The lessons Dependent Ukraine & ways Echoes of the Holodomor, of EuroMaidans to resist Russian pressure 80 years on

№ 22 (64) december 2013 THE RAPE OF EUROPE

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|contents BRIEFING HISTORY Yanukovych Fetches The Echoes of Who is to blame? The echos of the Holodomor. 80 years on According to a recent joint survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Ukrainian Sociology Service, 53% Ukrainians claim that they know “general things” about Holodomor. 19% “have heard Suppressed of it” and 26% claim to be well-aware of the genocide. 2% say they know nothing about it. A trauma that la s four generations Awareness varies by age: 42% people aged over 55 claim to know a lot about the arvation The Centre of Ukrainian Studies at Taras Shevchenko University surveyed 1,000 people over individuality compared to ju 21% of those aged 30-54, and a mere 16% of those aged under 30. Mo the Holodomor: five years who were one to seven years old in 1932-1933. 500 lived in oblas tormented by Independence. From Europe Ukrainians blame the Holodomor on Stalin and the Bolsheviks the Holodomor. 500 lived in ethnic Ukrainian territories that did not experience the famine. The difference in their answers reveals how deeply the tragedy affeed mo of the popula- Territories Territories that plagued did not tion. According to Tetiana Voropayeva, psychologi and head of the Ethnology research group by the experience Fully agree at the Centre of Ukrainian Studies, the po-genocidal syndrome tends to spread over the next Holodomor arvation The 1932-1933 The purpose of the four generations. The Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is another aftereffe of the 63% 63% I think I agree Holodomor was 1932-1933 Holodomor trauma. Its mechanism works as follows: when a person finds himself on the brink of death (of hunger or for other reasons), he goes back to the ate of a newborn feeling as unproteed caused by the was targeted Supressed 51% I don’t think I agree and helpless. His mind is no longer critical. If, at the point of awaiting death, the viim gets government policy elimination of the the lea kindness from the aggressor, the latter turns into a helping father. In Ukraine, Stalin’s I don’t agree food colleion campaign officially ended on March 15, 1933. People could already eat early Ukrainian nation spring plants. Since the new sawing season began and people had no energy to work in the 20% I don’t know fields, the authorities eablished medical points in some villages that arted feeding the arved. Kolkhozes, too, began to diribute some food. Meanwhile, newspapers and radios 22.9% 28.4% 20.7% spread news of elimination of yet another nationaliic center that arranged the famine upon 7% 33.7% individuality, the order of Comrade Stalin, the creator of new and happy life. This image penetrated many 3% 5.4% 4 minds exhaued by hunger. As a result, some people were ill afraid to be Ukrainians in their 7.6% 9.9% 24.7% country long after the genocide, and passed that fear over to their children. 30.4% 16.3% The feeling of alienation Ukrainophobic Behavioural regress from Ukraine sentiments that prevents adequate behaviour FOCUS in the future emotional Childhood ress and emotional comfort in adulthood Under anding the genocide The Holodomor was a The Rating sociological group found that the highe share campaign to eliminate of Ukrainians who think of the Holodomor as genocide is in peasants as a social category 2013. The number of those who believe otherwise shrinks 78% and force them into 76% 73% every year discomfort kolkhozes 59% Was the Holodomor genocide? 56% 55% The Big Bluff:The failure in 2010 18.3% 50% 29% 14% 61% 7.2% 35.1% 20% 32% 25% 9.9% and Stockholm ТYes 12% 12% 0% 8% 7% No Vilnius revealed two crucial 2013 Source: A survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Ukrainian Sociology Service I don’t know 12% 66% Witnessed deaths Grew up in an Suffer high Have Have Suffer Have 22% of parents or orphanage level of anxiety dominating fobias psychosomatic subconscious syndrome 80 years siblings during the depressive disorders feeling of things – one, Ukraine is not Holodomor emotions inferiority Source: Rating sociological group actually independent; two, the EU and US offered nothing but Behaviour-shaping personal features on 75% 75% 69% 65% 57% 52% rhetoric to confront Russia’s pressure 46% 35% 23% 20% 33% 17% 20

Low Poor self-aualization Little confidence Soviet Conformism Escape from self-e eem (self-fulfillment and in the ereotypes reality aspiration for effeiveness of self-expression) own aions 6 Source: Centre of Ukrainian Studies at Taras Shevchenko University Dictated by The Mother-Empire Awaits: Yuriy Makarov the CommunistD octrine: The 1932-33 Holodomor was a on why Ukraine proved incapable of resisting consequence of the Bolsheviks’ efforts to completely eradicate the Russian orbit private property 22 9 A Red and Black Sachet With Ashes: Why you should not fear After the EuroMaidans: Ukrainians seem your memories to be overcoming the distrust and apathy of the “2004 syndrome”. The European rallies could mark the start of a serious 25 confrontation between the government and Seeking Justice: U.S. Federal the pro-European majority Judge Bohdan Futey discusses the international legal precedents that 10 could allow Ukraine to demand NEIGHBOURS recognition of the Holodomor as genocide in an international court Along a Non- Existing Border As Moldova 26 initials the Association NAVIGATOR Agreement in Vilnius, the Awaiting New Hosts:The Ukrainian Week takes a tour around Kremlin will castles handed over into concession increase pressure on Chisinau. This 28 may lead to another escalation of the Transnistria conflict CULTURE & ARTS Art Reconciliation: An attempt to whitewash Art Arsenal after 12 censorship in the previous show The EU’s Door Stays Open: International politicians, experts and diplomats comment on Ukraine’s abrupt turn from the EU, 30 massive protests and what may come next Tearing Down Covers: Photographer Borys Mykhailov 14 talks about the ability to weed ECONOMICS out beauty, the emptiness of PR Succeeding in Spite of the State: Honest Bulgarian firms and art lovers specialise, stay small and steer clear of the government 32 16 Chronicle of a SystemicR ecession: Ukraine’s economic downturn Ten Muses: Film, food and jazz continues as the government, banks and businesses deplete their festivals to visit this month reserves. Many companies will not survive even a year of this turmoil 34 18

E-mail [email protected] Tel. (044) 351-13-87 www.ukrainianweek.com The Ukrainian Week № 22 (64) December 2013 Editors address 37 Mashynobudivna str., Kyiv, 03067, Ukraine Founder ECEM Media GmbH Print Novy Druk LLC, 1 Mahnitohorska str., Kyiv, 03056, Ukraine Publisher ECEM Media GmbH Ordering number 13-8529 Sent to print on 29 November 2013 Address Austria, Am Gestade,1, 1010 Vienna Print run 15 000. Free distribution State registration certificate КВ № 19823-9623ПР 19.03.2013 Chief Editor Alla Lazareva Our partner Editors Anna Korbut, Natalia Romaneс, Shaun Williams № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|3 briefing|eastern partnership summit

Author: Roman Malko

hen Yanukovych ar- Yanukovych Fetches rived to the reception for EU member-state Wleaders at the palace- turned-museum of Lithuanian rulers on November 28, every- Independence. one still had a glimpse of hope. Few, if any, European leaders dreamt of signing the Associa- tion Agreement, yet many said that a declaration of intentions From Europe could be signed and the post- poned association process would be resumed a few months later. The Eastern Partnership “The door remains open for Ukraine,” politicians commented Summit in Vilnius brought no good news. on camera and said they believed This was not inevitable that Yanykovych would change his mind in private conversa- 4|the ukrainian week|№ 13 (55) July 2013 eastern partnership summit|briefing close to the negotiation process By the end of the summit, ev- mentioned USD 50bn. European eryone got tired of the “open Council President Herman Van door”. Still, it signaled that Eu- Rompuy and EU Commission rope, at least formally, keeps in- President Jose Manuel Barroso sisting that it needs Ukraine. who met with Viktor Yanukovych Perhaps, the Ukrainian elite before the reception on Thursday would change its mind by the night allegedly offered this Riga Summit in 2015 or the amount as an EBRD loan for Ukraine-EU Summit in March Ukraine. According to the 2014, Dalia Grybauskaitė as- sources, the offer left Yanu- sumed. And the door is open kovych indifferent – he must again, Van Rompuy repeated. have found it not generous Yanukovych was the only one enough. keeping silent and smiling as We are not sure whether Ya- Vice Premier Serhiy Arbuzov nukovych actually rejected a USD talked about risks that scared the 50bn loan after his government fearless Ukrainian government. had struggled to get at least USD After the Vilnius Summit, 15bn from the IMF, but he may Ukrainians have another date for well have. Big people have big commemorating their crushed appetites. It is currently unclear hopes. By contrast, Moldova, whether there is any limit to Georgia and Azerbaijan will cele- those appetites or whether the brate their small victories. The whole deal is actually about door to normal life is open much them. The impression is that the wider for them now. In the near process is guided by more rea- future, Moldova is hoping to go sons than money alone. visa-free with the EU – the pro- At a post-summit briefing, cess has already started. Azerbai- Lithuania’s President Dalia jan has also simplified its visa re- Grybauskaitė said that Ukrainian gime with Europe. Even Belarus delegation had come to Vilnius claimed ready to start negotia- with a clear decision to not sign tions to simplify border crossing. the Association Agreement, even It is too early to make projec- though Yanukovych’s speeches tions on what will happen next. had been so vague up until the Europe has made a few clear very day of the summit that even points. One is that the door is somber skeptics still hoped for a open, at least in words. Negotia- miracle. tions may continue, though no- The miracle did not happen. body understands what they can Apparently, Angela Merkel did focus on in the current situation. meet with Viktor Yanukovych on Europe does not put forth new Thursday morning since both ar- requirements to Ukraine and is rived last and almost simultane- waiting for us to fulfill what we ously to the summit. But this haven’t yet. From what Euro-

photo: reuters photo: could be wishful thinking. Yanu- pean politicians say, the impres- kovych entered first, shook hands sion is that they have given up on tions. Some said that Poland’s with Dalia Grybauskaitė, Her- Yanukovych. And they are not Foreign Minister Radoslaw man Van Rompuy and Jose Man- going to involve Russia in the Sikorski even told Ukrainian ac- uel Barroso, and went to hang talks as Premier Azarov wanted. tivists that their “president is out with Europe’s top people. An- Barroso and Rompuy made a crazy!” gela Merkel rushed in next and clear point that a third part is re- Vilnius buzzed all Thursday everyone headed to the summit dundant in negotiations on bilat- that Yanukovych would meet room. eral relations. with German Chancellor Angela Both journalists and Euro- Ukraine’s President was one Merkel the next day and she was pean politicians must have been of the first to leave the Eastern hopeful to talk him into a coali- wondering why Ukraine’s Presi- Partnership summit. He can- tion. On Thursday night, how- dent came to the summit at all. celled his press conference ever, rumours spread that the Eventually, they got tired of scheduled to take place in the meeting was cancelled because thinking of that – or anything afternoon, got into his car and Merkel allegedly saw no sense in concerning Ukraine during the disappeared. The room rented talking to Yanukovych. He re- second part of the summit, as if for the press-conference stood jected the concessions Europe Ukraine did not even exist and empty and rumours that it was prepared to take so why the association never was on the would be postponed or held for carry on with useless conversa- agenda. Only persistent reporters a few loyal journalists vanished tions. still tormented politicians for Read more along with the smoke of the on p. 6 We will hardly find out what their diplomatic “such is life but President’s car, and the hopes of these concessions were. People the door stays open”. Ukrainians. № 13 (55) July 2013|the ukrainian week|5 focus|Ukraine & EU The Big Bluff The disruption of association with the EU revealed two crucial things. One - Ukraine has proven incapable of acting as an independent state. Two - European and American policies in Eastern Europe failed because rhetoric was the only thing confronting Putin’s pressure

Authors: n 2010, Viktor Yanukovych be- This became palpable by the 2012 parliamentary election, tax author- Oleksandr came the head of a state where parliamentary election and par- ities forced businesses to pay taxes Kramar, Alla the middle class, economically ticularly afterwards. It became in advance. The election is long Lazareva Iindependent and effective, ever more difficult for the govern- over, but the practice continues. constituted a small part of soci- ment to meet its budget obliga- According to The Ukrainian Week’s ety. It was not represented in pol- tions; local budgets frequently sources, the tax administration is itics and unprepared to protect its saw their accounts frozen, and un- now demanding that businesses own interests and those of the fixed budget categories were un- pay advance income tax for Janu- state. Given the lack of effective derfinanced. Businesses experi- ary-February 2014. institutions of civil society, it had enced growing tax pressure; state- The trust of Western investors no instruments to efficiently con- owned and private banks were and creditors was short-lived. It trol, let alone influence politi- forced to buy government bonds to was lost as soon as they realized cians. As a result, both the gov- help it patch holes in the budget. that nobody was going to imple- ernment and the opposition failed For political purposes and a wide- ment the reforms widely advertised to act in the long-term interests scale bribing of voters before the in 2010, and the government and of the nation. Over the past three and a half years, these negative trends have intensified. The consolidation of power crushed the system of checks and balances and ham- pered the activities of the narrow circle of those involved in politics and big business. Disregard for economic laws, the discrediting of the judiciary and law enforce- ment, attacks on SMEs and busi- ness overall, as well as thriving corruption and raider attacks – all this had been in place before 2010, but Yanukovych has taken it to the next level. For the first two years, those in power blamed anything they were criticized for on their prede- cessors. Then, a steep devalua- tion of hryvnia in 2008 eased the impact of trade and foreign cur- rency deficit and boosted the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers. All of this was accom- panied by cash inflow from for- eign and domestic investors seek- ing high yields on government borrowings undertaken to cover the budget deficit. This drove the national debt from UAH 318bn in 2010 to UAH 550bn in 2013. The post-crisis recovery of foreign markets further contributed to this. However, the impact of these factors was quickly exhausted. 6|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Ukraine & EU|focus the central bank (National Bank of radical reforms. The other is to economy. What Yanukovych said Ukraine, NBU) ignored economic transfer the funding of the defi- is a false argument,” he con- laws while opting for brutal admin- cit to foreign partners. The cluded. istrative pressure instead. Ukraine prospect of a geopolitical choice The scale of Ukraine’s de- lost options to attract foreign fund- between the EU and the Cus- pendence on exports to Russia ing other than FDI. Lately, the lat- toms Union seemed to be the and vulnerability to its pressure ter have only grown because of in- perfect opportunity. The trou- is greatly overstated. An analy- vestment from offshore areas (see bles were blamed on the trade sis of Ukrainian exports to Rus- EU Enlargement Scarecrow for investors). war with Russia and the “disas- Commissioner Stefan sia before and after the trade The government and the NBU trous effect” of the Association Füle: “Our offer has war to disrupt the Association never been meant as may have covered the deficit by Agreement with those in power a beauty contest with Agreement reveals that Ukraine printing money covertly. This is ac- demanding “compensation for anyone or about who has lost less from it in the last tually happening, to a certain ex- the loss of the Russian market” puts more on the few months compared to the last table” tent. However, with the overvalued from the EU. few years. According to the State hryvnia, which is manually main- “The billion euro which the Statistics Committee, Ukrainian tained, this has been leading to a Ukrainian President and Premier exports to Russia shrank by steep decline in the balance of pay- have submitted as financial as- 11.6% from USD 4.3 to 3.8bn in ments. This, in turn, has been ag- sistance from the EU for the Q3 2013 compared to Q3 2012. gravating the foreign currency defi- signing of the document cannot This decline was two times cit while Ukraine’s international be viewed as compensation for lower than the one seen in Q3 reserves have almost halved since the loss of the Russian market,” 2012 compared to Q3 2011. April 2011, from USD 38.4 to ex-Polish President Aleksander 20.6bn. Ukraine is virtually in de- Kwasniewski tried to clarify the Yanukovych had two fault. money controversy on the day before the Vilnius Summit. “The possible solutions: radical Don’t blame it all on billion euro offered under the reforms or getting foreign exports framework of the Agreement is Yanukovych has two options to aimed at general projects, not for partners to cover solve this. One is to implement the support of the Ukrainian Ukraine’s financial deficit

This negative dynamic evolved as the CIS free trade zone agreement came into effect. This was before the start of the trade war with Russia, caused largely by three factors. The first was the economic slowdown in Russia that made its market shrink. The second was the Kremlin’s long- term policy whereby Ukrainian producers were ousted from the Russian market in favour of do- mestic ones. This long-term con- sistent protectionism has had a negative impact on Russia’s part- ners in the Customs Union, Be- larus and Kazakhstan (see Tug ‘O’ War at ukrainianweek. com). The third factor is the po- litically motivated restriction on the import of Ukrainian goods. These have long been in place in an effort to force Kyiv to fully in- tegrate into the Customs Union, not just reject association with the EU. Without this, Ukrainian Poland’s President exports to Russia will not see any Bronisław long-term improvements. Komorowski: “Ever since Ukraine gained independence, it has WHO WILL PAY always been YANUKOVYCH? maneuvering between integration From the very beginning, the only into Western Europe thing that mattered to Yanu- and the East. It can now miss its historic kovych was to find someone to chance.” pay for the failures of his first

photo: phl photo: term as president and provide a № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|7 focus|Ukraine & EU financial impetus that will help Scarecrow for inve ors his reelection. While the amount of attra ed FDI declines annually, the share of invement EUR 150-165bn was the from Cyprus and British Virgin Islands has conituted 2/3 of all invement amount that the Ukrainian gov- growth over the years of Yanukovych’s rule ernment wanted. “The Ukrainian government has not provided any DFI to Ukraine, USD bn arguments to support this data,” As of 01.04.2010 As of 01.04.2013 UK Ambassador Simon Smith said in his interview for the Kom- mersant publication. “The EU is (74.1%) 35.4 (62.6%) not an institution that covers 29.6 Cyprus budget deficits.” Once it became obvious that British Virgin (4.4%) the EU would only give money if Islands 2.5 (33%) (3.2%) (22.7%) Ukraine implemented a number 9.1 18.7 of reforms, some of them painful 1.3 and unpopular in view of the up- Other countries coming 2015 presidential elec- tion, Yanukovych no longer saw any point in the association. Pre- Premier Mykola save USD 1-1.5bn. Meanwhile, mate specific problems of the au- mier Mykola Azarov said in par- Azarov: “Russian the IMF will not help Ukraine re- thoritarian post-Soviet state leadership has stated liament that the “last straw (urg- clearly that the finance its debt after the failed where the election can be simply ing the Cabinet to suspend prep- signing of the association. The European factor rigged – or falsified with all Agreement means arations for the signing – Ed.) that it makes no in the 2015 election is another kinds of more sophisticated was the stance of the IMF out- sense to further weighty reason. mechanisms. This will be easier lined in the letter received by the discuss trade and Whatever the result of the to do this time since, in contrast economic regimes. government on November 20”. It We were told clearly: Vilnius Summit, Yanukovych will to 2004, Ukraine has no clear said that the IMF was prepared we are ready to no longer be seen as a European and single alternative to Yanu- discuss the problems to refinance Ukraine’s debt of in a tripartite format integrator. He will be blamed for kovych. In an open clash for USD 4bn to it, not issue new but you should ruining the possibility of acces- power which the current presi- postpone the signing loans in the amount of USD 15bn of the Agreement, sion to the EU at the finish line. dent values more than the EU or that Kyiv was asking for. then we’ll sit at the This once again gives the op- Russia, the problem of divided As a result, Yanukovych con- table for position a monopoly for Euro- opposition will make it more vul- negotiations, and tinued his “consultations” with then sign it.” pean integration. The fact that nerable and less effective. the Russian regime, albeit se- Yanukovych failed it, coupled Meanwhile, the failed associ- cretly. The ongoing negotiations with attempts to surrender stra- ation opens new doors for a more to set up a gas transportation tegic objects of Ukraine’s econ- proactive play on the Ukrainian consortium that intensified last omy to Russia in exchange for field for the EU. The latter week are one element of this pro- some mitigation from it will should realize that it is not pos- cess. While the nation is out on serve as a mobilizing factor for sible or reasonable to deal with the streets rallying for associa- society. Therefore, people will the current president. Thus, it tion with the EU, Energy Minis- vote for the opposition candidate should focus its efforts on proac- ter Eduard Stavytskyi admits to (and, more importantly, take to tive support of an alternative to journalists that he is in the pro- the streets to protect their the current government in three cess of negotiating a bilateral choice) as someone who ex- major areas. consortium to exploit the Ukrai- presses their European choice One is Ukrainian opposition. nian gas pipe. rather than as an individual can- Europe should help it organize didate in the presidential elec- more effectively and resume the EUROPE IS INEVITABLE tion. In contrast, Yanukovych European integration focus. An- While Yanukovych turned down will be associated with dragging other one is support to the insti- association with the EU, he Ukraine into the Customs Union tutions of civil society that could doesn’t seem to have any guaran- or self-isolation in a grey area exert pressure both on the gov- tees from the Kremlin. Off-re- Co-Chair of the between the European and Eur- ernment and the opposition, European Parliament cord, Russian officials deny al- Monitoring Mission, asian unions. Today, after a shift thus forcing them to act in the leged deals on a gas discount for Aleksander of generations, the share of sup- interests of democratization and Kwasniewski: “The European integration. The third Ukraine and say that loans for EU negotiates with porters of Ukraine’s European Ukraine are only possible if it candidate-states as vector is far higher than that of area is various groups of influ- joins the Customs Union. sovereign entities opponents – even higher com- ence within the government, provided that they Still, there are factors pre- decide that they want pared to 2004 when the Orange particularly big business. The venting Yanukovych from fully to hold these Revolution took place. EU and US have tools to urge negotiations… I can’t rejecting association with the EU imagine that the EU Europeans, who seem to rely them oppose the scenario during his presidency. One is the can come to terms too many expectations on the whereby Yanukovych can stay in fear that Putin may let him with Russia which ability of Ukrainian society to power at any cost. This could be wants to have down, and his regime will not Ukraine in the elect a president in 2015 who will reinforced with an ongoing last long without external sup- Customs Union, and lead Ukraine to Europe should warning of personal sanctions the Eurasian Union in port. Even if Russia grants the the future.” take a closer look at what’s going against Yanukovych and his gas discount, Ukraine will only on. They should not underesti- closest circle. 8|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Ukraine & EU|Focus The Mother-Empire Awaits Why Ukraine could not help but find itself in Russia’s grip

here was a brief euphoria. The President’s incom- rectly dependent on others: on oil prices, markets, prehensible and unexpected manoeuvre has baf- terrorism and hot spots which provoke uncontrolled fled and disarmed both the opposition and the migrations, on technological challenges and global Tpublic, not to mention his loyal subordinates. trends. Established countries take these dependen- It was euphoria that initially hindered obvious cies into consideration and try to minimize them. parallels with yet another East European dictator: To protect itself from external pressure, Ukraine Alexander Lukashenko also actively flirted with the should have first of all implemented a range of mea- EU, and the latter took his escapade seriously, but sures to make it self-sufficient in a number of the “father” merely intended to play Brussels and spheres. One is consistent language policy to sup- Moscow in turn. More than likely, Viktor Yanu- port identity and mark a cultural border that would kovych himself, by opening his arms to the West so be real, not symbolic. Another one is free press not quickly, simply played a fool without having a spe- surrendered to an ideological opponent. Others in- cific result in the form of a signed Association Agree- clude strict obedience of law enforcers by the law, ment in mind – although some experts, as well as full legalization or ousting – into exile or prison - of The Ukrainian Week, warned that the European mafia clans, and support to SMEs to provide consis- game was a bluff against Putin from the very start. tent growth, not stay around GDP growth rates that Anyway, the logic of his actions – the logic of a per- are close to zero. Plus, protection of foreign inves- son forced into a dead-end by his own appetites and tors in order to benefit from sustainable cash inflow phobias, was in no way conducive of a happy end. to the economy and technological upgrade. Real en- Ukraine’s harsh reality is that, after 22 years of ergy diversification. Independent judiciary that formal independence, it still has thousands of busi- would deliver fair verdicts in conflicts, not keep ev- ness, political and cultural ties with its former me- ery citizen, including top officials, on the leash of un- tropolis. Many top officials, authorized to make key certainty. Author: decisions were born in Russia, and most impor- In general, a sovereign state should gain all these Yuriy Makarov tantly, have the Russian mentality. Many business complex yet technical aspects on its own. Ukraine owners with close ties in the government own prop- didn’t. As a result, it has the insatiable post-Soviet erty in Russia. Some oligarchs who gained their elites, nascent civil society, unceasing negative influ- wealth from speculations with hydrocarbons have ence of the “older brother”, and indifference of the the sources of their international commu- wealth in Russia. The UKRAINE IS STILL AN IMPERIAL nity. Ukraine has missed market for technologi- its chance twice: imme- cally outdated products PROVINCE, WHILE ITS diately after gaining legal is in Russia. Some of it INDEPENDENCE IS A FICTION independence and after can be improved to com- the massive uprise in ply with international TO A CERTAIN EXTENT 2004 which only led to standards. The rest is the rotation of figures useless anywhere other than the former USSR. and symbols. Neither the government, nor the Many media policy makers have their roots in opposition, nor society expected to include a de- Russia. And many from the artistic elite gravi- cisive break with the past in their agenda. At the tate towards Russia – or its royalties that are way current stage, association with the EU could have higher than in Ukraine. Russia uncompromisingly been a fortuitous chance and served as a crutch to dominates the Ukrainian media space. Finally, and help Ukraine get back on its feet. Europe could not this is key, Russia continues the feudal type of rela- and should not have taken the place of Ukraine in tions that are traditional for an empire – and the ba- tackling any current tasks. However, even the formal sis for interaction of the ruling elites and power hier- implementation of certain rules, which the rejected archy in all countries that remain in the post-Soviet agreement would have required, could have: а) orbit. These types of relations are about ignoring pushed the so-called elites to gradual systematic re- laws, personal loyalty, obedient and powerful law forms; b) helped civil society to stand up for its enforcement authorities, and control over any prof- rights within the limits of intelligible universal pro- itable activity. This leads to corruption, wilfulness, cedures. lack of protection for citizens and entrepreneurs. Viktor Yanukovych can savour the illusion that Breaking such a matrix is far more difficult than up- he has outwitted Putin and Barroso as much as he grading equipment and technical regulations to wants. Ukraine is not Belarus, and he is not the “fa- meet EU standards. So, Ukraine’s independence is ther” - the stakes are different here. Without Euro- still a fiction to a certain extent. pean crutches, he will be unable to avoid being swal- We do not have illusions: nowhere on the planet lowed up by the mother-empire, where he is awaited is there complete and total independence. We have hungrily. But this is the subject of the next discus- long lived in a single world, where everyone is indi- sion. № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|9 focus|Ukraine & EU

After the EuroMaidans

n November 2004, the Orange Author: organisers and the participants, put up by the stage in front of the Maidan began with a semicircle Oleksandr not to mention the government. Ukrainian House only next night, of tiny tents, located around the Mykhelson Everyone thought that after the Or- with hand-written posters saying IStele of Liberty. Tens of thou- ange fiasco, Kyivans would never The people’s deputy’s reception sands of people only appeared on create another Maidan. office hastily attached to them. In the following day. In November The chaos in the actions of 2004, such a sign was a formal 2013, the people appeared first. politicians can be explained by ban for the police or utility com- Around 100,000 people gathered their unpreparedness for the scale pany workers to take them down in downtown Kyiv to protest the of the rally on November 24. As since the law allowed MPs to con- decision of the Ukrainian govern- popular blogger, Roman Shraik, duct meetings with people any- ment to refuse to sign the Associa- said, hot on the trail of events: where, other than on the territory tion Agreement with the European “The worst expectations of the op- of secret facilities. Union. The scale of the action came position came to pass: 100,000 The Law On the Status of Peo- as a complete surprise to both the people came out”. The tents were ple’s Deputies has not really

10|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Ukraine & EU|focus changed since then. The reality opposition during Yanukovych’s EuroMaidan Today, all EuroMaidans face a has. In Viktor Yanukovych’s rule is the consequence of not just is the biggest question: what is their further Ukraine, where MPs are stripped well-planned provocations on the protest since strategy? The opposition submit- the Orange of their mandates on the order of part of the government, but the Revolution. ted a draft law to dissolve the his Chief of Staff, no-one would lack of orientation - or betrayal - It could be the Cabinet of Ministers, as prom- pay any attention to the signs on by this very opposition. start of a serious ised, but it will never be passed – the tents. The EuroMaidan was no ex- confrontation and everyone knows this. The dis- This time, the government de- ception. It is still not clear why, between the solution of the Verkhovna Rada cided against an escalation of vio- on the afternoon of November 24, government and the impeachment of the pres- lence. The tent city near Ukrai- when the amount of protesters at and the ident, which opposition leaders nian House was only attacked Yevropeyska Ploshcha reached pro-European called for at Yevropeyska Plosh- once by the special police on the 100,000, Oleksandr Turchynov majority cha on November 24, is even night of November 24-25. The and Arseniy Yatsenyuk called on more unlikely. Despite this, poli- police pushed away the rally to the protesters to go to the build- ticians are once more calling on make way for traffic at Yevropey- ing of the Cabinet of Ministers. At people to gather by the Verk- ska Ploshcha (European Square). that point, it was surrounded by hovna Rada on December 5, when Then, clashes were reported on many units of special police and MPs will (or maybe not) possibly November 29. athletes hired to cause provoca- decide on a motion of no confi- There are reasons for such a tions and beat protesters - oppo- dence to Azatov’s Cabinet of Min- peaceable disposition. On the one sition leaders knew it. As a result, isters. hand, decision-makers did not the athletes or radical protesters The participants of the Euro- want to appear like authoritarian attacked the police and started a Maidan that set the goal of forc- leaders dispersing a pro-Euro- series of fights. ing Yanukovych to sign the Agree- pean meeting, in the eyes of the As soon as the first clash ment seem to be even more dis- West (with which they are still erupted, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, oriented. They don’t know what toying). On the other hand, it ap- Yuriy Lutsenko and several Svo- pears that the government boda MPs stood between the po- counted – and still does - on or- lice and protesters, calling on the Ukrainians seem to be ganizational impotence of the latter to remain calm. This sig- overcoming the 2004 protesters. nals that there was no “planned When the government first provocation” on the part of oppo- syndrome – disillusion and announced suspension of prepa- sition leaders. Nor was there co- apathy rations for association with the ordination for the huge rally. EU on November 21 also labelled This gave the civil Maidan ev- to do after the predictable failure as Black Thursday, several hun- ery reason not to trust politicians. of their mission. Most of these dred people gathered at Maidan However, without politicians, the people are journalists, experts Nezaleshnosti, the Independence speeches of civil activists were and public activists, in other Square, to start a timeless rally doomed to fail and disdain from words, those who understand the demanding that President Yanu- those in power. On Tuesday, the hopelessness of the opposition’s kovych signs the Agreement at political and civil Maidans an- “plans” and at the same time, do the Vilnius Summit on November nounced that they pursued a not accept the vision of radicals. 28-29, in spite of Russia’s black- common goal. The same thing The latter, on the other hand, mail. And another decision was happened in Lviv, the second are in their element. After Yanu- made: politicians would not be largest rally after Kyiv, where al- kovych officially failed to sign the involved in EuroMaidan and no ready on Sunday, students and Association Agreement, everyone party symbols or flags would be activists did not allow politicians on EuroMaidans – and beyond - present. to speak at a crowded rally with will have to decide for themselves This comes as no surprise. up to 30,000 people according to how they will act under these cir- The profound discrediting of the various estimates. cumstances.

№ 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|11 neighbours|Moldova Transnistria – Moldova: Along a Non-Existing Border As Moldova initials the Association Agreement in Vilnius this fall, the Kremlin will increase pressure on Chisinau. This may lead to another escalation of the Transnistria conflict

Authors: ast summer, the future seemed Shevchuk decides on life and death gration, explains with confidence. Damien Dubuc bright for Vera Semionova. there,” Grigore Polichinksi adds. Yet, when it comes to solving the and Sébastien Her agricultural cooperative The agricultural exploitation con- issues of Dorotcaia's farmers, his Gobert Lhad been handicapped by its tracts he delivers have to be re- government proves powerless. archaic equipment for many years. newed every year. This makes it The borderline affects not only Its members had finally put to- impossible to expect successful farmers. “Every morning, the local gether the means to purchase a outcome of any investment. school is used by Dorotcaia's pu- new tractor. “Banks in Chisinau Although no one seems to have pils. In the afternoon, the prem- had approved the loan. We had forgotten the violent fights that oc- ises are reserved for some 170 pu- chosen the tractor and we were curred here in 1992, the situation pils who travel from Grigoriopol about to sign”. And then? Nothing. seems peaceful along the border- which is 20 kilometers away, on What is the point of investing in an line. Temporary border posts have the other side,” school director El- expensive machine if cabbage and been in place for a while. Peace- eanora Cercavschi says. “The Ro- potatoes cannot be moved from keepers, that is to say mostly Rus- manian-language school in Grigo- fields to market places? Vera lives sian soldiers, attentively monitor riopol was closed down back in in Dorotcaia, a town of 3,700 peo- each crossing. Most of the 500,000 2002. Tiraspol does not want any- ple in mid-west Moldova. “91% of Transnistrian citizens hold Moldo- one to learn Romanian in our land is on the other side of the van, Russian or Ukrainian pass- Transnistria. Our pupils want to road,” she sighs. The road is the ports to compensate for the use- study in their native language. So border with Transnistria. Since its lessness of the Transnistrian one. they have to cross the border every secession 22 years ago, the tiny Hundreds cross daily, as they day, together with their teachers.” strip of land escapes all control study, work and live on both sides In October 2012, the European from Chisinau. of the borderline. “Officially, we do Court of Human Rights in Stras- not recognize the border. So our bourg found Russia, in place of Along the borderline policy is to ensure the free move- non-acknowledged Transnistria, “We repeatedly need to come up ment of people on our territory”, guilty of the violation of Eleanora with new documents. If we want to Eugen Karpov, Moldova's Vice- Cercavschi’s and many others carry more than a given quantity, Prime Minister in charge of reinte- plaintiffs' rights to education. we have to pay tariffs to move our products from our country to our country! And don't forget the mul- tiple fines, for that or that reason,” Vera complains. At least now, she is able to go and work on her fields. “From 2004 until 2006, this so- called government in Tiraspol pro- hibited farmers to go there,” Gri- gore Polichinski recalls. A former Primar or Mayor of Dorotcaia, he is the current head of Dubăsari Raion. “Since then, it is possible to take the products back. Yet they have to obtain a special authoriza- tion from Yevhen Shevchuk (Presi- dent of Transnistria – Ed.)”. Since December 2011, the 45-year-old Shevchuk is the new strong man ALONG THE BORDER OF THE ruling over the self-declared Prid- UNRECOGNIZED STATE: Chisinau is nestrovian Moldovan Republic trying to reinforce its state borders (PMR). “No one recognizes this as it seeks a visa-free regime with pseudo-state, not even Russia. Yet the EU. Tiraspol resists this 12|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Moldova|neighbours They still wait the EUR 1mn com- “This is only for foreigners. Noth- simple: Russia sends quantities of pensation Russia has to pay them. ing changes for inhabitants of so-called humanitarian help and There are only eight Roma- Transnistria. They will be able to offers extra USD 15 to each pen- nian-language schools left in travel as freely as before,” Vice- sioner on a monthly basis. As the Transnistria. Chisinau's govern- Prime Minister Eugen Karpov re- average salary is below USD 250, ment supplies them with textbooks assures. Yet, the move might stir USD 15 makes a difference. Most and pays the exorbitant rents Tira- up tensions. As Russian Vice- importantly, Gazprom ships gas for spol asks for. As for Grigoriopol's Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin free to Transnistria yet sends the pupils, the only solution has been warned in September, Chisinau's bill to Moldova. “Were Moscow to to pay for four buses driving back pro-European policy might lead to give up on Tiraspol, this puppet and forth, every day for about 12 Moldova definitely losing its state would not last two months,” years now. “It is a long way. In win- chance to regain control over its says Oazu Nantoi, Program Direc- ter, the road is dangerous. Plus, we separatist province. As a side ef- tor at the Institute of Public Policy come back home late. Extra-curric- fect, he indicated, it might also ini- in Chisinau. ular activities, it's not for us,” 16 tiate problems with the supply of Russian support is to become year-old Vasile complains. Many of Russian gas to Moldova. “I hope more crucial than ever in case Mol- his schoolmates gave up already. you won't freeze,” he warned. dova establishes a free-trade zone The exiled school has lost more Such declarations are merely with the EU. Many Transnistrian than 300 pupils since 2002. Vasile the continuation of tensions that is determined to keep up with this have been fuelled over the past few Russian support is to exhausting daily routine. His fu- months. “In late April, a few dozen ture is at stake: he wishes to be- Transnistrian separatists tried to in- become more crucial than come a surgeon but Transnistrian stall four new border posts at the diplomas are worthless but in Mos- exit of the village,” Varniţa Mayor ever for Transnistria cow. Each border crossing is a nec- Alexandr Nichitenko recounts. His in case Moldova essary step towards university. Moldovan village lays about 15 kilo- Given the local circumstances, he meters from Tiraspol. “Our citizens establishes a free-trade sees his future in Romania, if not have reacted promptly and every- zone with the EU beyond. thing was solved quickly when secu- rity forces arrived. We cannot ac- businesses, many of which are con- THE DISTABILIZING cept more checkpoints. Crossing trolled by oligarchs from Russia, INTEGRATION would become even more difficult, are registered in Chisinau and ex- Moldova confirmed its choice for and we have to work on erasing the Moldova’s GDP is USD port about 40% of their output to enhanced European integration by division, not marking it.” 2,038, the EU, thanks to a preferential initialing the ambitious Associa- A June decree by Transnistria’s according to the trade system. Transnistrian busi- tion Agreement with the EU at the President Shevchuk stipulated a World Bank (2012) nesses may lose out because of the Vilnius Summit. Encouraged to se- clear marking of the borderline, implementation of new rules. cure the country's borders in order covering several Moldovan-ruled 25% “Never forget that Russia still de- to achieve a visa-free regime with villages, including Varniţa. “Just an- of Moldova’s GDP ploys over 1,000 'peacekeepers' the EU, the Parliament decided in other provocation,” Alexandr Nich- comes from and keeps a large ammunition early October to install six Migra- itenko tells, seemingly jaded. “As remittances from its warehouse there”, Oazu Nantoi citizens working tion Offices along the internal bor- long as we keep contact with the abroad warns. “One should not exclude derline. Tiraspol sees it as a threat other side, it is ok. What we try to do military provocations in the wake to the free movement of its citizens. is to make our side as attractive as of the economic unrest that is to possible. So the people there would come.” actually want to reintegrate. That's 17.5% Within Transnistria itself, se- of Moldovans live the way the Berlin Wall fell down.” below poverty line cret services, which name did not Outside the recently-renovated city upgrade from Soviet-time KGB, are hall, a green garden and nicely cov- also here to ensure the survival of ered streets try to produce a fresh Transnistria’s the authoritarian regime. “People impression of prosperity. population is are afraid. There is much less pro- Yet, once the crumbling border 509,000 test than before,” Mihai Dirul from post is passed, the arrival to the people (2013) a village called Lunga warns. This city of Bender, a port town in retired truck driver used to be one Transnistria, is impressive, as im- of the fiercest opponents of posing monuments line up along Transnistrian secession. His wife Russia allocates neat streets and well-kept build- nearly USD and son live in Chisinau. He visits ings. “First, there is no reason for them often thanks to his Moldovan Transnistrians to want to join Mol- 1bn or passport. Yet he considers the bor- dova. Second, plenty of Moldovans USD der as “the wall of the Warsaw move to this side!” Transnistrian ghetto. I fought for the integrity of journalist and one of Shevchuk's 32.2bn Moldova. And the worst now is that to the unrecognized supporters, Grigori Volovoi, con- republic annually as Chisinau refuses to pay me a pen- cludes. “This is no secret. We live “humanitarian aid” sion, because I live on this side. better on this side. Gas and heat- There, they talk about reintegra- ing, rent and food: everything is tion. But I see that have already cheaper.” The explanation is quite abandoned us.” № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|13 focus|ukraine & eu The EU’s Door Stays Open International politicians, experts and diplomats comment on Ukraine’s abrupt turn from the EU, massive protests and what may come next

“The EU lost its key “Indeed, I never believed Yanukovych geopolitical game to was all that interested in integrating Russia” with the West” Leonidas Donskis, MEP David Kramer, President of Freedom House Unfortunately, the decision to sus- President Yanukovych’s decision to end negotiations with the pend preparations for the Associa- European Union is a disaster for Ukraine’s efforts to integrate tion Agreement may isolate Ukraine with the West and bodes very badly for democracy in Ukraine from the EU for some time. Lithua- over the next 15 months, if not longer. While I agree with nian Presidency in the EU Council much that has been written and said about Vladimir Putin’s was and continues to be nearly a perfect chance for Ukraine pressure on Yanukovych to not sign the agreements in Vilnius, the blame ultimately to get things done as Lithuania and Poland pursue the most falls on Yanukovych’s shoulders. He could have resisted that pressure but chose not pro-Ukrainian foreign policies in the EU (the only EU country to do so, possibly in part because of money promised to him by his Russian counter- in the Old Europe that can be added to this club seems Swe- part. Instead, Yanukovych’s legacy will show that he closed the door to Europe and den). caused major damage to Ukraine’s efforts to integrate more closely with the West. Yanukovych values staying in power at any price to be more important than advanc- The only thing that appears as beneficial here is the awaken- ing the interests of his country. After all, he fears what might happen to him and his ing of Ukrainian civil society and of the nation’s democratic family were he to lose power. Indeed, I never believed Yanukovych was all that inter- and pro-European segments. The bad thing is that the EU lost ested in integrating with the West. its key geopolitical game to Russia which was incomparably more aggressive than the complacent and vain EU. For now, None of this is good for Yulia Tymoshenko, who is unlikely to be released from prison Russia will know for sure that the EU has yet to work out a before the presidential elections in early 2015. Yanukovych is both obsessed with policy vis-à-vis large and internally divided potential newcom- and terrified of her and feels his prospects for reelection are better if she remains in ers to the club, such as Ukraine and Turkey. More than that, jail. In rejecting the European path, Yanukovych is also likely to resort to any other the EU proved incapable of distinguishing between soft measures necessary to stay in power, including the recently-passed legislation that power and geopolitical maneuvering without with no major would prohibit Vitaliy Klitschko, his strongest political rival, from running for the pres- player will be able to achieve its strategic goals. idency. Eliminating the second round of the election would be another alarming move that must be prevented, as that would be done in the hope that the opposition The situation is grim and deplorable, yet it is not hopeless. would splinter the vote and he’d win a plurality. All this means that the election is Passionate and strong responses of the people of Ukraine shaping up to be very ugly, if not rigged, and that would represent a huge setback for will force Viktor Yanukovych to make some inevitable correc- Ukraine’s democratic gains. tions in his stance towards the Association Agreement. He will be confined to difficult maneuvering in Vilnius where he Dark days are upon Ukraine in light of Yanukovych’s decision, and while it would be promised to come and where he will try to make it up to understandable if the EU were frustrated in dealing with Ukraine, the situation would both the EU and Russia. Sooner or later he will have to be made worse if both the EU and U.S. turned away completely from Ukraine. Per- make up his mind, as the 2015 presidential elections cannot haps it’s time to consider targeted sanctions against certain Ukrainian officials for fully dominate his agenda – the crisis of Ukraine’s economy their complicity in human rights abuses and anti-democratic behavior. It is hearten- can be tackled and solved only by fundamental EU invest- ing to see so many Ukrainians turn out in Kyiv and other cities to protest Yanu- ments and IMF, rather than candies and carrots that Vladi- kovych’s decision. They are the people whom we need to continue to support, for mir Putin will offer him before the elections. they offer a brighter, better, more democratic future for Ukraine.

“I would like to express my steps away from full implementation of so called Füle list - the Ukrainian authorities turn their back on the EU. This is a very unexpected move. fullest support to the hundreds Using this opportunity I would like to express my fullest support to the hun- of thousands of Ukrainians who dreds of thousands of Ukrainians who took to the streets all over the coun- took to the streets all over the try to show their commitment to the Ukraine’s EU path. Such a big civic mobilization confirms that the EU's offer is of big importance for the Ukrai- country to show their nian citizens. commitment to Ukraine’s EU I hope that the voices of wisdom of EuroMaidans, heard so well in the EU, path” will also be heard by the Ukrainian authorities. Jerzy Buzek, MEP and former President of the Eu- The Vilnius Summit is a historic opportunity for the EU and Ukraine. And it ropean Parliament would be very unfortunate if such a chance was missed. Of course there is still “life after the Vilnius Summit”. Ukraine will remain I am very disappointed by a sudden unilateral decision of the Ukrainian au- Poland’s and the EU’s neighbor. We will continue cooperating. The terms of thorities to suspend the signing of the Association Agreement. And this such cooperation will be decided after the Summit. disappointment among the colleagues in the European Parliament and The important question remains open: what will Ukraine do after the Sum- other EU intuitions is quite common. mit regarding the EU? As of now, this is very unclear. I find quite puzzling how drastically Ukraine changed its geostrategic vector I strongly believe in the European future of Ukraine. We as the EU have to on the very doorway of the Vilnius Summit. After so many years of the hard reassure the Ukrainian citizens that the door will never be shut on their Eu- legislative work and the European integration reforms - being only two ropean hopes and aspirations. We will continue supporting student ex- changes, research projects and people-to-people contacts.

14|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 &&&&&&&&&&|trends & talk

“If the Association Agreement were signed and implemented gradually, our cooperation could be on a bigger scale, particularly in the economic area” Ivan Pocuch, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Ukraine After the Vilnius Summit, regardless of its result, the Czech Republic will continue cooperation with Ukraine both within the EU framework, and on the bilateral level. If the Association Agreement were signed and imple- mented gradually, our cooperation could be on a bigger scale, particularly in the economic area. I believe that the undeniable priorities in cooperation under the EU framework are the soft issues, such as the support of student exchange where Ukraine has huge unused potential – in the Erasmus + programme, for instance. The Czech Republic will continue to support the chosen projects as part of our transformation-oriented cooperation. From our own recent experience, we know how complex the problem of political and social transformation is. We are ready to help Ukraine in this. However, the Association Agreement could be of invalu- able help.

“The decision shows the unaccountability of the government in the biggest neighbouring country in the east” Rebecca Harms, MEP and member of the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Cooperation Committee The decision shows the unaccountability of the govern- ment in the biggest neighbouring country in the east. The situation shows also the weakness of the European Russia strategy. The EU seemed helpless after Russia started the trade war against Ukraine and other countries of the Eastern Partnership. While the EU is now still keeping the doors open for the agreement the citizens of Ukraine are reacting very strong. EU and Ukrainian flags give the colour to the huge wave of protests that started on Sun- day and continued with strong marches of students in any cities on Monday. Those citizens again on the Maidan and other places show the duties of EU: we have to support those citizens who still hope for close EU relation, for democratic development and better life. And we have our own European interest in a stable and good development in our neighbourhood.

“The Association Agreement presents the best opportunity for Ukraine to modernise and transform its institutions and economy” Simon Smith, Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

As the Foreign Secretary William Hague has said, we think this is a missed opportunity. But the door for Ukraine to sign the AA remains open, and the decision to sign remains in Ukraine’s hands. We believe that the Association Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehen- sive Free Trade Area, presents the best opportunity for Ukraine to modernise and transform its institutions and economy, and to build a more prosperous and sta- ble future for the Ukrainian people.

At present, the Agreement is a comprehensive long-term plan of action in the mutual interest of Ukraine and the EU. If signed, it would open a new phase in our relationship. It would kick-start serious work on both sides to ensure effec- tive implementation. For Ukraine, successful implementation would promote the realisation of sustainable benefits for the people, in terms of an independent judiciary, transparent and rules-based practices in the business environment, and protection of human rights and freedoms.

The Ukrainian Government has told us that it does not want to sign the Associa- tion Agreement. So it appears that one thing we will notbe doing after the Sum- mit is celebrating signature! But we will continue to promote the substantial benefits of the Agreement, and of Ukraine’s progress in future on the European path. We are absolutely convinced that this is the right choice for ensuring that a strong and independent Ukraine successfully faces the challenges of the 21st cen- tury. focus|ukraine & eu

“Ukrainian leaders have chosen short- “Ukraine has entered term benefits over long-term ones” the period of political Jacek Protasiewicz, Vice-President of the European Parlia- instability. It will last at ment least through the I am very disappointed by the decision of the Ukrainian govern- presidential election” ment. It means that Ukrainian leaders have opted short-term Wojciech Kononczuk, Centre for benefits over long-term ones. Meanwhile, it does not mean that Eastern Studies the door of association is ultimately closed… I hope that the Ukrainian government will hear the voices rallying on Maidan The Ukrainian government hopes that and take a responsible decision that would benefit Ukraine in the long run. it will manage to come to terms with Russia on the stabiliza- tion loan and revision of the gas deals in return for the post- poned accession with the EU. This may happen during the next few months but Kyiv will hardly really benefit from this. A re- turn in the Ukraine-EU relations weakens Ukraine’s position in negotiations with Russia and will fuel further destabilization of “The Slovak Republic still sees Eastern the internal political situation. Partnership as a policy in which we can jointly accomplish great success for The “pause” in the Ukraine-EU relations caused by Kyiv’s de- cision may turn out to last a while. In theory, the Associa- the benefit of all of us” tion Agreement may be signed in the fall of 2014 or shortly Pavol Hamžík, Ambassador of the Slovakian Republic to before the presidential election. However, it looks like the Ukraine current decision of the Ukrainian government will remain in force even a few months later. The future of the Ukrainian- The Slovak Republic was surprised by this decision since both European relations and of the document (the Association parties had invested a huge amount of energy, efforts and Agreement – Ed.) depends first and foremost on how dem- time into the preparations of the Association Agreement, and the progress of mu- ocratic the presidential election in 2015 is. The actual crisis tual relations to a new level. The Slovak Republic still sees Eastern Partnership as a in the Ukraine-EU relations, unclear prospects of getting as- policy in which we can jointly accomplish great success for the benefit of all of us. sistance from Russia and probably the high political price of Meanwhile, we believe that the EU is the most attractive civilization model and a it, as well as the difficult economic situation and civil activ- stabilizing factor in our part of the world. The Slovak Republic respects Ukraine’s ity means that Ukraine has entered the period of political sovereign decision; it will support constructive and systemic deepening of the EU- instability. That period will last at least through the presi- Ukraine relations further on. We are still interested in developing intense political dential election which will be the biggest test of Ukrainian and economic relations between Slovakia and Ukraine. Ukraine is a close partner democracy and outline the direction for Ukraine’s develop- and the closes neighbour of the Slovak Republic. ment for the years to come.

16|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 business & corruption|economics Succeeding in Spite of the State Honest Bulgarian firms specialise, stay small and steer clear of the government

ILEN GEORGIEV’S fa- corrupt country in the European found Walltopia, now the world’s ther had bought him a Union. Bulgarians often say that largest maker of climbing walls for kit of cheap magic winning a government contract is gyms. With the trim physique and Mtricks. That was lucky, impossible without corrupt con- energy of a climber himself, Mr because it helped the young Bul- nections. Krasen Stanchev of the Penchev thinks that only mediocre garian figure out the sleight-of- Institute for Market Economics in bosses spend their time griping hand in the hustlers’ three-card Sofia says the government breaks about the government: “Com- con trick at an open-air market in contracts into chunks, to discour- plaining is a national sport in Bul- Sofia. Over ten weeks, Mr Geor- age big foreign companies from garia.” Walltopia sells to 50 coun- giev made 1,000 lev (then around bothering with them. tries, and because its walls are $18 at official rates), while getting Bulgarians took to the streets considered structures, it must get just 90 lev a month on his student this year, in daily protests in front building permits for them. Al- stipend. The hustlers started turn- of the parliament. (The spark was though he acknowledges the prob- ing him away. the nomination of a well-con- lems in his country, he says “Cali- “This was good capital at this nected but otherwise unqualified fornia is much worse. France is dramatically worse.” BULGARIA GDP per capita, according The biggest problem Bulgaria to the World Bank (2012) has is the education system, Mr Penchev says. In particular, he $6986 laments the generation educated just after the fall of communism. The ease of doing business index, They lost the communist era’s according to the World Bank (2013) discipline, but had not yet 66th out of 174 countries learned Western ways. Kiril UN Human Development Asenov agrees. Asked his top Index (2013) Corruption Perception Index, according three priorities from the govern- 57th out of 186 to Transparency International (2012) ment, he repeats: “Increase edu- th cation spending ten times.” His 75 out of 174 countries 27% of the population father founded Arexim in 1991 by live below poverty line dismembering a forklift for parts Based on UN data (2012) Global Competitiveness Index, according to the World Economic that he used to make an injec- Unemployment is 12.2% Forum (2012-2013) tion-moulding machine. Arexim based on Euro at (2012) th now makes precisely engineered 57 out of 148 countries plastic parts for the likes of Bosch and Siemens, two German time,” he says. It was 1991. He and 33-year-old to run the national- Successful Bulgarian high-tech manufacturers. Mr business owners say a friend went into business. First security service.) But people have that only mediocre Asenov sees foreign firms mov- they bought and sold plastic bags, been grumbling about corruption bosses spend their ing some low-skilled work to time griping about then bought a machine for making for years. Successive governments the government Bulgaria. But growth in any them. Mr Georgiev financed new have passed modest reforms to higher-value-added work will be machines at 6% a month from lo- make doing business cleanly a lit- constrained by the quality of cal lenders. He fended off one pro- tle easier. A 10% flat corporate and schools and universities. tection racket by hiring another at income tax limits the scope for The formula for business suc- cheaper rates, and paying the po- bribes, but a proliferation of so- cess in Bulgaria seems to be to lice for a panic button in his of- cial-security contributions means specialise, produce for export and fices. Palms had to be greased to that firms spend more hours filing stay small enough to avoid upset- get telephone lines set up, and im- tax forms in Bulgaria than in any ting powerful interests. Anything ports through customs. other EU country. Bulgaria is in requiring the state’s support But today his business, Extra- the EU’s middle ranks as regards (skilled labour, infrastructure) will pack, is thriving, with 50m lev the time and money needed to take forever arriving. Bulgarian ($34m) in annual sales and a start a business. But for the time entrepreneurs say things are not profit margin of around 4%. He required to get licences, it ranks as bad as they were. But EU mem- says he paid his last bribe in 2004. near the bottom—though Cyprus, bership and years of rising living It is possible to do clean business Malta and Spain are worse. © 2013 The standards have raised ordinary in Bulgaria. But it is complicated. Successful Bulgarian entrepre- Economist people’s expectations. If busi- Surveys by Transparency Interna- neurs take a spiky kind of pride in Newspaper nesses meet them it will be despite tional, a watchdog, find that busi- making it in their home country. Limited. All the government, rather than with nesspeople perceive it as the most Ivaylo Penchev left Extrapack to rights reserved its help. № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|17 economics|Crisis Chronicle of a Systemic Recession Ukraine’s economic downturn continues as the government, banks and businesses deplete their reserves. Many companies will not survive even a year of this turmoil

Author: he October data on the perfor- Improvement records Lyubomyr mance of economics sector Basic se ors of the economy do not signal the end of the crisis. The decline Shavalyuk published by the State Statis- tics Committee illustrates the in indury, conru ion and transportation continues while retail trade and T agriculture are growing slower ruling party’s “stability”: production is falling in industry and construc- 20% tion, while retail trade and agricul- Retail trade 9.5 ture report a slowdown. Ukraine is 15% in a deep recession and businesses are facing aggravating difficulties. 10% Agriculture 9.9 Industrial solitaire 5% Indu ry -5.2 Industrial output this October was 0% 4.9% below that of October 2012. Freight turnover -5.4 This decline has slowed in the past -5% month compared to 5.4% in August and 5.6% in September 2013, but it -10% is too early to call this a steady trend Con ruion -16.3 since the numbers have changed -15% Cumulative growth from very little. Moreover, the industrial the beginning of the year downturn has been stable for the -20% past six months, ranging between 01.2012 04.2012 07.2012 10.2012 01.2013 04.2013 07.2013 10.2013 5.2% and 5.3% (see Improve- Source: State Statiics Committee ment records). Eating up potential Ukrainian industry’s long-time Wage growth coupled with the economic downturn is depleting problems were caused by more than the resources of Ukrainian enterprises. To survive, they have been simply a downturn in external de- mand, yet the government continues selling inventories and avoiding fixed invement. Soon they will have to ignore them. to cut their labour, either axing wages or owing back pay again Chemistry has plummeted a backdrop of lay-offs and frequent forced unpaid leaves deeper than any other industrial sector, falling 18.9% in October. UAH bn UAH Many chemical plants are operating 100 3500 at minimum capacity. It turns out 80 3000 that even the cheap gas imported by Average wages Dmytro Firtash, the owner of most (right-hand scale), big chemical plants in Ukraine, has 60 UAH 2500 failed to offset the technological backwardness of Ukrainian plants 40 2000 and make them competitive. It is 20 1500 thus unsurprising that Ukraine pro- duced 57% less ammonia this 0 1000 month compared to October 2012. Working capital Gross fixed capital Engineering was the second -20 inve ment, formation, 500 fastest-falling sector with -14.3% in UAH bn UAH bn October. The key contributor was -40 0 the railroad car sector with a 51% ІІІ ІІІ IV ІІІ ІІІ IV ІІІ ІІІ decline from October 2012. This sec- 2011 2012 2013 tor provides one quarter of all reve- Source: State Statiics Committee nues in engineering. Russia played a 18|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Crisis|economics big part in this by ousting Ukrainian ble in the past quarter and construc- with proceeds from selling invento- railcar makers from its market. It tion showed no signs of revival. ries and cut-down investment. has lately been using non-tariff re- Agriculture experienced some- Eventually, they will have to sacri- Industrial output this strictions, such as certification and what resumed growth in October af- October was fice their future development to licenses, for this purpose. Russians ter a steep decline caused by bad overcome the problems provoked have been developing their domestic weather in September (see Im- 4.9% by current consumption (see Eat- railcar industry for many years now, provement records). However, it ing up the potential). below that of so these restrictions have nothing to is also showing indications of a slow- October 2012 Ukraine’s economy has used up do with the European Association down. Apparently, farmers will no virtually all of its safety padding. Agreement (AA). Rather, they are longer manage to offset the decline Banks rarely lend to businesses be- pragmatic steps to protect domestic in other sectors during the last six cause many funds have been chan- producers, so they will continue months of 2013. In nominal terms, nelled to buy government bonds. even after Ukraine failed to sign the the situation in agriculture looks Plus, they are short on liquidity (see AA in Vilnius. even worse: as global prices for cere- Who Says Bankers Can Relax? The food industry, including als decline (worth 9% (wheat), 36% at ukrainianweek.com). In the food, beverages, and tobacco, is ex- (barley), and 37% (corn) less than in first nine months of 2013, banks is- periencing the third deepest plunge: October 2012), agricultural sales sued only a paltry UAH 42bn in 12.5% compared to October 2012. currency and budget revenues – loans to businesses. This forced Some link this to the trade war be- may be lower than they were last them sell out their reserves, thus de- tween Russia and Ukraine. How- year. This will aggravate the ill-bal- pleting average inventories of raw ever, the output of cocoa-containing anced economy despite the real materials and finished goods in confectionery products has shrunk a growth of output in agriculture. stock. In the first six months of 2013, mere 5% last moth year-on-year, Retail trade growth is slowing their capital reserves dropped by while that of non-cocoa confection- down, too. Over January-October eries dropped 9%. And more than 2012, it was growing at a rate of The factors triggering 50% of Ukrainian confectioneries 9.5% compared to almost 1.5 times this decline are at home, are exported - to Russia, among oth- faster at the beginning of the year. ers. Meanwhile, the production of Official retail trade grew a mere not abroad as the beverages has seen the biggest de- 5.8% over these ten months, which government insists cline. In October, Ukraine produced is almost half of overall growth pace 16%less vodka, 25% less beer, 16% in the retail sector that covers legal UAH 46bn. The cash was spent to less soda, 19% less juice, and 43% entities and individuals who pay a prolong operations until the eco- less other soft drinks than last year. flat tax. This signals that unofficial nomic revival promised by the na- In contrast to the confectionery in- trade is growing much faster than tion’s leaders came around. Further- dustry, this segment exports only official trade. Apparently, retail more, businesses began to sacrifice 10-15% of all output, so the factors traders are forced to leave the offi- investment: in contrast to declines triggering this decline must be at cial trade as they are experiencing of6.9% and 7.5%in Q3-4 2012, capi- home, not abroad as the govern- serious problems as a result of in- tal expenditures dropped 19.7% in ment insists. creased taxes and other pressure Q2 2013. This all happened well be- First and foremost, this may sig- from the authorities. fore Ukrainian exporters faced huge nal that Ukrainians’ purchasing Transportation is the only in- problems on the Ukraine-Russia Chemistry has power is dwindling. According to re- dustry that shows some improve- plummeted deeper border. search conducted by GfK Ukraine, ment. Freight turnover has shrunk than any other As companies depleted their fi- industrial sector, the consumer confidence index sank 5.4% over ten months in2013, with falling nancial reserves to maintain stable more than seven points between the double-digit decline of the first output, most Ukrainians did not feel August and September. Many six months slowing down. This 18.9% any impact of the crisis. However, Ukrainians do not expect their wel- could be the impact of the inflow of businesses have now burned up a in October. It is fare to improve. Instead, they fore- imported goods Ukrainians are now followed by lot of their resources and missed see rising unemployment, hryvnia willing to buy. But the transporta- mechanical many investment opportunities. If devaluation, and inflation. Accord- tion sector will hardly recover as engineering with a this economic policy lasts until decline of ing to analysts, this reflects pessi- long as industry and construction 2015, it will undoubtedly leave mistic sentiments brought on by are in decline and retail is moving many players with no cash. economic stagnation. into the shadows. 14.3% If Ukraine had a market econ- Construction is still in a steep and the food omy, this would lead to a steep cut downturn, shrinking 24.3% in Octo- A LOSE-LOSE GAME industry, down in wages and a surge of unemploy- ber and experiencing a double-digit As long as salaries and pensions are ment. However, it doesn’t, so offi- decline since March 2013 (see Im- growing, the recession seems to 12.5% cial unemployment will remain low provement records). Earlier, have little impact on average Ukrai- and salaries high. Instead, arrears Ukraine’s leaders justified this by nians. This is a misleading impres- of pay, mass unpaid leaves and a the high basis for comparison, the sion. horde of phantom companies – initial figures reflecting a surge of Average wages are growing in bankrupt businesses with defaulted construction in 2011-2012 for the Ukraine. But with plummeting pro- loans – will emerge. Enterprises will Euro 2012 football championship. duction and low inflation, enter- find themselves in a financial posi- This would make the construction prises end up with lower revenues tion reminiscent of the turbulent dynamics appear negative, the au- and growing costs. Businesses are 1990s while the economy will de- thorities insisted. But this basis for faced with cash shortages that they velop like it did during Brezhnev’s comparison was no longer applica- can initially cover with loans, then stagnation. № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|19 history|famine Who is to blame? The echos of the Holodomor. 80 years on According to a recent joint survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Ukrainian Sociology Service, 53% Ukrainians claim that they know “general things” about Holodomor. 19% “have heard Suppressed of it” and 26% claim to be well-aware of the genocide. 2% say they know nothing about it. A trauma that la s four generations Awareness varies by age: 42% people aged over 55 claim to know a lot about the arvation The Centre of Ukrainian Studies at Taras Shevchenko University surveyed 1,000 people over individuality compared to ju 21% of those aged 30-54, and a mere 16% of those aged under 30. Mo five years who were one to seven years old in 1932-1933. 500 lived in oblas tormented by the Holodomor. 500 lived in ethnic Ukrainian territories that did not experience the famine. Ukrainians blame the Holodomor on Stalin and the Bolsheviks The difference in their answers reveals how deeply the tragedy affeed mo of the popula- Territories Territories that plagued did not tion. According to Tetiana Voropayeva, psychologi and head of the Ethnology research group by the experience Fully agree at the Centre of Ukrainian Studies, the po-genocidal syndrome tends to spread over the next Holodomor arvation The 1932-1933 The purpose of the four generations. The Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is another aftereffe of the 63% 63% I think I agree Holodomor was 1932-1933 Holodomor trauma. Its mechanism works as follows: when a person finds himself on the brink of death (of hunger or for other reasons), he goes back to the ate of a newborn feeling as unproteed caused by the was targeted 51% I don’t think I agree and helpless. His mind is no longer critical. If, at the point of awaiting death, the viim gets government policy elimination of the the lea kindness from the aggressor, the latter turns into a helping father. In Ukraine, Stalin’s I don’t agree food colleion campaign officially ended on March 15, 1933. People could already eat early Ukrainian nation spring plants. Since the new sawing season began and people had no energy to work in the 20% I don’t know fields, the authorities eablished medical points in some villages that arted feeding the arved. Kolkhozes, too, began to diribute some food. Meanwhile, newspapers and radios 22.9% 28.4% 20.7% spread news of elimination of yet another nationaliic center that arranged the famine upon 7% 33.7% the order of Comrade Stalin, the creator of new and happy life. This image penetrated many 3% 5.4% minds exhaued by hunger. As a result, some people were ill afraid to be Ukrainians in their 7.6% 9.9% 24.7% country long after the genocide, and passed that fear over to their children. 30.4% 16.3% The feeling of alienation Ukrainophobic Behavioural regress from Ukraine sentiments that prevents adequate behaviour in the future

Childhood ress and emotional comfort in adulthood Under anding the genocide The Holodomor was a The Rating sociological group found that the highe share campaign to eliminate of Ukrainians who think of the Holodomor as genocide is in peasants as a social category 2013. The number of those who believe otherwise shrinks 78% and force them into 76% 73% every year kolkhozes 59% Was the Holodomor genocide? 56% 55% 50% 2010 29% 18.3% 14% 61% 7.2% 35.1% 20% 32% 25% 9.9% ТYes 12% 12% 0% 8% 7% No Source: A survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation 2013 and Ukrainian Sociology Service I don’t know 12% 66% Witnessed deaths Grew up in an Suffer high Have Have Suffer Have 22% of parents or orphanage level of anxiety dominating fobias psychosomatic subconscious siblings during the depressive disorders feeling of Holodomor emotions inferiority Source: Rating sociological group

Behaviour-shaping personal features

75% 75% 69% 65% 57% 52% 46% 35% 23% 20% 33% 17%

Low Poor self-aualization Little confidence Soviet Conformism Escape from self-e eem (self-fulfillment and in the ereotypes reality aspiration for effeiveness of self-expression) own aions Source: Centre of Ukrainian Studies at Taras Shevchenko University

20|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Who is to blame? The echos of the Holodomor. 80 years on According to a recent joint survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation and Ukrainian Sociology Service, 53% Ukrainians claim that they know “general things” about Holodomor. 19% “have heard Suppressed of it” and 26% claim to be well-aware of the genocide. 2% say they know nothing about it. A trauma that la s four generations Awareness varies by age: 42% people aged over 55 claim to know a lot about the arvation The Centre of Ukrainian Studies at Taras Shevchenko University surveyed 1,000 people over individuality compared to ju 21% of those aged 30-54, and a mere 16% of those aged under 30. Mo five years who were one to seven years old in 1932-1933. 500 lived in oblas tormented by the Holodomor. 500 lived in ethnic Ukrainian territories that did not experience the famine. Ukrainians blame the Holodomor on Stalin and the Bolsheviks The difference in their answers reveals how deeply the tragedy affeed mo of the popula- Territories Territories that plagued did not tion. According to Tetiana Voropayeva, psychologi and head of the Ethnology research group by the experience Fully agree at the Centre of Ukrainian Studies, the po-genocidal syndrome tends to spread over the next Holodomor arvation The 1932-1933 The purpose of the four generations. The Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is another aftereffe of the 63% 63% I think I agree Holodomor was 1932-1933 Holodomor trauma. Its mechanism works as follows: when a person finds himself on the brink of death (of hunger or for other reasons), he goes back to the ate of a newborn feeling as unproteed caused by the was targeted 51% I don’t think I agree and helpless. His mind is no longer critical. If, at the point of awaiting death, the viim gets government policy elimination of the the lea kindness from the aggressor, the latter turns into a helping father. In Ukraine, Stalin’s I don’t agree food colleion campaign officially ended on March 15, 1933. People could already eat early Ukrainian nation spring plants. Since the new sawing season began and people had no energy to work in the 20% I don’t know fields, the authorities eablished medical points in some villages that arted feeding the arved. Kolkhozes, too, began to diribute some food. Meanwhile, newspapers and radios 22.9% 28.4% 20.7% spread news of elimination of yet another nationaliic center that arranged the famine upon 7% 33.7% the order of Comrade Stalin, the creator of new and happy life. This image penetrated many 3% 5.4% minds exhaued by hunger. As a result, some people were ill afraid to be Ukrainians in their 7.6% 9.9% 24.7% country long after the genocide, and passed that fear over to their children. 30.4% 16.3% The feeling of alienation Ukrainophobic Behavioural regress from Ukraine sentiments that prevents adequate behaviour in the future

Childhood ress and emotional comfort in adulthood Under anding the genocide The Holodomor was a The Rating sociological group found that the highe share campaign to eliminate of Ukrainians who think of the Holodomor as genocide is in peasants as a social category 2013. The number of those who believe otherwise shrinks 78% and force them into 76% 73% every year kolkhozes 59% Was the Holodomor genocide? 56% 55% 50% 2010 29% 18.3% 14% 61% 7.2% 35.1% 20% 32% 25% 9.9% ТYes 12% 12% 0% 8% 7% No Source: A survey by the Democratic Initiatives Foundation 2013 and Ukrainian Sociology Service I don’t know 12% 66% Witnessed deaths Grew up in an Suffer high Have Have Suffer Have 22% of parents or orphanage level of anxiety dominating fobias psychosomatic subconscious siblings during the depressive disorders feeling of Holodomor emotions inferiority Source: Rating sociological group

Behaviour-shaping personal features

75% 75% 69% 65% 57% 52% 46% 35% 23% 20% 33% 17%

Low Poor self-aualization Little confidence Soviet Conformism Escape from self-e eem (self-fulfillment and in the ereotypes reality aspiration for effeiveness of self-expression) own aions Source: Centre of Ukrainian Studies at Taras Shevchenko University history|Famine side, communist transformations involved setting up state farms in The Holodomor: place of landowners’ estates and forming communes by uniting peasants’ farms. Having factories, state farms and communes at their disposal, the Bolshevik leaders were Dictated by intent on doing away with the mar- ket and replacing goods circulation with direct exchange. These were precisely the changes set forth in the Communist Doctrine Russian Communist programme of March 1919. However, peasants and soldiers The 1932-33 Holodomor was a consequence of the mobilized from the countryside did not want to even hear about state Bolsheviks’ efforts to completely eradicate private farms and communes and de- manded that land be divided fairly. property The Council of People’s Commis- sars led by Lenin was forced to back tephen Wheatcroft and Rob- Author: emerged the Soviet authorities, a down and, rather than implement ert Davies wrote in the pref- Stanislav symbiosis of the Bolshevik political the exchange of goods between the ace to the Russian edition of Kulchytsky dictatorship and the Soviet govern- countryside and cities, search for Stheir book about the famine ment. As a result of the party’s foun- other ways to provide food to work- Gody goloda: Selskoye khozyajstvo dation in “democratic centralism”, ers in nationalized industries. The SSSR, 1931-1933 (Years of Famine: the Bolshevik leaders had absolute government banned free trade and Agriculture in the USSR in 1931-33) power. The previous horizontally set up mandatory procurement that they “failed to find evidence structured organizations upon quotas for peasants. As a result, that the Soviet authorities pursued a which civil society once rested were peasants began to limit the land programme of genocide against either destroyed or verticalized. The they cultivated, leaving just enough Ukraine”. Indeed, a programme of party and governmental verticals of to serve only their personal needs as this kind did not exist. Their book is People behind power were rooted in the masses they were unwilling to work for the filled with facts but ignores the most genocide of through a series of “transmission state for free. Then, in December important one — the party pro- Ukrainians belts” — an extensive system that 1920, Lenin introduced sowing quo- gramme to which Bolshevik leaders included the Soviets, the Komso- tas: state agencies were set up to in- looked for guidance in creating an mol, trade unions and various non- form peasant households how much unprecedented socio-economic sys- governmental organizations. The land each of them was supposed to tem. In the stormy atmosphere of Communist Party also became a cultivate and make sure they 1848, Marx and Engels summarized “transmission belt” when it pro- worked diligently to produce a har- their views in the Manifesto of the duced an internal party of leaders vest, which was then taken away by Communist Party: “The theory of — the nomenklatura. The vertical of the state. However, Lenin quickly the Communists may be summed government security came under changed his mind and switched to up in the single sentence: Abolition direct control of the Secretary Gen- the New Economic Policy. of private property”. The commu- Joseph Stalin, eral and, like the party and govern- nist doctrine of the Russian Bolshe- General ment verticals, was rooted in society Collectivization (1879-1953) viks was based precisely on the rev- through hundreds of thousands (in After five years of tense struggle, th Secretary of olutionary Marxism of the mid-19 the Communist Ukraine) and millions (across the Stalin took over the party’s top lead- century. When Lenin returned to Party Central USSR) of “secret informers”. Unlike ership and formulated two theses in Russia from his exile intent on Committee in the traditional states—both demo- the resolutions of the 15th party transforming a people’s revolution 1925-1934 cratic and totalitarian—that were congress in December 1927: agricul- into a communist one, he outlined separated from society, the commu- ture needed to be collectivized, and in his 1917 April Theses not only a nist state permeated society through the country had to transition from plan for the Bolsheviks to seize all of its institutions. Such a state goods circulation between the coun- power but also a blueprint for fur- was necessary in order to success- tryside and cities to goods ex- ther action. This included changing fully implement elements of the changes. the name of the party (from social communist utopia, namely dispos- Nikolai Bukharin wrote in the democratic to communist), adopt- sessing society and complementing Programme of the Communists ing a communist party programme, political autocracy with economic (Bolsheviks) back in 1918: “The task creating a communal state and dictatorship. is not to have each individual peas- founding Comintern, an interna- The logic of communist trans- ant work his own tiny plot of land, tional organization of communist formations required the simultane- crawling on it like a dung beetle on parties. Vyacheslav ous obliteration of private property its heap of dung. Rather, the goal is Through propaganda and ter- Molotov among large and small property to have as many poor peasants as ror, the Bolsheviks ousted rival par- (1890-1986), owners. It proved fairly easy to re- possible engage in communal ties from the Soviets and turned the Head of Soviet move the means of production from work”. It seemed that after joining latter into a clone of their own party Government in the bourgeoisie — though it did collective farms, peasants would no and government bodies. Thus 1930-1941 prompt a civil war. In the country- longer be able to decide how much 22|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Famine|history to sow, and the commune-state The geography of the Holodomor in 1923-1933 would be able to distribute agricul- The “murder by hunger” led to a disa rous death toll and huge tural products outside of the market demographic losses. The In itute of Demography as demanded by the guiding theory and Social Studies at the National Academy Vi ims of the arvation of the Russian communists. of Sciences e imated the total number per 1,000 in 1932-1933 of viims at over 3.9 million, 192.3 – 232.5 112.1 – 152.1 However, reality defied specula- 152.2 – 192.2 72.0 – 112.0 tive doctrines. After meeting with or 122 per 1,000 people Chernihiv 31.9 – 71.9 resistance once again, Stalin was Sumy forced to reorganize the collective farms as semi-formal associations Zhytomyr called artels, rather than com- KYIV Poltava Kharkiv munes. The difference was that ar- tel members had the right to own Luhansk private plots of land. When mem- Khmelnytskyi Cherkasy bers of collective farms saw that the Vinnytsia Donetsk Dnipropetrovsk state was taking away their products Kirovohrad through grain procurement cam- paigns, leaving nothing for the peas- Zaporizhzhia ants themselves, they focused on The famine hit their private plots. Harvest losses in three obla s, Mykolayiv collective farms rose to a critical including Kyiv, Poltava and Cherkasy Obla s, the harde . In Odesa Kherson level. Receiving less and less from 1933, the mortality rate overall Ukraine collective farms, the state was had grown 7.2 times compared to the forced to scale down its grain ex- peaceful 1927. In these three obla s, it had ports, which were supposed to pro- surged over 12.7 times. This proves that the Bolsheviks viewed vide the capital with which indus- this hi orical heart of the Ukrainian ethnos as their main target Simferopol trial development would be fi- Source: M. Ptukha In itute of Demography and Social Studies, National Academy of Ukraine nanced. Cities also started experiencing famines as the state reduced ration card norms and to different regions with extraordi- livering a decisive blow against all stripped certain population groups nary, even dictatorial, powers: Vy- counterrevolutionary kulak ele- of such cards altogether. acheslav Molotov to Ukraine, Lazar ments and Peliura followers who On 20 July 1930, Stalin wrote Kaganovich to the North Caucasus are actively counteracting and de- Kaganovich and Molotov from a re- Krai and Pavel Postyshev to the railing the key efforts of the Soviet sort stressing the need to adopt a Lower Volga Krai. The Communist authorities and the party in the law which would: a) equate the Party and the Soviet government is- countryside.” property of collective farms and co- sued identically-titled resolutions Peasants stripped by the state of Lazar Kaganovich operative societies with that of the (1893-1991), “On Measures to Boost Grain Pro- their last remaining grain as well as state; b) punish theft of property by head of the curement”. The text was written by the urban populations that the state at least 10 years in prison but usu- extraordinary Molotov, approved by Stalin and was unable to feed faced the possi- ally entailing the death penalty. To grain procure- signed by Stanislav Kosior and Vlas bility of famine. Even population Stalin, without these measures, ment committee Chubar. It called for “organizing the groups that the Cheka deemed “so- which he himself called “draco- in the North expropriation of grain which has cially close” were becoming a threat nian”, it was impossible to establish Caucasus and been stolen during harvesting, to Stalin’s team. Some second-line the collective system of farming. In the agricultural thrashing and transportation”. Col- communist leaders began to view his July letters addressed to the department at lective farms and farmers that failed Stalin’s version of the party line as a Kremlin, Stalin demanded “finish- the Communist to meet their foodstuff quotas had threat to the party and state. Party Central ing off and burying … the individu- Committee in to pay fines in kind (with meat and However, Stalin did not aban- al’s hoarding reflexes, habits and 1932-1933 potatoes). In November 1932, don his course of action. He viewed traditions”. On 7 August 1932, the Vsevolod Balytsky, deputy head of the natural unwillingness of the Central Executive Committee and the Joint State Political Directorate peasants to work without compen- the Council of People’s Commissars (OGPU) and its special authorized sation as nothing less than sabo- adopted the resolution “On Protec- representative in the Ukrainian tage. Their desire to salvage part of tion of Property of State Enter- SSR, issued order No. 1 in the the harvest they produced (even in prises, Collective Farms and Coop- Ukrainian State Political Director- the case of individual farmers and erative Societies and Strengthening ate which claimed that in Ukraine their own fields) was interpreted as Social (Socialist) Ownership” which there was “organized sabotage of theft. The intention of the local au- repeated, verbatim, the penal mea- Stanislav Kosior grain procurement and of the au- thorities and collective farm man- sures spelled out by the Secretary (1889-1939), tumn sowing campaign, organized agement to keep some grain in or- General. The regulation was com- General mass theft in collective and state der to prevent famine was deemed monly known among peasants as Secretary (First farms, terror against the staunchest counterrevolutionary. On 27 No- Secretary from vember 1932, Stalin called a joint “the law on five ears of grain”. 1934) of the and most tested communists and Grain procurement after the Communist activists, dozens of Petliura’s emis- meeting of the Politburo of the Cen- 1932 harvest proceeded with great Party Central saries and widely distributed leaf- tral Committee and the Presidium difficulty. In October, Stalin set up Committee lets”. Balytsky set the following task: of the Central Control Commission special grain procurement commis- in Ukraine in “Exposing and destroying the coun- to denounce a number of leaders sions dispatching his top henchmen 1928-1938 terrevolutionary insurgency and de- who were held personally account- № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|23 history|Famine able for the failure of grain procure- People behind have confirmed total food confisca- was the excessively high mortality ment. He claimed that “anti-Soviet genocide of tions in the Ukrainian SSR and rate of the population. Ukrainians elements had penetrated collective North Caucasus Krai. and state farms in order to organize When the state confiscates not Stalin’s motives subversion and sabotage”. “It would only grain but any kind of food- After defeating the “right-wing de- not be wise”, he emphasized, “if, stuffs, its intentions should be viation” Stalin took over party, gov- considering that collective farms are qualified as murder — no other def- ernment and Cheka leadership, but a socialist economic form, the Com- inition is possible. In this case, we that was where his power stopped. munists failed to respond to the are dealing with premeditated and We should not forget that Stalin as blow delivered by some of these col- professionally organized mass- an icon, a leader beyond criticism, lective farms and farmers with a murder whose victims were not emerged only after the Great Fam- crushing blow of their own.” Vlas Chubar only those viewed by the Kremlin ine of 1932-33 and the Great Terror (1891-1939), as saboteurs but also children and of 1937-38. In 1932, control over the “A crushing blow” Head of the elderly. Searches on Stalin’s or- verticals of power gave Stalin carte the Council The essence of the Cheka operation of People's ders and the total confiscation of blanche to do anything he pleased (the crushing blow Stalin had in Commissars in food were carried out by local ac- with the commune state and the so- mind) was to confiscate all avail- the Ukrainian tivists and members of poor peas- ciety that was inextricably inter- able foodstuffs from the already SSR in 1923- ants’ committees and supervised twined with it, but only as long as it starving peasants. The operation 1934 by Cheka officers. did not trigger a social upheaval. could take the form of simultane- Stalin’s “crushing blow” was a Meanwhile, the Cheka indicated ous household searches. Stalin is- secret action, even though it cov- that such an upheaval was immi- sued an order to this effect in his 1 ered a huge territory. The lethal nent. The collapse of grain procure- January 1933 telegram to the lead- famine could only be mentioned in ment and the ensuing 1932-33 cata- ers of the Ukrainian SSR in classified documents, so-called strophic famine could have cost Sta- Kharkiv. The first point demanded “special folders”, for use by party lin the office of Secretary General. calling on, through village councils, and government bodies. Function- Thus, through his 1 January 1933 all collective and individual farm- aries at all levels avoided the word telegram, he set in motion the ers to voluntarily hand over “previ- “famine” but were able, through Cheka operation he had started pre- ously pilfered and concealed “special folders” with restricted ac- paring even before special grain grain”. The second point of the cess and circulation, to implement procurement commissions were set telegram was about those who ig- measures that caused widespread up. nored this demand: “Collective famine. Stalin was always wary of farms and farmers and individual Mendel In addition to hushing up the Ukraine. Canadian researcher farmers who stubbornly continue Khatayevych famine, the authorities also physi- Lynne Viola published the statistics concealing pilfered and unac- (1893-1937), in cally blocked the population in re- of peasant riots in 1930: 4,098 in counted-for grain will be subject to charge of grain pressed regions. On 22 January the Ukrainian SSR, 1,373 in Central procurement in 1932, Stalin personally (his auto- the severest punishment under the Kharkiv Oblast Chernozem Oblast, 1,061 in North resolution of the Central Executive from October graph has survived) wrote a letter to Caucasus and 1,003 in the Lower Committee and the Council of Peo- 1932, First the Central Committee and the Volga region. ple’s Commissars of the USSR of 7 Secretary of Council of People’s Commissars di- Today the 1932-33 Holodomor August 1932”. The resolution he re- Dnipropetrovsk recting them to keep peasants in is the focus of attention for many ferred to was the infamous “law on Oblast Ukraine and the Kuban from mov- specialists. Sooner or later, under five ears of grain”. Together, these Committee ing to other regions en masse. pressure of incontrovertible evi- two points forced the local authori- (1933) Therefore, we have a certain se- dence the world community will ties to search every village house- quence of actions that turned the give its legal assessment of Stalin’s hold. famine into the Holodomor: 1) Sta- terror, which was, in essence, geno- The fact that all food reserves lin set up extraordinary grain pro- cide. When we insist that the vic- were confiscated during the ensuing curement commissions in three re- tims of genocide were Ukrainians as searches supports the designation gions with high crop yields; 2) on a national group and refer to the of the Holodomor as genocide. Yet Stalin’s initiative, legislation impos- types of groups (racial, ethnic, na- those in denial demand to be shown ing in-kind fines on peasants who tional and religious) outlined in the a document. Clearly, the govern- refused to surrender “pilfered and UN convention on genocide, we ment would have never fixed such concealed grain” was introduced meet with protests from Russian re- intentions on paper. However, eye- and enforced; 3) on Stalin’s orders, searchers. Meanwhile, we need to witnesses of the Holodomor — comprehensive searches were car- fully accept the conclusion Robert those who spoke to the James Mace Pavel Postyshev ried out to find stashes of “pilfered Conquest makes in his famous book commission and to Ukrainian re- (1887-1939), and concealed grain” which, in fact, Harvest of Sorrow (1986): “But searchers — described the actions Secretary of did not exist; 4) all long-term stor- whether these events are to be for- and policies of the Soviet authorities the Communist age foodstuffs were confiscated dur- mally defined as genocide is scarcely in Ukraine. To date, thousands of Party Central ing the searches; 5) regions that the point. It would hardly be denied testimonies on the total confiscation Committee were completely stripped of food- that a crime has been committed (1930-1933), of food among peasants have been Second stuffs were physically blockaded; 6) against the Ukrainian nation; and, recorded and published. Harvard Secretary of a ban on using the word “famine” in whether in the execution cellars, the University is working to create an the Communist reference to the 1932-33 famine was forced labour camps, or the starving Atlas of the Holodomor that will in- Party Central introduced, which remained in ef- villages, crime after crime against clude a map showing the geographi- Committee fect until December 1987. The con- the millions of individuals forming cal distribution of eyewitnesses who (1933-1937) sequence of this chain of actions that nation”. 24|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Famine|history A Red and Black Sachet With Ashes

“Returning, Soetkin took a piece of red silk and a piece of black silk; with these she made a sachet, and then put the ashes in it, Ukraine lived through in 1947 in her words shocked and to the sachet sewed two ribbands, so that Ulenspiegel could me by the scale of its terror. There were even in- always wear it on his neck. When she was putting the sachet in stances of cannibalism — and my mother, a junior its place on him, she said to him: school teacher, did not consider mentioning this fact “Let these ashes, that are the heart of my man, this red that is his blood, this black that is our mourning, be ever on thy breast, to her own children as being “non-pedagogical.” She like the fire of vengeance upon the murderers.” told me about her experiences with no special goal in “I would have it even so,” said Ulenspiegel. mind: she simply told me the truth, as though she Charles de Coster. The Legend of Ulenspiegel... herself had a hard time understanding how she had been able to endure it all. Now I have no doubt that he story of Ulenspiegel, in which the mother then, in my childhood, in my Demedivka – the village gave her son a small sachet made of red and that is slowly dying today - that I also received a red Author: black silk with the “ashes of the heart” of his fa- and black sachet from my mother. Volodymyr T ther, Claes, to carry throughout his journey of Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Ministry of Education feels Panchenko life, is very, very instructive for Ukrainians who have that the “sachets with ashes” are useless for young the tragic 20th century behind them. Ukrainians had Ukrainian Ulenspiegels. It has recently removed The so much annihilated in that century, which may lead Yellow Prince, the first novel on the Holodomor by us to the following questions: what does one do with Vasyl Barka from the curriculum. Barka had written it such a terrible experience? Maybe, it is better not to as an emigrant, way back in 1963, somewhere in the overburden one's memory? Maybe, it is better to leave mountains of America. The change was presented as everything to the historians? Maybe, in order not to concern for the mental health of children. In fact, it is traumatize young souls, school curricula should be more of a policy shift: the Holodomor should be men- “sanitized”, maximally freeing them from the nation’s tioned as rarely as possible, and history should be bitter experience? “sovietised” overall, those in power insist. In this situ- Charles de Closter's response would be different: ation, the removal of The Yellow Prince from the cur- “Claes' ashes” must beat by the hearts of their descen- riculum makes perfect sense: it shows the reality of dants. 1933 as a frightening demonization by the builders of This reminded me of an episode twenty years ago. It a “new world” who feed people with stories of univer- took place in an old Kirovohrad synagogue. Kiro- sal happiness that is almost there while enriching vohrad was formerly named Elizavetgrad after Eliza- themselves, lying and killing. beth of Russia (1709-1762). An old Jew, who was It had taken so much time and pain for the truth teaching the history of the Holocaust, gave me a few about the Holodomor of 1932-1933 to reach us text-books, published in Israel for Israeli schools. I through the decades of false silence. Not before the began leafing through them — I was astonished. One late 1980s did people start to speak about it openly, of them started with the history of oppression and and those with political ambitions did so from ros- progroms. Elizavetgrad was mentioned in that con- trums. Prior to this, Soviet-controlled literature had text: it had once been a place where Jews were limited hardly mentioned it reminiscent of what my genera- by the Pale of Settlement to prevent them from com- tion heard from our parents. Now, the history seems peting with Russian merchants, craftsmen etc. Subse- to be repeating: with fewer locks left, the new key quently, one of the first large progroms in all of Rus- guards are trying to lock them up again. sia took place in this city on the steppes. That Israeli text-book that I can’t help but think of The chronology, infographics and textual information eventually made me think of more than just the — everything in these text-books was intended to pats. It provoked important questions about his- pluck the students' emotional strings, to trigger sub- tory and future that eventually led me to a conclu- conscious emotional resistance to injustice and ineq- sion that the Holodomor was not simply the con- uity, and as a result to force them to reflect on the fol- squence of Stalinist tyranny, but Stalin's tyranny lowing question: “Why us, why has this happened to was the consequence of the flawed and utopian us Jews, and what do we have to do so that it never communist doctrine. The tradgedy broke out at the happens again?” moment, when the some well-known intellectuals I don't know, who stands where, but I am on the side began to think that violence is the best instrument of the authors of that Israeli text-book, who not only to achieve universal happiness. The communists confronted their historical memory, but also con- kept the right to use violence as “dictatorship of the structed it. More than that, they did the exact same proletariat”. Under specific historical circum- thing as Ulenspeigel's mother, when she gave him the stances – the Red-imperial Russia with its strong red and black sachet with the “ashes of the heart” of tyrannical tradition and great contempt for foreign- his father. ers in the early 20th century – this doctrine was fa- It was from my mother in a village on the steppes of tal for Ukraine: Russia was terrified of losing a very Odessa Oblast that I learned of Solovky, the labour tasty piece of its empire. As a result, it opted for camp on the Solovetsky Islands, and of the post-war the criminal path qualified as Holodomor – holod famine. That was sometime in the early 1960s, and for hunger or starvation and mor for death or mur- later I heard the stories many times. My mother did der in Ukrainian. not remember the Holodomor of 1932-1933, because Little has changed since: Russia is still afraid of losing she was a young girl of 6-7 years old. Still, what the tasty piece. № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|25 history|Opinion Ukraine. Although it was the Kyiv Court of Appeals that would ulti- mately determine whether the Ho- Seeking Justice lodomor constituted genocide, other people and institutions were U.S. Federal Judge involved. For example, there was a declaration by the National Com- Bohdan A. Futey mission to Strengthen Democracy and Establish the Rule of Law discusses the composed of academics, scien- international legal tists, attorneys, lawyers and judges. precedents that could There are also works by West- allow Ukraine to ern experts studying the problem of the Holodomor. Raphael Lem- demand recognition kin, who was an advisor to U.S. Supreme Court Justice and of the Holodomor as Nuremberg Trial chief counsel genocide in an Robert H. Jackson, said that the Holodomor was a three-pronged international attack targeting the intelligentsia, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, court and the peasantry. The Genocide Convention states that “acts com- mitted with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national … group” qualify as genocide. An- other point needs to be men- tioned: even those who speak about the statute of limitations — because the Holodomor occurred before the Genocide Convention was adopted — forget that there is the UN Convention on the Non- Applicability of Statutory Limita- tions to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. U.W.: Did Ukraine take sufficient diplomatic and other efforts to have the Holodomor internationally recognized as genocide? Were these efforts systematic? The diaspora held events to commemorate this tragedy. Émigrés began the process of Interviewed by he Ukrainian Week I believe that even 20 years Holodomor recognition as such. Hanna Trehub spoke with U.S. Federal ago, Ukraine did not have enough In January 1988, Dr. James Judge Bohdan A. Futey documents to study the facts of Mace, executive director of the Photo by Tabout genocides in the Bal- the 1932 33 Holodomor. There U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Andriy kans, Rwanda, and Sudan, and were no open archives. At one Famine, reported to the U.S. Lomakin legal responsibility of govern- point, KGB archives were made Congress. The commission was ments for them. He also dis- accessible thanks to then-SBU made up of congressmen, Amer- cussed Ukraine’s path to achiev- chief Valentyn Nalyvaichenko. ican scholars, and representa- ing international recognition of The declassified documents pro- tives of the Ukrainian commu- the Holodomor. vided a good foundation for prov- nity. Following the report, Con- ing that genocide—as defined by gress passed a resolution to U.W.: In your opinion, how UN convention—was indeed per- recognize the Holodomor as objective and unprejudiced was petrated in Ukraine in 1932-33. genocide. This kind of decision the investigation by the Security The UN Convention for the Pre- confirms that the U.S. recog- Service of Ukraine (SBU) into vention and Punishment of the nizes that such and such event the 1932-33 genocide in Crime of Genocide was adopted in indeed took place. The resolu- Ukraine? Today, its opponents 1948 as a consequence of the tion can be cancelled or claim that the Kyiv Court of Nuremberg Trials. In 1954, it was amended through another reso- Appeals’ ruling was guided by ratified by the Supreme Soviet of lution based on additional docu- political motives. the Soviet republics of Russia and ments or evidence regarding the 26|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Opinion|history case. But if it is adopted by the and crimes committed in Soviet Bio there was no direct evidence im- Bohdan A. Congress, it has binding power. times. The case of Bosnia and Futey is a se- plicating Serbia in causing the In 2003, just before the 70th Herzegovina vs. Serbia in 2007 nior federal genocide. Therefore, it was hard to anniversary of the Holodomor, the established a court precedent to judge of the get a hold of the accused, includ- Ukrainian World Congress the effect that a state can be re- United States ing Radovan Karadžić (president launched the slogan “Ukraine Re- sponsible for acts of genocide, Court of Fed- of the Republika Srpska in Bosnia members, the World Recognizes” even though the 1948 convention eral Claims, in 1992-96. — Ed.) whom the au- which was very important because does not specifically provide for where he has thorities refused to hand over to 16 states had officially recognized the responsibility of states. A vic- served since the tribunal in The Hague. Finally, the Holodomor as genocide at the tim may even claim damages 1987. He is the Serbia found the will to extradite time. Moreover, Pope Francis, from such a state. In the case of only Ukrainian him. If he is found guilty and it is among U.S. who was then a bishop in Buenos the 1932-33 Holodomor, there federal judges. established that he acted in favour Aires, installed a plaque memori- are not so many living eyewit- Futey holds a of Serbia and was linked to the alizing the Holodomor genocide nesses left (including those who J.D. degree Serbian government in Belgrade in the city’s main Roman Catholic experienced this tragedy as a and has lec- at the time, the state of Serbia may cathedral. child), but there are their descen- tured as a visit- face charges of complicity in geno- At one point, many experts, dants. They can sue and claim ing professor cide and be held accountable, in including myself, were working to damages because their relatives at universities particular through the payment of achieve similar recognition in the suffered from the Holodomor. in Germany damages. UN. However, nothing came of it Ukraine needs to be proactive and Ukraine. The trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu because Russia was a member of in several ways: trying to make in the case of the 1994 Rwanda the Security Council with which the UN recognize the Holodomor 1972-74: Chief crimes was the first time when an Assistant to we had to negotiate. For political and also negotiating with individ- Cleveland Police international tribunal gave an in- reasons, the Russians filed a pro- ual countries. Prosecutor terpretation of the definition of test, so the issue was not even de- 1974-75: Execu- genocide included in the 1948 bated. Despite all hurdles, the U.W.: What progress has been tive Assistant to convention. Article 2 of the con- Ukrainian government must, I made in international courts and the Mayor of vention defines it as acts commit- believe, continue working to have tribunals in the past 15 years to Cleveland ted with intent to destroy, in the UN recognize the Holodomor recognize genocidal acts 1984-1987: whole or in part, a national, eth- as genocide. There’s a law, Cabi- committed in the Balkans Chairman of the nical, racial or religious group. It net of Ministers regulations and a (Srebrenica, 1995), Rwanda in Foreign Claims was important to condemn the court ruling that are urging 1994 and Sudan (Darfur, 2003- Settlement Com- very intent to commit that. To mission of the Ukrainian government officials to 2009)? What innovations United States Ukrainians, the experience of the do so. regarding the prosecution of Rwanda tribunal is important to genocide did they introduce in Futey is a mem- Holodomor recognition in that it U.W.: In your opinion, what international legislation? ber of the Ameri- provides a definition of the na- should be done to achieve wider On 27 February 2007, the In- can Bar Associa- tional group: a collection of peo- international recognition and ternational Court of Justice in tion and the ple who are perceived to share a condemnation of this crime? The Hague passed a judgement in Ukrainian Ameri- legal bond based on common citi- Many facts regarding the Ho- the case of Bosnia and Herzegov- can Bar Associa- zenship, coupled with reciprocity lodomor have already been re- ina vs. Serbia that is very impor- tion, Ukrainian of rights and duties. Whether the Assistance Coor- vealed and studied, but I believe tant to our case. The court recog- dination Com- group involves only and exclu- that the situation with recogni- nized that the government of a mittee. He has sively Ukrainians is of no impor- tion of those events is more polit- country must avoid and prevent participated in tance, because it applies to the ical now. the emergence of genocide under judge exchange entire national group, for exam- If Russia or, more precisely, Article 1 of the Genocide Conven- programmes and ple, one that works together. In the communist regime that engi- tion. The convention states that all was an advisor to other words, it applies to the neered the Holodomor in Ukraine of its parties, including the Soviet the Verkhovna group of peasants who were de- is accused, this state that holds a Union, are accountable if they fail Rada working stroyed by the Holodomor. More- key position in the UN Security to comply. Thus, the court ex- group to draft over, the tribunal interpreted an Council will clearly block the pro- plained in the Srebrenica case that the Constitution ethnic group as a group whose of Ukraine. cess in every possible way. I have the state was responsible not so members share a common lan- been saying for a long time now much because genocide took place guage or culture. that Ukraine should try a differ- in its territory but because of its The International Court of ent approach. Ukraine can appeal demonstrative refusal to take ev- Justice, active since 2002, to the UN International Court of ery action in its power to prevent charged Omar Al-Bashir, the Justice in The Hague. However, this crime. President of Sudan, with geno- there is one problem: under in- The court used evidence pro- cide and crimes against humanity ternational law, both parties must vided by International Criminal and issued a warrant for his ar- agree to the verdict of this court Tribunal for the former Yugosla- rest. The charges were brought and its jurisdiction. via. What happened in Srebrenica over the atrocities committed by Ukraine must, on its own, file was qualified precisely as geno- him and representatives of his a lawsuit against the Russian cide. In a vote, 14 out of 15 judges government in Darfur. This step Federation, which has inherited found that Serbia had violated its points to a new trend: less toler- 95% of Soviet property. From this international obligations regard- ance for acts of genocide and in- viewpoint, Russia inherited most ing the prevention of genocide. At creasing efforts to bring the per- of the responsibility for the acts the same time, they ruled that petrators to justice. № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|27 Navigator|Castles Awaiting New Hosts The Ukrainian Week takes a tour around castles handed over into concession

Author: Oleksandr Syrtsov Castle massive phenomenon, though Oblast will take you to three of bookkeeping some campaigns to attract private them in Olesko, Zolochiv and Pid- couple hundred years ago The cost of reno- investors were successful. In hirtsi. These castles have a special it was here that the steeds vation varies by 2006, local artist Yosyf Bartosh status as branches of the Lviv Art castle. According pranced around before go- to expert esti- becamse the new owner of the Gallery. For a long time, it was A ing to battle, called upon mates, basic re- castle in Chynadiyovo, Zakarpat- headed by Borys Voznytsky, a by Prince Konstaty Wasyl Ostrog- pairs, such as fix- tia Oblast. Acquiring the derelict well-known art conservator, ski, the owner of the castle in the ing or replacing building in concession, until then whose reputation secured him village of Stare Selo, literally the roof or re- used as a warehouse for fuels and sponsors for renovation. Another meaning old village. Then, the pairing and rein- lubricants, the artist managed to lucky site is the Zhovkva castle. It stronghold was in its prime. forcing the walls, find the funding, renovate the is a centrepiece of the local his- When I visited the largest castle are the cheapest first floor and arrange open air torical architectural reserve, and in Lviv Oblast recently, I did not of all, costing at festivals there later. falls under the auspices of the least UAH 5mn find a warhorse, but a work horse, or about USD Lviv Art Gallery. At first, the which was chewing grass in that 610,000. Further Lucky castles monument received generous same court-yard. This is how dis- restoration is at According to the register of the funding as Zhovkva prepared for gracefully the last attempt at re- least five times Ministry of Culture, Ukraine has the celebration of the 400th anni- storing the citadel from its ruins more expensive. around 75 castles and fortresses. versary of Magdeburg Rights. Re- has ended, handing it over in con- 34 are in Ternopil Oblast. An- cently, it got a substantial grant, cession to a private businessman other 10 are in Lviv Oblast. Add so the restoration of the once for forty-nine years. to this numerous ruins and old royal castle will continue. Ukrainian laws do not allow citadels recorded on the balance The rest of the castles in Lviv privatization of unique buildings, sheets of local administrations – Oblast have been less lucky: their such as castles and fortresses. and the number will hit 200. decline started at the beginning However, inasmuch that the state Eleven sites form the National of the 19th century and continued and local governments could not Reserve of Ternopil Oblast Cas- through the Soviet rule when afford expensive renovation, res- tles. This Reserve takes care of all they were used as warehouses, toration and further operation of matters related to the operations prisons or mental hospitals. these architectural monuments, of fortifications. One of the most While Lviv Oblast is one of the they were put into concession. popular tourist itineraries known major tourist destinations, these This process did not become a as the Golden Horseshoe of Lviv castles never saw investment to 28|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Castles|Navigator that payments need not be made jurisdiction of the Union of Ar- at once, but after the building chitects of the USSR. Four insti- becomes operational and profit- tutions were involved in the res- able. This did not work. Potential toration project; a great deal of investors did not line up for con- work was undertaken, not only on cessions on the castles in Tar- the castle, but on the associated takiv or Stare Selo (only one ap- territory including the lake. plication for each of these monu- Because of such ambitious ments was submitted). The plans, they were never completed. concessionaire of the Stare Selo The Union of Architects of Castle became Mykhaylo Ryba, a Ukraine which inherited the facil- restaurant owner from Lviv, who ity did not have resources to com- pledged to invest UAH 300mn to plete the renovation. According turn it into a family entertain- to the regional head of the organi- ment centre. The new owner of zation, Oles Yarema, the basic the Tartakiv fortress, became mistake was in that they never Ihor Novosad, a businessman even opened the section that had and owner of a construction been restored, even though the company from Rivne, pledging to Swirzh castle is in a much better invest UAH 100mn. condition compared to the ones Initially, the businessmen in Stare Selo and Tartakiv, and were willing to interact with the completion of renovation there is locals, promising them how they less expensive. Meanwhile, Lviv would fix the roads to these mon- Oblast Administration finally de- uments, and spin yarns to jour- cided to hand over the castle into nalists about how functional concession. these castles would be. After more than four years, the prom- Worth the visit ised millions have yet to be seen. Stare Selo Castle in Pustomyty

shkovych In the last months they have not County, Lviv Oblast. Architec- even cleaned the territory. As a tural monument of the 16th-17th result, the Tartakiv concession centuries once owned by Prince agreement was terminated, and Ostrogski. It is the largest forti- fied castle in Lviv Oblast, cover- the one for the Stare Selo Castle ing 2 hectares. It was designed hoto by Mykh a ilo D by P hoto will soon follow suit. Meanwhile, by architect Ambrosiy Prykhyl- the authorities are looking for a niy. The castle is considerably restore them and turn into at- new concessionaire. Now, negoti- damaged. tractive tourist sites. ations are ongoing with the Poles and the Germans. Tatarkiv Castle in Sokal County, Stadiums, not castles Stare Selo remains an attrac- Lviv Oblast was built by Count th When Borys Voznytsky, now de- tive tourist destination. Each Potocky in the 17 century. Frag- ceased, asked then Deputy Prime week at least two buses of Polish ments of the fortifying walls is tourists visit. At the local school all that has survived until pres- Minister Borys Kolesnkiov ent day. At the end of the 19th whether the Euro 2012 prepara- the teachers have set up museum century, the village owner tion campaign envisaged any of the castle, and the students are Lanckoroński built a palace funding for restoration of castles, taking their first professional there, which stands to this day. he replied that stadiums and air- steps as tour guides taking tour- ports were the priority at that ists on excursions around the cit- Swirzh Castle in Peremshliany point. Once the championship adel for a small fee. The Tartakiv County, Lviv Oblast. The first ac- was over, the stadium stood idle Castle is in a different situation: counts of this castle date back to 1530. The current building is most of the time. Meanwhile, the even though it is located next to th government launched intense Chervonohrad, a town that hosts from the 17 century when the citadel was taken over by Count preparations for the 2022 Olym- the Potocky Castle, and the Aleksander Cetner. pics. princely cities of Belz and Uhniv, A few years ago, those in the roads leading to it are very Chynadiyovo Castle also known power decided to hand the resto- poor, so few tourists are willing to as Saint Nicholas Castle is in the ration of derelict strongholds take the trip. village of Chynadiovo in Mu- over to the private sector. This The third castle in Swirzh kahciv County, Zakarpattia happened when Viktor Yanu- found itself in the biggest trouble. Oblast. This is an architectural kovych was Prime Minister. On It fell into decline in the post-war monument from the 14th-18th November 21, 2007, he signed a years; the chances for its renais- century. The citadel was con- decree placing three castles in sance appeared in the late 1970s, trolled by Princess Ilona Zrínyi, her son Francis II Rákóczi. When Stare Selo, Tartakiv and Swirzh after it was used as a location for the Rákóczis were defeated in into concession. a few episodes of D'Artagnan and their war, it came into the The Law on Concessions has the Three Musketeers, a popular hands of the Schönborns until one article that should attract Soviet film. Immediately after the 20th century. potential investors: it foresees that the site was given over to the № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|29 Culture & Arts|Censorship and contemporary art An attempt to whitewash Art Arsenal after censorship in the previous show

Animal-People installation by the Zhlobologia – Slobology project and r z a kletskyi Evening Road by Anatoliy Kryvolap photo: oleks photo:

rt Kyiv Contemporary, a sensitive art community between chief curator at the Art Arsenal. forum which opened at those who supported and op- However, some of the top con- Art Arsenal - Mystetskiy posed Arsenal. temporary artists including Vas- AArsenal on November 13 The latest show was seen as a ily Tsagolov, Oleh Tistol, Pavlo through December 1 - brought conflict-free project of reconcili- Makov and Zhanna Kadyrova, together 35 projects and more ation. Without it, the Art Arsenal did not make into the show. Per- than two hundred Ukrainian art- risked losing part of its contin- haps the organisers thought that ists. The national culture & arts gent. The only element of cura- they were too well-known to ex- complex took on the role of a dis- torship in it was the concept of a hibit their works. Or their exor- passionate site for all manifesta- platform for “open artistic com- bitant price tags would irritate tions of Ukrainian contemporary munication between different the audience of the down-to- art. It has thus embodied a gra- arts institutions”. So, we were earth forum. Or the artists them- cious and tolerant - and cer- looking at the digest of contem- selves no longer want to partici- tainly, illusory - state, in which porary art. pate in the Art Arsenal’s shows. there is no more room for either One of the participants of the Art Kyiv Contemporary dem- a moral committee or adjust- exhibition, conceptualist Arsen onstrated apparent pluralism, ment of art to politics. This Savadov, stated that Art Kyiv exhibiting a wide range of works year’s forum offered a good Contemporary – “is a celebration from traditional gesso and upcy- chance for rehabilitation to the of art called on to take price tags cling to ultramodern IT technol- venue after the recent act of cen- off pictures and save Arsenal ogies and performances. The 35 sorship: the destruction of from villainy. The forum is ori- art projects presented at the fo- Volodymyr Kuznetsov’s artwork ented at the artistic process, not rum embraced all kinds of by Art Arsenal’s director Natalia market favourites”. As a result, themes and aesthetics. The exhi- Zabolotna. This was done right pieces by Arsen Savadov, the bition started with the neo-ar- before the opening of the Great first Ukrainian artist to make it chaic piece by Roman Roma- and Grand – an art show dedi- to Sotheby’s; Oleksandr Royt- nyshyn; colour alchemy by Ti- cated to the history of Christian- burd whose art is often sold at beriy Silvashi; and symbolism ity in Kievan Rus and Ukraine – London auctions, and Anatoliy from Petro Bevza – all delicate and before some of Ukraine’s Kryvolap whose piece was auc- and sophisticated canvases. and Russia’s top officials and tioned for a record-breaking Moving on, the viewer found clergy were scheduled to attend. price in Ukrainian contemporary himself in a post-modern chaos. The act stirred a wave of indig- art, hang next to ten projects, Kitsch spoke from the Soviet car- nation, mixed with concern created by little-known artists. pets of Anatoliy Hankevych and about future merciless repres- According to the organisers, the politically incorrect passions sion, among artists. And it drew latter were discovered thanks to from Vladyslav Shereshevsky, a dividing line between in the Oleksandr Solovyov, former peaking in the deliberately pro- 30|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 Censorship and contemporary art|Culture & Arts

vocative erotic Kiss by Roman and mature reasoning coexist Zhuk. Art Arsenal’s strategy was freely. Academic painting, trash, to please everyone. Aristocrats advertising, design, talents with- would admire modern classics, out names and names without young rebels – the projects of ur- talent – everything was pains- ban artists and video-art, and takingly concentrated under the people with a sense of humour shroud of Art Arsenal, where would enjoy cheerful provocative nothing threatened artistic free- art. The exhibition was a meta- dom. The good thing was that phor of the entire country, where there is plenty of space between progressive and outdated ideas, the items. It kept them from high technologies, post-Soviet merging into a schizophrenic ca- experiences, teenage rebellion cophony. Tearing Down Covers Photographer Borys Mykhailov talks about the ability to weed out beauty, the emptiness of PR and art lovers

Interviewer: t has always been very difficult ple cumulative actions, but it is in- onlookers is reminiscent of moving Bohdan to determine who will gain the capable of giving birth to the idea platforms. No one knows whether Butkevych status of number one among of their vision, however many they will come together at the right Iartists. When such an artist is times it repeats these actions and time and in the right place. determined, it surprisingly diffi- however much it works. A photog- cult for him/her to consistently rapher must have a firm position There are photographers- justify this status. Kharkiv-based and constantly make choices – artisans, and there are artists, Borys Mykhailov is the most fa- that’s the key. Even a choice from who make use of photo- mous photographer in Ukraine, among the photos you have taken graphs. Artisans feel great: they and in his world, he is an expert in yourself. photograph weddings, make pass- social art photography. However, port photos, in other words, they he goes from strength to strength When I do something, I execute their professional func- and continues to amaze viewers turn to my inner critic-con- tions. For the artist, on the other with his extravagant photographs sumer. He lives inside each artist, hand, the main thing is to inter- in spite of being 75 years old. His and it is worth taking note of twine photographs with their own work can be seen in most leading whether he gives a heads up to soul and vision. I belong to this museums of New York, London, something or not – the interest of second category. Moscow, Tokyo, Berlin, etc. His photographs have been exhibited in the most prestigious galleries of the world, such as the Saatchi Gal- lery (London), the Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston), Pace/ MacGill Gallery (New York) and so on. “Bob” Mykhailov is the only Ukrainian winner of the interna- tional Hasselblad Award – the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in photography. Like no one else, in his works, he is able to tear down the covers of narrow-minded beauty and decency, showing life in all of its unsavoury lights. The Ukrainian Week spoke to the master of photography during the opening of his personal exhibition, UNRESPECTABLE at the Yer- milov Centre gallery in Kharkiv. ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHS The success of a photogra- pher is not the result of talent or diligence. First and foremost, it is the ability to understand the importance of the moment or event, which is happening in front of you, and selecting the most im- portant of what is already impor- tant. Mechanical or purely techno- logical moments are also not very determinant. Even a monkey can be taught to do something as sim- 32|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013 It’s not worth separating THE BLUE very simple element in the puzzle of about artists earning money seem SERIES, THE photographs into documen- 1990s. Reflects creating a piece of artwork. Its sur- empty. For example, Rembrandt tary and artistic categories. the first post- plus is also a problem, because it only talked about money and cre- Often, a purely informational im- Soviet decade seems that nobody stops you from ated all of his best works on com- age of reality on a photograph is in Ukraine doing whatever you want to do. The mission. This is normal. After all, the reverse side of art, so is a part question arises: then why do it? every person wants his or her work of it. Each element is very impor- to be duly priced. When an artist is tant. For example, you consciously ABOUT ART working in his or her chosen field, is remove the actual substance from I weed out beauty in my he/she supposed to be nourished by the photograph and instead, start works. For me, it’s important for the Holy Spirit? In principle, money working with what remains. people to simply see something is a measure of professionalism, the else, in its common understanding, ability to give people what you have Now, in a supposedly free aesthetics shield it, so for me, it is made. You have what you earned. society, taking photos is much superfluous. more difficult than during the When I do something, I don’t It is impossible to deter- totalitarian Soviet era. It was think about becoming part of the mine the specific point where clear who the enemy was then – the general trend. I don’t even know art begins. But in general, it be- reason why you did everything, what it is. This is simply an extension gins with an idea. This is why most sometimes in defiance and ulti- of my comprehension. Although, of average people do not understand mately, you continued to take photo- course, I’m interested in the context: what the heck it is. But art functions graphs. Today, you can’t tell who what are my colleagues photograph- and develops in a multi-level cul- your opponent is or how to compete ing, on what canvas, where, to tural society and gradually gains a against him/her. In addition, the whom, in what does success lie. But I value, which is later extrapolated to current variety of colour significantly don’t understand what PR is and the above-mentioned man in the complicates an artist’s work, since don’t use it, because it is an empty, street. On its path to value, art inev- it’s difficult to choose. It’s very easy specially devised soap bubble . There itably has to overcome certain ob- to make a choice when such choice is is no truth behind it. At the same stacles – no one has ever succeeded restricted. But total freedom is not a time, for example, there is a lot of in reaching this category right away. largely positive PR surrounding in- formation on a photography school Shocking the public is re- in Kharkiv. For the most part, this is quired when times are boring. simply a coincidence. Also, when I For example, I am no longer inter- succeeded in gaining a level of suc- ested in simple provocation – I’m cess, I started telling everyone about drawn to a deepening, efforts to this school, but critics and journalists understand the other side of meta- began to dig and search for connec- physics, etc. However, time itself tions of some kind, brought up theo- allows an artist to understand ries, and so on. In other words, a sort when and what is worth doing. The of PR campaign had begun. But in important thing is to ask and truth, there were people, who took search. For example, at one time, care of business and there was faith our group in Kharkiv felt that it in oneself. So not everything is for was necessary to shock the Soviet nothing here. public. But if you were to repeat what we did then, it would now be Some words are no longer viewed as vulgar kitsch. relevant for artists. Overall, cer- tain good words are used right now: Art will never die. The only truth, obligation, importance. How- thing that can change is the tech- ever an artist is still responsible for nology for its creation, but not the himself/herself: if he or she has set actual genres. Even its compo- himself or herself a certain task, he nents, which now seem to be part or she has to fulfil it. If he or she of the past, emerge from time to considers it necessary to explain time, like revived history. Even that something to people with his or her which now seems unfashionable work, he/she must act accordingly, has not died: neither Greek trag- if not – then no. Thus a painting or edy, nor ballet, nor frescoes. Art is photograph speaks for itself. But if it somehow reminiscent of religion – is necessary to comment on and ex- at least in the sense that it has its plain it, this is also okay. followers – museum employees. They are keeping visual knowledge I find it funny when people of life safe for future generations. say: “You do this for money”. And as long as intelligent mankind Generally, to me, all conversations exists, art will have its place. № 22 (64) december 2013|the ukrainian week|33 Culture & Arts|events 28 November – 1 December, 8 p.m. 4 – 15 December, 8 p.m. 2 December, 7 p.m. 10 Muses Limp Bizkit Jazz Bez 2013 Kinopanorama Theatre Stereo Plaza Lviv Philharmonic, Picasso Club (19, vul. Shota Rustaveli, Kyiv) (119, Chervonozoryaniy and other venues Prospekt, Kyiv) (7, vul. Tchaikovskoho; 88, Kyiv will host the Fifth Interna- vul. Zelena) tional Young Cinema Festival over the A pleasant surprise for Ukrainian course of these five days. This year’s music lovers – the famous American In Ukraine, winter begins at the festival will open with the presenta- nu metal/rapcore band, Limp Bizkit, same time as the major jazz festival, tion of the film Toloka – pasture land will shortly be performing in Kyiv. Dur- which will join together the improvisa- in Ukrainian – by Ukrainian director, ing their last concert, the musicians tions of ten Ukrainian and Polish cities Mykhailo Illyenko. The film is sched- promised their fans that they would into a single energy. Lviv will tradition- uled to come to the big screen in ally be the heart of the festival, and March 2014, so visitors to the festival this year’s highlight will be the combi- will have the unique opportunity to nation of different jazz styles – from see it prior to its official premiere. The swing to fusion, bebop and jazz rock, event is thematically divided into experimental and improvisational three parts. One is CINEMA Day, and music. The guests – more than fifty the other two are TELEVISION Day and musicians, include the stars of world CASTING Day. The announcement of free jazz - pianist Matthew Shipp in a the winners and prize-giving will take duet with Mateusz Walerian, the festi- place on December 2. be returning with a new programme val’s friends Marinita Trio, and the and new songs. Limp Bizkit will fulfil Georgian ZumbaLand. its promise and present the local audi- ence with a new programme. How- ever, the musicians will not forget about their old hits, on which a whole generation grew up. The album Choc- olate Starfish and the Hot Dog Fla- vored Water from 2000 brought the band worldwide fame.

7 – 8 December 9 December, 7 p.m. 20 December, 7 p.m. Best Food Fest & Health Patricia Kaas Setting the Heart on Fire. Olimpiyskiy NSC Ukraine Palace of Arts A Jazz-style Christmas (55, vul. Velyka Vasylkivska, (103, vul. Velyka Vasylkivska, National Philharmonic of Kyiv) Kyiv) Ukraine (2, Volodymyrskiy Uzviz, Kyiv) Kyiv will once again be the capital One of of wholesome food and a healthy life- the most The best Christmas hits from around style – the Best Food Fest & Health f a m o u s the world in a jazz adaptation – this is Festival will take place here for the F r e n c h the pre-Christmas present made by the third time. Culinary master classes singers will National Philharmonic of Ukraine for Ky- from the best Ukrainian chefs, lectures be coming ivans and visitors to the city. The jazz from leading nutritionists, interesting to the capi- concert will include performances by the discussions on organic products and tal to re- prize winners of international competi- numerous competitions – this is not mind the tions, namely Ilya Bondarenko and Taty- the whole list of pleasures that event Ukrainian ana Zhmendak on violin, Natalia Lebe- organizers have prepared for its visi- audience of deva on piano, Konstantin Ionenko on tors. This year’s festival will be made another, no bass guitar and Oleksiy Fantayev on up of six areas: a health fair, culinary less famous performer – Patricia drums. It is a must for true lovers of real area, children’s and sports zones, as Kaas will sing the best known songs music, because what can be better than well as leisure and recreational areas. of Edith Piaf. The concert’s two-hour a soulful evening of jazz right before the programme will include such eternal Christmas Holidays. hits as La Vie En Rose, Non, Je Ne Re- grette Rien, La Foule, Padam Padam, Hymne L'Amour and others. This is how Patricia Kaas will not only recre- ate the atmosphere of the Paris streets in the 1930-50s, but with the aid of poetry, dance and music, will carry the image of Edith Piaf to the present day. 34|the ukrainian week|№ 22 (64) december 2013

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