friends were mystified by the disappearance, because there were
several other journalists equally antagonistic to the authorities and they
felt there was no particular reason to target him. Two months later, a badly
decomposed body was found hidden under some leaves in a wood near a
village outside Kiev. With three friends she drove down to take a look.
"The morgue was very small," she says. "There was no fridge or anything like
that, just a small room with a table in the middle and on that table was a
body." Without a head, she could not recognise the body, but DNA tests
identified it as almost certainly her colleague's. "That was the moment when
I decided that nothing in this life could shock me more than this," she
says.
Two weeks after the body was found came a bombshell: Leader of the
opposition Social Democratic Party, Oleksandr Moroz, produced tapes in
parliament that seemed to show President Kuchma ordering Mr Gongadze's
murder. Experts from the FBI later ruled that the voice was that of
President Kuchma, but the latter claimed they were fakes made by the US to
discredit his administration.
However, prosecutors investigating the disappearance turned up evidence that
Gongadze has been under surveillance. Later, the investigation was
mysteriously stopped. By 2001, however, the case had become a cause celèbre
for the opposition movement, a subject for street demonstrations and even
for a special day, Gongadze Day, held on September 16th. International
journalist organisations rallied round and the United States gave asylum to
the former body guard.
The tapes were made public in full, revealing what appears to be subversion,
corruption and cronyism by the Kuchma regime on a vast scale. Last year
Washington reacted with fury to parts of the tapes showing President Kuchma
agreeing to sell radar equipment to Saddam Hussein. This year, opposition
presidential candidate Mr Victor Yushchenko promised a full investigation
and criminal charges against the president.
And that is the problem. Mr Yushchenko is almost certain to be elected
president in the re-run elections due on December 26th. For President
Kuchma, this could spell disaster, with investigations and possibly jail if
found guilty of the murder or a string of other offences identified in the
so-called Kuchma Tapes.
Reports say President Kuchma is refusing to sign bills needed to allow the
December vote to go ahead without an immunity deal. Yesterday he repeated
his insistence that he will sign the paperwork necessary for elections only
when the parliament controlled by opposition agrees to change the
constitution to cut presidential powers, no doubt including the power to
prosecute ex-presidents. Mr Yushchenko has so far refused to offer immunity,
no doubt mindful of the effect such a deal would have on Kiev's protesters.
But without a deal, it is unclear what can force President Kuchma to agree
to new elections, creating a constitutional logjam that has frustrated
mediators and opposition leaders alike. Should Mr Yushchenko consider
offering immunity, others are ready to remind him of the importance of the
Gongadze case.
The Orange Revolution has generated much traffic to Pryktula's web site
which now has a million and a half hits a day and has become a force to be
reckoned with.
"By our existence we remind people that the case of Georgy is not solved,"
she says. "An investigation will be the proof that Ukraine is becoming a
democratic country." -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.251: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Suggested articles for publication in the Report are always welcome
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8. "ORANGE U.S.-RUSSIA FALLOUT"
ANALYSIS: By Peter Lavelle
United Press International, Moscow, Russia, December 07, 2004
MOSCOW, Dec. 7 - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell and Russian
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traded barbs Tuesday about the ongoing
political crisis in Ukraine. Russia has charged the West with applying
double standards when judging elections in foreign Soviet republics.
Powell flatly refuted these claims. These opposing positions do not just
concern Ukraine, but the nature of democratic institutions through the
former Soviet space.
At a meeting of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in
Sofia, both the West and Russia remain deeply divided over events
transpiring in Ukraine. The Kremlin's open support for regime candidate
Viktor Yanukovych prior to Ukraine's presidential elections has resulted in
an unprecedented political reversal for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The West, for its part, appears to have suddenly discovered Ukraine. With
Ukraine's highest court claiming the runoff election of Nov. 21 was rife
with fraud and other voting irregularities, the West is now keen to see its
sense of democracy played out in Ukraine. Many Ukrainians also would like
to see this happen.
However, what divides Russia and the West is not who will control Ukraine's
future. A final and complete victory for Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" will
not see the country fall in the West's lap. Ukraine's close relationship
with Russia will, for the foreseeable future, not dramatically change under
a Viktor Yushchenko presidency. There is no real West-East conflict in
play here. What is in play is how Russia and the West understand the
democratic process and institutions.
For Putin, the huge street protests in the city center of Kiev mean chaos
and the lack of order. For many in the West, the "Orange Revolution" is
people's power. For Putin, the state is obligated to keep law and order. A
Western sensibility sees Kiev as a picture prefect example of the people
demanding to rule themselves.
Many think of Putin as being undemocratic in outlook. Making this claim is
very simplistic. Putin has repeatedly stated that he believes in democracy
for Russia and its neighbors. There is a catch though. Putin believes the
state should be judge and guardian of the democratic process. This is in
stark contrast with Western traditions; the democratic process is supposed
to protect the individual from the state.
The role of the state in the democratic process is what has caused the
Kremlin to badly miscalculate in Ukraine. Putin was faced with a dilemma
when choosing sides in Ukraine. Putin's natural instinct was to look to the
state to assure that democracy is protected. However, President Leonid
Kuchma has done little to protect Ukraine's democracy. His 10-year rule in
Ukraine has strongly challenged Putin's worldview of democracy -- and
legitimized Yushchenko's demands for change.
Putin's vision of democracy for Russia is not under threat as a result of
events in Ukraine. "Putin managed democracy" is not seen as illegitimate by
the vast majority of Russians. This cannot be said of other countries that
were included in the former Soviet Union. A year ago, the "Rose Revolution"
came to power because the state's definition of democracy was rendered to
be illegitimate.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is not even interested in paying
lip service to democracy. His statist view of democracy makes Belarus a
likely candidate to emulate the "Orange Revolution." Lukashenko is not a
politician, very different from Kuchma, who makes compromises. When it is
his time to go, the kind of chaos and lawless Putin abhors is very likely to
be violent.
The statist democracy of Moldova is also likely to be challenged. The
"Rose" and "Orange Revolutions" legitimatize alternatives to the status quo.
Is Putin's view of democracy set for extinction in the former Soviet
republics? Not necessarily. Countries that use the state to protect
democratic institutions are not threatened by revolutions -- rose, orange,
or otherwise. Regimes that ignore the obligations the state has to protect
democracy have been put on notice.
Moving forward, it should be expected that the Kremlin would tread more
carefully. Backing regimes that are unpopular or deemed illegitimate damages
Russia's reputation and real interests in the world. The Kremlin is also
expected to engage opposition figures and groups. By doing so, the Kremlin
would not find itself in the uncomfortable position of always being seen to
support the status quo.
Most importantly, the Kremlin should apply its own standards when assessing
democracy on Russia's borders. Russia's statist democracy is legitimate in
the eyes of Russians because the regime is not seen to be breaking its own
rules. If the Kremlin had applied its own sense of democracy to Ukraine, it
most probably would have remained neutral or even supported Yushchenko.
Powell is correct in saying that the West wants fair elections in Ukraine.
Lavrov should be careful when making charges of double standards. If the
Kremlin had stuck to its own standards in approaching Ukraine, Putin and
Yushchenko could have met for hot cup tea and there would be no protesters
freezing in Kiev. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 251: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
Names for the distribution list always welcome
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9. NARROW CIRCLE, SOVIET-ERA VIEWS BLAMED FOR KREMLIN
LEADER'S FOREIGN POLICY MISTAKES IN ITS OWN BACKYARD
David McHugh, AP Worldstream, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dented his prestige and squandered
influence through his involvement in political confrontations in Ukraine and
in the breakaway Georgian province of Abkhazia, analysts say. Putin tried to
put the best face on things in his comments Monday on the Ukrainian Supreme
Court's decision to annul the victory of Kremlin-backed presidential
candidate Viktor Yanukovych.
He sternly warned foreign countries not to interfere in the revote _
scheduled for Dec. 26 against opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko _ and said
Russia would work with whoever won. "Of course we will ... accept the will
of any nation in the former Soviet space, and will work with any elected
leader," Putin said. That couldn't hide an embarrassing - and largely
self-inflicted - defeat for Putin, who appeared at Yanukovych's side during
the campaign and only last week mocked the idea of a new presidential
runoff.
The events have frayed his carefully tended relationships with the European
Union and the United States, both of which refused to recognize the election
and pointed to evidence of widespread fraud - after Putin had congratulated
Yanukovych.
Closer to home, it showed Russia as ineffectual in dealings with other
former members of the Soviet Union, where it seeks a dominant role. The
Ukraine debacle came amid a fumbled attempt to push its own candidate for
president of the breakaway region of Abkhazia in Georgia. And it follows
last year's revolution in Georgia, where Russia couldn't stop reformer
Mikhail Saakashvili _ who wants to move closer to the West _ from winning
power amid protest over fraudulent elections there.
"Putin should understand this isn't the Soviet Union," said Vafa Guluzade,
a former government foreign policy adviser in Azerbaijan. "The time for
appointing Russian marionettes is over." Factors in Putin's gaffes appear to
be Soviet-era habits of thinking, forged during his earlier career as a KGB
intelligence officer, as well as reliance on a narrow Kremlin circle of
advisers, analysts said.
In the case of Ukraine, he made the miscalculation that President Bush, who
has cultivated a working relationship with Putin in the war on terrorism,
would not get in his way, said Dmitry Trenin, an expert on U.S.-Russian
relations at the Moscow Carnegie Center. "I think Putin had hope, right
until the last, that he could reach agreement with Bush over Ukraine, and
these hopes have dissipated in the past week," Trenin said.
Over the years, Bush has toned down criticism of Russia's campaign against
separatist rebels in Chechnya, and Putin has acquiesced to U.S. troops being
stationed in Central Asia, close to Moscow.
But Western concern over vote fraud in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic
of 48 million people, ruled out a similar tacit deal. Both the United States
and the EU have made free and fair elections a top priority in their foreign
policies.
For Yevgeny Volk, a political analyst at the Heritage Foundation in Moscow,
Putin's behavior reflects his past as a KGB agent. "Could Putin behave any
other way? My answer is no," said Volk. The Ukraine involvement "was a
logical continuation of Russian imperial politics and a very consistent
implementation of Putin's mentality." Putin remains overly focused on a
friend-or-foe outlook from the Cold War, Volk said, and on finding local
leaders whose strings he can pull.
Trenin said one flaw in Putin's decision-making was relying only on a narrow
circle of advisers in the Kremlin, to the exclusion of the Foreign Ministry
and outside experts. The result is "a colossal concentration of foreign
policy decisions in the hands and the heads of only a few people, who rely
only on government channels of information and analysis," Trenin said.
A more nuanced approach would have worked better: "Putin should have
invited Yushchenko for tea to" his residence outside Moscow, Trenin said.
That would have put Putin - and Russia - on the winning side no matter the
outcome. "They should have played a sophisticated game. In this case
simplicity did not help," said Trenin. -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 251: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
=========================================================
10. YUSHCHENKO'S ILLNESS PUZZLES DOCTORS
By Elisabeth Rosenthal, International Herald Tribune
Europe, Saturday, December 4, 2004
VIENNA - When the once-strapping, telegenic man was wheeled in through the
sliding glass doors of the plush Rudolfinerhaus Hospital in early September,
he was suddenly and severely ill, conscious but groggy and complaining of
terrible abdominal pain. Multiple blood tests were abnormal, doctors here
say, his skin was covered with odd-looking lesions and his digestive tract
was dotted with ulcers from top to bottom.
.
Europe's most illustrious doctors were stumped; the patient's many symptoms
defied a unifying diagnosis. Eight days later, Viktor Yushchenko, Ukraine's
opposition leader, checked out against doctors' advice, determined to return
to the business of winning the November election in Ukraine.
.
But in just two weeks he was again at Rudolfinerhaus, crippled by a new and
even more elusive problem: back pain so excruciating it took huge doses of
morphine to control and almost necessitated that he be put on a ventilator.
Once again, a week of testing found no medical explanation.
.
Yushchenko and his doctors agreed upon a risky plan: doctors threaded a
small tube through the skin of his upper back, into his spinal canal, so
that the patient could campaign, while receiving constant pain-killing
medication.
.
And so it was that Yushchenko flew back to Kiev with a catheter lodged in
his back, escorted by a team of Austria's most elite doctors. He campaigned
with the tube in place for a week, attending several large rallies,
according to his press secretary, Irina Gerashchenko.
.
"I went with him because I had serious security concerns and I wanted to
make sure he was handled properly," said Dr. Michael Zimpfer, medical
director at the Vienna hospital, who supervised the case. Indeed, the
doctors had become increasingly suspicious that foul play, particularly an
unusual poisoning, could be the cause of their patient's problems, a charge
that Gerashchenko repeated.
.
In interviews this week, the Austrian doctors were quick to stress that
scientifically they cannot say that the candidate was poisoned. Tests for
common toxins have been negative. But the medical team was so concerned
about the possible presence of an unconventional agent that they consulted
biological and chemical weapons experts.
.
"A poisoning without the poison is like a murder without a gun," Zimpfer
said. "But if someone said to me, 'Look what we found!' I wouldn't be at all
surprised.
"In this case, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." He
continued: "As I've said to the family: If this is a poisoning, it's going
to be very tricky and tough to discover. They are not going to use some
regular household agent."
.
Gerashchenko said Yushchenko considered some aspects of his health a private
matter, but added that he was continuing to receive treatment from Ukrainian
doctors. "He feels much better than he did two months ago, but he's far from
ideal," she said.
.
New details of Yushchenko's hospital admissions in Vienna raise disturbing
questions: Was the candidate poisoned or infected with some biological agent
and, if so, with what? What is his current state of health, in the middle of
a high-stakes tussle for power that has pitted the West against Russia?
.
In September, Yushchenko immediately charged that he was poisoned, but that
charge was lost among the heated political debates and demonstrations in the
final weeks of the campaign, which culminated in the disputed election.
.
"Look at my face. Note my articulation. This is one-hundredth of the
problems that I've had," Yushchenko told the Ukrainian Parliament on
Sept.21, after his first stint in the Vienna hospital. "This is not a
problem of political cuisine as such. We are talking about the Ukrainian
political kitchen where assassinations are ordered."
.
Opponents dismissively suggested that the cause of Yushchenko's
hospitalization was bad sushi or too much alcohol, although doctors here
said there was no evidence of that. But some doctors point out that it is
still conceivable that Yushchenko had the bad luck to develop a rare
illness, difficult to diagnose, at the height of the campaign.
.
The issue of Yushchenko's medical state has persisted because of the obvious
disfigurement and discoloration of his face, which is swollen and pocked
with large bumps and cysts, and is a dusky, grayish color. The left eye is
bloodshot and sometimes tears.
.
Last week a prominent British toxicologist, Dr. John Henry, suggested that
Yushchenko's symptoms were consistent with dioxin poisoning, which causes a
severe form of acne called chloracne. This condition occurs months to years
after exposure, when the body seeks to eliminate residual chemical through
the skin. But cases of dioxin poisoning are extremely rare. Scientists
debate whether a huge one-time dose could be delivered as a poison.
.
Doctors at Rudolfinerhaus said they did not test Yushchenko for dioxin in
part because his skin changes were much milder in September than they are
now. Also, they said, the candidate refused a biopsy of his face because he
did not want to campaign with stitches. But dioxin and related toxins are
detectable in the body years after exposure. Gerashchenko said such tests
had still not been performed.
.
Oddly, the only recently reported cases of dioxin poisoning were also seen
in Vienna, in 1998, when two secretaries at an Austrian textile plant
arrived at the University of Vienna with severe facial disfiguration like
Yushchenko's - as well as nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.
.
Although a criminal investigation was started, it remained unclear whether
the two had been poisoned or somehow exposed through their work, according
to a 2001 report by Dr. Alexandra Geusau in Environmental Health
Perspectives, a medical journal.
.
Before that, hundreds of people had been exposed during the mid-1960s and
1970s, in two separate incidents in Japan and Taiwan, after dioxin
contaminated bottles of cooking oil. A number of patients experienced an
acne-like eruption, skin discoloration and tearing for several years after
the exposure, according to Japanese accounts.
.
That being said, some doctors - who spoke on condition of anonymity because
they had no direct contact with Yushchenko - said that he could still be
suffering from an unusual immune disease that could cause many of the same
symptoms. One, called scleromyxedema, is an extremely rare progressive
disorder that produces facial symptoms much like Yushchenko's. But it is not
known to produce pain.
.
Dermatologists at Rudolfinerhaus initially suggested that the facial lesions
could represent a slightly unusual case of a well-known condition called
rosacea, where the face becomes swollen and lumpy. But Zimpfer said
Yushchenko's skin nodules no longer resembled that disease.
.
Political intrigue is not the norm at Rudolfinerhaus, an upscale private
hospital that caters to wealthy Austrians and foreigners. Because of
cultural ties between western Ukraine and Austria, many upscale Ukrainians
come here to have babies and for other medical treatment.
.
Zimpfer, the medical chief at Rudolfinerhaus, provided extensive details of
Yushchenko's hospitalizations. The candidate arrived Sept.10 at the
hospital, severely ill and unable to walk, after five days of terrible
abdominal pain. Initial testing showed that he had a high white cell count,
as well as elevated liver and pancreas enzymes suggesting inflammation of
those organs. The numbers were a cause for concern, but not specific for any
one disease. His tests were negative for all the obvious possibilities, like
hepatitis caused by a virus.
.
Scans showed that his liver, pancreas and intestine were, indeed, swollen,
though for no clear reason. Internal examinations of the intestine using an
endoscope found that he had ulcerations - essentially bleeding abrasions -
of the stomach and throughout his intestine and bowel as well. Ulcers are
typically not spread out in this way.
.
The doctors gave him supportive care, like intravenous fluid and a
restricted food intake to rest the digestive tract. As the lab values
started to head downward and he gradually recovered strength, he opted to
get back to the campaign trail. Already, doctors noticed that he was
developing odd lesions on his face and trunk.
.
Ten days later, the candidate returned, after three days of what he called
excruciating back pain. Its source was again a mystery, since related lab
tests and scans were normal.
.
The pain was so severe that doctors had to place a large-bore intravenous
line into the candidate's chest and essentially nearly anesthetize him with
huge doses of opiates. Because opiates depress respiratory functions, his
breathing rate slowed, and the candidate was kept in a monitored unit.
Further medicine would have required that Yushchenko be placed on a
respirator, Zimpfer said.
.
Yushchenko and his doctors made a difficult choice: They decided to place
an epidural catheter between his shoulder blades into the membranes of the
upper spine so that medicines could be delivered specifically to the nerves
in the back without compromising the candidate's mental abilities. Epidural
catheters are common for pain relief in childbirth, but they are far riskier
when they are placed for the long term and in the upper back, closer to the
brain and vital nerves.
.
Yushchenko was discharged three days later, with the retinue of doctors and
cartons of medical supplies. He was still on "plenty" of medication, and a
colleague of Zimpfer remained in Ukraine to carry out his medical program
for several days.
.
Zimpfer said the medical team was treated politely in Kiev. "I had a number
of concerns in light of how heated the situation in Ukraine was even then,
and in light of the disputes between the two parties about the cause of his
illness," Zimpfer said. "But after a lot of soul-searching, I decided I had
to go myself. I was the captain and I could not desert the ship." [Steven
Lee Myers of The New York Times reported from Kiev.] -30-
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 251: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Letters to the editor are always welcome
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11. "PORA PHENOMENON FOR THE PEOPLE?"
Ukraine's youth movement at crossroads
By Oleh Pokalchuk, Ukrayinska Pravda web site
Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, Friday, 3 Dec 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Dec 07, 2004
The Ukrainian youth protest movement Pora is facing a choice between real
radicalism and constructive dialogue. Its support for the opposition
presidential candidate is in question because of his moderate position. Pora
emerged from disillusioned student movements of the early 90s. They felt
betrayed then and fear a repeat now.
The following is the text of the article by Oleh Pokalchuk entitled "Pora
phenomenon for the people?" published on Ukrayinska Pravda web site on 3
December. Subheadings have been inserted editorially:
There is a famous story from Biblical times when one of Christ's disciples,
seeing the approach of the security officers, became desperate and decided
to defend his teacher by violent methods, as we would call it nowadays. He
drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the officers (either he missed
his mark or, on the contrary, delivered a serious warning). Christ told him
to sheathe his sword, for it was not the sword that he had come to bring,
but peace.
Now, with all due respect to the sacred texts, let us imagine that the
apostle draws his sword from its sheath eight times, and the Messiah stops
him just as gently.
There are cut off ears lying all around and the bloodied officers do not
know whether to seize the trouble-maker or to run away before things get
worse. The other disciples of the Saviour observe it with concern, since
they had not previously had occasion to choose between drawing out a
negotiation process and a completely reasonable, albeit somewhat precipitate
action.
The basis of any radicalism is not an inherent desire to go to extremes, but
when quite ordinary, rational and experienced citizens are brought to a
state where radicalism becomes the only world view for which they would not
feel ashamed of themselves. Accusations of radicalism in general are very
"trendy". The tone here is always set by respectable and well-heeled people,
for whom a quiet political "carve-up" is preferable to open and honest
confrontation.
Here they refer to Europe and the USA, where citizens are reliably protected
against trouble-makers, so it goes, by a whole range of laws on antisocial
behaviour, ensuring absolutely transparent and fair elections. For this
reason, everything that in principle is ready to act has unfailingly been
seen here as the bogeyman of extremism. By default, any decisive civic
action, public initiative, political decency or ethnic pride were easily
declared illegal.
First it was the dreadful nationalists, then the no less dreadful
communists, then the irreconcilable [opposition hardliner] Yuliya
Tymoshenko, then UNSD [Ukrainian National Self-Defence - nationalist
organization], then the dreadful, extra dreadful Donetsk people. Now it
seems the Pora civic company [word as published - perhaps "campaign"
was meant] is laying claim to the empty niche.
ORIGINS OF PORA
Where did this Pora emerge from anyway? To start with, as if by magic,
characteristic graffiti started appearing on the walls of buildings in many
Ukrainian towns showing clocks with their hands indicating quarter to
twelve. After that, Che Guevara started looking out sternly from placards,
and then the characteristic lemon-coloured headbands and banners were seen
increasingly frequently among the orange sea of protesters.
This lemon shade recalled not only "little lemons" [slang term for hand
grenades], but also the cheekbone-tensing taste of lemon, which is extremely
useful to experience when the mouth is too unjustifiably extended in
smiling.
It can definitely be said that Pora did not arise from anywhere. Because it
never really disappeared. The backbone of the movement was formed by the
most steadfast activists of the student movement of the early 90s who were
then members of the Union of Ukrainian Students, Student Brotherhood, Plast
[nationalist youth movement] and other similar organizations.
Completely justifiably, knowing all the political ins out outs of the
student "revolution in granite" and subsequent development of events, they
considered that they had been betrayed. It was not only they who had been
betrayed, but also the entire Ukrainian romantic youth, whose energy and
bravery had simply been used to remove [former Prime Minister] Masol and
reshuffle second-rate political figures.
The vacated third-rate places in the government, parliament and
administration were taken by their senior comrades, who only later partly
realized that they had been given the ugly role of collaborators. And so,
the deceived youth, somewhat more adult, continued to be the leader of
opinions and the guardian of real patriotic ideals in their fairly narrow,
but very dynamic milieu.
INCREASINGLY RADICAL
For that reason, although the students of Kiev, west and central Ukraine
became depoliticized in the main, idealists with practical nous for the
spirit of the age found in the ideology of Pora not just a model for
imitation, but also a sort of "software".
The stimulus received from associating with truly legendary personalities,
people who ardently love Ukraine and, because of that, hate its
shortcomings, has been transformed into a certain behavioural stereotype. It
assumed and assumes that people have become sufficiently wise and are
capable of distinguishing not only truth from lies, but also from
half-truths. Whatever colour it is, and whatever wonderful folk costumes
it is dressed in.
It is known that victory has many parents. And official historians will
probably not overemphasize the fact that it was Pora that carried out all
the first vigorous actions of the "orange revolution".
For example, if anyone remembers the speed, precision and organized way
that the first camp was struck on Khreshchatyk [Kiev's main street where
protesters set up tent city], will understand what I mean. If anyone looks
at the Pora tent city in the square by the Supreme Council [parliament] (by
a strange coincidences of circumstances, almost not mentioned in today's
ultra-free "orange" press), and compares it with the current "gypsy
encampment" on Khreshchatyk, will also understand what I am talking about.
So we are dealing not with some sort of newly baked "pioneers" of Viktor
Andriyovych [Yushchenko - opposition leader] but quite the opposite. These
are people who preserved their opposition awareness not through a capricious
dissatisfaction with their job, but because they sensed and still do sense a
certain responsibility within themselves for a level of morality below which
the opposition does not have the right to lower itself.
Dangerous trends towards this have not only been observed, but have also
acquired precise forms and are even becoming overgrown with folklore
interpretations. In particular, veterans of the 90s are spitefully talking
about "a second Masol", while the Internet with every passing day is being
stoked up with very harsh direct accusations against the leader of "the
orange revolution".
What these accusations boil down to is an allegation of indecisiveness,
constant concessions to external and internal pressure and virtually
completely ignoring the demands of the popular masses without any rational
explanation, not to mention action.
It has become known from reliable sources that it was precisely Pora that
was the first to send a letter to Viktor Yushchenko expressing profound
concern at the trends that had then only just been noticed in the
revolutionary movement. If the authorities are gangsters, you don't hold
diplomatic talks with gangsters: they understand only the language of
action, and the people were ready for that.
If you lose at cards once with a cardsharp, it is completely senseless to
sit down and play with him again, believing his word of honour and
demonstration that he has allegedly a completely new pack of cards. If you
speak about morality and decency, that first and foremost presupposes
spiritual steadfastness and being true to your word, especially given to
others.
CROSSROADS FOR PORA
Therefore we can say that Pora is at a point of bifurcation, at a crossroads
of choice between genuine radicalization - and let us recall that radicalism
arises primarily from disappointed hopes - and constructive opposition,
however trite that expression seems in today's political terminology.
Be that as it may, Ukrainian radicalism, for all its richness of choice, has
only one sole prospect. Its name is anti-globalism, because the second,
hasty visit by [EU foreign policy chief Javier] Solana and [Polish President
Aleksander] Kwasniewski, which caused not delight but slight bewilderment,
is nothing other than an attempt to prevent a very dangerous political
precedent for Europe.
And indeed - a country with a 48-million population is changing its rotten
authorities by means of a direct expression of the people's will. And so far
as can be judged, right up until recently, it was in a state to do it
quickly, in an organized way and without bloodshed. The role of all
mediators then would have become very insignificant, symbolic.
I already said that the democracies of developed countries have at their
basis very powerful blocking mechanisms of such direct expression of
people's will that very cleverly direct them into constitutional channels.
Well, thank God, but those constitutions are on average about 200 years
old, and they can afford it.
But the Ukrainian constitution, laws and legal regulations have already for
over a decade borne the "mark of Cain" of compromise with the criminal
communist regime of the USSR, for whose misdemeanours neither the
Ukrainian authorities nor people's power has punished anyone.
Because two thirds of it [the Ukrainian constitution] was and remains the
legal successor to the executors of the communist murderers. On the surface
it has transformed itself, but the essence, whereby the only true political
morality is double and treble, apparently remains unchanged.
Against this background, Pora is a phenomenon similar to the "frontiersmen"
who crossed the frontiers to conquer the Wild West. They are people who were
the first to occupy and seize the stronghold needed by the whole movement
and who will leave it as soon as the basic forces start to get stronger. It
is probable that representatives of various political parties are already
appealing to them, tempting them with a future successful alliance for 2006
[parliamentary elections].
And Pora, you may be sure, will be trampled in the electorate of rivals.
POSSIBLE OPTIONS FOR PORA
Given such experience, this is entirely possible. And there are also
possible development options in this process. FIRST, there is the formation
within Pora of an even more radical group if the new authorities conduct an
uncertain policy. And if the leadership of Pora accepts a moral compromise
with them.
SECOND, there is a clear political positioning of the campaign as an
organization with an intelligible and functional structure and thereby
joining a new political line in the capacity of the notorious constructive
opposition.
But in any case, considering the fact that political nationalism gave an
order to live a long time with the appearance of statehood, a struggle
against individual politicians always threatens to keel over into (?giving
orders for the sake of it), leftist radicalism of the communist school: in
our times , the "clinic" as they call it is still anti-globalism.
This will not happen rapidly, but entirely within the channel of world
processes that are being talked about so much by the greatly respected
presidential mediators in the negotiations that do not exist [as published].
By the way, talking about negotiations and consensuses. If one side talks
about achieving a reasonable compromise several times running (q.v. the
author's interpretation above of the story with the unknown apostle [one
Gospel names him as St Peter] and Christ), then by means of simple
arithmetical actions of drawing lines on a piece of paper, any schoolboy
will understand that in actual fact it is a question of a step by step
retreat.
A retreat that each time is for some reason presented as an unlikely victory
and in especially shameful cases accompanied even by fireworks. And the
humiliation that the entire people of Ukraine has experienced from the
Donetsk people remains and will long remain in the history of the formation
of the national character as a well-learned lesson.
One can put up with violence, but if it is accompanied by deception, then
nobody, even the statistically average Ukrainian, will tolerate it, and will
come to Kiev. So far as can be judged, after some time "the orange army"
will move into reverse.
But it is becoming clear from the moods and actions of Pora that soon some
of them can shout, like the hero of the film "Ivan Vasilyevich changes
profession" as the first to voice the people's opinion: "But this is not the
'real tsar!" -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
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