A Post special 24-page edition celebrating the 25th anniversary of ’s independence starts inside. in partnership with Another special edition will be published on Aug. 26. To advertise, contact [email protected] or call 38-044-591-7788.

st 21 Subscribe Year to online.

:::.<,93267&20

vol. 21, issue 34 www.kyivpost.com August 19, 2016 Manifestly Sleazy

What does U.S. presidential candidate have in common with overthrown Ukrainian President , now in exile under the protection of Russian President ? For one, both hired U.S. political consultant (C), who is Trump’s campaign chairman. These ties, along with Trump’s pro-Kremlin stances and refusal to release his tax returns, have fueled speculation that the Republican candidate is hiding financial deals with . In the background are handwritten ledgers seized from Yanukovych’s during the Revolution that drove him from power. Records show $12.7 million in cash payments to Manafort from 2007-2012, allegations he denies. (AFP)

BY OLEG SUKHOV hailed as a great asset when he serious liability. The revelations are seen as further money laundering and failure to dis- AND ISOBEL KOSHIW was taken on a few months ago as According to various news damaging Trump’s now long-shot close lobbying on behalf of a foreign [email protected] Republican presidential candidate reports, Manafort allegedly received prospects to win the Nov. 8 U.S. pres- government. AND [email protected] Donald Trump’s campaign chairman. an undeclared $12.7 million from idential election against Democrat Manafort, who was a political But with the latest revelations Yanukovych’s Party of Regions Hillary Clinton. consultant who helped Yanukovych Paul Manafort, the one-time advi- about shady deals Manafort seems and helped a Yanukovych-linked Manafort also could face criminal regain power after the 2004 Orange sor to disgraced former Ukrainian to have been involved in while in non-profit organization to secretly charges in the United States and President Viktor Yanukovych, was Ukraine, he’s looking more like a route $2.2 million to U.S. lobbyists. Ukraine for possible tax evasion, more Manafort on page 2

See 24-page special Independence Day edition inside

National 2, 3, 8 Business 2 Follow the Kyiv Post on WATCH Facebook at Opinion 5, 8 Lifestyle 6 www.facebook.com/ KyivPost, and on Twitter Hr 25.3 to $1 Inside: Employment/Real Estate/Classifieds 7 at @KyivPost. Aug. 18 market rate Advertising: +380 44 591-7788 [email protected] Subscriptions: +380 44 591-7788 [email protected] Editorial staff: +380 44 591-3344 [email protected] 2 Business August 19, 2016 www.kyivpost.com AUGUST 19, 2016 Vol. 21, Issue 34 Copyright © 2016 Ukraine’s gross domestic product has almost by Kyiv Post GROSS DOMESTIC halved, from $181.3 billion to $90.6 billion, since the EuroMaidan Revolution and Russia’s war The material published in the Kyiv Post may PRODUCT 179.9 181.3 in 2014. But recovery is on the way, with GDP 175.7 not be reproduced without the written consent (1996 — 2015) expected to rise 1.3 percent this year. 163.1 of the publisher. All material in the Kyiv Post is 142.7 protected by Ukrainian and international laws. 136.4 131.8 The views expressed in the Kyiv Post are not necessarily the views of the publisher nor does 107.7 117.2 the publisher carry any responsibility for those 90.6 views. 86.1 Газета “Kyiv Post” видається ТОВ “Паблік-Ме- 64.8 діа”. Щотижневий наклад 11,000 прим. Ціна 50.1 50.1 за домовленістю. Матерiали, надрукованi в $ billion 44.5 41.8 GDP 38 42.3 газетi “Kyiv Post” є власнiстю видавництва, 31.5 31.2 захищенi мiжнародним та українським законодавством i не можуть бути вiдтворенi у будь(якiй формi без письмового дозволу Видавця. Думки, висловленi у дописах не завжди збiгаються з поглядами видавця, 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 який не бере на себе вiдповiдальнiсть за наслiдки публiкацiй. By Stella Shabliovska, Kyiv Post I Source: World Bank Засновник ТОВ “Паблік-Медіа” Головний редактор Брайан Боннер Відповідальна за випуск Люк Шеньє Адреса видавця та засновника співпадають: Україна, м. Київ, 01004, вул. Пушкінська, 31А, 6-й поверх. Weekly business update Реєстрацiйне свiдоцтво Кв № 15261(3833ПР від 19.06.09. Передплатний індекс ДП Преса 40528 BY YULIANA ROMANYSHYN, efficiency,” Roman Borysenko, director TOP 7 WHEAT Over the last five months, Ukraine has doubled its ISOBEL KOSHIW Надруковано ТОВ «Новий друк», of the NBU’s personnel department, DESTINATIONS exports of wheat compared to the same period in AND NATALIE VIKHROV said in the announcement. (Jan-May, 2016) 2015. The nation exported 5.1 million tons. 02660, Київ, вулиця Магнітогорська, 1, [email protected], Borysenko listed institutional inde- тел.: 559-9147 [email protected], pendence, improvements in deci- Egypt Замовлення № 13-8040 [email protected] sion-making, reducing hierarchy and Bangladesh З приводу розміщення реклами “making corruption impossible” as Thailand Indonesia звертайтесь: +380 44 591-77-88 among the bank’s recent achievements. to cut staff “Many changes are still to be made as Відповідальність за зміст реклами The plans we rapidly move towards a modern несе замовник. to lay off half of its workforce in the and effective model of a European next stage of its internal restructur- central bank,” Borysenko said. 0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 Mailing address: ing. The cutbacks are among chang- Thousand tons Kyiv Post, 31A Pushkinska, Suite 600, 6th floor es expected to take place within the Wheat exports double Kyiv, Ukraine, 01004 central bank over the next two-and- Ukraine’s producers exported 7.1 FOREIGN DIRECT Despite Russia’s war against Ukraine, direct Advertising a-half years as it seeks to increase million tons of wheat over the first INVESTMENT investment from Russia has increased in the tel. +380 44 591-7788 its transparency and independence, six months of 2016, which is 93 first six months of 2016. fax +380 44 591-3345 (2015 — 2016) [email protected] with the aim of integrating the bank percent more than during the same 11.7 Editorial staff into the “European community of period of 2015. 11.1 tel. +380 44 591-3344 national central banks,” the NBU said According to an expert from the as of Dec. 31, 2015 fax +380 44 591-3345 in a post on its website. Agricultural Business Club, Yevheniy as of July 1, 2016 [email protected] Subscriptions&Distribution The bank cut its workforce from Dvornik, exports rose because of a tel. +380 44 591-3344 11,800 to 5,300 in the first stage of its good harvest, improved production fax +380 44 591-3345 5.8 5.5 restructuring, which finished in 2015. and stabilization of wheat prices. 5.6 5.4 [email protected] “Over the last two years, the NBU has According to Ukraine’s State 4.7 Employment Advertising $ billion 3.4 tel. +380 44 591-3344 undergone considerable change, giv- Statistics Service, Egypt is the largest 2.6 fax +380 44 591-3345 2.4 1.9 ing up the post-Soviet model of a state importer of Ukrainian wheat, buying 1.8 1.8 [email protected] regulator with too many staff and low around 20 percent of all the wheat 1.7 Ukraine exports. Indonesia and Bangladesh were the next biggest Cyprus Netherlands Russia UK The Virgin importers of Ukrainian wheat in 2016. Islands Dvornik predicted a slight reduc- tion in wheat production this year as Not including data for Crimea and the occupied territories of the . , farmers cut back on planting because By Juliana Romanyshyn Stella Shabliovska, Kyiv Post I Source: Ukrstat. of low wheat prices. “Sunflower is in greater demand, so the planted area Statistics Service.- $2.5 billion more lead the International Monetary for it has significantly increased,” than January. According to the state Fund and the to Dvornik said. He also said sunflower agency, 83 percent of the FDI to suspend future loans and aid to are more profitable. Ukraine came from 10 countries: Ukraine. Cyprus, the Netherlands, Germany, The State Service for Government 2 more banks closed Russia, Austria, the , Communications said on Aug. 12 Classicbank and Eurobank will the British Virgin Islands, , that it had refused to certify the be liquidated, the National Bank , and Italy. Five out of electronic property declaration of Ukraine has announced. The the 10 countries operate offshore system because information pro- move was proposed by the Deposit tax havens and remaining ones are tection solutions in the system Guarantee Fund. favored residences of the ultra-rich. were noncompliant with technical Classicbank was identified as a Notably, Russian investment into requirements. problem bank in December 2015 Ukraine has increased by almost 3 Vitaly Shabunin, the head of the because of its non-transparent own- percent since January. Anti-Corruption Action Center’s ership structure. It was declared Direct investment by Ukraine in executive board, said that without insolvent on June 14 after failing to 47 countries on July 1 stood at $6.2 certification, evidence of wrongdoing rectify the problem. Eurobank was billion, with Cyprus leading the way. wouldn’t be admissible in court. He declared insolvent on June 17. called for the system to be certified The number of banks operating Smokescreen? within soon and for officials to re-de- in Ukraine has dropped from 180 A new electronic asset and property clare their assets. He also said those to 101. declarations system for government responsible for the bungled launch of Contact Interdean: personnel was activated on Aug. the system should be fired. T: +38 (044) 576 7370 FDI: $44.7 billion 15, but it has not been certified by Prime Minister Volodymyr +38 (044) 384 2773 Total foreign direct investment in the State Service for Government Groysman said the system was E: [email protected] Ukraine has increased to $44.7 bil- Communications. expected to be fully launched lion, according to the Ukraine’s State The absence of certification could soon.  www.kyivpost.com August 19, 2016 National 3 Manafort’s Yanukovych ties damage Trump’s campaign

Manafort from page 1 The lobbying firms were paid intended to show that Tymoshenko’s years, Kyyan said. Motyl said, however, that “most to advocate positions in line with imprisonment was justified. The And if the report of the $2.2 Americans care little about foreign Revolution overturned a rigged elec- those of Yanukovych’s government, report was spearheaded by for- million transfer is true, “there are policy - and about Ukraine even tion in which he was declared the including downplaying the neces- mer Obama White House counsel grounds for at least starting a crimi- less.” winner, has said that the reports of sity for a congressional resolution Gregory Craig. nal investigation in Ukraine,” Sergey Still, the exposure of ties to the ilegal cash payments were “unfound- to pressure Yanukovych to release Manafort’s daughter Andrea start- Grebenyuk, a partner at Egorov, Yanukovych government and ed, silly and nonsensical.” his imprisoned political rival Yulia ed working at Skadden Arps in 2012. Puginsky, Afanasiev and Partners, Trump’s rhetoric on Russia and He has not yet commented on Tymoshenko, according to the AP. told the Kyiv Post. Possible charges Ukraine may drive even more the transfer of $2.2 million to the Podesta Group is headed by No charges likely could include tax evasion and money Republican voters away from Trump. United States, but Rick Gates, anoth- Tony Podesta, the brother of Hillary Prosecuting Manafort will be hard, laundering, he added. “All of it has pushed (Republicans) er Trump aide, and the lobbying Clinton’s campaign chairman John however. into the position where they don’t firms themselves have admitted the Podesta, while the head of Mercury The entries in the Party of Regions Trump slips in polls believe Trump has the knowledge,” transfer of the funds. is Vin Weber, an ex-advisor to ledgers do not necessarily mean Trump’s rating continued to slide Reno Domenico, chairman of Trump demoted Manafort to a Republican Mitt Romney. that Manafort actually received the after the revelations about Manafort’s Democrats Abroad, told the Kyiv secondary role in his campaign on Meanwhile, Ina Kirsch, head of money, as the payments intended alleged financial dealings with the Post. “He can hardly read from Aug. 17, seen as a response to the the European Center for a Modern for Manafort were actually given to Yanukovych regime were published. a teleprompter let alone have an growing concern over the overtly Ukraine, is also mentioned in the off- other people, whose signatures are The reports came after a slew of in-depth understanding of these pro-Kremlin ties within the Trump the-book ledgers, Sergii Leshchenko, indicated, the anti-graft bureau said other Trump insults and attacks, questions.” campaign. a lawmaker from the Petro on Aug. 15. including his seeming endorsement Domenico said that Trump “com- Poroshenko Bloc, told the Kyiv Post. The signatures have not yet been of Russia’s annexation of Crimea pletely misanswered by not really Off-the-book payments Kirsch did not reply to a request for verified, and the entries cannot be and call for an end to anti-Kremlin being knowledgeable about the fact The Party of Regions paid over $12.7 comment. cross-referenced against banking sanctions, each of which provoked that Crimea is gone, which is a kind million to Manafort in 2007 through The Times also reported on records. criticism. of thing that scares a lot of people. 2012, Ukraine’s National Anti- Aug. 17, citing a memo written by So far there is no evidence that “That said, if it can be conclu- We have considerable evidence Corruption Bureau said on Aug. 15. an unidentified prosecutor, that Manafort himself received the sively proven that Manafort was on that the Russian security services The bureau said there were Manafort had allegedly helped to money, and therefore he is “highly the take with Yanukovych, that will penetrated the emails and data- 22 accounting entries related to orchestrate anti-NATO, pro-Russian unlikely” to be charged in Ukraine, serve to discredit Trump even more base services of the Democratic Manafort in a hand-written Party protests and sabotage U.S. interests Artur Kyyan, a lawyer at Ukraine’s among the Republican elite, who National Committee. And then we of Regions ledger thought to have in Crimea in 2006. Lavrynovych and Partners law firm, are increasingly unenthusiastic about have the candidate who stands on been discovered when anti-gov- According to sources cited by the told the Kyiv Post. him as it is,” Alexander J. Motyl, a TV and asks the Russian security ernment protesters ransacked the Times, Manafort attended securi- Even if Ukraine starts a crim- political science professor at Rutgers services to continue to probe. This party’s office in Kyiv during the ty briefings in an “anti-revolution inal case against Manafort, his University in the United States, told is un-American. You can begin to EuroMaidan Revolution. The Times, situation room” during the 2013-14 extradition from the United States the Kyiv Post. “Trump appears to be make the argument that it’s trea- a London newspaper, said on Aug. 17 EuroMaidan Revolution, when more would be almost impossible, Mykola self-destructing.” sonous.”  that it had obtained 12 of the entries, than 100 protesters were killed. Gnatovsky, an international law pro- and it has published three of them. According to other reports, fessior at Kyiv National University, The payments intended for Manafort also unsuccessfully tried said by phone. Manafort were among $2 billion in to buy an Odesa telecoms firm “Considering U.S. practice, this is secret payments allegedly made by from offshore companies linked to practically hopeless,” he said. “This is the Party of Regions to bribe officials Yanukovych in 2008 jointly with in the realm of science fiction.” and politicians from 2007 to 2012. Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, The U.S. does not trust Ukraine The accounting ledgers were given and has attempted to buy New York because it “doesn’t have a function- to the National Anti-Corruption properties on behalf of gas ing judicial system,” Gnatovsky said. Bureau of Ukraine in May by Viktor mogul , a Yanukovych However, lawyers say that Manafort Trepak, an ex-deputy chief of the ally. could be charged in the United Security Service of Ukraine. States with violating the Foreign Getting rich Agents Registration Act for failing to Yanukovych lobbyist? The Fusion news site reported on disclose both the alleged $7.6 million The Associated Press also reported Aug. 17 that Manafort had got- payments in the accounting ledgers, on Aug. 17, citing sources with knowl- ten wealthy during his stint as a and the $2.2 million transfer to the edge of the matter, that Manafort Yanukovych consultant and had pur- lobbying firms. Under the act, all lob- and Rick Gates had helped to chan- chased more than $11 million worth byists must report on their services nel $2.2 million from the European of U.S. real estate during that period. to foreign governments to the U.S. Center for a Modern Ukraine, a Fusion also reported, citing doc- Department of Justice. non-profit linked to Yanukovych’s uments recovered after Yanukovych If Manafort’s guilt is proven in regime, to U.S. lobbying firms fled Ukraine, that Manafort helped court, he could be fined up to Podesta Group and Mercury. coordinate a Skadden Arps report $250,000 or jailed for up to five

Two Olympic gold medalists for Ukraine Bottom: Ukraine’s Iurii Cheban celebrates winning the gold medal in the men’s canoe single C1 200-meter event during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Aug. 18. Right: Ukraine’s Oleg Verniaiev celebrates winning the gold medal on the men’s par- allel bars in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Aug. 16. As of deadline on Aug. 18, Ukraine had won eight medals – two gold, four silver and two bronze – to rank 21st among nations. (AFP) 4 Opinion August 19, 2016 www.kyivpost.com

Editorials Every year of their NEWS ITEM: Ukraine is gearing up to celebrate independence its 25th Independence Day on Aug. 24. The Independence Day struggle to maintain its independence has takes a year off intensified because of Russian President A foreigner among us recently asked a Ukrainian friend what she is doing my life. Vladimir Putin, who regards Ukraine for the big 25th Independence Day celebration. She replied: “Nothing as a territory of Russia rather than special. Every day is Independence Day for us.” Indeed it is. Come Aug. an independent nation. Since 2014, 24, Ukraine will have been alive as an independent nation for 9,125 days. Russia has waged war against Ukraine There are many lessons in all of this: This is a true nation, no matter after annexing the Crimean peninsula what its external enemies, Vladimir Putin chief among them, think. This after a military invasion. is a nation with a strong society and weak state, made weaker by the corruption and impunity of its leaders. This could be a rich nation without all the robbery. Yet there is still so much to be proud of and, in the print editions this week and next, the Kyiv Post will revel in areas of business, leadership and culture where Ukraine has made its mark on the world. However, another overriding lesson is a hard one: That the fight for independence and liberty never ends. As Ukraine turns 25, an anniversary Russian imperialists are loathe to recognize, the Kremlin continues its war without much of a strong response from the world. Emboldened, Putin has taken to trying to under- mine Western institutions and meddle in elections – most recently the American presidential contest – in his desperate quest to stay in power and rebuild an evil empire. You’re Additionally, Ukraine is threatened from within, by leaders who weaken the state with their own corruption and by not allowing for strong law making me NEWS ITEM: Donald Trump, the Republican enforcement institutions to punish the corruption of others. Ukraine’s look like bad! Party’s candidate for U.S. president, corruption is so strong that its cancer is seeping into the U.S. presidential appointed a new campaign chief on Aug. election, with secret records showing $12.7 million in 22 illegal payments 17 after details of alleged shady cash to Paul Manafort, who worked for the Kremlin stooge, ex-President payments between his campaign chairman Viktor Yanukovch. Manafort, who denies receiving cash payments from Paul Manafort and Ukraine’s Party of Yanukovych, is now Republican Donald Trump’s campaign manager and Regions were revealed. Manafort, a former doing his best, it seems, to turn Trump into Putin’s lackey as well. adviser to fugitive Ukrainian President It’s a sad spectacle that Ukraine, despite employing 15,000 prose- Viktor Yanukovych, remain Trump’s cutors, 9,000 judges, 150,000 police officers and tens of thousands of campaign chairman. But the move is Security Service of Ukraine agents, still cannot successfully prosecute a seen as an attempt by the candidate to distance himself from Manafort’s manifest major corruption case. The spectacle of the General Prosecutor’s Office sleaziness. and National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine scuffling last weekend is even sadder. Still sadder is the government’s sabotage of the e-declara- tions system designed to hold public officials accountable, but rendered toothless at the moment because of a refusal to certify software. The political will of Ukraine’s leaders is lacking to fight corruption, dismantle the oligarchy and to make progress on joining the European Be gone, Union and NATO. The elite still battle their own people and ignore their Ukrainian tanks! aspirations. The struggle for the soul of the nation is still very much alive. Manafort mess

We wish we would have broken the story that 22 of the 20,000 payments on ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s leaked black ledger of $2 billion in secrety payments included $12.7 million in payments over five years to Paul Manafort. Manafort is the immoral political operative who cleaned up Yanukovych, transforming him from dictator to democrat, long enough to get the fugi- NEWS ITEM: Oleksandr Avdyuhin, a priest of tive leader elected as Ukraine’s president in 2010. Now Manafort is trying the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the to work his magic on Donald Trump, one of the most dangerous and Patriarchate, posted a photograph on Facebook sitting on a destroyed Ukrainian tank. “Please stop despicable characters nominated for the U.S. presidency. Their mutual coming to us. Do you have to do this? Let this be the admiration appears to include love of money, love of dictators, such as last photo of one of your tanks, which are absolutely Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and winning at all costs. unneeded and unwanted by anyone,” Avdyuhin wrote. While Manafort’s work for Yanukovych is well-known, his inclusion in the handwritten ledger of recorded payments cover his association with a fitting coat of sleaze. We are certainly glad that the story became public, on Aug. 14, in , because such revelations will only help bury the Trump candidacy well before the Nov. 8 vote. But for Ukraine, the issue is not so much Manafort as it is exposing, investigating and prosecuting, where credible evidence is found, the God save the other people named in the records seized from Yanukovych’s defunct czar! Party of Regions. Why is the General Prosecutor’s Office, Interior Ministry and Security Service of Ukraine not diving into these cases? It’s a flimsy excuse that, because a weakly staffed but apparently earnest National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine is operational, that its employees should be responsible for investigating all wrongdoing. Ukraine has much to do to get its house in order. It has many cases of NEWS ITEM: Russian unsolved corruption, including the Yanukovych ledgers. Ukraine’s major biker Alexander institutions – prosecutors, police and judges – need to get moving. Zaldostanov, a.k.a The Surgeon, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, arranged a spectacular show Mohammad Zahoor, Publisher with Soviet-style showw Luc Chénier, Chief Executive Offi cer with pioneers, fireworkskkss Brian Bonner, Chief Editor and the Soviet anthemm Editors: Euan MacDonald, Allison Quinn, Olga Rudenko in Russian-occupied Staff Writers: Olena Goncharova, Oksana Grytsenko, Isobel Koshiw, Josh Kovensky, Crimea. The performancenccee Denys Krasnikov, Vlad Lavrov, Veronika Melkozerova, Victoria Petrenko, Yuliana Romanyshyn, was entitled “The Fifthh Daryna Shevchenko, Oleg Sukhov, Nataliya Trach, Republic,” although Anna Yakutenko, Alyona Zhuk it resembled Nazi Photo Editor: Pavlo Podufalov propaganda. Photographers: Kostyantyn Chernichkin, Volodymyr Petrov, Anastasia Vlasova Chief Designer: Vladyslav Zakharenko Directors of Digital Strategy & Monetization: Roman Kolgushev, Olga Dorovskykh Social Media Manager: Iryna Savchuk Commercial Director: Alyona Nevmerzhytska Project managers: Victoria Barbaniuk, Sales Managers: Yulia Kovalenko, Yulia Krus, Evelina Ibrayimova Oksana Perederii, Vita Shvets, Chief Accountant: Galyna Rogachova Elena Symonenko, Accountant: Yana Chernik Feel strongly about an issue? Agree or disagree with editorial positions in this newspaper? Subscription Manager: Svitlana Kolesnikova IT Manager: Oleksiy Bondarchuk Transport Manager: Mykola Andrusha Offi ce Manager: Taisia Mingalieva The Kyiv Post welcomes letters to the editors and opinion pieces, usually 800 to 1,000 words in length. Please email all corre- To inquire about distribution of the Kyiv Post, please contact Svitlana Kolesnikova spondence to Brian Bonner chief editor, at [email protected]. All correspondence must include an email address and at [email protected] or by phone at 591-3344 contact phone number for verifi cation. www.kyivpost.com August 19, 2016 Opinionpinionp 5 Reformer of the week Anti-reformer of the week VOX Artem Sytnyk Volodymyr Hutsulyak populili Artem Sytnyk, head of the National Anti- Employees of the National Anti-

Corruption Bureau, has clashed with the Corruption Bureau of Ukraine on Aug. WITH ANNA YAKUTENKO Prosecutor General’s Office – a corrupt, distrust- 15 accused prosecutors of the anti-graft ed and politicized agency – over the past week. department of the Prosecutor General’s What are Ukraine’s Activists view the conflict as part of President Office of torture. That unit is headed by biggest achievements ’s efforts to crack down on the Volodymyr Hutsulyak. and failures in the bureau’s independence and restrict its ability to The employees were conducting sur- jail corrupt officials. veillance of the prosecutors in a cor- last 25 years? Employees of the bureau were conducting ruption case and called the anti-graft surveillance of prosecutors subordinated to bureau’s special force unit, which helped Grigoriy Volodymyr Hutsulyak and Dmytro Sus last week to free them. Chorny, in a corruption case. According to the employees’ Hutsulyak and his deputy Dmytro Sus retired “The situation testimony, they were tortured by the prosecutors. deny the bureau’s version, in turn accusing the bureau’s special force in the Donbas A source with knowledge of the matter told the Kyiv Post that Sus was a unit of beating them up. and (the suspect in an unlawful enrichment case. Sus has admitted using an Audi Q7 Hutsulyak and Sus have been accused of fabricating political cases on annexation car and claims that he bought it with his $12,000 annual salary. The car, which behalf of President Petro Poroshenko’s grey cardinals, Ihor Kononenko of) Crimea are costs about $40,000, was not included in Sus’ 2015 declaration and is reporteldy and Oleksandr Hranovsky. They deny the accusations. Hutsulyak and failures. The registered to Sus’ grandmother. Sus are also reportedly protégés of Deputy Prosecutor General Yuriy government should have conduct- Meanwhile, earlier this month the bureau caught Mykola Chaus, a judge Stolyarchuk. According to lawmaker Yegor Sobolev, Stolyarchuk also ed a policy in those regions (to reportedly tied to Poroshenko’s grey cardinal Oleksandr Hranovsky, with a visited the alleged torture chamber. prevent the war). But thanks to $150,000 bribe earlier this month. Prosecutor General has faced intensifying pressure to the war, we finally got reform of Lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko said on Aug. 17 that Hranovsky was planning to file a fire or suspend Stolyarchuk, Sus and Hutsulyak, but thus far has ignored the army, which is now capable motion with the Constitutional Court to strip the anti-graft bureau of part of its powers. the demands. of defending us. And the biggest – Oleg Sukhov – Oleg Sukhov achievement is the Euromaidan Revolution.”

To nominate someone as reformer or anti-reformer of the week, write to [email protected] Lidia Demchenko, student “The greatest achievement is that we’re now closer to We’re all – Europe. One failure is that many people still have a Soviet mindset, and there’s a huge gap in in more ways than one mindsets between the generations.”

Natalia Pikha, retired “One achieve- ment is that we have a democratic ALEXEI government BAYER that seeks to make Ukraine Both my grandparents on my mother’s side were a European country. The biggest born in Ukraine, even though they didn’t consider failure is that Ukraine couldn’t themselves Ukrainians. prevent the war in the east.” They were Jews and, in those days, ethnicity equalled nationality. No one ever thought of them Ihor Stadny- as Ukrainians while they lived in Kyiv. The same chenko, was true when when they and other Ukrainian art restorer “The greatest Jews settled in Moscow, St. Petersburg and other achievement Russian in the 1920s. They never thought of is that Ukraine themselves as . has a market The concept of nationality has changed over the economy and past century. a free market. Nationality today has less to do with ethnicity I’m happy now than with a range of factors, including citizenship, that smart and hardworking peo- place of birth, cultural affiliation, etc. A typical ple have more options to make Frenchman today is no longer a slightly built a living. The biggest failure is the white man with a blonde mustache - which was corruption at all levels.” always an abstraction, anyway - but, increasingly, Left: Vladimir Narbut, a Russian writer born in Ukraine, was executed in 1938 during Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s Great Terror. Right: The certificate of release of poet Pavel Shleyman someone like the guys who play on the French Victor (Karaban), a Oblast native, imprisoned for five years during Stalin’s reign. (Courtesy) national soccer team - of African, Arab or Eastern Nadtochi, European origin, with an admixture of other coun- solution to the nationalities question and were of , until recently known as photographer tries and continents. Today’s concept of nationality unable to create a true Soviet identity. In the end, Dzerzhinsk and, after its brief occupation by “The greatest achievement assumes assimilation into the new nation along when the collapsed, it split into 15 Kremlin-backed terrorists, renamed . In the is that society with the retention of a number of cultural traits. ethnic republics which became nation states - 1920s he lived in , at the time Ukraine’s has mobilized, And so my American-born son identifies himself some for the first time in their history. capital. He was part of a vibrant cultural and liter- especially as part-Ukrainian and part-Kazakh, even though The Ukrainian diaspora in Russia was by far ary scene in the city, working also as a translator young people. ethnically his grandparents who came to Moscow the largest. Ukraine was Russia’s most populous and rendering a number of Ukrainian poets into The greatest failure is the eco- from Ukraine and were Jews and colony and Ukrainians were closest to Russians in Russian. nomic and political crisis, and the Russians. language and culture, especially in the eastern and Having moved to Moscow, Shleyman was arrest- lawlessness.” Under communism, nationality was always a cossack-populated territories. Ukrainians began ed in 1936 and accused of plotting to set up a tricky subject. On the one hand, the communist settling in Siberia in large numbers in the late 19th Ukrainian nationalist cell, whose goal was to pro- Catherine dogma downplayed nationality as a quaint relic of and 20th century, but after the Bolshevik takeover mote works of Ukrainian writers. As was typical of Shister, the capitalist past. As Karl Marx put it, the prole- the migration accelerated. Many moved from the NKVD trials of the period, the cell was mostly quality stan- tariat had no country and workers were supposed Ukraine to Russia voluntarily, to seek employment a figment of the prosecutor’s imagination. Luckily, dards expert to feel class solidarity that transcended national or, in the case of Moscow, better living conditions this happened just before Stalin’s Great Terror “Ukraine borders and ethnic and religious divisions. On the in the capital. Others - an overwhelming major- really got going, and the five “co-conspirators” formed a civic society and a other hand, Russia was a giant colonial empire, ity - were relocated forcibly during never-end- got only five years of hard labor each. They were national iden- both inside and outside its borders, and it needed ing Stalinist purges, collectivization and post-war released after serving out their sentences - except tity. Because to develop policy with regard to subject nations. “cleansing” of the territories that had been under for Vladimir Norbut, a Russian writer who was also of the in 2004 The Soviet Union was a giant melting pot, where German occupation. born in Ukraine, to a noble family of Lithuanian and the Euromaidan Revolution, people of different cultures and languages mingled In fact, scratch a typical Muscovite and you’ll origin. Norbut was the most prominent writer of my friends and I realized that we while remaining Armenians, Tatars, Uzbeks, etc., find a Ukrainian somewhere in the background. the five “plotters.” He was tried for the second time are Ukrainians and that we belong on the basis of their parentage or last names. The This is especially true of the intelligentsia families at a Kolyma camp and executed in 1938. to this country. However, our polit- internal passport always spelled out the bearer’s - artists, writers, musicians, etc. As an aside, Norbut’s older brother Georgy, an ical system...prevents our country nationality, including, notoriously, Jewish. In the My half-brother’s maternal grandfather was poet from fighting corruption.” end, the communists never found a successful Pavel Shleyman (Karaban), born in Shcherbinivka more Bayer on page 8 6 Lifestyle August 19, 2016 www.kyivpost.com Guide to Independence Day celebrations in the capital

BY MARIIA ULIANOVSKA 2. Spivoche Pole flowers Those who want to combine the Kyiv is gradually taking on a festive beauty of nature and learn more look as preparations continue for one about outstanding Ukrainians should of the biggest national holidays yet plan a visit to Pechersk Spivoche Pole – the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s Landscape Park over the holiday. independence as a nation. The Kyiv The 61th annual flower exhibition Post has picked out these events that on Spivoche Pole is this year ded- highlight the celebrations. icated to the 25th anniversary of Ukraine, and features the 3D flow- 1. Arts exhibition er portraits of famous Ukrainians, The house of Artists on Lvivska among them the pioneering surgeon Square presents an art exhibition. Mykola Amosov, composer Mykola The exhibition aims to showcase Lysenko, engineer Evgen Paton, diversity with wroks from modern and artists Maria Prymachenko and Ukrainian artists. More than 400 Kazimir Malevich. Visitors will be pieces of art of different genres and able to feast their eyes on 10 flower styles will represent everyday life of portraits made out of more than Ukrainians and Ukraine’s natural 300, 000 flowers. beauty. The exhibition is open 9 a.m. – 9

1 Modern Ukrainian arts exhibition

2 Spivoche Pole flower exhibition

1 3 Military Parade 3 4 Run in Vyshyvankas Ukrainian soldiers march past the dignitaries’ podium on (Independence Square) in Kyiv on Independence Day in 2015. (Volodymyr Petrov) 5 Independence Festival

p.m. until Sept. 18. The entrance fee Nezalezhnosti at noon to watch the 500 meters. Registration is available 4 is Hr 30 - 80. March of the Undefeated – a parade at http://vyshyvanka.club/. The reg- by soldiers, war veterans, doctors, istration fee is Hr 350, but runners in 3. Military parade chaplains and volunteers. vyshyvankas enter for free. A military parade will proceed along There will also be flower-lay- Street, past digni- ing ceremonies at the monuments 5. Independence Festival 2 taries on the podium on Maidan to Ukrainian national poet Taras Independence Festival will be held Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Shevchenko, Ukraine’s first presi- at Kyiv’s Parkovka recreation area N Square. More than 3,000 uniformed dent and not far from the Ocean Plaza shop- 1 kmkm servicemen and servicewomen will the Heavenly Hundred – the ping mall. The event’s program

KYIV take part, along with 200 pieces of EuroMaidan Revolution protesters includes various music concerts – 5 military equipment. The parade will gunned down in Kyiv by the securi- Ukrainian music bands The Velvet be held on the morning of Aug. 24. ty forces of the ex-President Viktor Sun, Odyn v Canoe, Vivienne Mort Celebrations will be overshadowed Yanukovych. and Gapochka will perform their top By Ira Movchan, Kyiv Post MAP AREA again by the deaths of thousands hits on Parkovka’s stage from 11 a.m. of soldiers and civilians in Russia’s 4. Run in Vyshyvankas until 12 a.m. Several events are planned to celebrate Ukraine’s 25th birthday as an war against Ukraine. To commem- Sports lovers and patriots alike Festival visitors will also be able to independent state on Aug. 24. orate fallen Ukrainian soldiers, visit won’t want to miss one of this try street food and browse for souve- Khreshchatyk Street and Maidan Independence Day’s main sport nirs. Those who love Ukrainian liter- events – a race in which the com- ature will get the chance to listen to petitors wear traditional Ukrainian lectures given by famous Ukrainian embroidered skirts, or vyshyvankas. writers and poets, including Liubko The Run In Vyshyvankas will start Deresh, Artem Polezhaka, Ella at Rusanivka Quay at 9 a.m. This Yevtushenko, and many others. charity event aims to raise money for The festival starts at 11 a.m. and athletic equipment for Kyiv’s schools. will last until midnight. Tickets are Runners can compete at distances available at website karabas.com and of 5,000 meters, 10,000 meters and cost Hr 150-350. 

Visitors attend the 60th annual flower festival at Kyiv’s Spivoche Pole Park on Aug. 22, 2015. This year’s festival will feature 3D representations in flowers of famous Ukrainians. (UNIAN) www.kyivpost.com August 19, 2016 Employment 7

Editor-in-Chief Copywriter Ukraine Today Website Ukraine Today Website Job description: Job Description: • Editing and proofreading articles for spelling, grammar and coherence Place • Managing the newsroom, including editors, correspondents, video-editors, web- • Creating eye-catching headlines designers, and supporting the team • Compiling, rewriting and tailoring stories taken from other sources your vacancy • Building and maintaining a strong network of regional authors (CEE) • Partnering with our UX, Site Production and Marketing teams to transform business • Creating and implementing information strategies around different topics strategy into creative solutions at Kyiv Post • Presenting Ukraine Today at public events Education/experience: Education/Skills: • English – native speaker, fluent Ukrainian/Russian would be an advantage for only • MA in Arts • Bachelor’s Degree in English, journalism, communications • Five-year experience in media • At least two-year experience in copywriting within a similar position • Achievements in managing web-projects • Attention to minor details • Excellent communication, analytical and organization skills • Both technical and creative/editorial copywriting skills 49 USD • Strong adherence to journalistic standards • Strong organization and time management skills; ability to stick to deadlines If you are interested in this job and want to join the selection process, please send your If you are interested in this job and want to join the selection process, please send your CV to [email protected] CV to [email protected]

Eurasia Foundation (EF), a US-based international development organization promoting good gover- nance reform and civil society development, is ac- cepting applications for various positions for the Place your USAID-funded Transparency and Accountability in Public Administration and Services (TAPAS) Activity. Chemonics International Inc., an international development consulting firm, is seeking senior experts in energy regulation, energy markets, and clean energy 6JG RWTRQUG QH 6#2#5 KU VQ ƒPCPEKCNN[ UWRRQTV 7MTCKPKCP EKVK\GPU CPF VJG MINI for USAID’s anticipated Ukraine Competitive Energy Markets (U-CEM) project. in reducing or eliminating corruption in key public The purpose of this project is to improve the investment enabling environment, administration functions and services and build trust of Ukrainians in their increase energy efficiency and diversification through improved policy and RESUME government based on demonstrated transparency, accountability and regulation, develop competitive energy markets and investment opportunities, and KORTQXGFUGTXKEGU6JGCEVKXKV[YKNNHQEWUQPVJTGGCTGCU ǾNCTIGUECNGWUG promote unconventional and renewable energy sources. of electronic procurement in Ukraine; 2) an effective Open Data program; and CANDIDATES SHOULD HAVE EXPERTISE IN SOME OF THE FOLLOWING AREAS: for Hr 300  ǾVTCPURCTGPVCPFGHƒEKGPVRWDNKEUGTXKEGUKPVJGHQTOQHG5GTXKEGU • Designing and implementing integrated energy sector advisory projects in the The deadline for applications is September 9, 2016 (applications reviewed on areas of energy reform, energy market development, clean energy, including a rolling basis). All positions are full-time and located in Kyiv. large-scale renewable projects • Private sector engagement and investment EF is recruiting for the following positions: • Transmission • Finance & Contracts Manager • Distribution • eProcurement Legal Advisor • Transaction support THE BEST WAY • Technology Advisor • Engineering to reach the largest group • Capacity Strengthening Specialist • Project financing • *WOCP4GUQWTEGU1HƒEG/CPCIGT of English-speaking • Renewable and clean energy • Open Data Assistant Ukrainians • eProcurement Assistant • Energy efficiency • Communications Assistant • Privatization of energy companies and assets • Accounting Assistant • Enabling environment and regulatory support • Grants & Contracts Assistant • Public-private partnerships For more information, including on how to apply, please refer to CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS: www.eurasia.org/CareerOpportunities • Bachelor’s degree in energy, engineering, public policy, law, business, or YYYM[KXRQUVEQORC[OGPVENCUUKƒGFU. finance, economics, or a related subject area required; advanced degree preferred • At least seven (7) years of work experience in the energy sector (public and/ or private sector) • At least five (5) years of experience working on donor-funded projects; experi- ence with USAID preferred Professionals for Reform Support Mechanism (PRSM) provides human resource support – from managers to technical experts - • Excellent written and verbal communication skills to critical reform initiatives undertaken by national governmental • Fluency in Ukrainian and/or Russian required; fluency in English required CIGPEKGU245/KUEWTTGPVN[UGGMKPIECPFKFCVGUVQƒNNVJGHQNNQY- APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS: Please send a CV and a brief cover letter in English ing expert positions for the establishment and effective function- in the email body to [email protected]. Please submit one appli- KPIQHVJG2TQLGEV1HƒEGHQT5GEVQTCN&GEGPVTCNK\CVKQP 215&  cation per candidate, and include the name of the position in the subject line. Can- didates will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled. No telephone • 5GEVQT.GCF RQUKVKQPU ŢTGURQPUKDNGHQTFGƒPKPIVJGUEQRGQHUGEVQTCN UGEVQTU  inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted. reform and development of the action plans and performance indicators to assess achievement of the relevant sectoral reform objectives. APPLICATION DEADLINE: August 26, 2016 at 6 P.M. Kyiv Time Chemonics is an equal opportunity/ Affirmative Action employer and does not dis- (QTOQTGFGVCKNGFKPHQTOCVKQPCDQWVRTGHGTTGFSWCNKƒECVKQPUCPFUMKNNUKPFKECVKXGFWVKGU criminate in its selection and employment practices. All qualified applicants will and responsibilities, as well as applying procedure, please visit web-site: received consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital http://edge.in.ua/vacancies.html status, disability, or protected veteran status, genetic information, age, member- ship in an employee organization, or other non-merit factors.

-[KX2QUVKUNQQMKPIHQTCPQHƓEGOCPCIGTVQLQKPVJGVGCO We are looking for a positive and highly motivated person who is willing to learn is to advertise in the CPFVCMGQPUKIPKƓECPVTGURQPUKDKNKVKGU The main duties: • CFOKPKUVTCVKXGCPFRTQLGEVUWRRQTVVQVJGGPVKTG-[KX2QUVVGCO • VKOGN[TGURQPUGVQKPSWKTKGUCPFEQPEGTPUHTQOVJGRWDNKECPFUVCHH • NGCFGTUJKRKPMGGRKPIVJGQHƓEGTWPPKPIUOQQVJN[ Call the advertising 6JGCDKNKV[VQOWNVKVCUMKUKORQTVCPVHQTVJKUEJCNNGPIKPICPFTGYCTFKPIRQUK department at 591 7788 VKQP or e-mail: 2NGCUGGOCKN[QWT%8VQVJG'ORNQ[OGPV%NCUUKƓGFUOCPCIGT;WNKC-TWU [email protected] MTWU"M[KXRQUVEQO

Classifieds Subscribe Work permits Marriage Agency to Kyiv Post RESIDENCE PERMITS We can help you Agricultural complex for sale Business set up meet your love. Offered For Sale Agricultural Complex currently owned through +38 (067) 408–20–20 +380-44-237-72-76 a limited company Yan Plus is located in Schors Region of online. Place your Skype: Katrin8505 , Ukraine. This modern complex is situated on www.accounting.ua www.ukraine4date.net six thousand seven hundred hectares of private land serviced Only $60 a year. TEXT by owns agricultural equipment, a dairy farm with a milking Bit of happiness. station, and an elevator with grain storage facilities of 34 thou- for Hr 484 Lyudmila Place your Balance of body & soul. UCPFVQPGUECRCEKV[ǾCTTCPIGFVQHCEKNKVCVGNQCFKPIQPVQTCKNCPF WWW.KYIVPOST.COM 24 types of massages TEXT road transport. 6GN  6GNǾ   www.massages.kiev.ua for Hr 132 8 National/Opinion August 19, 2016 www.kyivpost.com Activists: Government sabotaging anti-graft measures

BY OLEG SUKHOV Hutsulyak and Dmytro Sus. The visa-free travel to Europe. [email protected] department has been accused of The National Agency for fabricating political cases on behalf Preventing Corruption went ahead Civic activists say that corrupt offi- of Hranovsky and Poroshenko’s grey and launched the uncertified system cials have gained several victories in cardinal Ihor Kononenko, although on Aug. 15. As a result, punish- a campaign to thwart reforms. they deny the accusations. ing officials for lying in declarations The counter-offensive has includ- The bureau employees said the became impossible, since evidence ed an attack on the independence of prosecutors hit them in the ribs, from the uncertified system will be the National Anti-Corruption Bureau necks, jaws and legs, as well as inadmissible by the courts. Moreover, of Ukraine and the derailing of an threatened to flay them and to cut officials will be able to hide and electronic asset declaration system out their eyes with a knife. legalize their corrupt wealth. for public officials. The two employees were conduct- The failure is likely to prevent fur- President Petro Poroshenko’s sup- ing surveillance of prosecutors in a ther Western aid to Ukraine. porters have denied accusations corruption case and had to call in As the scandal escalated, the of sabotage, while his spokespeo- the bureau’s special force unit to National Agency for Preventing ple, Sviatoslav Tsegolko and Andriy release them. Corruption on Aug. 18 postponed Zhigulin, as usual did not reply to Sus and Hutsulyak denied the alle- the launch until Sept. 1. The sys- requests for comment. gations, saying that officers from the tem is expected to be certified by The authorities’ actions amount to bureau had beaten them up. the State Service for Government overturning goals of the EuroMaidan Leshchenko wrote on Facebook Communications by then. Revolution, reformist lawmaker on Aug. 18 that the alleged torture Those responsible for sabotaging Sergii Leshchenko said on Aug. 17 was the prosecutors’ revenge for Vitaliy Shabunin of the Anti-Corruption Action Center holds a poster the launch have not been fired. which reads: “The anti-corruption bureau jails corrupt officials, at a rally protesting the alleged tor- the bureau’s bribery case against prosecutors torture bureau executives and ordinary citizens” in front of Poroshenko, head of the ture by prosecutors of National Anti- Judge Mykola Chaus, who is linked the Prosecutor General’s Office” in Kyiv on Aug. 17. (Anastasia Vlasova) National Agency for Preventing Corruption Bureau of Ukraine staff. to Hranovsky. Earlier this month Sus Corruption Natalia Korchak, “What’s going on now is a count- also raided the bureau’s premises, and head of the State Agency for er-revolution launched by corrupt accusing it of illegal wiretapping. Hutsulyak and Sus, who has admit- a statement on Aug. 18 that the Government Communications officials,” said Leshchenko, who is Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko ted using a $40,000 luxury car. prosecutor’s office had not made Leonid Yevdochenko, have been a lawmaker from the Poroshenko defended the prosecutors at a news “The main thing didn’t happen any substantial progress in graft blamed for the fiasco, although Bloc. Those in power “are trying briefing on Aug. 18, saying that they – people who tortured the bureau cases against ex-President Viktor they deny responsibility. Korchak to limit all of the anti-corruption “are not devils,” and the bureau’s employees were not suspended,” Yanukovych and his associates, two- and Yevdochenko are protégés of bodies that we’ve been creating staff “are not angels.” Vitaly Shabunin, head of the Anti- and-a-half years after he fled the , secretary of over the past year, and make them Lutsenko argued that there was Corruption Action Center’s executive country. In May, Lutsenko gave his the National Security and Defense impotent.” evidence of violations of the law by board, told the Kyiv Post. “Lutsenko subordinates a three-month deadline Council. both parties to the conflict. took a clear stance – to protect Sus to make progress, but so far not a sin- Leshchenko said on Aug. 17 that Torture scandal The torture cases opened by the and Co., in the same way he defend- gle Yanukovych-era corruption case “the Presidential Administration has Leshchenko said on Aug. 17 that law- bureau against the prosecutors, and ed Kostyantyn Kulik (a military pros- has been sent to court. done its best for two years to make maker Oleksandr Hranovsky, a key the battery cases started by the ecutor charged with graft). Instead sure there is no criminal responsibil- ally of the president, was planning to Prosecutor General’s Office against of cleansing the prosecutor’s office, Declaration saga ity for lying in declarations.” file a motion with the Constitutional the bureau will be sent to the Lutsenko has chosen to protect the Another setback came as the “This was the fifth attempt to kill Court to strip the anti-graft bureau Security Service of Ukraine, which old clans.” State Service for Government electronic declarations. I hope that of part of its powers. will act as an arbiter, Lutsenko said. Lutsenko has so far failed to Communications on Aug. 12 refused the president and his entourage will The bureau on Aug. 15 released The service’s objectivity is ques- fulfill his promise to fire corrupt to certify the electronic declaration not try to kill them once again (on testimony by two employees who tioned, however, since it is headed by prosecutors. system, arguing that it did not com- Sept. 1), because a sixth attempt will said they had been tortured by Poroshenko and Hranovsky loyalists. Transparency International ply with technical requirements. The lead to economic collapse and bury prosecutors from the prosecutorial Lutsenko also ignored demands Ukraine and the Reanimation electronic declarations are a major the dream of a visa-free regime,” department headed by Volodymyr by civic activists to fire or suspend Package of Reforms also said in anti-graft tool and a precondition for Shabunin said. 

Bayer: Ukrainians have had a profound influence on Russia

Bayer from page 5 was part of the dacha cooperative of nationality remains controversial, would decide that, since London annexation of Crimea posting sup- “Ozero” - The Lake. However, it is especially in the ex-colonial pow- was founded by the Romans, there posedly witty memes about Ukrainian artist who trained in St. Petersburg equally impressive how many in the ers. In France and the Netherlands is no such nation as Italians and the leaders and Ukraine in general. with Ivan Bilibin, designed the positions of power or influence haul anti-immigrant rhetoric is on the Italian language is but a corrupted While personal motivations in Ukrainian emblem, its first hryvnia from Ukraine or have Ukrainian rise. In Britain, Brexit was in a large version of English. such cases are best left to the med- banknotes and Ukrainian postage roots. Putin’s immediate entourage measure born of the dissatisfaction Perhaps this preposterous con- ical science, Russia’s policy of trying stamps during the brief rule of het- include men named Tymchenko, with a number of people of color cept owes a great deal to the fact to hold on to Ukraine and to hitch man Pavlo Skoropadsky. Kovalchuk and Chayka. who claim that they are now British. that people of Ukrainian origin play it permanently to the rump of the It is extraordinary how much if the A key loyalist, Valentina While in the West the nationalists such an important role all aspects of collapsing is insane early Soviet literature in Russian was Matviyenko, was born in Ukraine. want to expel various alien citizens Russian life. It is notable how many not only for Ukraine but for Russia, created by people who were born, She was brought to Moscow and and restore ethnic purity, in Russia people with Ukrainian roots or last as well. grew up and developed their literary made President of the Council of the the post-colonial syndrome has names have been virulently critical The reason Ukrainian-born and styles in Ukraine, especially in Kyiv, Federation in 2012, when Putin was received a very strange twist. Many of the Maidan revolution and vocif- educated people have been so influ- Kharkiv and Odesa. They were inter- still toying with the idea of leaving Russians have become determined erously opposed to the Ukrainian ential for Russia is because Ukraine connected personally as well as artis- politics and bestowing real power to deny Ukrainians their national government’s goal to join Europe. has always been a conduit for tically, forming life-long friendships on Dmitry Medvedev. Matviyenko identity, history and even language. Writer Eduard Limonov (Savenko), Western ideas. It acted as a window and intermarrying. The contribution was replaced as Governor of St. They claim that Ukrainians are basi- who was raised in Kharkiv, has long to Europe, along with St. Petersburg. of Ukrainian-born or educated writ- Petersburg by another person cally Russians who speak a dia- been denying the existence of a sep- Keeping Ukraine underdeveloped ers, painters and musicians to the with Ukrainian roots, Georgy lect and that Ukraine is an integral arate Ukrainian nation while crooner and backward would exacerbate Russian culture is impossible to over- Poltavchenko. Meanwhile, Ukrainian- part of historic Russia. One Russian Iosif Kobzon, who was born in the Russia’s own backwardness and estimate, and it continues to this day. born Irina Yarovaya, a hugely visible nationalist I have talked to pointed Donbas, provides material support keep it deeply provincial. The best Ukrainian influence extends also presence in the Russian Duma, has to the example of Italy, claiming that to the terrorists destroying his native thing Russia could now do is to to politics. It is a known fact that the been entrusted by the Kremlin with the fact that Neapolitans speak a dia- region. help Ukraine to rise and achieve its government in Russia is dominated the task of introducing some of the lect doesn’t make Campania any less There is a myriad of such people, potential as a leading economic and by the “St. Petersburg Mafia” - men craziest legislation of the past two a part of Italy. both in the public eye and not. I have political power in Eastern Europe. In with whom Vladimir Putin grew up, years. To me, however, such Russian a cousin, a son of a Ukrainian father, the long run, that would undoubted- learned judo, served in the KGB or The present-day Western concept claims sound more as if the English who spent the first year after the ly benefit Russia as well.  BIRTH OF A STATE MYTHS AND FACTS BUSINESS LEADERS UKRAINE TIMELINE 3 Memories of the 8 Discovering the truth 12 Those who helped 22 Key events that momentous day about Ukraine build the economy shaped the nation

in partnership with August 19, 2016 19, August

YEARS OF UKRAINE’S INDEPENDENCE Asters has been acknowledged as the Law Firm of the Decade by Ukraine’s Legal Awards 2016.

Please visit us at www.asterslaw.com August 19, 2016 3 Recollections of independence, from those who made it happen

BY YULIANA ROMANYSHYN Choronvil vehemently denied and AND ISOBEL KOSHIW protested with a 120-day hunger [email protected] strike. Chornovil was the leader of [email protected] Rukh, a nationalist movement found- ed in 1989. He was one of the main In the late 1980s, Moscow’s influ- challengers in the 1991 presiden- ence in Ukraine waned because tial elections to the first Ukrainian of the “glasnost” and “perestroi- President . ka,” the policies of openness and Chornovil was killed in a car acci- restructuring introduced by Mikhail dent while campaigning for presi- Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s last dent in the 1999 elections. Ukraine’s secretary general. Interior Ministry found no evidence Dissidents in Ukraine promoted of wrongdoing, but his supporters the and aware- believe he was murdered. The fol- ness of Soviet crimes, including the lowing is an excerpt from a video of 1932-33 and the cov- interview he gave in 1996 to the er-up of the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear Ukrainian Catholic University as part power plant explosion. Even tradi- of a project on Ukrainian history tionally passive workers in Ukraine’s from 1988-1991: industrial heartland staged mass “First of all, people were ready for protests. (independence) ... it was a moment In Moscow, the Communist Party when the people rose. After that, I was further challenged by elections traveled all over Ukraine during the of non-communist candidates to the presidential campaign, and it was Congress of People’s Deputies in not only in the west – people in the 1989. east also believed in independence. Sensing the end may be near, But today the belief is smaller, which Soviet Union officials started resign- is (due to) bad leaders, who haven’t ing en masse. used the huge advantage of the peo- Non-Communist Party candidates ple rising up.” competed in parliamentary elec- tions on March 4, 1990 in Kyiv Levko People hoist Soviet dissident and Ukrainian lawmaker Levko Lukyanenko following the proclamation of for the first time in 70 years. Lukyanenko Ukraine as an independent state, outside the building of the Ukrainian parliament in Kyiv on Aug. 24, 1991. Upon election, formed the was a Soviet dis- Ukraine celebrates its 25th Independence Day on Aug. 24. (UNIAN) Democratic Bloc, joined sident impris- by defecting communists. oned for 15 years ries and plants. They ruined the fac- “Ukraine is developing. It’s diffi- this double-headed eagle would be In July 1990, Ukraine’s for creating an tories and people were left without cult. There are problems. pecking Ukraine much longer than new parliament declared underground jobs. It’s very unfortunate. And this “My most memorable moment next quarter of a century. Ukrainian sovereignty, but separatist orga- meant that Ukraine didn’t become a from that period was when the “I pay a lot of respect to the events stopped short of indepen- nization. Upon his democracy, rather it’s about who has Ukrainian parliament voted of that day, as a people’s movement, dence. However, that declara- release from pris- more money.” for the Declaration of Ukrainian which I headed at that time, did all tion was only a year away. on in 1976, he was a Independence. You had to be there it could to declare independence. In the year between declaring founding member of the Ukrainian Leonid in the hall. The deputies were hug- I celebrate this day every year - 25 sovereignty and independence, Helsinki Group, a human rights Kravchuk ging each other, singing, lifting each years in a row. I would like to recom- Ukrainians extracted concessions organization, for which he was a Communist other up. They celebrated on the mend (the next generations) to rely from Moscow while support for full was imprisoned again for Party ideo- streets. Lots of people came out onto on their brains and strength, and do independence grew. 10 years. Lukyanenko was logue before the streets. Everyone was singing not believe in the fairy tales that our Then in August 1991, hardlin- elected to parliament in being made the and celebrating. The act was sup- generation believe in, while embrac- ers within the Kremlin organized 1990 and was responsible Chairman of the ported by the majority of the parlia- ing this independence.” an unsuccessful coup against for writing the Declaration Supreme Soviet ment and so was constitutional. The Gorbachev. With Moscow in chaos, of Ukrainian Independence, of the Ukrainian event was the most striking moment Ivan Plyushch Ukrainian politicians seized the which was voted for by parlia- Soviet Socialist of my entire life.” was a Soviet opportunity. In a tense session on ment in 1991. Republic just before deputy Aug. 24, 1991, Ukraine’s deputies “Of the whole period, the most the collapse. Kravchuk and was voted 346 to 1, with three absten- important moment for me was managed to successfully hold was a Ukrainian subse- tions, to declare Ukrainian inde- Aug. 24, 1991, when the Ukrainian power during Ukraine’s tran- poet and polit- quently pendence. The vote was later rati- Rada voted for the independence sition period, elected as the ical activ- elected fied on Dec. 1, 1991 by 92 percent of Ukraine. After the vote, I walked first ist. Like a dep- of the population in a nationwide out of the Rada to greet a huge (1991-1994) in elections held Viacheslav uty and referendum. crowd of maybe 20,000 people. in tandem with the referen- Chornovil, speak- Here are the words of some of the There were so many people. They dum on independence in 1991. Drach was er of the key people involved in the momen- lifted me up. They thanked me. And “I was anticipating a new life born in Kyiv Ukrainian tous change: I was so happy because what I had because I knew the old system all Oblast and devel- parlia- ment. wanted and fought for all my life had too well. I was one of the leaders of oped his nationalist Plyushch authored the Declaration Viacheslav happened. After that, we all went the old Soviet Ukraine. I saw the dif- ideas at university, where he asso- of Sovereignty that the Ukrainian Chornovil to the Maidan and again I spoke ficulties people faced. They had no ciated with other dissident-minded parliament passed in 1990. Plyushch was a promi- in front of a huge crowd of people, opportunities. I knew how to manage students. After a trip to Moscow in died in 2014, at the age of 72. This is nent Soviet and by the evening on Sofiivska people, and together with them I the early 1960s, Drach wrote his first an extract from a video interview he dissident, Square there was a meeting of all started to build the new state. anti-Soviet poems, but later, when gave in 1996 to Ukrainian Catholic impris- Ukrainians. People from all of the “Unfortunately the expectations several dissidents were arrested, he University as part of a project on oned three 25 oblasts came to Kyiv, and all the that I had couldn’t all be fulfilled, wrote an open letter in which he said Ukrainian history from 1988-1991: times for a radio stations in Ukraine broadcast because there are lots of problems he regretted his anti-Soviet activities. “The most important event was total of eight me reading out the declaration of which aren’t dependent on Ukraine’s During “glasnost,” he founded Rukh the Declaration of State Sovereignty years. The independence to all of Ukraine. This actions. Like, for instance, Russia’s along with Chornovil. The organiza- of Ukraine. It was on July 16, 1990, first time was for for me was the greatest celebration war against Ukraine today. The tion campaigned initially for greater and it was the beginning. First, came documenting the and happiness. annexation of Crimea. I couldn’t freedoms, and was later key in cam- the will of the highest body, the illegal imprisonment of Ukrainian “Things didn’t go the way they have predicted back then that it paigning for independence. , to be independent. intellectuals. The second time was should have, because it turned out would happen in 23 years time. The “I was in Moscow, listening on Second, came the Declaration of for publishing an underground the communists weren’t Ukrainian most important thing that we have the radio what was going on in Independence of Ukraine on Aug. magazine called the Ukrainian patriots. They formed clans, and is that the question of whether the Verkhovna Rada in Ukraine. I saw 24, 1991. And third was the indepen- Informer and being involved in “sep- instead of the process of privatiza- state is independent is resolved. We how the double-headed eagle had dence referendum on Dec. 1, 1991.” aratist” activity. The final time was tion, they started to steal everything have a state, and soon we will mark been created around the Russian for “attempted rape,” charges that for themselves. They stole the facto- the 25th anniversary. Parliament. And I recognized that more Memories on page 17 4 August 19, 2016

great English-language 25 books about Ukraine BY OKSANA GRYTSENKO ritories “the bloodlands,” because professor of history and political grel dog in a simultaneously comic Ukraine. Published in 2005, this funny [email protected] 14 million people were killed here science at York University, Canada, and tragic journey into a hidden debut novel by Lewycka was loved by between 1930 and 1945. The victims is still one of the best works on past. Published in 2002, the book many in the U.K. and Ukraine. Ukraine has inspired dozens of included Ukrainian peasants killed Ukraine’s history from the early ages was adapted in 2005 into a film of authors to write histories, memoirs, during Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s up to the mid-2000s. Used by many the same name, starring the star of fictional novels and even advice on Holodomor artificial famine, Soviet students as a history study book, Lord of the Rings, Elijah Wood, and finding a Ukrainian romantic part- prisoners of war starved to death this work is essential for anyone Eugene Hütz, Ukrainian-born singer ner. The Kyiv Post has picked out in prison camps, and Jewish people interested in learning an objective and the frontman of the Gypsy punk 10 must-reads about Ukraine and killed by the Nazis. Snyder points , without Russian, band Gogol Bordello. Ukrainians that have been published out the striking parallels between Soviet or modern Ukrainian ideolog- in English, as well as 15 other books two dictators – the Soviet Union’s ical distortions. by authors who have contributed to Stalin and Nazi Germany’s Adolf the growing library of books about Hitler. “Hitler and Stalin thus shared Ukraine in the English language. a certain politics of tyranny: they Everything is brought about catastrophes, blamed Illuminated, by Jonathan the enemy of their choice, and then Safran Foer used the death of millions to make A young Jewish-American, the the case that their policies were nec- author’s namesake, travels to essary or desirable,” Snyder writes. Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis during World War II. He is accom- panied by a Ukrainian translator, Alex, Alex’s grandfather, and a mon-

Ukraine: Witness to Revolution, by Kyiv Post journalists This Kindle book contains first-hand accounts by the Kyiv Post journalists about the Euromaidan Revolution. The Kyiv Post produced reams A Short History of of reports during the three-and- Tractors in Ukrainian, by a-half dramatic months from late Marina Lewycka November 2013 to February 2014, Bloodlands: Europe Although the story takes place in when Ukrainians braved icy weather Between Hitler and Peterborough in , most of its to rally against the corrupt former Stalin, by Timothy heroes are Ukrainian emigres to the president, Viktor Yanukovych. The Snyder United Kingdom, either of the second Kindle book includes the person- An absolute must-read for every- generation or newcomers. Born in al impressions and stories of the body interested in the mod- the U.K. to a family of Ukrainian Kyiv Post’s reporters about a revo- ern history of Ukraine, as well as Ukraine: A History, by descent, sisters Vera and Nadezhda lution that changed Ukraine forever. and . Yale historian try to foil the marriage of their father The journalist’s essays are weaved Timothy Snyder names these ter- Published in 1988, this book by a to Valentina, a mail-order bride from into a concise but detailed account of the events of the EuroMaidan People attend a book fair during the 22nd Forum Revolution, and the start of Russia’s of Publishers in , September 10, 2015. There is war of aggression against Ukraine. a growing library of books on Ukraine in English to help foreigners learn about the country. (UNIAN)

The Harvest of Sorrow, by First published in 1986, this book by British historian Robert Conquest was written with the assistance of the U.S. historian James Mace, who was later acclaimed in Ukraine as one of the best researchers of the Holodomor famine. After setting out an in-depth study of the Stalin- era collectivization of 1929-31 and the man-made famine in 1932-33, August 19, 2016 5

the authors proved that the fam- ine was a case of genocide against An Orange Revolution: 15 other authors, works of note: the Ukrainian nation, which took A Personal Journey Anders Aslund, a Swedish economist, has written “Ukraine: What Went away millions of lives. The book was Through Ukrainian Wrong and How To Fix It” and “How Ukraine Became a Market Economy awarded the Shevchenko National History, by Askold and Democracy.” Prize, the highest cultural award in Krushelnycky Alexei Bayer, a Kyiv Post columnist who lives in New York, writes Ukraine, in 1994. In this book, Askold Krushelnytsky, thrillers, including “Murder at the Dacha” and “The Latchkey Murders.” the Kyiv Post’s chief editor in 1998, Alex Frishberg, a lawyer who divides his time between Ukraine and vividly describes the events of America, has written “Doing Business in Ukraine,” “The Steel Barons” and Orange Revolution, the mas public “An International Love Affair.” uprising against the rigged presiden- Marvin Kalb, a U.S. journalist, has written “Imperial Gamble: Putin, tial elections in 2004. He also gives a Ukraine, and the New Cold War.” brief history of the Ukrainian nation Andrey Kurkov and Sam Taylor, are the authors who wrote “Ukraine itself, from its earliest times to the Diaries,” a firsthand account of the EuroMaidan Revolution present. Taras Kuzio is a British citizen based in Toronto, Canada, who has written several books on Ukraine, including the 2015 “Ukraine: Democratization, Corruption, and the New Russian Imperialism.” In Wartime: Stories from Paul R. Magosci, the chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of Ukraine, by Tim Judah Toronto, has written “A History of Ukraine” and other books. The Balkans correspondent for the David R. Marples, a Canadian historian and professor at the University – the kidnapping and murder of Economist, Tim Judah traveled from of Alberta in Canada, has written several books, including “The Collapse independent journalist Georgiy the west to the east of Ukraine in of the Soviet Union” and “Heroes and Villains: Creating National History Gongadze in 2000. Koshiw has also 2014 covering Russia’s war against in Contemporary Ukraine.” written other books about contem- Ukraine. The result of his observa- Alexander J. Motyl, a political science professor at Rutgers University in porary Ukrainian events and politics, tions and interviews, this book pays New Jersey and a prolific columnist, has written “Dilemmas of Independence: including “MH17: The story of the special attention to the human cost Ukraine after Totalitarianism” and other scholarly works on Ukraine. shooting down of the Malaysian air- of war.  is the Mykhailo Hrushevsky professor of Ukrainian liner” and “Abuse of Power.” history at Harvard University and director of the university’s Ukrainian Research Institute. Recently he has written “The Gates of Europe: A Dream Land, by Lily History of Ukraine” and “The Last Empire: The Final Days of the Soviet Hyde Union.” In the form of a family story, British Anna Reid, a journalist and author, wrote “Borderland,” one of the first author and former Kyiv Post jour- books about Ukraine and its history to be published after Ukraine gained nalist Lily Hyde tells the story of independence. the return of thousands of Crimean Richard Sakwa, a professor of Russian and European politics at the Tatars to Crimea, the land of their University of Kent, is the author of “Frontline Ukraine,” a book detailing ancestors, or, as they call it, the the origins and background to the Ukraine crisis. “dream land.” Alex Shaw has written several crime thrillers that, while not exclusively set in Ukraine, will be familiar to readers in the region. Andrew Wilson is a United Kingdom author and senior policy fellow Beheaded: The Killing of at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He has written numerous a Journalist, by Jaroslav books on politics in Ukraine and the region, including “The Ukrainians,” Koshiw “Ukraine’s Orange Revolution,” “Ukraine Crisis” and “Virtual Politics: This book, by another former Kyiv Faking Democracy in the Post-Soviet World.” Post journalist and editor, Jaroslav Serhy Yekelchyk, a Ukrainian-Canadian historian, wrote “Ukraine: Koshiw, investigates one of the grim- Birth of a Modern Nation,” detailing the events of Ukraine 2004 Orange mest stories in independent Ukraine Revolution.

Advertisement ELEKS, a leading Ukrainian IT company, marks 25 years of software engineering innovation

mobile applications, security, payments, performance, fault- on solving business and technology challenges, rather willing to take more responsibility, have a clear vision of VQNGTCPEG CPF UECNCDKNKV[ +P VJG INQDCN VTCFG CTGC YG JCXG than a staff augmentation provider. your goal and invest your time and strength into education. developed an integrated Credit Risk Management System 6Q UWRRQTV VJG KORNGOGPVCVKQP QH QWT UVTCVGI[ '.'-5Ŧ (CRMS) that streamlines and automates processes related to FGNKXGT[QTICPK\CVKQPKUƒPCNK\KPICPWODGTQHVGEJPQNQI[ How is your business active in its social responsibility? counterparties, contracts, and risk management. accelerators, including an Enterprise Platforms Suite, as +PCFFKVKQPVQQWTXQNWPVGGTRTQLGEVUHQTVJG7MTCKPKCPCTO[ well as additional initiatives to help us scale, monitor including an automated medical record system for military '.'-5KUCOQPIVJGVQRNCTIGUV+6ƒTOUKP7MTCKPG*QY and manage a large number of projects. These will be JQURKVCNUQWTOCKPƒGNFQHKPXQNXGOGPVKU+6GFWECVKQPCPF are you different from other companies in your business? KPENWFGF KPVQ QWT ũ'PVGTRTKUG1WVQHVJG$QZŪ CRRTQCEJ community development. #EVWCNN[ '.'-5 KU CNUQ QPG QH VJG YQTNFŦU  DGUV which supports our transition into the development of At our corporate university we create new educational outsourcing companies and a top 5 enterprise software scaled distributed enterprise solutions and cloud-ready opportunities for talented technology students, launching FGXGNQROGPV ƒTO DCUGF QP KPFGRGPFGPV GXCNWCVKQP D[ global solutions. training camps in software engineering, DevOps, QA, UX, Ruslan Zakharchenko, KPFWUVT[QTICPK\CVKQPU*QYGXGT'.'-5KUPQVCVTCFKVKQPCN People are our greatest asset, so ELEKS puts great emphasis Business Analysis and other topics; another opportunity %JKGH'ZGEWVKXG1HƒEGTCV'.'-5 QWVUQWTEKPIEQORCP[+PCFFKVKQPVQVJGHCEVVJCVYGJCXG on the development of core professional competencies: is a software academy for post-combat veterans to help our own software products and focus on the development project management, business analysis, user experience, VJGOUVCTVKP+61WTJGCFSWCTVGTUKP.XKXKURTQWFVQJQUV of technologically complex systems, we have preserved software architecture, data science, etc. Our people are a department of University, with our '.'-5CNGCFKPIUQHVYCTGGPIKPGGTKPIƒTOJGCFSWCTVGTGF our passion for innovation, through the early adoption and continuously developing a better understanding of business top experts as lecturers, and several of our executives KP.XKX7MTCKPGYJKEJUGTXGUEWUVQOGTUINQDCNN[EGNGDTCVGU exploration of new technologies. acumen. ELEKS has created an environment which provides as lecturers or board members of programs at the Lviv KVUVJCPPKXGTUCT[VJKU[GCT4WUNCP

1911 novel of the same name. It is a Ukrainian Romeo and Juliet story, set in a Carpathian Mountain village. “This film shows all the beauty of the life, culture and customs of the top movies inhabitants of the Ukrainian part of the Carpathians,” said Voytenko. The film was a lightening rod for dissidents: During the film’s pre- mier in Kyiv, Ukrainian writers Vasyl about Ukraine Stus and Ivan Dzyuba protested 25 against political repression against the Ukrainian intelligentsia. BY VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA But the Soviet system soon struck [email protected] back: In 1973, director Paradzhanov was arrested, accused of sodomy, Cinematography provides a vivid and sentenced to five years in prison. insight into , histo- Many said that Paradzhanov was the ry and mentality. But while Ukraine’s first openly gay person in Ukraine. filmmakers in Soviet times were In 1977, Paradzhanov was released faced by the constraints of Soviet following international pressure. censorship, in independent Ukraine During Soviet times, it was impossi- budget restrictions made it difficult ble to raise money for a film without to get movies about Ukraine onto the support of the Communist Party. cinema screens. And if a director did manage to make Nevertheless, over the years and screen an unauthorized movie, Ukrainian filmmakers and filmmak- the Soviets banned it. ers of other nationalities have made dozens of movies that reveal much Rebirth of cinema about Ukraine, and are well worth With the fall of the Soviet Union, a watch by both Ukrainians and stu- Ukrainian filmmaking industry dents of Ukrainian culture. Here, the became freer, but also much poorer. Kyiv Post reviews some of the most The financial drought lasted into important and influential of these 2010. Now the State Film Agency movies, and lists the 25 must-see gets between Hr 100-300 million films about the country. every year. “The new technologies gave extra Ideological control possibilities for independent filmmak- Movie critic and TV host Volodymyr ers, because they made the mov- Voytenko told the Kyiv Post that ie-making process faster and cheap- the first Ukrainian directors were er,” said Voytenko. granted a measure of creative free- The Hutsul wedding scene from the 1964 movie “Shadows of the Forgotten Ancestors,” by Sergei The technological revolution in dom only in the early years of the Paradzhanov. (Courtesy) film-making made it practical in Soviet Union, in the 1920s. After that, recent years for independent direc- from the beginning of Soviet dictator tors to document Ukraine’s fast- Joseph Stalin’s reign of fear in the Ukrainian filmmaker Mykhailo However, Illienko said that despite villagers, forced to survive under paced political developments. 1930s and until his death in 1953, Illienko agreed, saying that Russia’s Soviet censorship, Ukrainian movie the cataclysmic conditions brought “Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight the Soviet propaganda machine put leading position in the Soviet Union directors still managed to convey about by the Soviets, several years for Freedom” was an Oscar finalist in strict control on Ukrainian movies. meant that Ukrainian characters hidden messages. before the tremendous holocaust (of 2015 in the documentary category. It “There was political and ideolog- were only allowed secondary roles the Holodomor, or Stalin’s artificial was directed by , ical control,” said Voytenko. “The in movie screenplays. Dovzhenko’s realism famine),” said Voytenko. In 1958, an American of Russian origin, and director was allowed to make a movie “It was impossible to make a The 1930 epic drama “Zemlya” Dovzhenko’s “Earth” was voted one depicted the EuroMaidan Revolution only to socialist realism standards. movie with a strong Ukrainian hero (Earth) made by Ukrainian direc- of the top 12 best films in histo- that forced Viktor Yanukovych to flee The government formed a historical in the times of the Soviet Union. tor Oleksandr Dovzhenko, shows ry during an international cinema as president on Feb. 22, 2014. portrait of the Ukrainian nation as Only a Russian could be the heroic Ukrainian Soviet youths fighting forum in . Other noteworthy recent contri- the one that played a secondary, less protagonist, while Ukrainians had to against kulaks, or wealthy landlords, Dovzhenko invented his own butions include “The Tribe,” a 2014 important role in the story of Soviet be shown as silly, comical characters in 1920-1930. unique cinematic style of “film feature film by Ukrainian director Union and the Russian empire.” – or traitors,” recalled Illienko. “In fact it is a drama of Ukrainian poem,” using symbolic frames and Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy about love, rhythmic editing. In his 1930 silent crime and hate in a Ukrainian board- Man with the Movie 1929 2010 My Joy, Sergey Loznitsa film “Zemlya,” Dovzhenko showed a ing school for deaf teenagers. Camera, Dzyga Vertov nude figure the first time in history The resurgence in the industry has of Ukrainian and Soviet cinematog- also seen some bigger-budget movies Zemlya (Earth), 1930 2011 Cross, Marina Vroda Oleksandr Dovzhenko raphy. That edgy realism earned hit the screens: “Unbroken” in 2015, DURATION the distinguished director the ire of which was screened in Russia as “The Za dvumya zaytsami The Fire Crosser, Soviet cinema critics. Battle for ,” is a $5 million (Chasing two hares), 1961 MORE THAN 2012 Mykhailo Illienko Viktor Ivanov biopic about the exploits of Ukrainian Shadows of The Common Thing, Carpathian Romeo, Juliet sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko in 1964 34 2013 Valentyn Vasyanovych Voytenko said that Soviet ideolog- World War II. It has since become a forgotten ancestors, Sergei Paradzhanov ical pressure relaxed in the 1960s. Ukrainian-Russian blockbuster. Shadows of unforgotten Ukrainian and Soviet cinematogra- “The only problem Ukrainian cin- Zakhar Berkut, 1971 2013 ancestors, Lubomyr Leonid Osyka Levytskiy phers returned to plots that included ematographers have now is the U.S national and historical elements. monopoly on the business. It is still Propala Hramota, 1972 MAIN 2014 Guide, Oles Sanin In 1964, Armenian director Sergei rather hard for Ukrainian movies to . Borys Ivchenko

CHARACTER 1 WITH Paradzhanov’s “Shadows of Forgotten compete with U.S-made blockbusters UKRAINIAN Vavilon XX, OF THE FILM The Tribe, Ancestors” screened a movie adapta- at the box office,” said Voytenko.  Ivan Mykolaychuk 1979 2014 Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy tion of the Mykhailo Kotsubinskiy SIGNLANGUAGE Swan Lake. The Zone, The Battle for Sevastopol, Yuriy Illienko 1989 2 SILENT 2015 Sergey Mokritsky FILMS Hunger-33, 3BLACK& Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Oles Yanchuk 1991 WHITE 2015 Fight for Freedom, 9 17 Evgeny Afineevsky Fuchzhou, Mykhailo Illienko 1994 MOST COMMON GENRES 2015 Cerise, Jérôme Enrico

Syomiy Marshrut The Turtledove Nest (The Seventh Route), 1998 2016 (Gnizdo Gorlytsi), Mykhailo Illienko Taras Tkachenko With Fire and Sword, Bitter Harvest, Jerzy Hoffman 1999 2016 George Mendeluk

Illyuziya strakha By Ira Movchan, Kyiv Post (The illusion of fear), 2008 Source: http://www.imdb.com Aleksandr Kirienko A scene from the 2014 film “The Guide” by Ukrainian director Oles Sanin. A list of 25 Ukrainian and foreign movies with fun facts about them. (Graphic by Ira Movchan)- (Courtesy) August 19, 2016 7

Advertisement The Man Who Changed the Rules

as this industry was the most problematic for the Ukrainian Finally, there was created strong, innovational and industrial confectionery market. Namely, confectioners had to buy packaging complex for the production of modern flexible packaging for products abroad, paying a lot of money for them. the needs of the food, cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. The entire world now recognizes the Ukrainian packaging industry. Galkin invested a large sum into the Kyiv Plant of Polymer Materials. At the time, the company manufactured plastic coverings for A major breakthrough in the company development took place in greenhouses, plastic bags and PVC film. It was obvious to Oleksandr 2002. Ukrplastic organized presentation and display of its products that the plant needed some modernization, as the times and world at an exhibition in Düsseldorf - one of Galkin’s friends said that it standards in the packaging industry had substantially changed. was a real blitzkrieg. The European market were offered samples of high quality and unique products, which grabbed the attention Galkin decided to build a modern high-tech production facility, of multinational corporations such as Danone, Lactalis, Nestle, By Irina Mirochnik which would manufacture high-quality products for the consumer Mondelez (Kraft Foods), etc. Soon, they began to buy Ukrplastic just like the world leaders in that business. The successful materials for the packaging of their products. When it comes to innovations and new technologies in Ukraine, it is businessman managed to bring in investment from reputable likely that people first remember names that are popular and famous international banks such as the European Bank for Reconstruction In 2010, Galkin became a board member of the European all over the world. The names that have changed the rules and a and Development and others. Moreover, he renovated the Rotogravure Association (ERA). This gave a serious boost to the way of life of our modern society, and have given a powerful boost production line and modernized the plant, developing a unique development of business and entry into the international markets. to further development. Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, and the founder of innovation chain, which provided a source of continuous Ukrplastic’s success in the new markets is borne out by the fact Sony Corporation, Akio Morita, are people who built their businesses investment into yet more new technologies and equipment. that over the next few years, the company received more than fifty by implementing innovative ideas that have come to be used by the prestigious industry awards. Today, international food industry entire civilized world. It was then that the company received a new name - Ukrplastic, and leaders use Ukrainian packaging for their products, as do dozens Galkin decided to develop a completely new packaging material. of food processing companies. Ukraine also has its own traditions of doing innovative business, Therefore, he brought the powerful research centers and institutes as well as having people who have made a great contribution to the in the field of chemistry, biochemistry, Eco Hygiene and toxicology Ecology and intellect formation of entire sectors of the economy, using their innovative into the development this new packaging material. Galkin’s innovative approaches powered the creation and and creative thinking, ambitious knowledge and inventive skills. development of a high-tech packaging industry in Ukraine. He One of them is a prominent Ukrainian self-made man, Oleksandr In 1999, after several years of the scientific research, Ukrplastic knew perfectly well how important social responsibility is to a Galkin. His life story perfectly illustrates the thesis that our country started to produce multilayered plastic sheeting that had a set business. Galkin contributed to the health of the environment and is rich in extraordinary people, who have been able to achieve their of unique characteristics, such as a memory effect, excellent of Ukrainian, as these were very important to him. In fact, he was goals and put into life their ideas. Our country has a lot of great thermal insulating characteristics, and which was totally free of the first to change the usual rules of the packaging industry. He business people, but only few of them are real visionaries, who have the hazardous substances. This invention was even better than its was the first in Ukraine to decide not to use cheap and hazardous followed their wildest dreams and can look beyond the horizon. foreign analogues. Moreover, it is still a serious competitor in the materials for packaging, such as PVC, which during its disposal global market. releases toxic substances such as dioxins. In addition, he actively Oleksandr Galkin was a talented innovator and a businessman who promoted work safety and environmental protection among all died in the prime of life, but he left behind an important legacy, "When I met Galkin, I saw technologies that I knew, but I had never customers and partners. as well as creating from scratch a modern packaging industry in seen them in use before," said the President of World Packaging Ukraine. We use popular and convenient packaging materials every Organization, Sergio Haberfeld when he first met with Ukrainian "The civilized world expressed its negative attitude to PVC products day, but we do not even know that it took a great deal of scientific pioneer during a visit to Ukraine. long ago. In many countries, legislation prohibits or restricts the use work to create this product, some inventive insights, and the courage of PVC materials in various fields, especially in the packaging sector. to implement innovative ideas. This person for decades lived and Galkin practically created the packaging industry from scratch in As for the Ukrainian people, who have lived with the effects of the worked searching for new implementations of his ideas, and made Ukraine, and it remains one of the most dynamic in the country. Chornobyl disaster and have been living in unfavorable ecological breakthroughs in his field time and time again. Overall, during the years of his working career, he developed conditions, it is totally unacceptable for there to be even the and implemented about a hundred new types of packaging and theoretical possibility of additional hazardous substances," Galkin The legacy he left is the Ukrplastic Company, which today is one packaging materials. Many technologies that developed by Galkin said of Ukrplastic’s giving up the production of packaging with of the most advanced and high-tech companies in the country. are recognized as innovative all over the world, and some of them chlorine-containing polymers. It isdeservedly among the largest leaders of the packaging have even been implemented at several other companies. The industry in Europe. In addition, the company’s products are very prominent scientist had 22 patents for his inventions. Ukrplastic replaced them with new advanced materials and popular in Asia, the Americas and Africa. While Ukrplastic's 90th became the founder of an important environmental trend. anniversary will be next year, it was Galkin who saw breakthrough Ukrplastic always looked ahead to the future of world technology — Moreover, the company was the first in Ukraine to pass the innovations as the most important way forward for the company. this was his main strategy. He managed to stay one step ahead certification requirements to gain the highest European quality Through his work, it became the leader in the packaging industry, of the competitors because of his systematic thinking, careful and safety standards. providing high-quality products. I and my husband took part in the analysis of market trends, and deep understanding of the scenarios development of the company and the industry, so I can understand for the development of industry in the future. Ukrplastic always Galkin’s significance for Ukraine, as an innovator and visionary, well how important and crucial was Galkin’s contribution to the looked ahead to expected demand, and was ready for any changes also was demonstrated in his support for young scientific talents. business. There are perhaps only a few companies in Ukraine that in market trends. He supported on his own the intellectual growth of domestic are confident enough to look into the future and at the same time to researchers and developers - he paid out scholarships to the best be a top company in the country. For example, when at the beginning of the 1998 economic crisis students who were preparing to work in this industry, and he funded there was demand for UHT milk on the market, the company had the publication of textbooks and scientific papers. These people A man who had an amazing dream already developed a new type of packaging that doubled the shelf will surely go on to contribute to the development of the Ukrainian In 2016, a book was published that tells the life story of Galkin. life of pasteurized fresh milk. In addition, the production of Doypack economy, as Galkin did it. It was written by family members, friends and peers of this talented plastic bags by Ukrplastic was very successful as well, Galkin saw scientist and a successful businessman. We wanted to give the reader this new type of packaging at a Japanese exhibitions in 2000. The After his death, I firmly decided not to stop this important activity of an opportunity to appreciate the full extent of this person. Galkin’s product was not popular yet, but Galkin could already see its future my husband. In 2014, I contributed to opening of the International path to his achievements was not easy, but his energy, dedication prospects. Soon Ukrplastic purchased the special equipment for its Charitable Fund named after Oleksandr Galkin. Its goal is to and outstanding intellect made him truly worthy to have followers. production. The company also began to develop its own innovative support talented students, expand the innovational sector of the solutions in order to create effective materials for the production of economy, and protect the ecological rights of Ukrainian citizens. "There are people who come into the world to create. They create this type of packaging. Oleksandr Galkin’s sense of initiative is continuing to bring not only material or scientific things, but also create the fate of the benefits even right now. people, people who are lucky to be around a bright person, learn One of Galkin’s popular breakthroughs caused a real revolution in from him, and feed off his faith in the life and an amazing dream," the industry, namely, that of twist plastic sheets. This multilayered At a new stage of development reads the preface of the book about Galkin. material contains the optimal combination of polymers that provide Galkin headed Ukrplastic until May of 2013. After the tragic death flexibility but also the ability to keep a desired shape. It protects well of the scientist and businessman, his close family still continues The future scientist and businessman was born in Petrashovka against contamination, damage, sticking, and drying as well being his work. We built this unique business together, laying the village, Khmelnitsky Oblast. From his childhood he took interest in environmentally friendly. Galkin said about his innovation: "This foundations for the future development of the company, and photography and technology, and later he studied at the Kamianets- intelligent material has an excellent memory." currently its development is continuing as well as ever. Today, Podilskyi College of Food Industry. When Galkin graduated from the company is increasingly expanding its markets and influence college, he started demonstrating his engineering skills. Namely, This revolutionary material increased the competitiveness in Europe, it is one of the largest exporters in the country, and while Oleksandr was working on Vinnitsa Confectionery Factory he level of Ukrainian confectionery producers in the world market it has deservedly reached the level of an international holding. came up with a new mode of operation for a traditional conveyor significantly. Galkin’s invention in fact caused a further boom in system, and this innovative mechanism served the factory for about the confectionery industry in Ukraine. Innovation leadership does not always imply popularity and a 30 years until a general modernization was carried out in 2010. His top status in technological progress. It usually happens the other friends from his youth said that during that period he understood Galkin understood perfectly the importance of obtaining way round: A pioneer always faces danger and risk, because no that he loved technological innovations and high-precision manufacturing competitiveness with foreign manufacturers one is immune from failure. The first myth about innovators equipment more than just the technology and the science. in the industry, therefore, he directed all of the efforts of and risk is well known - namely the creator of wings, Daedalus, Ukrplastic to raising production standards. The significant sacrificing his son Icarus while revealing to people a way to the In 1973, Galkin entered the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics investments in modern production technologies helped to heavens. Since then, things have changed, and our civilization at the Kyiv Technological Institute of the Food Industry, and by 1985 maintain high standards. has made a huge improvement in technological progress. he had already defended his PhD thesis and received his PhD in However, there is always one person who takes the first step. Engineering Science, at the age of just 32. "Technical, technological and banking innovations are the most important elements in the development of our economy. Ukraine needs people who are able to look beyond the horizon The dissolution of the Soviet Union was the starting point for many Namely, innovation allows us to be competitive and make a claim of dreams and bring greater plans to life. Perhaps people such businessmen. Galkin opened a profitable business doing barter internationally," he said in 2003. as Oleksandr Galkin will be followed by a new generation trade in crude oil and natural gas, which allowed him to generate his of innovators - people who will be able to turn Ukraine into a first startup capital. Shortly after, he began working closely with the The volume of investment in the company tells us how much attention modern and highly developed country. Ukrainian confectioners, helping them enter international markets. Galkin paid to the innovation in production and management. Since That is when he first decided to get into the packaging business, 2000, more than 100 million have been invested in the company. 8 August 19, 2016 myths and facts about 25 Ukraine and Ukrainians

BY ANASTASIA YAROVA

Many foreigners, having told their friends they’re moving to Kyiv for a job or posting, are asked: “Kyiv? That’s in Russia, isn’t it?” As a recently independent coun- try, it’s not surprising that a number of myths or misconceptions about Ukraine still persist. Long under the yoke of its giant neighbor Russia, Ukrainians have struggled through the centuries to maintain their dis- tinct identity, traditions and culture. Ukrainians have largely succeeded in doing so, but there are still a few misapprehensions about the country that have yet to be put to rest, and due to mendacious Kremlin propa- ganda, a few more have emerged in recent years. Here, the Kyiv Post sets the record straight about a range of myths that have grown up about the country. Ukrainians eat a lot Anyone who has attended a Ukrainian birthday party or other family celebration will have encoun- tered a table groaning with huge amounts of food, and one might get the impression Ukrainians always overindulge at mealtimes. In fact, the Ukrainian diet is rather healthy and modest, which is borne out by the country’s obesity rate: At around 20 percent, it is not even in the top 30 in the world, and is far below most Western countries’ rates, and Dozens of Ukrainians dressed in traditional attire and each donning a unique “” - a traditional embroidered shirt - paraded through Kyiv Russia’s as well. on Independence Day on Aug. 24, 2013. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin)

Ukrainians marry young Ukrainian men want Ukraine is cold and Russian is in fact the odd one out. favoring left-of-center politics. While this may have been true women as homemakers snowy much of the year If you could have heard an ancient in the past, when getting married Another hangover from the days Ukraine has a continental climate, East Slavic tribesman, his speech Ukraine has little in was often a way to jump the line of the Soviet Union, this is large- with winters that are colder than in would have sounded much more common with Westn for the provision of state housing, ly no longer the case, especial- Western Europe but summers that like Ukrainian than Russian. Indeed, The perception of Ukraine as an it is no longer. Today, Ukrainians ly in younger people who have are usually hotter. The capital Kyiv Ukrainian shares many more linguis- exotic, Eastern country has its roots tend not to get married until only lived in independent Ukraine. is practically on the same latitude tic features with Belarusian, Czech, in old stereotypes about the Soviet after the age of 26, as women are With the widespread availability as London in the United Kingdom, Slovak, Polish and Serbo-Croat than Union that persist to this day. But becoming more career-focused and of higher education for women, and the southern portions of the it does with Russian. Ukrainian and geographically, the center of Europe both men and women are reluc- and increasing career opportuni- country have a climate well-suited Russian are not mutually intelligi- lies within Ukraine’s borders, and tant to start a family unless they ties, fewer Ukrainian women are to growing grapes, while Crimea’s ble – the standard linguistic test for there is much about Ukrainian cul- can really afford everything they content to assume traditional roles, climate is sub-tropical. The weather determining whether a language is a ture and traditions that immediately need. Liudmyla Sliusar, a research- and the majority of women in is changeable and heavy thunder- fully-fledged language in its own right, strike Westerners as familiar. In west- er at the Ukrainian Institute for Ukraine, after university, now pur- storms are common in the summer and not a dialect of another. While ern Ukraine, in particular, there are Demography and Social Studies, sue careers and by the age of months, but the climate is far more many people in Ukraine have Russian areas that have been incorporated says the average age men get mar- 26-28 are yet not married and do temperate than in Siberia or most as their first language, most people are in other European states, such as the ried is 30, while for women it is 27, not have children. of Canada. bilingual in Ukrainian and Russian, Austro-Hungarian empire, and which according to a report in Gazeta.UA. and will switch languages depending bear the hallmark of this Central Ukrainian education is on who they are speaking to. Politics European influence to this day. corrupt, low quality aside, the language issue has never Not even close. Ukraine ranks fourth been problematic in Ukraine. Ukrainians drink a lot highest in percentage of citizens with While the availability of cheap alco- a higher education, and in the top 40 Patriotic Ukrainians are hol does cause problems with alco- smartest countries based on math and extreme nationalists holism in Ukraine, according to the science scores, according to Business This new myth has emerged since World Health Organization the level Insider. While it is still common to Russia’s invasion and annexation of of alcohol consumption in Ukraine have to make payments to education- Crimea and its war in the Donbas. is the same as in Italy, at 22nd place al institutions to gain admission, and Bandera, a Ukrainian nation- in the world. Drinking habits are there are isolated cases of people hav- alist who lived from 1909 to 1959, different here than in France, for ing paid to be awarded degrees, the who fought with and against both instance, where having a glass or two quality of Ukrainian education is high. the Soviets and the German Nazis of beer or wine during dinner every Moreover, recent private initiatives to during World War II, is a contro- day is the norm: Ukrainians tend teach information technology skills to versial figure in Ukraine, and by no not to drink at every meal. Social the workforce should ensure Ukraine means the sole figurehead of the drinking is much more ritualized, has some of the best-skilled tech work- Ukrainian independence movement. however, with the tradition of liberal- ers in the world for years to come. Ukrainian politics has become more ly toasting friends, family and guests overtly patriotic and nationalistic with Ukrainian vodka on special The Ukrainian language since the Kremlin launched its war, Face-painted patriots march from Shevchenko Park to is a dialect of Russian but election results show that most on Nov. 24, 2013. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin) Within the Slavic language group, Ukrainians are social democrats, more Myths on page 10 August 19, 2016 9

8NUDLQHPXVWJURZȠDVDEUDQGDQGGHVWLQDWLRQbȠ WRbEHFRPHDKXEIRUGRLQJEXVLQHVVLQ(DVWHUQ(XURSH

KRWHO DQG RWKHU SURSHUWLHV 7KLV ZLOO JLYH FRQ- WKH KRVSLWDOLW\ VHFWRU LV IXOO RI QHZ RSSRUWXQL- ILGHQFHWRWKHSRWHQWLDOLQYHVWRUWKHQ\RXDGG WLHVZKLFKLVRISDUWLFXODULQWHUHVWWR'(2/3DUW- WKHSURMHFWȢVILQDQFLDOPRGHOWRJLYHDFOHDULGHD QHUVLQRXUUROHDVKRWHOGHYHORSHUV)RULQVWDQFH RI WKH SURMHFWHG UHWXUQ RQ WKH VSHFLILF LQYHVW- Ȥ%OHLVXUHȥ WUHQG SUHVHQWV D PL[ RI EXVLQHVV DQG PHQW'(2/ȢVIOH[LEOHVWUDWHJ\RIGRLQJEXVLQHVV OHLVXUH DFWLYLWLHV IRU D SHUVRQ ZKLOH WUDYHOOLQJ KDV VHFXUHG H[FHOOHQW UHWXUQV HYHQ LQ WKH ORZ 7KLVIHDWXUHRSHQVQXPHURXVFKDQFHVIRUGHYHORS- VHDVRQVRIWKHPDUNHWDQGLQRXUPRUHVHDVRQDO HUVWRUHDUUDQJHWKHKRWHOȢVFRQFHSWDQGSUHVHQW VHFWRUVVXFKDVKRVSLWDOLW\ WKHQHZLGHDRIVWD\6XFKWUHQGVDQGFKDQJHVDV KHDOWK\ OLIHVW\OH IRU EXVLQHVV WUDYHOHUV JURZLQJ Can you give us some examples of the projects GHPRJUDSKLFZLWK0LOOHQQLDOVLQWKHWDUJHWDXGL- that your company has been involved with? HQFHPL[VKRXOGEHFDUHIXOO\DQDO\]HGDQGFRQVLG- 2XU FRPSDQ\ȢV SRUWIROLR LQFOXGHV VXFFHVV- HUHG,FDQȢWGLVFORVHDQ\GHWDLOV\HWEXWZHKDYH IXO SURMHFWV WKDW DUH NQRZQ IRU LWV SURPLQHQW DOUHDG\SUHSDUHGDVHULRXVH[SDQVLRQSODQWKDWLQ- EUDQGV Ƞ  0LUURUV 'HVLJQ +RWHO WKH OX[XU\ YROYHVQHZFRQFHSWVDQGEUDQGVIRUGHYHORSPHQW ERXWLTXHSURSHUW\LQ.\LYDQGWKHILUVW'HVLJQ DEURDGDVZHOODVKHUHLQ8NUDLQH +RWHOLQWKH&,6FRXQWULHV6HQDWRU$SDUWPHQWV Ukrainian investor and developer WKH DZDUGZLQQLQJ FKDLQ RI DSDUWPHQW KRWHOV And what are your personal factors for success? Ruslan Oleksenko at Senator Apartments Maidan, LQ 8NUDLQH RSHUDWLQJ VLQFH  .LHY $LUSRUW 1HYHUWRVHWWOHIRUMXVWJRRGUHVXOWVEXWWRDLP one of the apartment hotels his company &LW\PL[HGXVHPXOWLIXQFWLRQDOFRPSOH[LPPH- IRUWKHEHVWSRVVLEOHRSWLRQVDQGWREHFRQVWDQWO\ has developed and operates GLDWHO\DGMDFHQW%RU\VSLO,QWHUQDWLRQDO$LUSRUW RQWKHORRNRXWIRUQHZRSSRUWXQLWLHVDQGQLFKH /HRQDUGR %XVLQHVV &HQWUH WKH ILUVW Ȥ$ȥ FODVV PDUNHWV 0\ SHUVRQDO SDVVLRQ IRU H[FHOOHQFH KDV EXVLQHVVFHQWHULQ8NUDLQHDQG6HQDWRU/LIHVW\OH HYROYHGLQWR'(2/b3DUWQHUVȢPLVVLRQWKDWVWDWHV &OXEVLWXDWHGRQWKHb'QLHSUR5LYHUDQGRIIHULQJ WR EH WKH PRVW LQQRYDWLYH DQG FRPSHWLWLYH FRP- BY MARIA SHEVCHENKO 2XUFRPSDQ\ȢVSDUWQHUVKDYHEHHQRSHUDWLQJ D UDQJH RI VSRUWLQJ DQG UHFUHDWLRQDO DFWLYLWLHV PHUFLDO RUJDQL]DWLRQ RQ WKH (DVW (XURSHDQ UHDO LQ8NUDLQHVLQFHDQGKDYHEXLOWXSH[WHQ- LQD:HVWHUQVW\OHFOXEIRUPDW'LVWLQJXLVKHGE\ HVWDWHPDUNHW Ruslan Oleksenko, founder of DEOL Partners, VLYHH[SHULHQFHLQbLQYHVWPHQWDVZHOODVWKHUHDO LQQRYDWLYHWKLQNLQJWKHbWHDPDW'(2/3DUWQHUV 6XFFHVVLVDOZD\VDWULFN\WKLQJXQOHVV\RXDUH shares his ideas about doing business in Ukraine HVWDWH PDUNHW :H XQGHUVWDQG WKH ODQJXDJHV H[FHHGV PDUNHW H[SHFWDWLRQV ZKLOH GHOLYHULQJ VXUURXQGHGE\SHRSOH\RXWUXVWDQGEHOLHYHLQDQG DQGWKHFRXQWU\ȢVIXWXUHSURVSHFWV$VbDbGHYHO- WUDGLWLRQVDQGFXVWRPVRIRXUSDUWRIWKHZRUOG WKHGUHDPEHKLQGHDFKEXLOGLQJ ZKR DUH UHDG\ WR VXSSRUW \RXU LGHDV YLVLRQ DQG RSHUDQGLQYHVWRUZLWKDQH[WHQVLYHH[SHULHQFH DQGWKLQNLQJOLNHHQWUHSUHQHXUVDQGGHYHORSHUV RQWKHUHDOHVWDWHPDUNHWKHVWURQJO\EHOLHYHV DOVR UHDOL]H WKHb LPSRUWDQFH RI PDNLQJ WLPHO\ LQ WKH SRZHU RI LGHDV DQG LQLWLDWLYHV WKDW FDQ ZHOOLQIRUPHGGHFLVLRQV OHDG WR YHU\ SRVLWLYH UHVXOWV IRU LQYHVWRUV DV ZHOODVEHQHˋWWKHbORFDOFRPPXQLW\ ,Q WXUEXOHQW WLPHV RI WKH HFRQRP\ LQYHV- WRUVWHQGWRVWD\ORZDQGDUHYHU\VHQVLWLYHWR DOO FKDQJHV LQ WKH PDUNHW +RZ GR \RX EXLOG In this the 25th anniversary of Ukraine’s Inde- DbUHODWLRQVKLSZLWKLQYHVWRUV" pendence this year, how would you describe doing $V D UHDO HVWDWH GHYHORSHU DQG LQYHVWRU P\- business in Ukrainian real estate? VHOI,XQGHUVWDQGWKHLUH[SHFWDWLRQVDQGGHVLUHG )RUGRLQJEXVLQHVVLQ8NUDLQHDQbHQWUHSUH- RXWFRPHIURPSDUWLFLSDWLQJLQDSURMHFW,QWKHVH QHXUVKRXOGGHILQLWHO\EHSUHSDUHGIRUHYHU\- XQFHUWDLQ WLPHV WKH PRVW LPSRUWDQW IDFWRUV DUH WKLQJ DQG DQ\WKLQJb Ƞ DWWHQWLRQ WR PXOWLSOH Db VHQVH RI OHDGHUVKLS DQG VWDELOLW\ 7KHb OHYHO RI VFHQDULRVDQGWKHbDELOLW\WRUHDFWDSSURSULDWH- WUXVWLQDGHYHORSHULVDYHU\VHQVLWLYHPDWWHUDQG O\ WR WKHP DUH NH\V WR VXFFHVV$V WKH$PHU- LVEXLOWRQSHUVRQDOUHSXWDWLRQWKDWRIWKHbFRPSD- LFDQ SKUDVH VD\V Ȥ7KHUHȢV QR VXFK WKLQJ DV Q\DQGLWVWHDPȢVSURYHQDELOLW\WRDFKLHYHWKHbUH- Db IUHH OXQFKȥ 7KH SURILWDELOLW\ RI DQb LQYHVW- VXOWVZLWKDKLJKOHYHORISURIHVVLRQDOLVPLQDQ\ PHQWLVQHDUO\DOZD\VLQGLUHFWSURSRUWLRQWR PDWWHU 0DLQWDLQLQJ FORVH FRRSHUDWLRQ WKURXJK- 11 Mirrors hotel is the first and the only member of WKHOHYHORIULVNDQLQYHVWRULVZLOOLQJWRWDNH RXWWKHSURMHFWLVFUXFLDO Design Hotels™ in Ukraine ,Q8NUDLQH\RXFDQH[SHFWDbKLJKHUUHWXUQRQ

Your company has recently delivered a series of successful projects in hospitality, so can you give 11 Mirrors is #1 on TripAdvisor in Kyiv and Ukraine us your perspective view on hospitality? ZZZGHROSDUWQHUVFRP since 2013 7KHZRUOGLVFKDQJLQJ7KHEHKDYLRXUDQGSUL- ZZZPLUURUVKRWHOFRP RULWLHV RI WUDYHOOHUVȢ DUH TXLWH GLIIHUHQW QRZ DQG ZZZVHQDWRUDSDUWPHQWVFRP 10 August 19, 2016 Myths and facts about Ukraine

Myths from page 8 a favorite traditional flavoring for is chili pepper, so some horil- occasions leading to the impression ka can indeed “burn” the throat. that overconsumption of alcohol is common. In reality, it is not. Ukraine suffered a coup by neo-Nazis in 2013-14 Much of Ukraine has This myth of Kremlin propaganda been contaminated by was created as the anti-government Chornobyl radioactivity protests in Kyiv reached their cli- The dreadful Chornobyl disaster of max in the early months of 2014. April 26, 1986 has left a long shad- While it’s true that a small num- ow on the country, and rendered ber of protesters were from the the area around the stricken plant far right, the vast majority were uninhabitable for perhaps centuries. ordinary Ukrainians. The Orwellian However, the vast majority of the use of the word “coup” to describe country was unaffected by the radio- the popular uprising is another clue active fallout from the reactor explo- to this myth’s origins as Kremlin sion, and Ukrainian food and water propaganda. Repeat this nonsense to are regularly checked for radioactiv- Ukrainians at your peril – most will ity. While Ukrainians remember the be insulted, and those who partici- disaster with grief, radioactivity in pated in the protests themselves in the country barely registers among Kyiv will be insulted, but also laugh their everyday concerns. at you for being so gullible. Unemotional Ukrainians Ukraine isn’t a country This myth has appeared because it is During the NATO Summit in not the Ukrainian habit to be open Bucharest, , Russian and smiling with strangers – but they President Vladimir Putin said to then are no more “cold and unemotional” U.S. President George W. Bush: “You than any northern European would have to understand, George, that People wearing vyshyvankas, traditional Ukrainian embroidered shirts, take part in a Vyshyvanka March be. Once you get to know them bet- marking the Independence Day of Ukraine in Kyiv on Aug. 24, 2014. (Kostyantyn Chernichkin) Ukraine is not even a country.” ter, Ukrainians express their feeling While this opinion fits nicely with and emotions much more openly, “mail-order bride.” Many have been emerged due to job shortages in the Ukrainians work abroad, mostly in the Kremlin’s view of the world, and can then strike their guests as disappointed: not by the beauty of nascent market economy – now, those Russia, Poland and other Eastern the facts shows it to be a myth. being more straightforward and sin- Ukrainian women, but by the fact who want to get a job in a top bar or European countries. Large numbers Ukraine within its present borders, cere than some Westerners. that Ukrainian women are apt to restaurant have to have good service of Ukrainians have left the coun- including the Russian-annexed terri- demand respect from men, and their skills. And while it’s not usual to tip in try since independence for work or tory of Crimea, is an internationally Crimea is a Russian land favors cannot simply be bought by a Ukraine, if you do leave something for study, and many have since cho- recognized state, and a member of While Russia absorbed Crimea man offering a new home in a far-off your server, you will be practically guar- sen to live abroad permanently. the United Nations. Indeed, Ukraine into its empire in the 18th century Western country. While Ukrainian anteed a warm welcome and attentive However, in this country of over 40 joined the United Nations as an after one of its many wars with the women can be loving and faithful service next time you visit. million people most have chosen individual nation state in 1945, while (based in Turkey), wives, and caring mothers, winning to remain here, even when they Russia did not – it was represented Crimea has a long history that had lit- their affection is not easy, and will Ukrainians wear have had the opportunity to leave. as part of the Soviet Union. tle to do with Russia, or even Ukraine. demand sincere effort from any man. vyshyvankas a lot Indeed, since Ukraine’s EuroMaidan The people with the greatest claim to This has started to become less Revolution, many Ukrainians who Kyiv is the mother of call Crimea home, are, of course, the Ukrainians eat a lot of of a myth since the EuroMaidan built successful careers abroad have Russian cities Crimean Tatars, but their population salo (lard, or pig fat) Revolution, but is still far from being returned to their homeland to help it Kyiv was the capital of the ancient was repressed and deported during It is true that the majority of entirely true. The vyshyvanka is an build a better future. Kyivan Rus state, which broke up the time that the Russian Empire and Ukrainians like salo and eat it essential part of Ukraine’s national in the 12th century, long before later Soviet Union was in control of quite often. However, the average costume, and it is true that after the Ukrainian women are any state known as “Russia” came the peninsula. Things changed for the Ukrainian eats no more than 18 revolution it became a symbol, and a among most beautiful to exist. The modern Russian state better after Ukraine gained indepen- kilograms of pork a year, which is way to express national identity and This is no myth, and the research more directly precedes from Tsarist dence, and Crimea gained autonomy a third of the amount eaten by the pride. Moreover, the vyshyvanka is proves it: Ukraine has consistently Russia, which itself proceeded from within the unitary state of Ukraine, average German. Still, Ukrainians’ now a very popular fashion item in been ranked among the top 10 the Grand Duchy of Moscow, or with Crimean Tatars returning to fondness for pork fat is evident in Ukraine and beyond. World famous countries in the world in terms of Muscovy, with its capital in Moscow. their homeland from places of depor- its trade statistics - Ukraine annually brands, from Valentino to H&M, now the beauty of its women. Ukrainian Thus the “mother city” of modern tation in Central Asia. Ethnic Russians imports up to 70,000 tons of lard use elements of Ukrainian embroi- women are also proud of their femi- Russia is, in fact, Moscow. and Ukrainians also inhabit Crimea, from Germany, Hungary and Poland. dery in their clothes. And while ninity and dress accordingly: sweat- but describing it as “Russian land” is So this myth is pretty close to reality. Ukrainians used to wear vyshyvankas pants and hoodies would generally Ukraine is ‘deeply to ignore a vast portion of its history, mostly on big occasions, and no more be last out of the closet when they divided along ethnic and recent and ancient. Service is bad than once or twice a year, many are are deciding what to wear. linguistic lines’ Another hangover from Soviet times is now proud to wear embroidered Since gaining independence in Easy the perception among foreigners that shirts or dresses as everyday wear. Ukraine has the worst 1991, Ukraine has mostly been a Even in Soviet times, Ukrainian the service in Ukrainian hotels, bars roads in the world peaceful, ethnically and linguistically women (especially in the capital and restaurants is universally bad. In Ukrainians rip off Given Ukraine’s climate of hot sum- varied state, home to speakers of Kyiv), were famed for their beauty. fact, Ukrainian service, especially in the unsuspecting tourists mers and cold winters, road surfac- not only Ukrainian, but Russian, This reputation carried over into larger cities, has improved immensely It used to be quite common to see signs es tend to deteriorate quickly. Add Eastern , Rusyn, Romanian, the years of independence, and over the past two decades or so. That’s at the entry to tourist sights in Ukraine to that budget shortages for road Belarusian, Crimean Tatar, Bulgarian, Kyiv was a favorite destination for mainly been due to the competition with separate prices for Ukrainians and repairs, and it’s no surprise many Hungarian, Polish, Armenian, rich Western men looking for a for jobs in the service industries that foreigners – the prices for foreigners roads, even in big cities, are in a poor German and Greek. While Ukrainian being higher. But that is hardly ever state in Ukraine – hence the popu- is the language most commonly spo- the case now. If a bar or restaurant larity of SUVs and cars with a high ken, Russian is also widely used, and favored by foreigners has high prices, clearance. But the worst roads in many Ukrainians are equally profi- Ukrainians have to pay them as well, the world? Nowhere near it. Ukraine cient in both. Moreover, Ukrainians and indeed, relatively speaking, such has also been upgrading its highway will switch between the two as the places are more expensive for most network in recent years, and now the situation requires, sometimes using Ukrainians to visit, so tourists often roads between Kyiv, Odesa and Lviv different languages to address the actually get quite a good deal, espe- are some of the best in the country, members of a single conversational cially in comparison to prices in other matching those in Western Europe, group. Politics had muddied the countries. Despite the war in the east, at least in terms of surface quality. issue, but ethnic Ukrainians can be Ukraine is still a great destination for heard speaking Russian as well as tourists, with more than 10 million Ukrainians drink vodka Ukrainian. It is a mistake to identify people visiting in 2014, most of them, Well, yes they do, but it’s more likely a Russian-speaking Ukrainian as a however, from bordering countries. that they will actually be drinking “Russian,” just as it would be a mis- horilka – Ukrainian vodka. Vodka is take to say an American, Canadian, Ukrainians want to a Russian word, roughly meaning “lit- Australian, Irish person or Scot leave their country tle water,” while the Ukrainian word was “English” because they speak Ukrainians eat a lot of salo (raw pork fat), but less pork meat per capita This “myth” is actually more true horilka translates roughly as “burning English.  than some other countries. (1zoom.ru) than not. An estimated 3 million water.” Firewater, basically. Moreover, August 19, 2016 11 Ukraine’s determined will is inspiration for rest of world

whom they have a right to look for bring success only if the solidarity and cultural soil nurtured by differ- to fight Russian propaganda in the support – their neighbors in the demonstrated on the Maidan holds ent nutrients. Solidarity can grow communications media and cyber- democratic West. firm and indeed grows, such that from a commitment to the moral space, and to provide the Ukrainian This is, frankly, disgraceful, but Ukraine shows the entire democratic truths built into the world and into armed forces with the materiel GEORGE the shame does not lie in Ukraine. world a path beyond the debilitating us, truths that we can know by they need to defend Ukraine from WEIGEL It lies in Washington and London individualism and politically correct reason. Solidarity can grow from Russian aggression. In the coming and Paris and and Rome, tribalism that are eroding the moral religious conviction – and has nota- years, we should work to create and everywhere else where Western foundations of democracy through- bly done so in Ukraine, through ever-broader networks of exchange During the EuroMaidan Revolution, political leaders have sought to out the North Atlantic world. the work of the Ukrainian Greek between Ukrainian democratic if I remember correctly, one of the appease Russian President Vladimir The “Europe” to which Ukraine Catholic Church and those Orthodox reformers and their counterparts in brave souls who stood fast in sup- Putin’s appetite for empire by acqui- aspired is now in crisis because of communities that have disentan- the West. And we in the West can port of the promises of Ukraine’s escing in the invasion and annex- a solidarity deficit. In its current, gled themselves from the Moscow work to convince our friends and independence said, “We came to ation of Crimea and the ongoing wretched presidential campaign, Patriarchate’s entanglement with neighbors that Ukraine’s cause is our the Maidan looking for Europe, and Russian war in the Donbas. But the the United States is embarrassing Russian state power. Solidarity can cause, the entire West’s cause – and we found Ukraine.” By which I think sad fact of the matter, on this silver itself before the world because of be nurtured by both reason and rev- that participating in that great cause he meant that Ukrainians found jubilee of Ukraine’s independence, a solidarity deficit. Yet in the face elation: that is the lesson of Ukraine, can revivify our own democratic in each other the solidarity that is that “the West” seems to have lost of these defaults in the West, men especially in recent years; that is commitments. had been previously missing in their the will to push back, hard, against and women of character and con- the truth that Ukraine needs to live As the shadows of totalitarianism country. And from that solidarity, aggression in its neighborhood. So viction are working steadily to give more fully in the next quarter-cen- lengthened across Europe in the this man seemed to believe, a new “finding Ukraine” will continue to the solidarity they experienced on tury of its hard-won independence; 1930s, Pope Pius XI said, “Let us Ukraine – a prosperous and demo- be primarily a task for Ukrainians, the Maidan real effect in Ukraine’s and that is the lesson that Ukraine thank God that He makes us live cratic Ukraine, governed by the rule with help from individuals and dem- economic, legal, and political life. can teach the West. amidst the present problems; it is of law and taking its rightful place in ocratically-minded nongovernmental Should they succeed, Ukraine will Meanwhile, it is incumbent upon no longer permitted to anyone to be the West – would be born. organizations in the West. have taught the entire West a les- those of us in the West who share mediocre.” Ukraine’s determination I hoped he was right, then. And I The paradox here is that, should son it badly needs to re-learn: that Ukrainian’s noblest aspirations to to live “beyond mediocrity” is an still hope he was right. Because the Ukraine win through – should the democracy without solidarity – that do whatever we can to stand in sol- inspiration, and ought to stir the general fecklessness of the West in process of Ukrainian national self-re- profound sense of moral obligation idarity with our brothers and sisters conscience of the West. the face of Russian aggression and newal succeed, economically and to others who are not just “others” in Ukraine. We can and must bring George Weigel is a distinguished Russian murder in Ukraine means politically – Ukraine just might give but who are also “neighbors” and whatever pressure we can to bear senior fellow of Washington’s Ethics that Ukrainians are going to have the flaccid West a much needed jolt fellow-protagonists in the drama of on our governments to resist Putin’s and Public Policy Center, where he to “find Ukraine” without very much of moral and cultural inspiration. self-government – is impossible. aggression, to counter Russian holds the William E. Simon Chair in material assistance from those to For Ukraine’s next 25 years will Solidarity can grow from social Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s lies, Catholic Studies.  12 August 19, 2016 trailblazing business 25 leaders in Ukraine

BY DENYS KRASNIKOV AND JOSH KOVENSKY [email protected] AND [email protected] Top Five

In Ukraine’s 25 years of indepen- dence, the country’s business scene Tomas Fiala has veered from communism to With $100 million to his name, Dragon Capital CEO gangster capitalism to entrepreneur- Tomas Fiala has done well since his arrival in Ukraine in ial innovation. 1995. Fiala, a Czech national who first set up an office Over the years, an array of busi- in Ukraine for a brokerage, has wound up staying here nesspeople from Ukraine and since, weathering everything from the 1998 financial abroad have managed to build great collapse to the country’s current economic troubles. Along companies, even in Ukraine’s chal- the way, Fiala has developed Dragon Capital, which he lenging business environment dom- founded in 2000, into a Western-style investor, even negotiating inated by oligarchs. the 2007 sale of a minority stake in the firm to Goldman Sachs, the U.S. The success stories include expats investment firm. Fiala also chaired the European Business Association from from Western Europe, the United 2010 to 2015. States and even other parts of the for- Aivaras Abromavicius and Natalie Jaresko brought their considerable mer Soviet Union, such as - business experience in Ukraine to top government posts. Abromavicius Lenna Koszarny born Aivaras Abromavicius coming served as economy minister and Jaresko as finance minister. (UNIAN) Horizon Capital co-founder and CEO Lenna Koszarny to Donetsk to work in a Swedish has led the Western-funded investment firm since investment fund, and others, like that merged with French BlaBlaCar. Abromavicius worked for Swedish- December 2014, when Natalie Jaresko left to become American Jed Sunden, coming to GrowthUp also organizes IT confer- owned investment fund East the nation’s finance minister. Koszarny manages $600 Ukraine and founding the Kyiv Post ences such as Silicon Valley Open Capital. Starting there in 2002, million in assets across three funds within Horizon, and a multimillion-dollar media Doors in the United States and Abromavicius split his time between focused on encouraging growth in Ukraine and regional- empire that he sold. Dublin, and Ukraine’s biggest IT working on projects in Donetsk and ly. Koszarny is a board member of the American Chamber The Kyiv Post has drawn up a list conference, iForum. Kyiv. of Commerce in Ukraine as well as the Ukrainian Venture Capital and of 25 top businesspeople who are Private Equity Association. running, or who have successfully Natalie Jaresko Taras Kytsmey run a business in Ukraine. Being both a suc- Taras Kytsmey Vladyslav Chechetkin The newspaper excluded the cessful business- co-founded Vladyslav Chechetkin, 37, launched Rozetka 10 years nation’s richest people from this woman and for- SoftServe, a ago. It is now Ukraine’s biggest online retailer, account- list, preferring to emphasize people midable political Ukrainian soft- ing for a whopping 40 percent of the country’s e-com- who created new wealth and ideas figure, Jaresko has ware company that merce industry. It is the standard bearer for the entire rather than those – like many top contributed a lot to the has main offices in Ukrainian retail market. At first Rozetka sold mostly con- oligarchs – who made their fortunes development of Ukraine’s economy. Austin, Texas and Lviv. sumer electronics. But, step-by-step, the list of goods it sells simply by acquiring Soviet assets in In 1992, she became the first Chief Founded in 1993, SoftServe has has been augmented with toys, clothes, sports goods, beauty non-competitive and non-transpar- of the Economic Section of the U.S. become the largest IT outsourcing care products, musical instruments and even pets supplies. The website ent – some would simply say rigged Embassy in Ukraine, responsible for firm in Ukraine. has 145,000 items available for purchase and boast more than 1.5 million – privatizations. strengthening economic cooperation visits every day. Chechetkin’s net worth is estimated to be $64 million. The list also attempts to reward between the two countries. Having Jed Sunden those who have shown commitment served as Ukraine’s Finance Minister Without Jed Sunden, Andrey Kolodyuk to a high degree of business ethics later from 2014 until 2016, Jaresko this list might not Andrey Kolodyuk, 45, has been active in building the and community involvement. still remains a prominent business exist. Sunden entrepreneurial community in Ukraine since the 1990s, That said, the Kyiv Post recognizes figure, running private equity fund founded the Kyiv and has founded and developed around a dozen compa- such lists are subjective and that Horizon Capital, which she founded Post in 1995, and nies in the information technology, telecoms, internet and many other worthy people could back in 2006. made it the heart of media sectors, which have brought in $1 billion in reve- easily be included in the top 25 a small publishing empire before nues. From 2001 to 2005, Kolodyuk was the chair of the businesspeople. Nevertheless, here’s Steve Fisher selling the newspaper to Mohammad Telecoms Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce who we highlight: Steve Fisher has been Zahoor on July 28, 2009. Sunden i n Ukraine. He was elected as a Young Global Leader (from Ukraine) of Ukraine country also owned the news magazine the in 2008. In 2001, he founded AVentures, and 20 outstanding persons director for Citibank through his compa- in 2012 with his partner Yevgen Sysoyev launched a new fund — AVentures since 2010. He was ny, KP Media, before selling the title Capital, focused on early stage IT and web-related projects, with a focus on Jean-Jacques elected to the posi- to Ukraine Media Holding in 2011. global market. Since then, Kolodyuk has not just become a famous investor Herve tion of chairman of the and mentor for many of Ukraine’s young companies, he has committed Jean-Jacques Herve, board of directors of the American Dmitry Krepak himself to creating a successful Ukrainian startup and VC ecosystem. In a French-born Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine Dmitry Krepak August 2014, Kolodyuk founded the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private agronomist who in January 2016. worked as the Equity Association, which promotes investment opportunities in Ukraine. has been working in chairman of Polish- He is also a board member of , a global software engineering and the region since 1974, Nick Piazza backed Ukrainian technology company. His AVentures fund has invested more than $10 mil- has served in a variety of roles in Currently at the lender KredoBank lion in Ukrainian startups over the last four years. Ukraine, the first being an advisor helm of investment from 2012 until on agriculture to the Ukrainian gov- banking services December 2015, when he Jaroslav Kinach ernment. He serves on the board firm SP Advisors, moved to the position of region- A European Bank and Reconstruction Development of Credit Agricole, Ukraine and Nick Piazza has been al manager for Visa in Ukraine, country director for Ukraine from 1995 to 1999, Jaroslav also teaches at the Kyiv School of working in Ukraine reg- Georgia, and Armenia. KredoBank Kinach has focused his business efforts since on the Economics. ularly since 2006, when he joined has weathered the country’s bank- energy industry, attempting to bring Western standards Concorde Capital. Before joining SP, ing crisis quite well, remaining to local resource extraction. Kinach serves on the boards Denis Piazza was CEO of BG Advisors, stable, legally compliant, and has of Black Iron Inc, DeNovo and Emerstone, an investment Dovgopoliy another investment company. snapped up market share given up fund that is poised to win a tender to develop the country’s Denis Dovgopoliy by collapsed banks. largest oil field. After working for the EBRD, he was an advisor founded GrowthUp Aivaras to the prime minister of Ukraine, providing policy advice on attracting Group, which Abromavicius Vitaliy Boyko foreign investment. Between 2003 and 2008, he served as an independent trains and invests in Before agreeing to A longtime play- director on the boards of Swedbank Ukraine and Chagala Group Limited, Ukrainian tech startups. head the Ministry er on the Kyiv real an LSE listed real estate company based in Kazakhstan, and was non-ex- He helped develop such well-known of Economic estate market and ecutive chairman of Fabian Romania Limited, an AIM listed company companies as Viewdle, sold to Development in former partner at operating in Romania. Kinach holds an MBA from Columbia University, Google for at least $35 million, and the wake of the 2014 mall developer UTG, New York; a BA from Concordia University, Montreal; and is a Fellow of a Ukrainian ridesharing company EuroMaidan Revolution, Aivaras Vitaliy Boyko now heads the Institute of Canadian Bankers. August 19, 2016 13

Urban Experts, a land development work Clickburner in 2010. In 2013 it Oleksii and consulting firm that maintains transformed into the mobile marketing Vitchenko assets around the region. After the platform Clickky, which by rose to 11th The founder of a EuroMaidan Revolution, Boyko spent in the prestigious list of the 5,000 venture fund target- a year in Kyiv city government as a fastest-growing companies in Europe, ing startups Digital deputy at the Kyiv Investment Agency. called The 2016 Inc. 5000. He is also Future, a member of a cofounder of one of the biggest the Ukrainian Business Torben startup incubators in Eastern Europe, Angels Network, and an investor and Majgaard WannaBiz. In 2015, Forbes Ukraine board member of dozens Ukrainian Torben Majgaard put Rogovskiy on its list of 30 most suc- tech startups, Oleksii Vitchenko has has been an expat cessful Ukrainians under the age of 30. built a career as a successful busi- in Ukraine for nessman in Ukraine and abroad. almost 20 years. Andriy Ciklum, the company Pivovarsky Carl Sturen that the Danish citizen founded Much of Andriy ’s Sturen has in 2002, has seen astounding rev- Pivovarsky’s work as been an investor in enue growth in the past several infrastructure min- Ukraine since 1994. years. Majgaard’s success has vault- ister was focused on In 1996, he cofound- ed Ciklum into the ranks of other opening up access for ed the largest toma- major IT outsourcing companies in Ukraine to key global mar- to processing company the nation and worldwide. Ciklum kets. Before taking the top job at the in Central and Eastern Europe - employs up to 2,500 people in ministry, Pivovarsky was the manag- -based Chumak. A fan of Ukraine. ing director of the investment bank- green energy, he also cofounded the ing department at one of Ukraine’s Ukraine-based wind power devel- Evgeni Utkin leading groups of companies work- opment and investment company Evgeni Utkin is the ing in the field of investment and Vindkraft Ukraina. In 2010, Sturen founder and presi- financial services, Dragon Capital. cofounded yet another company in dent of KM Core, He is also the CEO of Continium Ukraine, Green Team, which soon an innovative hi-tech Fuel Industrial Group, which owns a became the biggest vegetable cold holding company, successful national chain of gasoline storage and packaging company in with a portfolio of assets stations and convenience stores in Eastern Europe. in IT, microelectronics and nanotech- Horizon Capital CEO Lenna Koszarny is with Dmytro Kostyk, owner of Ukraine. nologies. Utkin is a hi-tech pioneer Kodisoft, near the Presidential Administration in Kyiv before a meeting Alex Bornyakov and a prominent figure in the knowl- between the country’s information technology leaders and President Ihor With over a decade edge exchange process between the Petro Poroshenko on July 6 in Kyiv. (Lenna Koszarny/facebook) Lytovchenko of experience in IT West and both Russia and Ukraine. The founder and management, Alex Ukrainian Entrepreneurs. like SAP, Microsoft and IBM. Sigma permanent head Bornyakov has Vyacheslav Software is considered a rising star, of Kyivstar compa- founded and man- Klimov Valery and is among best 100 outsourcers ny since 1994, Ihor aged a number of suc- Vyacheslav Klimov Krasovsky in the world, according to The 2016 Lytovchenko spearheaded cessful companies and start- co-founded Nova Valery Krasovsky is Global Outsourcing 100. the development of one of the most up incubators, including U.S. video Poshta, one of the co-founder and CEO successful businesses in Ukraine. monetization platform VertaMedia, fastest-growing com- of Sigma Software, a Vadim Under his leadership, Kyiv’s local now valued at up to $50 million, and panies in Ukraine. Its Ukrainian-Swedish IT Rogovskiy cellphone provider took the top posi- outsourcing company Intersog. He is annual turnover is about Hr 2 bil- company, which currently Vadim Rogovskiy tion on the national telecoms mar- also a managing partner at business lion ($80 million). Klimov is also employs more than 500 people in founded social app ket, providing services to about 25 incubator WannaBiz and a lawmaker the president of the Association of Ukraine and partners with giants monetization ad net- million subscribers all over Ukraine. for the Samopomich Party. 

DREAM JOB? ORGANIZER GENERAL PARTNER

September 24, 10 am - 4 pm

DEC Place | 23B Lesi Ukrainky Blvd.

PARTICIPANTS:

FIND IT AT 14 August 19, 2016 25 top Ukrainian exports

BY JOSH KOVENSKY [email protected]

While economic woes get the most attention, it’s worth remembering that Ukraine is still a nation that exports many products to the world. It is, in fact, one of the leading export- ers in several areas: jet engines, rock- ets and satellites are all produced in, and exported from, Ukrainian plants, while the country’s vast agricultural sector provides huge amounts of food to Europe and the Middle East. Below are the country’s top 25 exports, according to Ukrstat and the State Fiscal Service’s tally of export revenues for 2015. Sunflower products One of Ukraine’s national symbols, the sunflower produces both cooking oil and sunflower seeds and brings in $3 billion in export revenue to the country. Corn According to the U.S Department of Agriculture, corn crops are grown on roughly 60 percent of Ukraine’s ara- ble land, and earn Ukraine an esti- mated $3 billion in export revenues. IT Services The information technology services A sunflower field in . Sunflower products industry is among the fastest growing bring is Ukraine’s largest share of export revenues. (UNIAN) areas of Ukraine’s economy, with entrepreneurs taking advantage of independence. approved in November 2015. The this crop in 2015. year also made $377.6 million from the large number of the country’s country made $1.1 billion from such meat exports. workers who are highly educated Iron ore exports last year. Jet engines in technical fields. Last year saw Iron ore is one of Ukraine’s most Ukraine’s aviation enterprises have Dairy Ukraine make a whopping $2.5 abundant natural resources, and is Jumper cables remained resilient and profitable Ukraine milks its livestock for all it billion from providing IT services an input for the massive furnaces Ukraine inherited parts of the Soviet throughout the past 25 years, with is worth, and earned $375 million abroad. and industries in the country’s center Union’s distributed car manufactur- both Antonov and Motor Sich in revenues from dairy exports last and east. But not all of it is smelted ing industry, a remnant of Soviet remaining competitive at least year. Wheat within Ukraine - $2 billion worth of central economic planning. Ukraine regionally. The country made $614.9 Ukraine made around $2.2 billion iron ore was exported last year. earned $827.7 million from jumper million in revenues from jet engine Rocket engines from its wheat exports last year. cable exports in 2015. exports last year. The legacy of Soviet military-in- What was once the Soviet Union’s Timber dustrial infrastructure left Ukraine breadbasket now serves the same Timber from logging, legal and ille- Soy Meat with design and production facili- purpose for Europe and the Middle gal, is one of Ukraine’s main exports. Ukraine is one of the world’s largest Ukraine’s abundant plains and grain ties for rocket engines. The Yuzhnoe East, Ukraine’s vast fields of grain That could, however, be in question soybean producers, with 4.2 mil- reserves make it an ideal place for design bureau in makes the have given the country a relatively now that the European Union has lion tons of soybeans anticipated raising livestock. While Ukraine has Zenit family of rockets, as does the stable economic base on which to mandated that Ukraine implement a from this year’s harvest. The country strong domestic demand for meat Yuzhmash production plant, also in build over the turbulent years of ban on log exports that parliament made $800 million from exporting and meat products, the country last Dnipro. The rockets used to be sold

Ukraine’s agricultural sector retains Moreover a wide range of technical UKRAINE’S a leading place in the export of a products continue to be produced by variety of foods to Europe and Ukrainian factories. Nevertheless, IT the Middle East. services, an industry of brain power, TOP 25 EXPORTS takes a top position in the list of Ukraine’s exports. in 2015, in $ millions 377.6 368 800 1,100 323 872.7 614.9 251.9 210.8 375 183.6 150 144.7 117 114 95.9 89 82 53.6 7

3,000 3,000 2,500 2,200 2,000 Soy Coal Corn Meat Wood Shoes Honey Wheat Iron ore Products Weapons Ammonia Electricity Sunflower Explosives IT Services Jet engines Fluid pumps Jumper cables Dairy products Rocket engines Leather and fur Alcohol and vinegar Railway locomotives Spacecraft and aircraft Spacecraft by Stella Shabliovska, Kyiv Post I Sorces: Ukrstat, Hubs. Books and newspapers August 19, 2016 15

mainly to Russia, but are now also TOTAL AMOUNT sold to clients around the world. Last A harvester gathers grain in in of Ukrainian exports in 2015 year’s exports totalled $368 million. July 2016. Wheat is one of Ukraine’s largest exports, with the crop mainly going to the European Union and the Middle East. 50.9 billion Weapons (UNIAN) Controversial during wartime but TOP 10 COUNTRIES quite lucrative, Ukraine’s weapons to which Ukraine sent the most exports industry remains relatively robust from Jan. to May 2016 as it searches for new markets fol- lowing a 2014 ban on arms sales to Russia. The country sells tanks Russia China Egypt Turkey Poland around the world, as well as local- ly produced small arms, earning $323 million in 2015 according to Italy India Germany Spain Hungary the Stockholm International Peace *Not including data for Crimea and occupied Research Institute. territories of the Donbas. By Stella Shabliovska, Kyiv Post Source: Ukrstat Ammonia Pumped into Odesa on the world’s using facilities left over from the longest ammonia pipeline from the Soviet Union, earned Ukraine $89 Russian city of Tolyatti, Ukraine million. exports nearly seven percent of the world’s ammonia, earning it $251.9 Books and newspapers million last year. Ukraine sold $82 million worth of books and newspapers abroad last Railway locomotives year, according to Ukrstat. Ukraine has two main locomotive fac- tories - one in the Dnipro River city Coal of Kremenchug, and another in occu- Electricity hand-made, luxury shoes to individ- Honey Coal exports have fallen since pied . While the Luhansk has an electricity ual western clients. Ukraine produces the largest amount Russian-backed separatists declared factory has been unable to continue surplus and sells power to Hungary, of honey per capita of any country, two phony republics in the Donbas, production because of Russia’s war earning the country $150 million Fluid pumps with 1.5 percent of the population sparking a war that destroyed east in the area, Kremenchug has kept up last year. Ukraine made $117 million from engaged in beekeeping or honey Ukraine’s economy. Though large a steady pace of production, making fluid pump exports in 2015, sell- production, according to Ukrstat. amounts of coal reportedly continue $210.8 million in exports last year, Shoes ing them mostly to other Eastern As Europe’s largest honey producer, to leave the country via smuggling, according to Ukrstat. Shevchenko – shoemaker, in European and Central Asian nations. Ukraine earned $95.9 million from Ukrstat recorded $53.6 million in Ukrainian – is one of the coun- honey exports last year. export revenues for 2015. Alcohol try’s most common last names, and Leather and fur Ukraine has seen some internation- the country itself is a shoemaker, In addition to meat and other live- Spacecraft and aircraft Explosives al expansion of its alcohol brands, exporting $144.7 million worth of stock related exports, Ukraine oper- According to Hubs.UA, relying on With its still-operating former Soviet with Zaporizhia-based distillery shoes last year in sales ranging from ates a fairly lucrative trade in leather information from the fiscal ser- chemical plants and weapons fac- pushing a plan to expand bulk producers coming from large and fur. Ukrstat reports that the vice, most of the country’s space tories, Ukraine is a strong regional sales into Asia. Sending booze to for- shoemaking factories in Dnipro and country made $114 million last year exports go to the planet-explor- producer of explosives, making $7 eign markets earned Ukraine $183.6 Zaporizhia, while smaller producers from animal products. ing nations of North Korea and million from exports in 2015.  million last year. like Kyiv’s Alina Kachorovskaya sell South Sudan. Those exports, built 16 August 19, 2016 Ukraine’s contributions to the world of science

BY YULIANA ROMANYSHYN inventor Fyodor Pirotsky in Lviv. In [email protected] 1880, in , Russia, he modified a horse-drawn tram Before Ukraine won independence to be powered by electricity. His 25 years ago, most of its inventions experimental form of public trans- were credited to the Soviet Union, port ran for about a month. Pirotsky the Russian Empire or the Polish also met with German entrepreneur state. Carl Heinrich von Siemens, and the Some discoveries, such as the Siemens company designed its own work done on X-rays by Ivan Puluj, electric tram in 1881. are disputed or not widely known, The modern postal code was first but several of them are widely rec- introduced in the city of Kharkiv in ognized and have contributed sig- December 1932. Although the code nificantly to the scientific revolution. system of numbers and letters was Nevertheless, each of the follow- abandoned in the Soviet Union in ing inventions were developed in 1939, it is now used around the Ukraine or conceived by a scientist globe. of Ukrainian descent. Anti-cholera and anti-plague vaccines were discovered by Renowned heart surgeon Mykola LiLightingghtin up -born Jewish-Ukrainian Amosov. (UNIAN) TheThe modernm kerosene Waldemar Haffkine. Risking his life, llampamp wwas designed by The Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane cargo helicopter is lifting a house. The he performed his first experimental pharmpharmacistsa Jan Zeh and machine was designed by Sikorsky Aircraft as a civil version of the vaccinations on himself, but his dis- Voronyi’s groundbreaking work IgnacyIgnacy Lukasiewicz in CH-54 Tarhe for the United States Army in 1962. The current version of covery wasn’t widely accepted by his proved the viability of the proce- 1853 in Lviv, which the heavy-lift helicopter is made by the Erickson Air-Crane company. senior colleagues. Haffkine moved dure, and highlighted the important was part of Poland (Courtesy) to India, where a cholera pandemic problem of tissue rejection in future at that time. For Sikorsky VS-300, designed in 1939, orbit on April 12, 1961. As a rock- was ravaging the country. There, research. thttheirheir llamp, they used oil was a single-engine helicopter with et designer, he also developed the he applied his invention to save Heart surgeon Mykola Amosov drdrilledililled near the town of a single three-blade rotor. Sikorsky Soviet Union’s Intercontinental bal- the lives of several million peo- pioneered a number of new methods DrDrohobychoho ob in , pioneered invention of the rotor listic missile program. ple from bubonic plague, and won of surgical treatment for heart dis- anaandd ppurified it to obtain configuration is used by most heli- Physicist and inventor Ivan Puluj is widespread public recognition. The ease. He performed the first mitral the lamp oil used to copters today. thought to have discovered the use plague Laboratory in Mumbai was valve replacement and introduced a fuel their lighting devices. Sergey Korolyov, born in , of X-rays for medical imaging, but named the Haffkine Institute in his method of artificial blood circulation Today, the Gasova Lampa (Kerosene was for years the Soviet Union’s his contribution has been disputed. honor. to the Soviet Union. Amosov creat- Lamp) restaurant and museum in leading rocket engineer and space- Wilhelm Röntgen, who appears to The world’s first kidney trans- ed and introduced into practice an Lviv, which is dedicated to the two craft designer, and he personally have discovered X-rays 14 years plant was conducted by surgeon anti-thrombotic heart prosthesis for inventors, features a collection of oversaw the assembly of the first after Puluj, but is considered as the Yuriy Voronyi, from Kherson. In the first time in the world in 1965. kerosene lamps. Bronze statues of artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik. inventor of the X-ray lamp. However, 1933, he took the kidney from a per- He spent most of career in Kyiv the inventors adorn the facade of the This invention was the starting gun Puluj designed the first X-ray tube, son who had died six hours previous- and was a member of the Ukrainian restaurant building on 20 Virmenska for the space race, part of the larger with which he took very high reso- ly, and transplanted it into the body Academy of Science. St. in Lviv. Cold War confrontation between the lution pictures of broken limbs. His of a woman. The kidney operated The first mass-produced helicop- Soviet bloc and the United States device was called the Puluj lamp. normally and was fully connected to Window power ter was designed by Ukrainian air- and its allies. Korolyov was also the blood circulation system. However, A more modern medical discovery craft designer Igor Sikorsky. After chief designer of the Vostok rocket Fighting disease the transplant recipient died just two was made by a team of scientists in immigrating to the United States in program, and was behind the first The world’s first electric tram and days after the transplant surgery due independent Ukraine – the inven- 1919, he founded Sikorsky Aircraft human spaceflight, by Yuri Gagarin, railway electrification system to the incompatibility of the recip- tion of the antibiotic batumin. In Corporation in 1923. His Vought- who completed the first low Earth were developed by engineer and ient’s blood group. Nevertheless, 2005, scientists from the Institute of Microbiology and Virology designed a drug that was extremely effec- tive against the staphylococci bac- teria. However, the new antibiotic is not yet being produced in Ukraine. Instead, Belgium bought a license to manufacture batumin. Lebanese & European In 2013, Kharkiv citizen Anatoliy Cuisine Malykhin invented a new method for carrying out blood tests with- out direct contact with blood. He Business Hr 72 lunch designed a device with a sensor that tests 131 indexes of person’s blood 11:00 - 16:00 condition through contact with skin. The procedure takes around five Reservation & Delivery minutes, while the laboratory meth- 11 Yaroslav Val st., 124 Zhilyanskaya st., + 38 044 235 15 96 + 38 044 465 24 37 od requires a day to test blood. Malykhin has sold his devices in China, Germany, and Egypt, and to several clinics in Ukraine. In one of Ukraine’s most recent innovations, blinds that generate solar energy have been designed by inventors from Ukrainian company SolarGaps. Installed on windows, these venetian blinds can generate over 100 kilowatts of energy a month – enough to cover average electricity consumption of a house- hold in Ukraine. The energy gen- erated can be used either to heat an apartment, or it can be sold to the state electricity company at the feed-in tariff.  August 19, 2016 17 How independence came to be, from those who witnessed it

Memories from page 3 Union in October 1990. The Student in Moscow, activists of Ukrainian experience for Russia to see that around philanthropy in Ukraine’s Union, of which Kyrylenko was a Students Union and those who start- Ukraine is still an independent state. next generation. Hawrylyshyn as was “It was a fateful decision, and I leader, organized several mass pro- ed the hunger strike launched some We have to fight for independence present the day of the vote have repeated, am repeating and will tests in the lead up to independence. resistance. People gradually gath- and sovereignty every day, because “The day before (the vote for repeat that Ukraine is happy because A core group of 200 students partic- ered on the Maidan (Independence the Russian Empire will be (located) independence), I heard that there of that. Well, I’m financially secure ipated in the hunger strike on Kyiv’s Square). But thank God the coup close to us forever. would be a special session of today, I’m in a better position. But I central square, which lasted for 16 was defeated, and the parliament in “These were the most important Verkhovna Rada. I managed to have talked with people who aren’t days, while dozen thousands of oth- an emergency session proclaimed events in my life in political terms. order a plane ticket (from Geneva), as in such a secure position as I am. ers camped there in support. The the Act of Independence under pres- Because, after many hundreds of went directly from Boryspil (airport) They tell me ‘Mr. Plyushch, we’re students erected around 50 tents sure from the citizens, and at the years of struggle, Ukraine managed to the Verkhovna Rada. There was a ready to go about without clothing and occupied Kyiv’s central square, same time because many of them to declare independence without break in the session. Seven people for three years, but have Ukraine.’ which was later renamed Maidan (the communists) were afraid of an bloodshed. But nothing happens were sitting around a round table So, I’m happy for those people, as Nezalezhnosti, and which was the uprising. I was among those who without blood. A war for indepen- outside the office of the chairman well as for myself. I wonder if people focal point of the Orange Revolution stood outside (the parliament build- dence is taking place now. But now of the Verkhovna Rada. They invit- (who argued against independence) in 2004 and the EuroMaidan ing). We knew many of the lawmak- we have a grown up generation, ed me to join them. The subject remember that even if they had the Revolution in 2013-14. The activists ers, and found out that the act had born after 1991, and so nobody will under discussion was what to call money for a car, the car could only opposed the signing of a new union been written. Then the Ukrainian be able to take (our independence) the country that we would declare be bought if you had connections, agreement, as proposed by Moscow, flag was raised over the parliament. with their bare hands.” independent: The Democratic or if you waited in a line for more to bind the republics of the Soviet “However, when we came back to Republic of Ukraine, the Republic than 10 years. They’ve all forgotten Union more closely together. Multi- Kyiv on Aug. 19, we had complete- of Ukraine? I simply said: “Why not about that.” party parliamentary elections and ly different thoughts. We thought is Ukrainian-Candian an call it Ukraine?” There was instant the nationalization of Communist that dark times were coming economist, expert agreement. Vyacheslav Party property were also among to the country for every- on issues of public “The most important part of the Kyrylenko the activists’ demands. The one. But five days after the administration and celebration for me was when we was a student peaceful protest led to the coup (in Moscow) … inde- international busi- looked out of the windows of the activist and one dropping of the proposed pendence was declared. ness, and lecturer second floor of the Verkhovna Rada, of the initiators union agreement, multi-party “For me, it is the great- at several univer- where an enormous crowd had gath- the Granite elections, and the resignation est holiday, which I cel- sities in Canada ered around the building, all beam- Revolution of the head of the Council ebrate every year. But – and Switzerland. ing with pride and joy. against of Ministers of the Ukrainian no matter who is in charge He has also served “I still feel very elated that such strengthening Soviet Socialist Republic, Vitaliy of Russia, but especially now as an advisor to the an important decision was made so ties between the Masol. with (Russian President Vladimir) Ukrainian government. quickly, spontaneously, unanimous- republics of the Soviet “When the Soviet coup started Putin – every year it is a difficult His current activity is concentrated ly.”  18 August 19, 2016 interesting places to 25 visit across Ukraine BY ANNA YAKUTENKO [email protected]

Ukraine’s marvelous and varied landscapes range from the lofty Carpathian Mountains in the west, the beautiful forestland of the north and the immense wheat fields and picturesque sandy beaches of the east and south. But there is even more to Ukraine than the vistas found in tourist bro- chures: numerous picturesque lakes of pure, clear water; huge, mysterious caves; and even one of Europe’s larg- est deserts can be all be found within the borders of this vast country of nearly 604,000 square kilometers. Apart from stunning countryside, Ukraine is dotted with dozens of attractive old cities boasting archi- tecture from a wide range of times and cultures. The Kyiv Post has compiled a list of the top 25 tourist destinations in Ukraine, and describes here a few of the less well-known ones The Tunnel of Love The Tunnel of Love is a four-kilome- ter, leafy, natural passageway formed by trees and bushes located on the railway line between the towns of and in Oblast in the northwestern Ukraine. The tunnel became a must-see attraction for couples in love, not just for its beauty, but for the story The Fort of in , a military and adminstrative center of the Zaporizhian Host. The Palace of Kyrylo Rozumovsky, the last behind its construction: According to of the host, is situated nearby. (UNIAN) local legend, the railway line across the forest was built by a man who was looking for a shortest path to in Zakarpattya Oblast in west- Khust, and walk three kilometers to and the area is surrounded by trees museum of -- tradition- visit his beloved. Less romantically, ern Ukraine. The valley is includ- the valley, or take a taxi from Khust. planted to prevent the dunes creep- al Easter eggs decorated with folk the 6.4 kilometer line, 4.9 kilometers ed in UNESCO’s World Network ing further over the land. The sand is designs. The museum’s collection of which is covered by a roof of vege- of Biosphere Reserves. The valley Oleshkivski Sands light and dusty, so sandstorms also includes more than 6,000 unique tation, is a private railway line, still in formed about 2.6 million years ago The Oleshkivski Sands is a larg- sometimes occur, though the winds pysankas collected from various use, that serves a fiberboard factory. during the late Pliocene epoch, as est expanse of sand in Ukraine, in the area tend not to be strong. regions of Ukraine. The museum How to get there: Take a train to an Ice Age began to grip Europe. located in southern Kherson Oblast. How to get there: Take a train building, located at 43 Vyacheslav Rivne and then take a local bus to The valley’s unique species of daf- The desert features crescent-shaped from Kyiv to Kherson, then a bus to Chornovil Ave. in Kolomyya, is made Klevan. fodil, Narcissus angustifolius, grows dunes that rise to heights of five Radensk, a small town on the west- in the shape of a giant some there over an area of 256 square meters high, covering an area of ern edge of the desert. 13.5 meters (about 45 feet) high. Dolyna Nartsysiv (The kilometers. 161,200 hectares. The Oleshkivski How to get there: Take a train from Valley of Daffodils) Every March tourists from all over Sands are undeveloped as a tourist Kolomyya (Museum of Kyiv to Ivano-Frankivsk, and then a Dolyna Nartsysiv is a broad valley Ukraine come to see the daffodils destination, so visitors will need to pysankas) local bus to Kolomya. carpeted with millions of daffodils in flower across the whole valley. stock up on food and water when Kolomyya, a city of 60,000 people in the Carpathian Biosphere Reserve, How to get there: Take the Kyiv- making a trip to the area. There is Ivano-Frankivska Oblast of western Podilsky Tovtry located four kilometers from Khust Mykacheve train, then a bus to sparse vegetation among the dunes, Ukraine, is home to Ukraine’s largest The Podilski Tovtry National

The Museum of Pysankas, or traditional Ukrainian painted eggs, in Kolomya, Ivano- Hoverla, Ukraine’s highest mountain, rises to a height of 2,061 meters in Ukraine’s Frankivsk Oblast. (Ukrafoto) Carpathian Mountains. The mountain sits on the border of Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast and Zakarpatiya Oblast. () August 19, 2016 19

25 PLACES TO VISIT IN UKRAINE 1. City of Lviv (Lviv Oblast) 2. City of Odesa (Odesa Oblast)

Belarus Russia 3. City of () 4. Oleshkivski Sands (desert in Kherson Oblast) 14 21 22 17 5. The Tunnel of Love (Klevan – Orzhiv, ) Poland 25 6. Mukacheve (Zarkarpatia Oblast) 5 7. Oleksandriivsky Park (, Kyiv Oblast) 8. Senyvyr Lake (Zarkarpatia Oblast) 9. Kolomyya (Museum of Pysankas, Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast) 1 7 10. Sophia Park (, Oblast) 11. Kamyanets-Podilsky Castle (Khmelnytskiy Oblast) Slovakia 18 11 16 8 9 10 12. Fortress (Chernivtsi Oblast) 6 12 13. Askania-Nova (Kherson Oblast) 20 15 3 14. Antoniyevi Pechery (St. Antony’s Caves, Chernihiv Oblast) 19 15. Hoverla (Ukraine’s highest mountain, on border of Ivano-Frankivsk Hungary Moldova Oblast and Zarkarpatia Oblast) 16. Podilsky Tovtry (Khmelnytskiy Oblast) 4 2 13 17. Kyrylo Rozymovsky Palace (Chernihiv Oblast) Romania 23 24 18. Canyon ( Oblast) 19. Khortystya Island (Zaporizhia Oblast) 20. Dolyna Nartsysiv (Valley of daffodils, Zarkarpatia Oblast) 21. Shatsky Lakes ( Oblast) 22. Svityaz Lake (Lutsk Oblast) 23. Zatoka (Odesa Oblast) City Historic place Natural park / Outdoor 24. Dzharylhach Island (Kherson Oblast) 25. Prypyat (Chornobyl Exclusion Zone) By Stella Shabliovska, Kyiv Post

Environmental Park is a Kherson and then a local bus to the tect Charles Cameron, and is consid- of Uman in Cherkaska Oblast in 2,600-square-kilometer area of lime- Askania-Nova reserve. ered a masterpiece. Batyryn Palace central Ukraine. The park belongs stone ridges, formed from ancient Askania-Nova is a biosphere reserve served as the seat of government of to Ukraine’s Academy of Science, an coral beds that have been cut in Kherson Oblast that includes a Baturyn (Kyrylo the hetmanate until 1764, when the organization that unites researchers through by the Dnister River in 170-hectare botanical garden and Rozumovsky’s Palace) office of Hetman of the Zaporizhian from all over Ukraine. It has around Khmelnytsky Oblast. The area has open steppe land inhabited by The palace of Kyrylo Rozumovsky, Host held by Rozumovsky was abol- 500,000 visitors a year according rich and unique biodiversity, with wild animals. Founded in 1874, the Ukraine’s last hetman, or military ished by Russian Empress Catherine to its website. The park was created more than 1,700 types of plants reserve has more than 30 rare types commander of the Zaporizhian the Great, and the Russian empire in 1796 by a rich Polish magnate, growing in the reserve, 60 of which of plants and mammals, 270 types Host (a medieval Cossack political absorbed the territories of Ukraine. Stanislav Schensny Pototsky, in as are listed in Ukraine’s Red Book of of birds, and around 2,000 types institution), nestles in the historic How to get there: Take a train to a birthday present for his beautiful endangered species. Forests cover of insects. The list of rare animals town Batyryn in Chernihiv Oblast in Bakhmach, and then a local bus to Greek wife, Sophia. 3,015 hectares of the reserve land. include antelopes, Przewalski’s horse, northern Ukraine. The spectacular Baturyn. How to get there: Take a bus from How to get there: Take a train bison and deer. Askania-Nova is three-floor palace with white col- Kyiv to Uman, or if traveling by car to Khmelnytsky or Chernivtsi, then open to visitors from the spring to umns was a present from Empress of Sophia Park in Uman take the E-95 highway south from a local bus to the Podilski Tovtry fall, from April 1 to Nov. 10. Russia Elizabeth to Rozumovsky, and Sofiyivsky Park is an Kyiv. Uman is about 180 kilometers reserve. How to get there: Take a train to was designed by the Scottish archi- 179.2 hectares in area in the city from the Ukrainian capital. 

Bison graze on steppeland in the Askania-Nova bioreserve in Kherson Oblast. The reserve is home to a range of rare animals that are native to Ukraine (UNIAN)

The Tunnel of Love near Klevan in Rivne Oblast. The picturesque private railway line is popular with couples from Ukraine and beyond as the perfect place for a romantic walk. (Dmytro Chapman) 20 August 19, 2016 top IT startups, tech firms, online shops 25 and innovations

BY DENYS KRASNIKOV [email protected]

Over the last 25 years, Ukraine’s information technology sector has come from nowhere to become the country’s fastest-growing segment and one of its leading hopes for the future. And even though it’s still not on a par with agriculture and metallurgy, the country’s traditional powerhous- es, the excitement over the prospects of this young sector is high. There’s good reason for that. Ukraine may already have the largest information technology labor force in Europe – some 100,000 IT specialists – and it now exports billions of dollars worth of software to the world: In 2015 alone, Ukraine earned about $2.5 billion from exports of the country’s software and IT services. Moreover, Ukraine’s tech industry is showing accelerating growth, year after year. Apart from providing outsourced IT services, Ukrainians have start- ed building outstanding tech prod- ucts and founded companies that have been snapped up by tech-sav- vy giants like Google, Apple, and Snapchat. The country’s rapidly expanding e-commerce sector is helping more and more Ukrainians Deputy Economy Minister Maxim Nefyodov (L), executive director at Transparency International Ukraine Yaroslav Yurchyshyn (C) and U.S. foreign buy online every year. service officer George Kent give a briefing on the final phase of the transition of all government procurement to the ProZorro system of electronic public procurement at the Media Center in Kyiv on July 21. (UNIAN) And while many are trying to attract buyers for their companies Starting from Aug. 1, its use became successful people in Europe under as marriage certificates, subsidy doc- according to Bloomberg, the U.S. abroad, or move their operations mandatory in all state purchases. 30 years old in the industry sector uments, criminal record certificates, company wrote a cheque for $45 abroad themselves, many others are ProZorro’s developers claim that the compiled by U.S magazine Forbes. and so on. million and swallowed up Viewdle. focusing on developing the next system will save taxpayers Hr 55 mil- The Ukrainian team moved to the big thing here, in Ukraine, and for lion ($2.2 million) every day. Looksery Viewdle United States, and merged with Ukrainians. Leading-edge messenger application Google image search has become Google’s Motorola Mobility, which in The following are Ukraine’s top 25 Ecoisme Snapchat, which now has over 150 a boon to journalists and the pub- 2014 was bought by China’s Lenovo most famous, useful and successful Ukrainian startup Ecoisme develops million active users,users, owes a lot of its lic alike, but few people know this GroupGroup Ltd. for $3.2 billion. tech-related innovations and e-com- smart-home solutions, with hard- popularity to iitsts classclassyy lenses ffeature,eature, innovation is a product ooff Ukrainian The KyivKyiv Post’s IT cov- merce companies. ware and software that allows more which was designedesigned and developed techtech knowhow.knowhow. Founded in 2016 erageerage is sponsoredsponsored byby efficient energy consumption and by Ukrainianss from Odesa. In 2013, byby two Ukrainians, the startstartupupp Beetroot,Beetroot, Ciklum ProZorro remote control of electrical home Looksery founderunder Victor ShaburoShaburovv Viewdle created a mobile-fo- andand SoftServe. TheThe The ProZorro system is a tech appliances. The young company and his team started devedevelopingloping an cused visuavisuall anaanalysislysis compa- content is inde-inde- innovation introduced by the state has won prestigious international application thathat could do real time ny creating computer vision pendentpendent of thethe as a way to tackle the widespread awards, raised funding on global facial modificationation of pphotoshotos and vid- and facial recognitionrecognition tech- donors.donors.  ’s state pro- crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, eos on mobilee pplatforms.latforms. In less than nologiesnologies for consumer prod-prod- curement. Developed by anti-cor- and won a place in a U.K. based two years, Lookseryooksery was bought up ucts. While raisinraisingg more ruption nongovernmental organi- tech-acceleration program run by by Snapchat, wwhichhich rreportedlyeportedly papaidid a than $12 million in fund- zation Transparency International, Richard Branson’s Virgin Media record sum foror a U krainian inging from various individual ProZorro, has saved the state about and U.S. Techstars. Ecoisme CEO startup – $15050 investors and venture capitacapitall Hr 2.6 billion ($104 million) since the and co-founder Ivan Pasichnyk was million. fundsfunds to ccreatereate ththisis ttechnolo-echnolo- start of its use at the end of 2015. included on the list of 30 of the most gy,gy, Viewdle caughtcaught the eeyeye ooff iGov techtech giant GGoogle.oogle. I Inn Pressure to remoremoveve OctoberO ctober the bureaucraticatic oobsta-bsta- 2012,2012, cles to deliveringvering govern-govern- ment serviceses in Ukraine has come largely from the ground up, from civill activists who know how cutting-edgeedge technotechnologieslogies can chop throughh red tatape.pe. DeveloDevelopedped by IT volunteers,teers, iiGovGov is a state IT administrativee services pportalortal that director allows citizenss ttoo oorderrder offofficialicial ddocu-ocu- at Privat ments certifieded with e-sie-signaturesgnatures and Bank Dmitry e-stamps, meaninganing its users can side- Dubilet step the country’sntry’s notorious bureau- speaks at a press cratic paper cchasehase and endless lines conference in Kyiv in state offices.es. In the reregionsgions ooff the on June 16, 2015 Ecoisme designs household sensors to track energy usage by domestic country wherere it is alreadalreadyy up and whie presenting appliances in the home. The data is then sent to users’ smartphones the iGov electronic running, the pportalortal prprovidesovides more along with energy-saving tips and alerts about devices left turned on. services portal, which he (Ecoisme) than 300 typespes ooff papaperwork,perwork ssuchuch helped create. (UNIAN) August 19, 2016 21

20 outstanding firms

KM Core Petcube KM Core holding company manages the assets Petcube is the developer of the Petcube of high-tech companies, and makes money by Camera, a device that allows pet owners to investing in innovation. monitor and even play with their furry com- panions remotely. iBlazr iBlazr Is developing a portable camera flash Readdle for iOS, Android devices and Windows phones. Readdle is a producer of mobile iOS applica- tions focuses on time management apps, and Nova Poshta software to make documents, books, images Nova Poshta, a private postal delivery and and PDF files easier to read, edit and share. logistics company, has a nationwide network of 1,800 branches in nearly 800 cities and Prometheus towns. Prometheus is a nonprofit educational tech- nology company that offers open online cours- Eleks es for Ukrainians given by lecturers from Eleks is one of the oldest Ukrainian software country’s top universities. Terrasoft’s softwear design team employs more than 500 people in the company’s developers, employing about 1,000 people offices in Kyiv, Moscow, Boston and London. Ukraine’s biggest online retailer, Rozetka, globally. Born in same year as independent Terrasoft and leading employment service HeadHunter are among Terrasoft ’s clients. (Volodymyr Ukraine, it has developed steadily, and now Terrasoft designs its own customer relation- Petrov) has offices in the United Kingdom, Poland and ship management software. the United States. TripMyDream farmers that, together with a satellite antenna, SolarGaps A website for travelers, users of TripMyDream will give precise information about location to Rozetka SolarGaps has developed a device that com- can select a vacation destination from a range develop the most efficient way to work a field. Rozetka, Ukraine’s biggest online retailer, cur- bines solar panels with venetian blinds to of options that company’s researchers have rently has a 40 percent share of the country’s allow those who live in apartments to gener- collected data on. MarsHopper online shopping market. ate their own electricity. A NASA competition prizewinner, the Clickky MarsHopper team of Ukrainians has invented DepositPhotos Zakaz Clickky is a platform for publishers to mone- a robotic space probe fueled by carbon diox- DepositPhotos is a New York-based but Zakaz is a Ukrainian online grocery delivery tize mobile traffic in emerging markets. ide that can skip around the surface of the originally Ukrainian royalty-free microstock service. Mars to explore it. photography agency. Preply Highbrow Preply is a website which provides an online AgroMonitor Grammarly Highbrow is an email-based learning service service for finding language tutors. AgroMonitor is an Internet of Things (IoT) Grammarly is a web-based service that allows that sends bite-sized chunks of education- project to help monitor and analyze farmers’ users to upload a text in English and have it al courses to its users e-mail inbox every eFarmer fields. scanned for errors. morning. The eFarmer startup is creating an app for 22 August 19, 2016 Key events since independence

Independent Ukraine experienced momentous events in its short, 25-year history, including two popular revolutions one decade apart and Russia’s ongoing war against the nation. The granting of autonomous status to the Crimean peninsula and its subsequent annexation by Russia, the surrender of its nuclear weapons arsenal and adoption of the first Constitution are among the key events that continue to shape Ukraine today. (Compiled by Isobel Koshiw).

Vote on independence (Ukrinform) Ukraine held a referendum on independence and simultaneous presidential elections on Dec. 1, after a failed coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev (Ukrinform) took place in Moscow in August. Ninety-two percent of the population nationally voted for Ukraine to become independent of the Soviet Union, with 54 percent voting for in Crimea. The former Chairman of Ukraine’s Supreme Soviet, Leonid Kravchuk, was elected Ukraine’s first president. In the run-up to the independence referendum, 300,000 supporters of Ukraine’s pro-democracy Rukh Party created a human chain that stretched from Kyiv to Lviv. Its participants raised Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag for the first time since 1921.

The Budapest Memorandum An agreement reached among the United States, Britain, Russia and Ukraine stipulated that Ukraine

(Ukrinform) must give up its arsenal of nuclear weapons – at that time the third largest in the world after the United States and Russia. In exchange, the three global powers promised they would never threat- en or use force against the territorial integrity or Introduction of the hryvnia political independence of Ukraine. The weapons The first five years of independence were particularly tough in Ukraine. were transferred to Russia or destroyed. Since made it impossible to introduce a proper currency, which Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2014, it has become had been designed and printed as early as 1992. Instead, Ukrainians used painfully obvious that the agreement did not bind the Ukrainian karbovanets, or “coupons,” a transitional currency. During the any of the signatories to defend Ukraine in the two-week currency introduction period in September 1996, both curren- case of invasion by a foreign power. cies could be used, but businesses were required to give change only in hryvnias. Bank accounts were automatically converted.

1991 1994 1996 2000

Crimean autonomy Shortly before the independence referendum, the Soviet author-

ities in Moscow upgraded the (Courtesy) Crimean peninsula to an auton- omous republic of the Soviet Union. After much debate, in May 1992, Crimea agreed to remain part of newly independent Ukraine, but its local authorities persuaded then President Leonid Kravchuk to expand their rights. They were given the right to draft their own budget and manage property through the Crimean parliament. In hindsight, many argue that the peninsula’s auton- omous status distanced it from the rest of Ukraine. (Ukrinform)

Ukraine’s first Constitution Ukraine’s first Constitution placed a great deal of power in the hands of the president. The presi-

(Ukrinform) dent could appoint the prime minister and dismiss members of the cabinet. In 2004, after the Orange Revolution, parliament voted to amend the consti- tution so that parliament would nominate the prime minister, and only the prime minister would be able to dismiss ministers. Parliament was also responsible for approving the cabinet, although the minister of defense and foreign affairs would be nominated by the president. The 2004 amendments were controversially over- The Gongadze murder turned in 2010 by Ukraine’s Constitutional Court, On Sept. 16, 2000, journalist Georgiy Gonagadze disappeared. Villagers giving then President Viktor Yanukovych more power. discovered his headless body in woods in Kyiv Oblast. Recordings The day before Yanukovych fled Ukraine in disgrace, secretly taped by the bodyguard of then-President on Feb. 21, 2014, parliament voted to restore the 2004 implicated the president, the interior minister and other top officials in amendments. the murder. The incident sparked a wave of anti-Kuchma protests and created a strong opposition against the authorities. August 19, 2016 23 (UNIAN) (Anastasia Vlasova) (Anastasia

2004: Orange Revolution The Leonid Kuchma administration grew unpopular because of corruption and repression. The final straw came in the 2004 presidential elections, when Kuchma’s preferred candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, was accused of rigging the elections. Protesters took to the streets of Kyiv and other cities calling for a re-run. In December, the pro-Western candidate, , won the re-vote, despite being seriously poisoned during the election campaign.

Yanukovych in power Yanukovych won narrowly in the sec-

(AFP) Loss of Crimea ond runoff of the 2010 presidential During the chaos that followed the EuroMaidan Revolution, Russian soldiers without insignia, elections against ex-Prime Minister dubbed “little green men,” started to appear on the Crimean peninsula. Left with no back up . Yanukovych’s allies from Kyiv, Ukrainian soldiers in Crimea were forced to abandon their bases and, ultimately, and financial backers had extensive the peninsula, without a fight. Some, including Admiral Denis Berezovsky, business interests with Russia. His defected to Russia. Russian soldiers also occupied the Crimean Parliametn. Russia installed victory, therefore, was seen as a turn a prime minister who declared Crimean independence from Ukraine and called for a refer- towards Russian President Vladimir endum on accession to Russia. In the run-up to the sham referendum, clashes broke out in Putin and a blow against Ukraine’s which three people were killed and dozens went missing. The illegal referendum was widely democratic aspirations. condemned internationally. Russia’s annexation led to the first round of Western sanctions against the Kremlin.

2004 2010 2013 2014

EuroMaidan Revolution In November 2013, Yanukovych failed to sign a European (AFP) Union-Ukraine Association Agreement that had been initiated under Yushchenko. Students and activists took to the streets to pressure the president into signing the agreement. The protests quickly turned into an outlet for anger against the Yanukovych regime in general, and attracted millions of people across the country. On Feb. 22, Yanukovych fled to Russia after days of vio- lence, during which police snipers shot around 100 protesters dead on the streets. (Anastasia Vlasova) (Anastasia

Russia’s war against Ukraine in the Donbas Pro-Russian protests began to take place in several cities in eastern and southern Ukraine in spring 2014, most calling for accession to Russia. Armed protesters, many of whom were allegedly Russian special forces, took over strategic local government buildings such as regional administrations and headquarters of the Ukrainian security services. Ukrainian forces were able to recapture most of the buildings but were too late to advance into eastern areas of Dontesk and Luhansk oblasts. The Russian occupying forces in the Donbas were heavily armed. From April until the February 2016, several battles took place in the cities of , Slovyansk, , Adiyivka, Donetsk and between the separatists and Ukrainian government forces. The human rights situation “remains extremely grim,” the United Nations reported in June 2016. Russia has so far not moved to annex the territories, but is continuing to supply ammunition, weapons and tanks to its proxy forces. To date, more than 10,000 people have been killed and 21,500 injured in Russia’s war against Ukraine, according to the UN. The dead include 298 passengers and crew on board a Malaysian airliner, which was shot down by a BUK anti-aircraft missile on July 17, 2014. There is clear evidence the BUK complex was sent into Ukraine by Russia, and that it was operated by Russian soldiers. UKRAYNA 25 YIL 26x36 4cm indd 1 09/08/16 15:4