The Ukrainian Week

FALSIFICATIONS 2012: PAGE DESPITE CLAIMS OF STABILITY, PAGE PAUL RADU ON INVESTIGATIVE PAGE SIGNS OF UKRAINE'S ECONOMY MAY REPORTING, ORGANIZED CRIME RIGGED ELECTION 10 DIP INTO A RECESSION 28 AND CORRUPTICORRUPTIONON 32

№ 18 (41) NOVEMBER 20122012

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|CONTENTS BRIEFING FOCUS After the Elect ion Day: The Dist orted Will of the Stealing Ukraine The assessment of People: Vote by Vote the elect ion by the Although the majority voted 22 signs of a international community against the Yanukovych rigged elect ion and foreign media regime, a pro-presidential majority will dominate the 4 parliament once more 6 10 BR FO The First-Past-the-Post Element The opposition won from 55% to 90% of votes in 16 oblasts out of 24 and Kyiv. However, the ﬁrst-past-the-post component brought the Party of Regions and pro-government independent candidates victories in 57 out of 119 constituencies 13 The First -Past -the-Post Dame Audrey Rebecca

Volyn Oblast Kyiv 1 5 1 55 Element brings the Glover on the Harms on the 5 1

5 1 Chernihiv Oblast

Rivne Oblast Zhytomyr Oblast Kyiv Oblast Sumy SE Oblast Kharkiv Khmelnytsk Poltava ruling party more seats lack of a level fl aws of the 12 Oblast Oblast Oblast 5 9 Cherkasy Luhansk Oblast 14 Oblast Vinnytsia Oblast 7 1 Lviv Oblast 7 11 Ternopil 8 Ivano- Oblast Donetsk Zakarpattia Frankivsk Oblast 7 Oblast Oblast in the new parliament playing fi eld in the pre-elect ion 17 3 3 Kirovohrad Oblast 4 1 Dnipropetrovsk 21 7 Oblast 4 Chernivtsi Oblast Odesa Oblast Mykolayiv Zaporizhia Oblast EC Oblast The total number of districts in Ukraine despite a poor Ukrainian elect ion campaign 9 6 111 114 160 5 65 11 Kherson Oblast Districts where opposition parties won performance in the Districts where pro-government parties (Party of Regions, Communist Party of Ukraine) won Districts where opposition single candidates, including pro-opposition independent candidates, 10 won Districts where the ruling party’s single candidates, 12 14 14 Crimea including pro-government independent candidates, party-list vote won 2 Sevastopol The Ukrainian Week’s estimates are based on 99.33% of the protocols processed by CEC 3 SECURITY SO Hanne Severinsen Legitimizing the America’s Global Disorder: HI on her experience Regime: Why The USA is restricting its global role and CU as an observer, some international reducing its exposure to global disorder, 4 troubles during ballot observers noticed no but speculation on its permanent decline 4 counting and the lack violations during the are premature NA 4 of change 17 elect ion 18 20 ECONOMICS The Killing Fields: Despite A War Against the People: The Government Hushes Up the huge risks involved, Yasser Abboud, a leader a Crisis: Independent analyst s the time has come for the of the Free Syrian Army, warn that Ukraine's economy West and the Arabs to talks about the st ruggle may sink into recession by the intervene in Syria with the Assad regime end of 2012 24 26 28 INVESTIGATION SOCIETY Big Business in Servicing the Invest igations without Limits: Paul In Russia’s Shadow: Public: A correlation between Radu of the Organized Crime and Aust rian hist orian Andreas economic breakthroughs Corruption Reporting Project on Kappeler contemplates and the adjust ment of big invest igative journalism, off shore why Ukraine is st ill a blank business potential to serve business and international fraud space on the mental map national interest s 30 32 of West ern Europe 36 HISTORY CULTURE & ARTS The Life of the Rebels: On the 70th The Art of Resist ance: anniversary of the UPA, Hist ory through the prism The Ukrainian Week explores of mass culture how the guerilla army organized, supported and 39 entertained itself 42 NAVIGATOR Animal Planet: Mission: Discover Pollissia Anticommunist socialist The forgotten lands for George Orwell and his gift thrill seekers to Ukrainians

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The Ukrainian Week № 18 (41) November 2012 Mailing address: PO Box 2, Kyiv, 03067 Founder: ECEM Media Ukraine LLC Publisher: The Ukrainian Week LLC Publisher address: vul. Mashynobudivna 37, Kyiv 03067 Ukraine First published in January 2010 E-mail: [email protected], Tel.: (044) 351-1300 State registration certificate 16412-4884P of March 13, 2010 www.ukrainianweek.com Bohdan Andriytsev, Director, ECEM Media Ukraine LLC Print: The Novy Druk, LLC, 1 Mahnitohorska Str. Serhiy Lytvynenko, Editor-in-Chief, The Ukrainian Week Ordering number: 12-6748. Print run: 15,000 Natalia Romanec, Shaun Williams, Editors; Sent to print on 1 November 2012 Anna Korbut, Translator Free distribution № 18 (41) NOVEMBER 2012|THE UKRAINIAN WEEK|3

02-03_.indd 3 01.11.2012 22:48:28 Briefing| After The Election Day International organizations have paid close attention to the election, taking a deep insight into the process, and getting a better picture of the election reality in Ukraine. While some gave positive feedback, most foreign observers and media noted serious violations and flaws that may delay the prospect of the EU Association Agreement ratification for Ukraine “Ukraine’s parliamentary elections were characterized by a tilted playing field… This was the result, primarily, of the abuse of administrative resources, as well as a lack of transparency in campaign and party financing and of balanced media coverage. “Considering the abuse of power, and the excessive role of money in this election, democratic progress appears to have reversed in “The EU should give some Ukraine,” said Walburga Habsburg Douglas, the Special Co-ordinator who signals to regulate democracy led the OSCE short-term election observation mission and the Head of the in Ukraine, but those signals OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation. “One should not have to visit a should not have a negative prison to hear from leading political figures in the country.” impact on the Ukrainian peo- “Ukrainians deserved better from these elections. The 'oligarchization' of the ple. The Council of Europe can whole process meant that citizens lost their ownership of the election, as ban the traveling of some well as their trust in it,” said Andreas Gross, the Head of the Parliamentary SBU (Special Service of Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) delegation. “Unfortunately, the Ukraine – Ed.) chiefs and great democratic potential of Ukrainian society was not realized in yester- prosecutors involved in de- day's vote.”” monstrative trials. But, first of all, European politicians, especially those from Poland, should stop treating Yanu- kovych as a gentleman and “Tymoshenko and Klitschko walk the red carpet with him. should now oppose (the gov- The Poles’ historical concern ernment – Ed.) together in the that Russia may one day new parliament. For this they “swallow” Ukraine and once need a Europe that will support them, show interest and criticize again appear on their Eastern problems with the rule of law. They have three years to do this. In the border is understandable in- 2015 presidential election, they should agree on a single candidate to deed… Oligarchs in Ukraine run for the presidency. And they must win back the people who lost are very well aware that their trust in the power of transformation in politics. This is probably an al- game is over as soon as they most impossible challenge.” are left alone in Moscow’s or- bit without European support. Ukraine will turn into the empire’s satellite and its “After its defeat, the president will become a opposition com- princeling. Neither Yanu- plained about voter kovych, nor his billionaires bribery and adminis- want this. They need a part- trative pressure. These claims may be partly true, but are not good ner, therefore they will not enough to explain the outcome because the opposition should have find it easy to ignore de- tried to work harder: political apathy is too high in Ukraine, and mands concerning the rule of public trust is extremely low. The impact of this crisis is still visible, law. Still, these demands especially given the fact that Tymoshenko is still an opposition should be specific and unani- leader. Unlike in the 2004 presidential election where almost 80% mous, not just indecisive of the population voted, this time voter turnout was barely 60%. hints at European values.” Those who stayed at home on election day were the voters strongly disenchanted with the Orange Revolution.”

4|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 |Briefing After The Election Day

“There appears little hope for closer ties with the West, “…even if Yanukovych does lean westwards, there is even if the elections are deemed free and fair. Western still the big neighbour to the east. “The key will be leaders have indicated Mr. Yanukovych needs to free Ms. the relationship with Russia,” says Timothy Ash. Tymoshenko, relax the ruling party's grip on the media “Russia has supported Yanukovych and now it wants and push through legal and other overhauls if the Euro- delivery. Warm words may no longer be enough. It pean Union is to revive a political-association and free- could get ugly and aggressive.” Russia wants trade deal it shelved last year. Ukraine’s energy sector assets and, especially, ac- That could increase pressure on Mr. Yanukovych to give in cess to Ukraine’s gas pipelines. If Russia decides to to Russia's demands to join a customs union it has formed play hardball, it could get ugly indeed: Russia is a with other ex-Soviet republics in order to receive lower- big customer of Ukraine’s agricultural and industrial price gas.” goods. As Ash puts it, Russia has considerable ability to disrupt the Ukrainian economy.”

“The United States Government is concerned that “Ukraine is structurally under- the conduct of Sunday’s parliamentary elections developed and politically au- constituted a step backwards from progress made thoritarian. Yanukovych and his during previous parliamentary elections and the people managed to fool Ukrai- 2010 presidential election, elections that had nians that their grief over 2004, marked important steps forward for Ukraine’s de- the dreams of the Orange Revo- mocracy… While election day was peaceful overall lution, hopes of openness, de- and observed by a large number of domestic and mocracy and Western integra- international observers, we are troubled by alle- tion, as well as simultaneous gations of fraud and falsification in the voting process and tabulation, by friendship with Russia are in the the disparity between preliminary results from the Central Election Com- best hands as long as he is in mission and parallel vote tabulations, and by the Central Election Commis- power… The struggle for power sion’s decision not to release precinct results. We also reiterate our deep that raged for years between concern that the politically motivated convictions of opposition leaders… ex-president Viktor Yushchenko prevented them from standing in these elections.” and his premier Yulia Tymosh- enko changed the way many people thought: they no longer want to know about democracy if it only means that everyone is fighting against everyone else… The opposition, grouped around the imprisoned Yulia Tymosh- “ENEMO international observation mission to Ukraine has noted that parlia- enko, gained fairly good results mentary elections held on October 28, 2012 were competitive, offering -vot despite massive falsifications ers choice between various political parties and candidates, however, election before the election. Anti-gov- campaign and polling day were negatively affected by serious flaws and -vio ernment parties managed to lations. Mr. Peter Novotny, Head of the Mission stated: “Compared to previ- convince almost half of all vot- ous 2006 and 2007 parliamentary elections, ENEMO mission observed in the ers to support them. But it pre-election period significantly higher number of campaign violations, abuse wasn’t enough. A new uprising, of administrative resources, voter bribery, harassment and intimidation of another Orange Revolution, is a candidates and campaign workers and intimidation of journalists. The politi- remote prospect. Yanukovych cal landscape of 2012 elections was also influenced by imprisonment of two was successful with his policy: prominent opposition figures, Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko.” he satiated the voters’ hunger with propaganda and paternal- ism.” огляд підготувала марина міщенко підготувала огляд

№ 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|5 focus|2012 election The Distorted Will of the People The absolute majority of Ukrainians voted against the Yanukovych regime, however, a pro- presidential majority will once more dominate parliament

Author: epresentatives of most in- UDAR is somewhat lower, than Oleksandr fluential international or- indicated in the parallel counting Kramar ganizations, who observed of votes by opposition forces and Rthe election in Ukraine, the results of most exit polls. noted that this year’s parliamen- However, voting under party tary election was accompanied by lists attested to the government’s mass violations, and has thus be- defeat, although it was not as sig- come the latest step away from nificant as it could have been if democracy. They are refraining equal conditions had been pro- from making final evaluations un- vided to all campaign partici- til the completion of the vote pants; Yulia Tymoshenko had not disposition in FPTP districts, and counting process, both under the been imprisoned; opposition po- subsequently, the agony of the proportional and the first-past- litical forces had had free access Yanukovych will continue until the-post (FPTP) systems. Mean- to the mass media; and the PR the presidential election. while, the Ukrainian government had not applied an extensive ar- The defective law on elections is actively working to legitimize senal of means to distort the vot- played a key role in this, since it the results of the will of the peo- ers' dispositions in its favour dur- did not provide for voting in ple, referring to the fact that un- ing the pre-election campaign FPTP districts in two rounds, as der the proportional component, and domination at election com- is the case in most civilized coun- they almost correspond with exit missions at all levels, as well as tries with a mixed election sys- poll data. Based on this, Mykola diverse violations during voting, tem. As a result, having attained Azarov even spoke about the which will obviously affect the re- about 28% of the vote (according “classic free and democratic elec- sult. to the exit poll conducted for the tions that have taken place”. According to preliminary CEC Inter and ICTV TV channels) on However, in fact, the election data, PR has achieved the lowest 28 October, PR candidates ob- testified to the exact opposite: percentage it has ever had – 30% tained mandates in most FPTP civilized mechanisms for the re- of votes (the National Exit Poll districts. This shows that the gap newal of the representative body gave it 28.1%) versus 34% in in the proportional and FPTP in accordance with the public dis- 2007 and 32% in 2006. On the vote outcome for a given party position in the state, remain other hand, three opposition has nothing to do with the as- blocked, even though that is the forces, who made it into parlia- sumption that the party may be purpose of parliamentary elec- ment, collectively gained a much unpopular in a given district, tions in democratic countries. better outcome than the party in while its candidate is popular First of all, even under party power. PR’s allies under the cur- there - as the widespread stereo- lists, the preliminary data of the rent parliamentary coalition – the type has it. When “popular candi- Central Election Commission CPU – obtained 13%, but only be- dates”, who have the support of (CEC) differs significantly from cause they were able to persuade 28% of voters, gain more than the data of exit polls and the par- their voters that they would alleg- half of all the mandates, this is allel counting of votes by various edly truly oppose the Yanukovych evidence that the system ensures opposition forces. There are two regime. an unprecedented distortion of obvious disparities: the signifi- electoral dispositions and de- cantly understated result of the The discrimination of prives the absolute majority of opposition party, Svoboda, and the majority citizens of the right to choose the the overstated result of the Com- In spite of the unequivocal representatives they prefer at the munist Party of Ukraine (CPU), public vote of no confidence, the Verkhovna Rada. AFter all, 20- an ally of the Party of Regions Presidential Administration will 30% of those who participated in (PR) under the currently ruling once more be able to create a the voting or just 10-15% of all coalition in Ukraine. PR’s result loyal majority in parliament, due registered voters was quite is somewhat higher, while that of to the distortion of the electoral 6|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 2012 election|focus enough in a number of districts vote-counting was blocked for a for pro-government candidates. for a given candidate to considerable amount of time, us- Svoboda also experienced a simi- win. ing various means. Meanwhile, lar problem in two Kyiv districts. However, even this representatives of opposition sin- For example, during a verification insignificant percent- gle candidates signaled that the of the results, it was established age was reached with falsification of results was taking that the results of its candidate, large-scale manipula- place. Andriy Illyenko, who was a candi- tion in a number of According to a Batkivshchyna date in District No. 215, at one of cases. These in- report, after it became clear that the polling stations, was attrib- cluded the absurd its candidate had won in District uted to his rival, the Secretary of division of dis- No. 197 in Cherkasy Oblast, Bo- the Kyiv City Council and owner tricts in favour of hdan Hubsky, the pro-govern- of the Epicentre chain, Halyna a specifically de- ment self-nominated candidate, Hereha. termined pro- arrived at the DEC and provoked While it was possible to de- government can- the suspension of its work, in or- fend the victories of opposition didate, bribery, der to sabotage the election. candidates in most cases in Kyiv, unequal access to “Electricity disappeared on the in many oblasts, where the oppo- voters, pressure on premises, three commission sition had won a convincing vic- the competition and members were taken to hospital, tory under party lists, the victory other signs of an un- and seven others simply fled from of pro-government candidates fair pre-election cam- the DEC,” stated the announce- was nevertheless announced, and paign, as well as dur- ment from the Batkivshchyna where it proved impossible to ing the voting and vote- press-service. As a result, no quo- reach such a goal, the counting of counting at polling rum was possible. When the like- votes was literally blocked. In a stations.The sessence of lihood of the victory of Bat- number of cases, this provoked the idea of on-line obser- kivshchyna's Ksenia Lyapina was actions on the part of the sup- vation at the polling sta- clear in District No. 216, the head porters of the candidates, who tions was completely of one polling station disappeared considered themselves to be the wiped out, since the sub- with the seal and protocols. The victims of falsification. For exam- sequent couting at poll- ple, in Nova Kakhovka, people ing stations and DECs had took DEC No. 184 by storm, de- no video monitoring, while a Taking advantage of their manding that legitimate re-count series of scandals in a number of control over most of the of the protocols, under which districts showed that it was these PR's Mykola Dmytruk allegedly processes that should have been CECs, pro-government won, be conducted, while popular monitored. As a result of the candidates used were local self-nominated candidate, constant clarification and re- Ivan Vynnyk, obtained only 100 writing of the protocols the determined to gain a votes less. After this, the Head of CEC had not even received pre- victory at any cost the Commission and several of its liminary results two days after members tried to escape, in order the conclusion of voting. confrontation and blocking of the to prevent the re-count. work of DECs was equally acute Mykola Tomenko, one of the Everything or in districts where opposition can- leaders of Batkivshchyna, an- nothing didates were winning in Kyiv nounced that on 29 October, the H a v - ing taken advan- Oblast and in Kyiv itself. Heads of Oblast State Adminis- tage of control over the Oleh Tiahnybok stated that trations (who also hold the office majority of polling station mem- “the government is trying to steal of Heads of PR Oblast Election bers and the support of adminis- every third vote cast in favour of Headquarters) instructed repre- trative resources, pro-govern- Svoboda and every third district, sentatives of oblast state adminis- ment candidates decided to win where the election was won by a trations and the heads of regional at all cost in a number of districts, Svoboda candidate.” The party’s administrations to put pressure or sabotage the election, guided preliminary results, as an- on members of DECs and polling by the “if I can’t have it, neither nounced on the CEC website, in- stations to change already can anyone else” rule. The most deed appeared significantly lower counted protocols to new ones, problematic, were ten districts in than in the results of the exit poll which contained the figures they Kyiv and adjoining regions of the and parallel vote-counting, con- preferred. The situation in Dis- oblast (District Nos. 211, 214, 215, ducted by various opposition par- trict No. 132 in Mykolayiv Oblast, 216, 217, 223 and Nos. 90, 91, 95 ties. Meanwhile, according to where “Berkut”, a special force 97), as well as at least eight in the Svoboda, in two districts in Kyiv unit, stormed the DEC, after regions: in the Cherkasy (Nos. and Khmelnytsk Oblasts, infor- which the previous results of the 194 and 197), Vinnytsia (No. 11), mation was forwarded to the counting of 100% of votes, which Zhytomyr (No. 67), Kirovohrad CEC, that contradicted the paral- determined Batkivshchyna's (No. 101), Mykolayiv (No. 132), lel counting of the party’s votes, Arkadiy Kornatskiy as the win- Kherson (No. 182), Luhansk (No. based on the protocols with origi- ner, was reversed, in favour of 104) and other oblasts. Because nal ink seals from the polling sta- PR's Vitaliy Travyanko. Bat- of the threat of the defeat of pro- tion and ensured a minimal ad- kivshchyna also reported the at- government candidates there, vantage (in the number of votes) tempt to apply a similar scheme № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|7 focus|2012 election in District No. 130 (also in Myko- Kherson Oblasts). Quite high re- Overall, this makes at least 16 layiv Oblast), where its single sults were also attained under the districts, where together, candi- candidate, Ihor Brychenko won party lists of opposition forces in dates from the three opposition over Felix Olshevskiy (PR). The the South East (Dnipropetrovsk, forces which had crossed the par- result in District No. 14 in Vinnyt- Kherson, Mykolayiv and even liamentary threshold gained sig- sia also changed radically, where Kharkiv and Odesa Oblasts), nificantly more votes than the on the morning of 31 October, af- where in aggregate, they were pro-government candidates, ter the counting of 100% of the snapping at the heels of the PR. which according to preliminary protocols, Batkivshchyna's Ivan At the same time, because of CEC data, won in the relevant dis- Melnychuk won, and during the mistakes made during the deter- tricts. day, the victory of self-nominated mination of candidates, also as a Meanwhile, there is the im- candidate, Viktor Zherebniuk, result of the passivity of the latter pression that after the parliamen- was announced. and the lack of systematic work tary election, opposition parties The pro-government self- with voters, the opposition lost a are being drawn more actively nominated candidates, who failed significant amount of seats in into conflicts between them- to achieve a review of the results parliament, which gave grounds, selves. This was reflected after of the election in their favour in in some cases, to talk about a lack the break-down of agreements on the DECs, decided to turn to the of wish to win. This is evidenced the mutual agreement of candi- “independent” court. These are by the fact that the rating of the dates in FPTP districts. In this the means taken by Tetiana Za- United Opposition, Svoboda and case, the core of the contention sukha, the wife of the odious for- UDAR candidates in a number of was District No. 95 in Irpin, mer head of the Kyiv Oblast dur- districts in Central and Northern where, after the publication of the ing the Kuchma era, who filed a Ukraine is significantly lower exit poll, when it became clear claim for the recognition of the than that of the party they repre- that the pro-government self invalidity of voting at districts, sent. nominated candidate, Petro Mel- where Viktor Romaniuk, the Bat- The lack of agreements nyk would not win, a battle began kivshchyna candidate, won. among the major opposition between the candidates from Bat- forces on the removal of less pop- kivshchyna and UDAR, who, ac- Defeat at their fault ular candidates in favour of one cording to exit poll data, had at- The sensation of this election was another also had a negative im- tained first and second place. Bat- not only the unexpected high re- pact in their results in the dis- kivshchyna accused UDAR of sult of Svoboda (which the major- tricts, where pro-government ity of the population considered to candidates had been likely to win. The negative consequences be one that is unlikely to cooper- If Batkivshchyna, UDAR and Svo- ate with the government), but also boda had come to an agreement, for the opposition was the a signal from society to the politi- their chances to gain several lack of agreements cians for the latter to stop under- dozen extra districts would have estimating it. Large-scale manipu- soared. This could have been regarding independent lations, particularly the publica- done in all South-Eastern re- tion of clearly customized opinion gions. An analysis of published candidates who made it polls by respected sociological ser- preliminary CEC data shows that into parliament vices and the pressure of adminis- in this case, opposition candi- trative resources raised doubts dates could easily have won at the playing up to Petro Melnyk, while among a significant amount of very least in Districts No. 182 and he, in turn, responded that there politicians and experts as to the 184 in Kherson Oblast, District was no such threat any more, and ability to counteract such pres- No. 132 in Mykolayiv Oblast and that it was necessary to establish sure. The opposition virtually ig- District No. 82 in Zaporizhzhia which of the opposition candi- nored districts in Central and Oblast. In Central Ukraine, the dates had actually won. Bearing Southern Ukraine. A lot of candi- timely removal of a less popular the latest announcements in dates were nominated there, who single candidate could have en- mind, pro-government candi- had neither the chance, nor the sured victory in District No. 66 in dates decided to take advantage will to win. However, the results of Zhytomyr Oblast, District No. 96 of the Irpin precedent in their voting confirmed a well-known in Kyiv Oblast, District Nos. 100 own interests, at the same time, truth that he who tries, will over- and 102 in Kirovohrad Oblast and heating up conflicts between op- come. This was not only the case District No. 199 in Cherkasy position forces. UDAR gave infor- for Svoboda, which gained almost Oblast. mation on a provocation that was twice as many votes in regions It was because of the lack of discovered in District No. 223, that were new to it, than in the an agreed candidate that the op- where self-nominated Viktor Py- previous election, but also for a position forces virtually lost in lypyshyn was running against number of opposition candidates the entire Khmelnytsk Oblast. A Svoboda candidate, Yuriy in districts, which they had al- single candidate representing all Levchenko. On 31 October, two ready given up on (districts where three main opposition forces young men with IDs that were candidates included Oles Dovhiy, would also have won in District allegedly from the UDAR party Halyna Hareha and Viktor Py- Nos. 20 and 21 in Volyn, District newspaper, came to the District lypyshyn in Kyiv, FPTP districts in No. 155 in Rivne Oblast and Dis- Election Commission and started Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Poltava, trict No. 87 in the Ivano- to provoke a conflict with Svo- Sumy, Kirovohrad, Mykolayiv and Frankivsk Oblast. boda representatives. When de- 8|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 2012 election|focus Lo Viory manded to present their ID docu- Having voted la year for a mixed eleion sy em, the opposition, which has signiﬁcantly ments, and after phone calls were greater support in society than the government, has aually programmed its own defeat made to the leadership of Klitsch- The composition of the new parliament, based on the results of voting under the mixed sy em ko’s political force, they quickly (proportional and majority) on 28 Oober disappeared. Opposition Pro-government Victory, really? 185 MPs In spite of everything, PR was unable to win more mandates 265 than it has in the current parliament, even notwithstanding the application of the FPTP system and will have 186–187 mandates. They will obviously com- pensate their shortages with pseudo-independent self-nominated candidates and crossovers from opposition forces. How- ever, there is a fundamental difference from the 2010 election – the awareness of the fact that the Yanukovych regime is in agony. This is why the results of this election will be tricoloured and parliament will be composed of Opposition + PR + self-nomin- pro-government MPs, those self-nominated 180 + 5 = ated candidates 219 + 46 = 265 candidates as 185 as well as MPs from the opposition and repre- well as MPs 120 60 from other 105 114 sentatives of the “mud”. The lat- from other parties parties ter will be guided by personal Batkivshchyna 103 61 42 PR 187 73 114 and business interests, as well as the instinct for self-preserva- UDAR 40 34 6 CPU 32 32 tion, which will determine which course they follow. Among the Svoboda 37 25 12 Independent 51 Candidates self-nominated candidates that and MPs from made it into parliament, there is other parties an element of those, who under current conditions, could try to No. of mandates under No. of mandates under No. of mandates of independent the proportional sy em the majority sy em candidates and MPs from other parties play their own game and display resistance to pressure from the Composition of the new parliament, if it had been formed under the proportional sy em party in power. Under certain (taking into account the results of voting under party li s conditions, they could distance themselves from the pro-government majority. Traditionally, Opposition Pro-government such a scenario is considered to 240 MPs be the most likely one – closer to the 2015 presidential election, as 210 was the case in 2004. However, in fact, this process will be related to the situation, whereby the balance will tip in the opposite direction from the current centre for approving decisions in Ukraine, as opposed to the date. This is why, in spite of the clear distortion of the will of most Ukrainians, the chances for the opposition will largely depend on the ability to join efforts to protect election results and avoid battles for mutual destruction, such as those between Yulia Opposition 240 Government 210 Tymoshenko, Viktor Yushchenko and Arseniy Yatseniuk during Batkivshchyna 122 PR 146 the previous presidential elec- E imates UDAR 68 CPU 64 tion campaign. After all, the of The Ukrainian Week presidential race has clearly be- based on the results of Svoboda 50 the 99.33% of protocols processed by the CEC gun. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|9 Focus|2012 Election Stealing Ukraine: Vote by Vote Indications of falsifications in the national election

The government’s most effec- larly those focused on agricul- Svoboda and several single 1. tive technology in rigging the ture. To reinforce the psycholog- 6. candidates from the opposi- parliamentary election was the ical effect, representatives of the tion were marked as “withdrawn” newly-introduced mixed system. authorities collected copies of on the ballots in some constituen- Three opposition parties enjoyed their passports and signatures cies. an undeniable victory in the confirming their support of the Video cameras recorded mas- party-list vote, gaining from 60% Party of Regions, and threatened 7. sive ballot stuffing, especially to 94% in 16 oblasts of Ukraine. to fire them if they voted for an in Donetsk Oblast and the Irpin However, the Party of Regions’ opposition party or single candi- district of Kyiv Oblast where the nominees and pro-government date. Many were warned that Party of Regions’ Petro Melnyk independent candidates ended up their choice would be monitored was running. winning the FPTP vote in 57 out with video cameras installed at Some voters were given only of 119 constituencies. On the the polling stations. Facts of 8. one ballot to fill in, while the whole, single-candidate constitu- forcing doctors, teachers, and ballot for single candidates was encies gave the Party of Regions employees of utility service pro- held back. 115 seats in the new parliament, viders to give their signatures in Observers noted carousels – The violations men- plus at least 40 “independent” support of the Party of Regions 9.a technology whereby groups tioned in the article are based on reports MPs who are most likely to join were recorded all over Ukraine, of people are driven from one observers shared the pro-government majority, including Western Ukraine and polling station to another to vote with The Ukrainian Week and the analy- and 73 seats gained under the Kyiv. In some places, including several times over; voters cast sis of data on re- party-list vote. If the election had Kharkiv, college students were ballots filled in by falsifiers in ad- corded violations been held under the proportional forced to vote under the control vance and give away their clean shared by international observers and system used before the parlia- of supervisors. unused ballots, or photograph the candidates ment changed the procedure, the According to sources in the ballots they fill in to prove that opposition would now have over Party of Regions, bribing and in- they have voted for the right can- 50% of seats in the parliament, timidation were part of the plan to didate or party – in Odesa and given the outcome of the party- compile a register of voters who Zaporizhzhia Oblasts, Uzhhorod list vote, while the Party of Re- will vote for the party in power in and other regions. gions – even with the Communist given oblasts and regions, which Voters were driven to poll- Party – would end up with less was provided to its local organiza- 10. ing stations in buses. This than 45%. tions from above. technology is not officially illegal, Single candidates bribed vot- Up to 10% of all voters ap- unless it is used as the promotion 2.ers on a massive scale. Some 4.plied to vote at home, many of a specific candidate or party. paid UAH 200 or 300 per vote, of them listing sickness as a cause. Such services were provided mas- making the voters sign documents In the Kharkiv Oblast, the number sively to voters in Zakarpattia, to make sure that they vote for the of such people was 1.5 times Donetsk and other oblasts, by right candidate. Observers, media higher in comparison to the 2010 people cooperating with certain and party activists noted voter local election. Moreover, observ- parties. bribery all over Ukraine. Dispari- ers noted that many people voted The “blue sweater” is a ties in the support of parties from without any documents or certifi- 11. technology whereby com- one political camp and single can- cates proving reasons for such vot- mission members involved in fal- didates from another signals that ing in some FPTP districts. Half of sifications wore signs to make this mechanism was used in a those who voted at home in Cher- sure that certain voters recog- given region. For instance, Bat- kasy Oblast had no proper docu- nized them – this was mostly for kivshchyna won the party-list vote ments to confirm why they could those who intended to vote for in all constituencies in Vinnystia not vote at polling stations. absent voters. Reports on such Oblast, while the United Opposi- All members in many polling activities were forwarded from tion’s single candidates won in 5.stations were directly or indi- several oblasts. UDAR represen- just three of the oblast’s eight sin- rectly controlled by the Party of tatives found this was the case in gle-candidate districts. Regions, according to UDAR, the Orikhiv Region, Zaporizhzhia Voters, especially public which learned this in Sevastopol Oblast, where opposition observ- 3. sector employees, faced in- after calling representatives of ers spent several hours trying to timidation in all oblasts, particu- some DECs. prevent a dozen people who were 10|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 2012 Election|Focus of Regions. In many cases, ob- there or opposition candidates were servers were not allowed into col- obviously winning the election. This onies during the vote, and no was how the work of most DECs in video monitoring was installed at Kyiv and the Kyiv Oblast, where op- special facility polling stations. position candidates were likely to This is where the Party of Regions win, was blocked. won with abnormally high sup- Votes were counted with a port compared to the general 18. considerable lack of trans- election outcome, with some poll- parency. Vote counting for par- ing stations registering as many ties and single candidates in- as 98% of the vote in its favour. cludes two major stages: sorting Opposition representatives also ballots into piles by party and recorded facts where all patients candidates, and then the count- were released from hospitals ing. The most common and easi- right after they voted, or early be- est rigging technology was to sort cause they refused to tell the ad- the ballots quickly without show- ministration whom they were going it to all the people present at ing to vote for. the polling station. The law re- Some commissions found quires DEC members to show 16. their work blocked. Some each ballot to all commission DEC members left commissions members while sorting them into with the ballot boxes, unless they piles, and to announce the party managed the right level of falsifi- or the candidate marked in the cation during the vote at home – ballot out loud. According to the such as in the Holosiyevo District OPORA NGO, its activists found in Kyiv. DEC heads, loyal to the that ballot sorting did not involve party in power, refused to sign the demonstration of which party protocols for other commission or candidate was market in each members in the polling stations ballot in as much as 11% of all not on the voter list at the polling where opposition parties or can- polling stations. Based on reports station, from getting ballots and didates won. Some DEC and poll- from other observers, the share of voting there. ing station commission heads such polling stations amounts to Pens with disappearing ink “disappeared” to avoid signing nearly 40%. 12. were used in a number of the protocols from polling sta- Vote counting was delayed polling stations, including those tions where the party in power or 19. in DECs where opposition in Odesa, the Ivano-Frankivsk its single candidates lost. DECs candidates were likely to win. Oblast and other locations. refused to accept ballots from the These included districts where Most districts in Crimea, polling stations where the pro- the notorious President of the 13. as well as a number of oth- government candidates lost, giv- Tax Academy, Petro Melnyk, ers – especially in South-Eastern ing various lame excuses. Com- turncoat Bohdan Hubsky, and Ukraine - delayed the disclosure mission members who delivered others ran. of voter turnout. ballots from polling stations In many constituencies, Voter turnout in the 20. the Party of Regions’ can- 14. Donetsk Oblast exceeded didates won in the last minutes, the overall turnout in the country Athletic young men blocked as the last 2-4% of the ballots significantly, reaching up to 100% the work of DECs and were counted, beating their rivals in Horlivka, for instance, despite by several hundred votes. exit polls showing that the voters polling station In a number of constituen- there were significantly less will- commissions, especially 21. cies, phantom vote results ing to go the election compared to were entered into the Election the rest of the country. when serious violations Electronic System. CEC Deputy Surprising results of the were found there or Chairman, Zhanna Usenko- 15. vote in special facilities, Chorna, admitted this: “We have such as prisons, hospitals and the opposition candidates were a list of districts where the data like. The party in power often ex- obviously winning the entered into the Election software erted pressure on them to im- differs from that reported in the prove its ratings in the election. election protocols with an original ink seal The penal colony in Berdychiv, where the opposition had been that was signed by commission Zhytomyr Oblast, that was No. 70 projected to win earlier to DECs members. There are quite a few in District No. 63, was a telling were intentionally made to wait such districts in Ukraine.” example: its prisoners gave 237 long hours – or days – to exhaust Many DECs and polling votes for the Party of Regions and them and make them less vigi- 22. station commissions re- only 163 for Batkivshchyna, lant. fused to respectively register and which is abnormal for a constitu- Athletic young men blocked accept complaints about various ency where 43.77% of all voters 17.the work of DECs and polling violations. Reports of this came supported Batkivshchyna com- station commissions, especially from all over Ukraine during the pared to just 16.27% for the Party when serious violations were found voting and counting. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|11 focus|2012 election The Fir -Pa -the-Po Element The opposition won from 55% to 90% of votes in 16 obla s out of 24 and Kyiv. However, the ﬁr -pa -the-po component brought the Party of Regions and pro-government independent candidates viories in 57 out of 119 con ituencies 13

Volyn Obla Kyiv 5 1 5 5 5 1 5 1 Chernihiv Obla

Rivne Obla Zhytomyr Obla Kyiv Obla Sumy Obla Poltava Kharkiv Khmelnytsk Obla 12 Obla Obla 5 9 Cherkasy Luhansk Obla Obla 14 Vinnytsia Obla 7 1 Lviv Obla 7 11 Ternopil 8 Ivano- Obla Donetsk Zakarpattia Frankivsk Obla 7 Obla 17 Obla 3 3 Kirovohrad Obla 4 1 Dnipropetrovsk 21 7 Obla Chernivtsi 4Obla Odesa Obla Mykolayiv Zaporizhia Obla Obla The total number of di ris in Ukraine 9 6 111 114 160 5 65 11 Kherson Obla Di ris where opposition parties won

Di ris where pro-government parties (Party of Regions, Communi Party of Ukraine) won Di ris where opposition single candidates, including pro-opposition independent candidates, 10 won

Di ris where the ruling party’s single candidates, Crimea including pro-government independent candidates, won 2 Seva opol The Ukrainian Week’s e imates are based on 99.33% of the protocols processed by CEC

12|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 2012 election|focus The dependent “independent” candidates The Ukrainian Week offers projections on which parties the independent FPTP candidates and those from parties that did not make it The Fir -Pa -the-Po Element into the parliament are likely to join in the new parliament. Most are business owners and virtually all of them are likely to vote in The opposition won from 55% to 90% of votes in 16 obla s out of 24 accordance with the Party of Regions. At least 46 of the 51 “independent” MPs will turn out to be loyal to the government and Kyiv. However, the ﬁr -pa -the-po component brought the Party of Regions and pro-government independent candidates viories in 57 Crimea Zhytomyr Oblast out of 119 con ituencies Lev Myrymskyi (Union party) Anzhelika Labunska Party of Regions 13 Vinnytsia Oblast Volodymyr Lytvyn Party of Regions Petro Poroshenko Party of Regions (may join Batkivshchyna or UDAR un- Viktor Rozvadovsky Party of Regions der some circumstances) Zakarpattia Oblast Viktor Zherebniuk Party of Regions Viktor Baloha (Yedynyi Tsentr – The United Centre) Party of Regions (may Oksana Kaletnyk Party of Regions join the opposition under some circumstances) Hryhoriy Zabolotnyi Poroshenko’s man (may join Batkivshchyna or UDAR Pavlo Baloha (Yedynyi Tsentr – The United Centre) Party of Regions (may under some circumstances). UDAR supported him as candidate in the join the opposition under some circumstances) Volyn Obla election Vasyl Petiovka (Yedynyi Tsentr – The United Centre) Party of Regions Kyiv 5 1 Volyn Oblast (may join the opposition under some circumstances) Serhiy Martyniak Unknown Zaporizhia Oblast 5 5 Stepan Ivakhiv Party of Regions Oleksandr Ponomariov Party of Regions 5 1 Ihor Palytsia Party of Regions Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast Ihor Yeremeev Party of Regions Yuriy Derevianko Party of Regions 5 1 Chernihiv Obla Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Oleksandr Doniy UDAR Yakiv Bezbakh Party of Regions Kyiv Oblast Rivne Obla Sumy Vitaliy Chudnovsky Party of Regions Zhytomyr Obla Kyiv Obla Serhiy Mishchenko Batkivshchyna or UDAR Obla Luhansk Oblast Poltava Kharkiv Volodymyr Struk Party of Regions Khmelnytsk Obla 12 Obla Obla Lviv Oblast 5 9 Cherkasy Luhansk Yaroslav Dubnevych Party of Regions Obla Obla Odesa Oblast Vinnytsia Obla 14 Ihor Markov Party of Regions 7 1 Serhiy Hrynevetskyi (The People’s Party) Party of Regions Lviv Obla 7 11 Ternopil Davyd Zhvania Party of Regions Ivano- 8 Anton Kisse Party of Regions Zakarpattia Obla 7 Donetsk Poltava Oblast Frankivsk Obla Obla Obla 17 Yuriy Shapovalov Party of Regions Oleh Kulinich Party of Regions 3 3 Volodymyr Pylypenko Unknown (most likely the Party of Regions) Kirovohrad Obla 4 1 Dnipropetrovsk 21 Kostiantyn Zhevaho Party of Regions 7 Obla Sumy Oblast Chernivtsi 4Obla Odesa Obla Mykolayiv Zaporizhia Oleksandr Volkov Is likely to join the Party of Regions despite his pre-elec- Obla tion loyalty to Batkivshchyna Obla Ihor Molotok Party of Regions The total number of di ris in Ukraine Kherson Oblast Fedir Nehoy Party of Regions 9 Khmelnytsk Oblast 6 Serhiy Labaziuk Party of Regions 111 114 160 5 Serhiy Buriak Party of Regions 65 11 Viktor Bondar Unknown (most likely the Party of Regions) Kherson Oleksandr Hereha Party of Regions Obla Volodymyr Melnychenko Party of Regions Di ris where opposition parties won Cherkasy Oblast Volodymyr Zubyk Party of Regions Di ris where pro-government parties (Party of Regions, Bohdan Hubskyi* Party of Regions Communi Party of Ukraine) won Viktor Tymoshenko Party of Regions Di ris where opposition single candidates, Valentyn Nychyporenko Party of Regions including pro-opposition independent candidates, 10 Chernihiv Oblast won Vladyslav Atroshenko Party of Regions Ihor Rybakov Party of Regions Oleh Laishko (Radical Party of Oleh Liashko) Unknown (most likely UDAR) Di ris where the ruling party’s single candidates, Crimea including pro-government independent candidates, Ivan Kurovskyi Party of Regions won Seva opol Mykola Rudkovskyi Party of Regions 2 Kyiv The Ukrainian Week’s e imates are based on 99.33% of the protocols processed by CEC *When this article was prepared, his victory was not obvious. The analysis is based on the processed 98.32% of protocols Viktor Pylypyshyn* Party of Regions

№ 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|13 focus|2012 election Dame Audrey Glover on the lack of a level playing field in the Ukrainian election

he election observation mission from the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions Tand Human Rights (OSCE/ ODIHR) was one of the key observation missions to the Ukrai- nian parliamentary election alongside the OSCE Parliamen- tary Assembly, the Council of Eu- rope, NATO and European MPs. It employs deep analysis of the election process and a clear methodology. OSCE/ODIHR Head Dame Audrey Glove talks to The Ukrainian Week about the mission’s observations. UW: Your mission has been to folloed the election campaign since the beginning of Septem- ber. Can you share your observa-

Opinion Not Quite “Free and Fair” he initial review of the parliamentary gression of democracy must be condemned. elections in Ukraine by the OSCE, the For a return to democratic rules, it is essential Council of Europe, ODIHR and the del- that representatives of the OSCE, Council of Eu- Tegation of the European Parliament is rope and European Parliament have expressed very negative in tone, although in the opin- their disapproval. ion of observers, the election was well orga- Once again, instances of voter coercion were nized and mostly adhered to regulations. reported. Voters were threatened with firing, The biggest problems were related to the not only from government jobs but also private counting process, which lasted into the third companies. Votes were bought. Direct night. candidates were willing to pay more than ever In order to determine whether the elections for a single vote. Some people were observed were free and fair, more needs to be evaluated voting multiple times as the carousel technol- than simply the election day events. Thanks to ogy1 was used. It is not yet clear to what extent the long-term observers of the OSCE and the these manipulations could affect the outcome. Author: Rebecca Harms, strong commitment of Ukrainian observers, But there are still more reasons for the harsh Co-President of the The Greens– many problems were discovered, leading to reviews. European Free Alliance group in the the harsh review on the day after the election. According to observation findings, the current European parliament Even if these problems are not all new, any re- electoral law does not suit the country’s needs. 14|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 2012 election|focus BIO as well as a lack of balanced me- Preliminary reaction of the international community Dame Audrey Glover is a UK human dia coverage. Certain aspects of In their statement on the Ukrainian election, Foreign Affairs Minis- rights lawyer. From 1994-1997, she the pre-election period consti- ter John Baird and International Cooperation Minister Julian Fan- tino say that the “elections are a key benchmark in Ukraine's demo- was the Director of the ODIHR, and tuted a step backwards in com- headed the UK Delegation to the UN cratic development and are indicative of worrying trends in the coun- Human Rights Commission from 1998 parison to recent national elec- try's progress towards achieving its democratic aspirations... to 2003. More recently, she has tions. However, voters had a Irregularities observed during the campaign created an uneven play- headed OSCE/ODIHR election observa- choice between distinct parties. ing field which may have interfered with the ability of citizens to tion missions, including those to Geor- The election day was calm and freely express their electoral will... Ukraine has made substantial peaceful overall. For the most democratic strides since 1992 and it is disheartening that this year's gia and Azerbaijan (2010), Albania parliamentary elections do not appear to have measured up to (2009), Italy and the US (2008) and part, voting and counting were Ukraine's past democratic performance.” Ukraine (2007). assessed positively. Tabulation was assessed negatively as it UK’s Minister forE urope David Lidington: tions on the whole electoral pro- lacked transparency. We are con- “Ukraine’s parliamentary elections were disappointing. Although vot- cess in Ukraine? How has the tinuing to monitor the process. ers were presented with a wide range of choices, International Election situation changed compared to Observers found evidence that these choices were restricted through, for example, an unbalanced media environment, a lack of transpar- the previous national election UW: What major technologies ency in the way the final results were collated, and the absence of campaign in 2007? were used to rig the election? leading opposition candidates imprisoned as a result of unsoundly ap- – The new mixed electoral plied law. We regret that Ukraine wasted an opportunity to show firm – The OSCE/ODIHR election system with MPs for half the seats and consistent commitment to democratic principles. observation mission has been in being elected by the proportional The UK sees enormous potential in Ukraine as a European neighbour and partner. As a strong supporter of Ukraine’s European aspirations, Ukraine since 10 September. The system and for the other half by a we urge the new Ukrainian government, when it is formed, to address Core Team is comprised of 20 single mandate has changed the what needs to be done to bring new vigour to the process of building members, including election, polit- dynamics of these elections. The and sustaining healthy and robust democratic institutions.” ical and legal analysts and a media competitive nature of the cam- analyst with a team of assistants. paign was negatively affected by European Parliament President Martin Schulz: We were joined shortly afterwards cases of violence, intimidation, "Noting the preliminary conclusions of international observers from the OSCE/ODIHR mission, I regret that many shortcomings marred the by 90 long-term observers who harassment and vote buying. ballot. I am concerned by the lack of a level playing field among politi- were briefed and deployed around Candidates were prevented from cal forces caused, among other reasons, by the abuse of administra- the country. During their time here getting their message across to tive resources." they have been observing the whole voters. Numerous violations were election process, including the observed or substantiated by The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland: “...breaches were observed election campaign, and reporting long-term observers during the during the elections, including the use of administrative pressure, the lack of transparency in financing political parties and restricting access regularly to the Core Team. 600 campaign. Most worrying is the to the media for opposition and independent candidates. For those short-term observers joined us for fact that the campaign was reasons, the election process did not fully conform to democratic stan- the election day. marred by the abuse of adminis- dards.” Our preliminary findings are trative resources, blurring the that these elections were charac- distinction between the state and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Enlargement Commis- terized by the lack of a level play- the ruling party in contravention sioner Stefan Füle: "We reiterate our regret that the consequences of trials that did not ing field, caused primarily by the of Ukraine’s OSCE commitments. respect international standards have prevented opposition representa- abuse of administrative re- tives from standing in the parliamentary elections and call on the -au sources, lack of transparency of UW: At which stages of the elec- thorities to address this matter and take further steps to reform the ju- the campaign and party funding, toral process did your mission diciary to avoid their recurrence.” Photo: Ukrinform Photo: Opinion FPTP system exacerbates the temptation for cor- regarding the processes of counting and docu- who do not serve themselves, but their coun- ruption. In this situation, the opposition parties mentation, a review should be considered. try. Andreas Gross of the Council of Europe had no chance to obtain a fair number of con- It's a bad sign when a leading opposition fig- said: “A democratic election is more than a Not Quite “Free and Fair” stituencies despite considerable electoral sup- ure like Yuriy Lutsenko must speak to election contest in which oligarchs pay to win," and port shown earlier. Opposition candidates were observers from a jail cell. Working for the "citizens are the source of democracy." It disqualified for “technical” reasons. Complaints OSCE, Walburga Habsburg Douglas traced the would be a big step if the results were not re- were rarely investigated during the campaign. dark shadow that lies over this election. Yulia written by turncoats to provide the Party of Candidates from the Party of Regions and their Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko are in prison Regions with a majority. We need to give friends from “technical parties” took advantage because the president and his government careful consideration to the reasons for the of their institutional power to snatch up voters want them there. The report by Pat Cox and success of UDAR and also Svoboda. for themselves. Stories about the financial gifts Alexander Kwasniewski also describes this se- These elections were not free and fair in ac- granted to schools, hospitals and playgrounds lective justice. Both make it clear that in a de- cordance with OSCE standards. The European are ceaseless. mocracy, the success or failure of a govern- Union must state this and then increase their Unequal opportunities for single candidates ment is decided by voters and elections, not efforts for a new democratic start in Ukraine. have been confirmed. Moreover, access to me- by prosecutors in courtrooms. Politically moti- We have a commitment to provide criticism. dia, especially the medium of television, was vated judicial systems are incompatible with The dispute over the Association Agreement unfairly restricted for the opposition. The state free elections. must not obscure the urgency of Ukraine’s television reported on the ruling party more The ruling party would not have achieved a need for a good visa agreement with the EU. often and in a more positive light. The district majority without the abuse of institutional We must at last enable the citizens of Eu- election commissions were also unequally power. In my view of Kyiv, it is still important rope's largest neighbouring country to travel staffed in favor of the government, facilitating that a majority of citizens support the opposi- freely. the manipulation of the counting and record- tion, despite all doubts. And that these ma- 1 A technology whereby groups of people are driven from polling sta- ing processes. In light of the many complaints jorities want to be represented by politicians tion to polling station to vote over and over again № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|15 focus|2012 election discover facts of falsifications? UW: What to do you think about electoral system it would like to What were they? the efficiency of the first-past- have. We commented in our state- – The OSCE observation the-post system in Ukrainian ment that the new mixed electoral mission is an ongoing process. conditions? Most Europeans system has changed the dynamics of It observes the whole electoral countries conduct mixed elec- these elections. This new electoral cycle. We have long-term ob- tions in two stages. Ukraine had law was adopted without the re- servers monitoring, checking it all in one day. Almost 50% of quired wide consensual discussion and clarifying events during the Ukrainian voters did not know and reintroduced some deficiencies whole time. If we find anything, that they also had to vote for which were noted previously. The we reflect this in our Interim single candidates. law includes some important im- Reports. During the course of – It is the sovereign right of a provements although it also con- the mission, we published two country to choose whichever form of tains a number of shortcomings. such reports. We also issued our Preliminary Findings and Con- clusion on the day after the election. We will be publishing a Fi- Foreign observers share their nal Report in about two months. It will reflect our observations opinion on the election of the election cycle on the whole and provide recommen- dations on how to improve elec- Peter Novotny, Head of time, significant abuses of power by some offi- ENEMO Mission: “Com- cials significantly affected the fairness of the toral legislation and practices. pared to previous 2006 whole election process. The introduction of sin- and 2007 parliamentary gle-mandate electoral districts had a pretty UW: Shortly after the voting, elections, ENEMO mission negative impact on the election given the politi- Ukrainian officials attempted to observed in a significantly cal situation and specific experience of the persuade Ukrainian society and higher number of cam- country. This intensified political polarization in part of the international com- paign violations, abuse of the country and increased risks linked with vote munity that this election was administrative resources, buying, the use of black PR, intimidation of po- free and transparent. To what voter bribery, harassment and intimidation of tential candidates and the use of administrative extent is this in line with your candidates and campaign workers and intimida- resource, all of which was demonstrated by the mission’s observations? tion of journalists inc the pre-election period. The reports coming in.” political landscape of 2012 elections was also in- – We have our methodology fluenced by imprisonment of two prominent op- Viola von Cramon, Mem- for observing elections and our position figures, Yulia Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lut- ber of the German dele- mandate is to observe and assess senko. The new election legislation also opened gation at PACE and OSCE the entire electoral process in line space for “technical parties” to win excessive observer, commented with OSCE commitments, other membership in district election commissions and that there were no big international standards and na- to organize system of massive replacements. As and obvious manipula- tional legislation. But we are not a result, the work of district election commission tions during the vote, but here to legitimize the elections or was negatively affected by high number ofre- many of those happened declare them valid or invalid. The placements by technical parties and by partisan before the election. Ear- confrontation. Cases of pressure, closed door lier reports by various observers clearly show Office for Democratic Institutions sessions, limited access for observers to deci- that. One is the procedure to set up election and Human Rights would be will- sions and documents raised serious concerns commissions in a way to let very few opposition ing to offer assistance to the au- about transparency and integrity of DEC work.” representatives or people from small parties who thorities if they should require it. had barely anything to do with the election be That is part of the ODIHR meth- Chair of Canada's Election Observation Mission members of election commissions. All observers odology. Raynell Andreychuk: assumed that this election could hardly be free “Taking into account ob- and fair. Repressions, mostly aimed against the UW: What was the role of the servation results received opposition, took place on a massive scale, espe- media in the election cam- by us, we can state that cially in single-candidate constituencies. In 44 paign? the election process on out of 80 constituencies, numerous cases of in- October 28 had certain timidation – sometimes physical harm – oc- – We conducted the monitor- drawbacks in many re- curred. The way election commissions were set ing of seven main TV stations, as gions, which do not allow up and games with commission members prove well as the print media. The cam- as to describe the elec- that someone had been trying to use all the le- paign coverage in the news and tions as absolutely fair.... verage they could use prior to the election. current affairs programmes was These elections demonstrated a certain regress limited to the most popular TV in democracy.” Jürgen Klimke, CDU/CSU channels of those we monitored. Member of Bundestag This may have negatively affected Markus Meckel, Chair- and OSCE observer: “The voters’ access to different politi- man of the Civil Society Ukrainian election was a cal views. The fact that the Election Observation Mis- masterpiece of deceit. No sion (CSEOM): “Despite obvious falsifications took amount of paid political advertis- all of the drawbacks, the place at the polling sta- ing was five times higher indi- elections process was tion I observed, and the cates that political parties re- competitive, and this al- vote went smoothly and quired significant financial means lowed voters to express without restrictions. How- in order to reach out to voters. their political prefer- ever, the election had been rigged skilfully be- State TV displayed a clear bias in ences... At the same fore it even started.” favour of the ruling party. 16|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Opinion|focus Old and New Ways to Distort the Voting n Sunday evening – the day of election - I was ing station to its delivery in the district election com- suddenly struck by some optimism! The poll- mission to see if it is registered accurately. An im- ing stations in Brovary were ok. The pictures of portant moment is when parallel counting can prove Othe candidates were on the wall in alphabetical that the figures announced at the polling station are order and I found some observers from the real oppo- similar to those announced in the district election sition parties among the many “technical” observers commission. who not always remembered whom they represented But in district 97 the possibility for such observa- when asked. At this optimistic moment, I was watching tion was surprisingly poor. There was only a small, the counting at a polling station in district 97. The pro- narrow area where about 10 people could gather to cess went very slowly – but it was mainly fine. watch the results of 130 polling stations. The first When they started the counting, a journalist told box arrived around midnight from a little village me that the exit polls for the nationwide election with a small number of voters. The registration showed around 60% to 40% in favour of the opposition was extremely slow and included bouts of arguing parties. I was still aware of the possibility that the Party and reading of some complicated rules. At 4 a.m. of Regions could win many of the first-past-the-post many observers left to sleep – by that time, only a few Author: districts, but the exit polls in “my” constituency gave polling stations had been registered and other delega- Hanne 32% to the Klitschko party candidate, compared to tions were queued in long lines. When I returned at 11 Severinsen, 18% for the Party of Regions' candidate. a.m. on Tuesday, the commission was locked and OSCE observer Could it be that the result would be favourable to busses began to show up waiting in the rain for the those opposition parties who had made an agreement commission to open. Many had been sent back to the to withdraw candidates in support of the local candi- polling station to correct the protocols. This hap- date with the best chance to win earlier? For a few pened especially to those from the areas where you hours, I tried to picture the possibility that the Party of could suspect opposition to be popular. Stalin said Regions' majority in the new parliament – which it got that it doesn't matter how the votes are cast, but how thanks to the many turncoats after 2010 – would dis- they are counted. But it also seems to matter how they appear! How would the President react? Would he still are registered. be able to decide on the composition of a new govern- In a fair election it is important that you are able to ment? Could we avoid a see — in public — the re- constitutional amend- One can tell the President: sults of all polling stations. ment to cement the power If we only have the final of an unpopular presi- the good news is — you result after a week, then dent? For a moment I won; the bad news is that no-one knows what has hoped that the excessive happened in between. misuse of administrative the voters did not support False parties and clone resources could not stop you parties had been set up the voters from showing just to give a big majority their anger at the government. The misuse of ad- to the Party of Regions in election commissions and ministrative resources in district 97 among many distort the votes. Threats to local personnel, bribes other things included a newspaper paid for by tax- and all sorts of rigging were used in the election. I payers' money that was distributed to all citizens and fully agree with the words from the OSCE: “Considering included 32 pictures and an advertisement lauding the the abuse of power, and the excessive role of money in many good things the Party of Region's candidate had this election, democratic progress appears to have re- done and intended to do and nothing about any of the versed in Ukraine. One should not have to visit a prison other candidates. On top of this, there were several to hear from leading political figures in the country.”And leaflets with strange rumours about the main opposi- this from PACE: “Ukrainians deserved better from these tion candidate: that he was a CIA spy, that he was an- elections. The ‘oligarchization’ of the entire process nulled from the list because he was a Russian citizen, means that citizens have lost their ownership of the elec- that he intended to spoil the environment with a fac- tion, as well as their trust in it.” tory and so on. The combination of a bad election law and bad vot- But then the first results began to come in. And I ing process means that one can tell the President: the realized that I had only been dreaming. The reality was good news is — you won; the bad news is that the vot- that the opposition figures in the nationwide part of ers did not support you. the election shrunk during the night and the next day. In 2002, we saw that the Orange majority disap- And that in district 97 the opposition candidate was far peared after the election, when the “independents” from winning according to the first real results. drifted to what is today the Party of Regions. At that Observers are always told to stay in their polling time, it was said that we should change the system in station until the counting ends and follow the proto- order to avoid this in future elections. But 10 years af- cols, ballot paper and other material from the poll- ter, the situation is even worse. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|17 focus|2012 election Legitimizing the Regime Why some international observers did not notice violations during the Ukrainian election Author: he application by the Ukrai- among those who offered an in- Oleksandr nian government of manipu- teresting selection of flattering Horyn lative technology during this reviews on Ukrainian democracy. Tyear’s parliamentary elec- Russian observer and member of tion was accompanied by steps for the Public Chamber of Russia, its legitimization in the eyes of the Sergei Markov, stated that the international community. In addi- Ukrainian election “was success- tion to the powerful informational ful, democratic and in line with a trumpeting of the pro-government standard, that is even higher than media, which constantly reminded in several countries of the Euro- everyone of the democratic nature pean Union.” At a briefing at the and integrity of the election and press centre of the Diplomatic the insignificant number of viola- Academy of the Ministry of For- tions recorded at polling stations, eign Affairs of Ukraine by an ob- an equally important manipula- server from the European Centre tive function was played by those of Geopolitical Analysis, Daniël who gave positive assessments of van der Stoep, from the Nether- the election on behalf of part of lands, stated that the campaign the corps of observers, who sym- was honest and fair, and that its pathize with the Yanukovych re- organization was even better than gime. in several Western countries. In the view of the Israeli interna- Praise to the lack of tional mission, ICES, the parlia- common sense mentary election in Ukraine is le- These were mostly observers from gitimate and complies with inter- CIS member-states and the repre- national standards of election fellows with the victory, and as- sentatives of little-known organi- law. Observers from the CIS and sure everyone that the interna- zations in European countries, GUAM did not see any significant tional community recognized the which throughout 28 October, violations. transparency and integrity of the prior to the closing of the polling The Ministry of Foreign Af- election. “The election was calm stations, attested to the mass me- fairs of Ukraine rushed ahead of and normal in the view of all for- dia, that the election were being the flattering rhetoric that was eign observers, without any excep- conducted under ideal conditions, massively transmitted in the tions,” he stated, though not a sin- while the minor violations that Ukrainian media. On election day, gle official delegation of observers they discovered, could not impact without waiting for the polling sta- had given their assessment by that the result of the voting. Quite a tions to officially close, Ukrainian time. On the following day, the few foreign guests even visited diplomats held an international Ministry of Foreign Affairs of polling stations, accompanied by conference where Kostyantyn Ukraine confidently declared that representatives of the Ukrainian Hryshchenko greeted foreign ob- “most international observers government. More specifically, in servers (their list is not on the site gave the voting and the counting Zakarpattia, observers from Slova- of the MFA) with “the election that process a positive assessment.” kia, Russia, Israel and the USA was once more conducted with in- Later, some Western diplo- personally met with the Head of tegrity, transparency and in com- mats reinforced this rosy mood of the Oblast State Administration, pliance with legislation” noting the celebration of Ukrainian de- Oleksandr Ledyda. that “rumours of the demise of mocracy. The former president of Ultimately, this category of Ukrainian democracy were signifi- PACE, the Deputy Head of the observers was the fastest and cantly exaggerated”, and that the Pace parliamentary election ob- most approving in their state- country’s leadership had passed servation mission, Mevlüt ments and conclusions. The Chi- its democracy test. Çavuşoğlu (known for the cooper- nese mass media including the Immediately after the an- ation with authoritarian regimes Xinhua News Agency, the “Peo- nouncement of exit poll results, on post-Soviet territories during ple’s Daily” newspaper and Inter- Ukraine’s Premier Mykola Azarov his presidency of the Council of national Chinese Radio were was quick to greet all in his party Europe) declared that the issue of 18|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 2012 election|focus Pawel Kowal, attention to the transparency and and Human Rights (ODIHR), the Head of the democratic nature of the election OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, delegation of process, based simply on the ob- PACE and NATO at a joint briefing observers from the European servation of the actual course of of these five most influential ob- the voting. Meanwhile, most vio- servation missions, his position * Parliament, surprised his lations prior to and after the vot- was seen as being extremely un- colleagues with ing were beyond their purview. clear compared to that of other a non-critical Moreover, quite a few of them delegations, which shocked many stand on the stopped working immediately af- European MPs. violations ter the closure of the polling sta- In his interview with Dziennik during the tions and the start of vote-count- Polski, he noted that he had not election ing, having considered that they received any signals regarding fal- had completed their mission and sification in the Ukrainian elec- thus allowing the government to tion, mentioning only cases of the use an entire arsenal of means to restriction of access to the mass rig the results. media for the opposition and the This is where the differences absence of equal opportunities for in the evaluation of the Ukrainian all political forces, and remarked election stem from, even on the that for the post-Soviet space, the part of delegations from influen- Ukrainian election was not the tial international institutions and worst, although “a slight worsen- states. Together with the above- ing” was seen compared to the mentioned conclusions of Mevlüt post-Orange Revolution period. It Çavuşoğlu, who extravagantly appears that such a non-critical complimented Ukrainian democ- position of the head of the Euro- racy, many European politicians pean Parliament’s delegation was were amazed by the declarations also caused by the transformation of the Head of the delegation of of the special mission of many Pol- observers from the European Par- ish politicians and diplomats from liament, Pawel Kowal. On the the advocates of Ukraine into dis- Sunday press conference at the guised defenders of the Yanu- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of kovych regime, advancing the idea Ukraine, he expressed his expecta- of cooperation with him in Euro- tions that the election in Ukraine pean circles. could become an impulse for its In a comment for The Ukrai- *Party of European integration (and this in nian Week, Rebecca Harms at- Regions, spite of the already known numer- tested to the lack of unity among Ukraine ous violations by the party in the members of the EU delegation power, that had been recorded in determining the problems in the parliamentary campaign in during the election campaign, and the Ukrainian election process Ukraine being illegal would not be the imprisonment of the opposi- that were reported by other mis- raised in PACE, since the majority tion leaders). On 29 October, cit- sions, which had conducted their of observers had evaluated elec- ing the preliminary data of observ- observation for a longer period of tion day as being “good” or “very ers, he declared that most MPs in time. These included voter brib- good”. He also expressed the view ing, carousels, the lack of trans- that the conviction of former Pre- parency of vote-counting and mier Yulia Tymoshenko should Quite a few Polish many more. “It was a huge sur- not influence the recognition of politicians and diplomats prise to me, when four members the legitimacy of the election. of our delegation from the Pro- transformed from gressive Alliance of Socialists and A trap for observers advocates of Ukraine into Democrats made a statement to Ukrainian government had the press on 30 October in Brus- counted far too much on the in- disguised defenders of the sels, in which they noted that ev- ternational observers, who came Yanukovych regime, erything was fine with the elec- to Ukraine to keep an eye on the tion, so let’s get to work. In my actual course of the vote, during advancing the idea of view, this is a premature assess- which no appalling falsifications cooperation with him in ment. The counting of votes is still were found. The Party of Regions on-going, there are a lot of com- did not hesitate to use a variety of European circles plaints, and they have to be re- dirty technologies on the eve, and viewed. In no way is it possible to after the election, yet it tried to the European Parliament had not give a final evaluation right now. It whitewash the entire campaign recorded significant violations of is necessary to take into account with just the actual election day election legislation. Although he all the complaints and shortcom- that seemed to go relatively later confirmed the critical obser- ings that we receive from observa- smoothly. Some inattentive West- vations of his colleagues from the tion missions and members of ern guests found themselves in European Parliament, OSCE Of- election commissions,” she com- this trap, drawing international fice for Democratic Institutions mented. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|19 Security|Global powers AMERICA’S GLOBAL DISORDER The United States is restricting its global role and reducing its exposure to global disorder for financial, political and strategic reasons. However, speculations of America's permanent decline are premature Author: Janusz Bugajski, Senior Associate in the Europe Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington D.C.

eopolitical analysts have failed to define the post- Cold War era. No single Gphrase has encapsulated the dramatic shifts of power witnessed in the past two decades and which continue to generate confusion among observers and policymakers. Having been the central actor in this historic transformation, the United States is now restricting its global role and reducing its exposure to global disorder. Changing polarities Twenty years ago the world was a predictable place, divided between the two major powers. While the U.S. had a belt of voluntary allies within its sphere of influence, the Soviet Union possessed a camp of coerced satellites. In between the two superpowers were a string of neutral or non-aligned countries that made little difference to the global "correlation of forces." The two major powers did not attempt to seize each other's allies, although the struggle for influence periodically resulted in proxy conflicts in the Third World. The era of predictable "bipolarity" ended when the Soviet Union disintegrated and its European empire was liberated. For the next twenty years, the U.S. was the un- disputed global power with seemingly limitless political and military capabilities. This phase has been described as the "unipolar moment" 20|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Global powers|Security and its zenith was reached after the gle country was equipped to replace always acting unilaterally or de- terrorist attacks on 11 September America’s extensive global role. ploying globally. Moreover, al- 2001. Washington launched two Contrary to the aspirations of though global "bipolarity" is no major military operations in Iraq ambitious capitals such as Mos- longer feasible, "bipolar" or even and Afghanistan and was seemingly cow and Beijing, the immediate "tripolar" conditions are now visi- invincible in achieving its goals in future will not be neatly "multipo- ble in different regions. For exam- the "war against terror." lar," a concept that assumes the ple, in Central Asia and in East However, unipolarity turned world is divided into regions in Asia, China, Russia, and the U.S., out to be a briefer interlude than which legitimate "poles of power" are all competing for influence multipolarity. This was not because dominate. Much more likely is a and the affected states are en- any single power emerged to coun- protracted struggle for regional gaged in delicate balancing acts to ter the U.S., but because Washing- zones of influence by larger states maintain their independence. ton could not continue two pro- in the midst of resistance by The concept of "polarity" has longed wars while maintaining its smaller powers against outside several limitations. It assumes extensive military posture else- dominance. that a large country possesses suf- where. Although several regional The U.S. will remain the single ficient attraction to become a powers raised their profile, no sin- strongest power but not capable of magnetic force vis-a-vis its neighbours. Instead, an assertive government may cajole its neighbours to grudgingly recognize its tempo- rary dominance, but this will generate little loyalty. Putin’s planned Eurasia Union is an instructive example of the process of pressured polarity. "Polarity" underesti- mates the interests of smaller and medium sized countries, by plac- ing them within the ambitions of larger regional powers. It can be used as a smokescreen for neo- imperial interference that places limits on the independence of numerous subordinated capitals. Re- lations between Russia and its former Soviet republics underscore this phenomenon. "Non-polarity" does not auto- matically mean international chaos as the multipolar theorists claim. The idea of "chaos" assumes a life and death struggle between competing states. Although this could be the case in parts of Africa and the Middle East, in other regions the absence of hege- mony could encourage countries to cooperate precisely in order to avoid chaos or dominance. In reality, the self-appointed "polar" powers may themselves be the source of conflict, either with each other or by following a policy of "divide and rule." Instead of ensuring stability and security, the struggle for "multipolarity" can actually engender conflict, especially where two or more powers compete for predominance while smaller states resist their pres- sures or even deliberately provoke conflicts between them. America declining or disengaging? In this polar arithmetic, America's global reach is declining for three core reasons: financial, political, № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|21 Security|Global powers and strategic. Following the global financial crisis and the rapidly climbing U.S. debt, defense spending is being reduced, including funding for “overseas contingen- cies.” For instance, the USD 702.8bn defense budget for 2012 is about USD 36bn below the estimated 2011 budget, a reduction of roughly 5%. The five-year projec- tion is even more stringent, as the 2016 budget may be 13% below that of 2011. Such cuts will most probably lead to a force structure that is at least 10% smaller than today. A reduced force could lead to inade- quate responses to crises in multiple regions. For example, it would be difficult for the U.S. to deal with simultaneous threats in the Far East, South Asia, and the Middle East. Politically, Washington's focus during the presidential race is on nounced by the Pentagon in June tive of this approach, but it is too the resuscitation of the sluggish envisions an American “pivot” to- simplistic. U.S. economy, where unemploy- ward East Asia and a reduction in Brazil has no significant strate- ment remains high and growth is U.S. forces stationed in Europe. gic reach and is confined to South almost static. Disputes also rage America now defines itself in- America. Russia faces a major social over whether urgent action is creasingly as a Pacific rather than and political implosion especially if needed to cut budget deficits and re- an Atlantic power and the Penta- its energy revenues seriously de- duce the USD16 trillion national gon is evacuating two of its four cline and the middle class loses pa- debt. Foreign policy only figures brigades in Europe. This will ex- tience with Putin. India is wracked marginally in the election cam- tend the timeline during which paign, with President Barack military reinforcements can be As a result of restricted Obama claiming several significant rushed to Europe in the event of successes, especially in killing conflict. More of the burden for resources and a focus on Osama bin Laden and evacuating common defense will thereby be regions beyond Europe, U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghani- shifted toward the Allies at a time stan. when the Europeans are cutting Washington is not investing Meanwhile, the Republican their own forces. significantly in developing challenger, Mitt Romney has been EU downsizing and U.S. relo- critical of the White House for al- cation will also affect future con- relations with the EU and is legedly neglecting Israeli security, flict prevention and humanitarian no longer prodding for maintaining warm relations with operations in which Washington an aggressive Russia, and paying will not necessarily take the lead- Union enlargement and insufficient attention to European ing role. Analysts fear that without NATO expansion allies. He depicts Obama's foreign closer American engagement, lo- policy as weakening American in- cal wars could take longer to re- fluence around the world. Demo- solve and civilian casualties are by internal ethnic, religious, and re- crats assert that Romney does not likely to be higher. With the EU gional divisions that could tear the understand the complexities of in- reluctant to fight any wars, a fu- country apart. And China is facing ternational politics and may be a ture conflict in the Balkans, North the challenges of political conflict replica of George W. Bush. His Africa, or Eastern Europe may not precipitated by rapid economic ad- tough stance on Iran's nuclear precipitate any significant West- vancement. None of these states are weapons program is used to por- ern military intervention. likely to replace the U.S. and in sev- tray him as favoring another war in But despite its global downsiz- eral instances they will compete for the Middle East. Nonetheless, in- ing, it is premature to speculate influence and undercut each other’s ternational affairs will be a second- about America's permanent de- capabilities. ary issue during the campaign un- cline. Such prognostications as- Some capitals welcome Wash- less there is a serious crisis in a re- sume that the U.S. will whither ington’s selective withdrawal gion where the U.S. has vital away similarly to previous em- while attempting to forge a "coun- interests. pires and that others will rise to ter-hegemonic" anti-American Strategically, Washington will take its place. The current fascina- bloc. However, such a strategy is be selective in its missions, while tion with the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, unlikely to lead to durable cooper- its priorities shift away from Eu- India, China) countries is indica- ation between such diverse coun- rope. The “defense guidance” an- tries as China, India, and Russia. 22|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Global powers|Security the Union’s perpetual internal prob- The world has become increas- lems, its persistent divisions in for- ingly unpredictable, with escalating mulating a coherent foreign policy, transnational threats and political its unwillingness to partner with the upheavals, the proliferation of U.S. by assuming more onerous se- weapons of mass destruction, a curity burdens, and its faltering soft growing number of failing states, power capabilities. emerging powers with regional am- As a result of restricted re- bitions, and the spread of interna- sources and a focus on regions be- tional terrorist organizations. And yond Europe, Washington is not in- each of these unstable elements vesting significantly in developing comes at a time when the Alliance relations with the EU and is no lon- itself is experiencing turmoil, evi- ger prodding for Union enlarge- dent in severe budget constraints, ment and NATO expansion. Wash- Europe’s internal preoccupations, ington’s approach has been under- and America’s shifting priorities. scored in the economic arena by its The economic and fiscal crises focus on the Group of Twenty (G- on both sides of the Atlantic have un- 20) format that includes rising pow- dermined Alliance defense capabili- ers rather than the narrower Group ties. But while the U.S. can afford to of Eight (G-8) forum, thus dimin- streamline its military and still re- ishing the prominence of European main effectively deployed in a few participants. key regions, Europe’s defense looks American politicians are con- increasingly uncertain as budgets are vinced that EU leaders lack will- reduced to cope with financial pres- It will also be resisted by govern- power, are increasingly inward sures. Several European capitals are ments, which either aspire to be looking, and take little foreign pol- imposing deep military cuts. For in- part of the West, look to the West icy initiative. Washington is frus- stance, the United Kingdom plans to for protection, or admire the lib- trated and disappointed by EU be without aircraft carriers for a de- eral political model. Opposition to capitals unwilling to play a larger cade, Denmark has abandoned its the U.S. is driven largely by politi- global role in supporting the U.S. submarines, and Holland has elimi- cal leaders fearful of losing power and effectively deploying their nated its tank forces. and international influence and substantial resources. The most The EU’s crisis of leadership is who perceive domestic opposition telling example has been the war also palpable on the world stage. as a Western plot. However, no in Afghanistan where most EU The military mission in Libya was encompassing ideology has only a qualified success because a emerged that can unite and mobi- China, Russia, and the U.S. mere handful of Allies partici- lize diverse states with competing are all competing for pated while American equipment ambitions in overlapping regions. and intelligence proved essential influence in Central and in the bombing operations. Facing Multipolarity and a potential contraction of the Euro multilateralism East Asia – and the affected zone amidst conflicts between The role of international institu- states are engaged in proponents of budgetary austerity tions remains uncertain in an in- and deficit spending, Europe is creasingly complex and unpredict- balancing acts to maintain looking inwards not outwards and able global disorder. Certainly, the their independence defense has become a secondary United Nations and the Organiza- concern. Only five of 28 allies have tion for Security and Cooperation governments resisted any increase achieved the established target of in Europe (OSCE) will have a lim- in military contributions espe- allocating 2% of GDP on defense. ited role as genuine security orga- cially in volatile combat areas. Shortfalls in funding will make it nizations and will continue to be NATO’s Chicago Summit in difficult for the Alliance to con- blocked by veto-wielding mem- May brought into sharp relief the front any serious security threats. bers. One useful measure of insti- growing problems faced by the Alli- As a result of these factors, tutional credibility is the effective- ance. NATO is in danger of becom- NATO has lost much of its military ness of trans-Atlanticism in deal- ing a much-weakened organization value to the U.S. as an inter-regional ing with conflicts. after it withdraws its forces from Af- security organization. If the Europe- Trans-Atlantic relations under ghanistan by the end of 2014. Its ans cannot invest sufficiently in Obama have not lived up to initial longest war has not turned into a their own defense, they will not be expectations. Rather than a com- victory for security and democracy. trusted in out-of-area operations prehensive revival of the American- Instead, the political outcome in Af- and Washington will simply act uni- European relationship, many of the ghanistan remains uncertain and laterally and with willing and capa- fundamental divisions have ex- observers fear that the broader Cen- ble allies. However, America's per- panded. The White House does not tral and South Asian regions will be formance on the global stage will ul- view the EU as an ascending global destabilized when NATO evacuates. timately depend on its own power, while EU capitals criticize And it seems highly unlikely that economic revival and on the ability the U.S. for its neglect of Europe the Alliance would be deployed in a to forge constructive security rela- and its narrower international fo- similar capacity elsewhere in the fu- tions with a diversity of regional cus. Washington is frustrated with ture. players. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|23 security|Syria’s civil war The Killing Fields Despite the huge risks involved, the time has come for the West and the Arabs to intervene in Syria division with an orgy of murder and rape. Sadly, as time passes, the sectarian lie is coming true. Long-bearded Salafists are fighting under the black banner of ex- tremist Islam. Rebels have started to commit atrocities (see article). As tolerance wanes, so does the hope that Syria can emerge from Mr Assad’s rule as a decent country. And lastly, Mr Assad is destabi- lising the region. By enlisting the support of Russia and Iran, he has laid the ground for an interminable proxy war in which Turkey and some Gulf states back the rebels. His forces have traded potshots with Turkey. Refugees are pouring over Syria’s borders. In Lebanon Hizbullah is being sucked in. Mili- tant nationalism is growing among the Kurds (see article). And sectarian tension is rising in Iraq: the Shia-led government supplies Mr Assad, and rebellious Sunnis, including the rump of al-Qaeda, back his opponents. Syria is facing a long, violent,

Photo: a p Photo: sectarian civil war that will claim tens of thousands of lives, leave s it because America and Europe peace with itself and its neigh- chemical and biological weapons have tired of their own wars that bours. unsecured and destabilise a region they have started to turn their Nothing argues for interven- of paramount strategic impor- Iback on other people’s? The tion more forcefully than Mr tance. That is something the out- number of dead in Syria has passed Assad’s brutal tactics. From the side world has both a duty and an 30,000. Some days over 250 bodies beginning, when his troops fired interest to prevent. But even if in- are added to the pile, which brings on peaceful demonstrators, he has tervening now is the least bloody to mind Iraq at the insurgency’s used extreme violence. A combi- option, it will still be bloody. peak in 2006-07. Were the next few nation of impunity and despera- In strictly military terms, the months to stretch into years, as now tion has led him to graduate from mission is feasible. NATO could seems likely, Syria’s great cities heavy weapons to aircraft, heli- enforce a no-fly zone over Syria. It would be ground to rubble and the copter gunships and now cluster is possible that the mere threat of whole Middle East would choke on bombs. The fury of the assault destroying any airborne Syrian the dust. against civilians in Damascus and aircraft would keep Mr Assad’s To prevent this catastrophe, Aleppo, Syria’s two main cities, planes on the ground; but Ameri- NATO needs to start making the explains why the death toll is now ca’s military planners might insist humanitarian and strategic case for mounting fast. Such violence on destroying Mr Assad’s air de- intervening in Syria. Grounding breeds implacable hatred, and so fences anyway (harder than last President Bashar Assad’s air force the rebels will fight on. year’s campaign against Libya, but could save many thousands of Mr Assad has also fomented still possible). The bigger worry, lives. Giving the rebels scope to or- sectarian conflict. By defining the however, is what would follow the ganise and train could help bring rebels as terrorists backing Syria’s establishment of a no-fly zone. the war to an end. Speeding the fall Sunni majority, he hopes to bind Even if the aim is to protect Syr- of Mr Assad might give Syria a minorities to his cause. Thugs ian civilians, intervention is a slip- chance to re-emerge as a nation at from his Alawite sect have sown pery slope. It would probably rap- 24|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Syria’s civil war|security idly become a policy to overthrow Waiting for Obama— mad Morsi, who has called for Mr Mr Assad. Nobody can say how long or Romney Assad’s fall, though he has yet to he would fight on. He would strug- Today, few are prepared to speak accept the need for outside force. gle without air power—especially if up for intervention. That is partly Most Arabs bear no love for Mr he lost the full use of his tanks and because of its undeniable risks. Assad—and are increasingly criti- heavy artillery. Perhaps, sensing the But it is also because the Ameri- cal of Russia. So long as there is hopelessness of their cause, his own cans would have to lead the opera- no invading ground force (and officers might mount a coup. If not, tion and, with an election to cam- there won’t be), they will proba- the rebels would probably take paign for, Barack Obama has gone bly fall into line. many months to force him out. That out of his way to avoid talking We do not call lightly for the would test the West’s resolve, but it about Syria. Yet America has every world to undertake such a risky would be better than a war of attri- interest in a more stable Middle operation. But the stability of the tion lasting years. East, in being seen to defend val- And nobody can be sure who ues that it holds to be universal Syria is facing a long civil would replace him. The rebels and in denying Iran an important war that will claim tens of have promised to unite, but their regional ally. Even now, Mr squabbling has been exasperating. Obama should be working on thousands of lives and The men with guns, who are most plans for how he or a President likely to take power, represent lots Romney could intervene. destabilise a region of of militias, some of which can The chances that the West paramount strategic muster only a few dozen fighters. could get backing in the UN Secu- That argues against giving the reb- rity Council are slim, because importance els advanced weapons—because Russia would stand in the way. missiles that can destroy airliners But an American-led coalition Middle East and countless Syrian could end up in extreme Islamist could invoke the world’s respon- lives should not be hostage to Rus- hands. But a no-fly zone would sibility to protect citizens against sian obstinacy. As the conflict give the rebels space to organise their own abusive governments drags on, month after bloody and train. The briefer the conflict, through a vote in the UN General month, calls to act will mount—as the greater the chance that the mi- Assembly—which would provide in Kosovo 15 years ago. The sooner © 2012 The litias who toppled Mr Assad would diplomatic, if not legal, cover. Economist the world intervenes, the more be commanded by moderates who Most important is to win at least Newspaper lives can be saved, and the greater are sympathetic to the West and tacit Arab backing, especially Limited. All the chance that Syria can be made want to put Syria back together. from Egypt’s president, Muham- rights reserved whole again. security|Syria

A War Against the People In his exlusive interview for The Ukrainian Week, Yasser Abboud, a leader of the Free Syrian Army, talks about the struggle with the Assad regime

Interviewer: asser Abboud is the com- I saw civilians being killed died in 2000 and Bashar took Nataliya mander of field operations during peaceful protests, and power, we had hope. During the Gumenyuk , for the Free Syrian Army how a sniper shot a person I first three years of his term Irbid, Jordan Y(FSA) and a leader of the knew while he was walking down there were more rights given to FSA South. As he states, there are the street. At first, the demon- the media and small business – up to 8,000 people under his com- strations in Syria didn’t chal- but just during the first three mand controlling 70 percent of the lenge the regime. They just years. territory around the city of Daraa, wanted punishment for those with a population of 1.2 million. who tortured the kids arrested UW: Why did you wait for six Once Colonel of the Syrian Armed for anti-government slogans. But months to defect from the Forces, he defected in October 2011 they opened fire against people army? after 25 years of service, including in the rally. I hoped things would nor- 17 years in Lebanon. I met him in malize. Back then, as a person Irbid, a Jordanian city near the UW: You had been part of the who had been within the system Syrian border. system for 25 years, now you for 25 years, I believed that fight against it. Why did you A total of somebody outside Syria was ma- 100,000 UW: How did your struggle begin? and the people not stand up nipulating the masses. The mem- people fight in the earlier? bers of the Syrian Parliament the Free Syrian Army The full-fledged armed resis- Syrian society was as author- discussed an opportunity for al- tance started in February 2012. We itarian as Cuba, North Korea or Assad to visit Daraa and talk to started with 2,000 people in- the Soviet Union. In schools and the people. That could have been volved; now there are 8,000 people universities, we were taught enough to solve the dispute. The under my command. At least 85% about the supremacy of the regime decided that such a meet- of them are civilians from the Da- Ba’ath party and always thinking would be harmful to the raa region mainly, the rest are for- ing about the benefits of stabil- prestige of the president. At that mer military personnel. Our initial ity. The war in Lebanon, the war moment I saw Al-Assad’s only mission was to protect the villages, with Israel, the Iran-Iraq war, intention was to stay in power, supply food – especially in winter - the interventions in Kuwait, even if people would be killed. and help people to cross the Jorda- Iraq, and Lebanon – so many nian border. horrible things took place UW: Did you receive orders to around us. The population was shoot civilians or torture them? UW: What made you defect from afraid of provoking chaos and If so, who were your the Syrian Army? disorder. After Hafiz al-Assad commanders? 26|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Syria|security During the demonstrations I money until he was killed during The regime is not just Bashar. had to follow the commands of a visit to Daraa. I have relatives For 25 years I was part of it, in- Military Security, not the army. in the Gulf. There are many Syri- cluding 17 years in Lebanon. It At that time there were still peo- ans there, as well in Saudi Ara- managed to control politics even ple from our area. At first we bia. Lots of them are millionaires there. I know from inside how were supposed to only be present or owners of big companies, so strong and complicated the ‘sys- on the streets. Later, if there their financial support is sub- tem’ is. If just Bashar’s family were groups of more than 3 peo- stantial. There are also Syrians went away, the regime would re- ple that didn’t disperse after a campaigning and collecting do- main in place. An estimated warning, we had to open fire or nations for the FSA there. Yet we even kill them. It is impossible to do not receive money from any 30,000- UW: You insist that most disobey in a time of crisis. It was government. 46,760 Syrians are against the current people have been the end of summer 2011 when I When we defected, together killed in the Syrian government. Why then has the rejected the use of weapons and I with five or seven colleagues we civil war military command managed to was arrested. I spent one month undertook operations to steal remain in power for 18 months? and 27 days in a basement of the some weapons from army stor- People in the country believe Security Service department in age. Some residents of Daraa that Bashar will be overthrown Daraa. owned guns at home, so we after all. The Syrian government bought from them, but mainly on could not remain as strong as it UW: Why did they release you? the black market. There was al- is now without the support of One of the demands of ways an opportunity to smuggle Iran, Hezbollah and Russia. The Sheikh Ahmed Siyasanah was to weapons from Lebanon. world should realize that an un- free the military personnel from stable Syria is dangerous for the jail. He is a very influential per- UW: What are you goals today? entire region. The current re- son in the region, a religious We do not want to control gimes in Tehran and Damascus leader, an old blind man whom Syria, but to free the country are very close, for instance. As everybody in Daraa trusts. At the from the current regime. Now we long as Bashar is in power or

Photo: r eu t e rs Photo: beginning of the revolution, it want to get rid of Bashar and his was he who negotiated with the close circle – the people in power local authorities to release the responsible for the murders. We arrested kids. The regime forced don’t care if they are Sunni or Sheikh Siyasanah to read a con- Alawi. For instance, one of our fession on state TV that the revo- main targets is a Sunni who lution is wrong and people comes from Daraa. should stop protesting and follow the government’s orders. Be- UW: Let’s imagine Assad is cause of this ‘affirmation’ by him gone. What’s your next step? we were allowed to go. Yet all the I am very concerned about officers had been reduced in the division of our society. Our rank, had become soldiers and first priority is to protect people had to give up their weapons. of all ethnic and religious groups – Alawi, Christians, Druze. It’s The Syrian Syria is weak, Iran can use our UW: How did you become a government hard to explain to somebody who could not territory as if it were its own. commander of the FSA South? has lost a close family member, a remain as Of the defected military, I brother, a child, that everything strong as it is UW: What do you expect from used to have the highest rank in is fine. The people are in grief now without the international community? Daraa – colonel. We started with and want revenge. There are the support of I do not expect anything any- a small group, and after some those thinking that being an Iran, Hezbollah more. If the international com- successful operations decided to Alawi makes you a part of the re- and Russia munity wanted to interfere they unite our forces. In Syria, the gime. For me, all Syrians are would interfere, as in Egypt. At military service is obligatory and equal. As an organized group, we this point, there is no way to in- lasts 2 years, so the majority of have to maintain order until a fluence Assad. The big countries males know how to use a weapon. new democratic government is are interested in a soft transition I was the one who had experi- established. of power in Syria, changing the ence creating a structure and system and imposing another in- regulations. UW: Do you see a way to end stead. Today they are searching the bloodshed without killing for the best Syrian group to co- UW: How are you financed? Do even more people? operate with. They do not care you receive foreign funding? Unfortunately not, and it is about almost 200 people being Deraa is one of the largest ag- not our choice. Full-scale war is killed every day—30,000 – ricultural provinces in Syria, so going on. Syria does not have a 46,760 in total; they do not care we get basic things from our single powerful political party, about refugees crossing the bor- families. Of course, these are just and our parliament is a fiction. der daily. The Syrians have been little things. A lot of Syrians have We cannot simply let Bashar es- asking for help for the last year relatives working abroad. My cape to a safe place and let our and a half without getting any re- brother owned a jewellery shop most senior military leaders put sponse; now we don’t see any in Romania, and used to send me away their guns like in Egypt. sense in asking. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|27 Economics|Recession The Government Hushes Up a Crisis While the Party of Regions has been campaigning, claiming stability as one of its achievements, an increasing number of independent analysts look at ongoing economic processes and warn that Ukraine's economy may sink into recession by the end of 2012

n the past several weeks, a num- Author: 4.8% over nine months and 20.1% more fuel imports. According to ber of Ukrainian and interna- Maksym in September, as compared to the the Ministry of Energy, 500,000- tional research institutions have Buhriy same period in 2011. The food pro- 600,000 tonnes of petrol are sold Ipublished negative forecasts for cessing industry is declining on vir- in Ukraine every month, of which a Ukraine's economic development. tually every food item. The pro- mere 100,000-150,000 tonnes On 16 October, Austria’s Erste cessing industries have had a come from the two oil refining Bank said in its analytical memo to mixed experience: some branches plants still operating in Ukraine; investors that Ukraine's economy are nearing a critical point, while Kremenchuk and Shebelynsk. All had gone into recession in the third others have increased output other oil refining facilities were quarter of 2012 as a result of somewhat. However, in the case of forced to shut down when oil refin- sharply declining economic growth the chemical industry, growth was ing became an unprofitable busi- in July through August. Marian due to Dmytro Firtash’s ability to ness after Belarus began buying Zablotsky, an analyst with Erste buy Russian gas at a much lower Russian raw materials at lower- Bank, says that national GDP price than Ukraine does. Oil refin- than-export prices. Currently, dropped by one per cent in this pe- ing declined by 48.7% in January nearly 80% of the fuel sold in riod, year-on-year. Thus, Erste through September, leading to Ukraine is imported. Bank cut its annual GDP growth forecast for 2012 down to zero per- Forecasts of cent. Since July, when Ukraine's Ukraine’s GDP economy began to slide for the first growth for 2012: time after the 2008-2009 crisis, analytic institutions have regularly 0.5% reduced their GDP growth fore- (Fitch Ratings), casts. The World Bank lowered its 0.5-1% forecast to two per cent in July; (NANU Institute of Fitch Ratings said in October that Economics and Fore- it expected no more than 0.5% casting) and GDP growth in Ukraine after it 0% posted 5.2% in 2011; the Institute for Economic Research and Politi- (Erste Bank) cal Consulting estimated this index at 1.3% in early October. Overall, the average expert estimate dropped from 3.2% in April to 2.3% in August 2012. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government based its 2012 State Budget on the prem- ise of 3.9% growth and 7.9% infla- tion. Negative trends in this area were first and foremost caused by a sharp decline in industry – by seven per cent in September as compared to September 2011 and by 1.2% in the first nine months of 2012. Despite some growth in the mining industry, machine construction saw the biggest decline – 28|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Recession|Economics There was a 9.1% decline in the the hryvnia exchange rate prior to country is importing more. Foreign construction industry during the the election and is pursuing a strict trade figures for September are yet first nine months of 2012, year-on- monetary policy, thus stripping to be publishes, but in January year. A safe assumption would be banks of liquidity. In its report on through August 2012, imports that the industry posted a double- Ukraine, Fitch Ratings says that grew by 6.3% and exports by a digit decline in September. Last the real economy crediting growth mere 3%, year-on-year. Thus, the year and in the first quarter of negative foreign trade balance in- 2012, this sector received a boost The production crisis creased by 23.7% year on year and from Euro 2012 projects, but in the is currently exceeds USD 10bn. last couple of months, even govern- is a result of both an As already stated by The Ukrai- ment-financed programmes, such unfavourable global nian Week, the expectations of eco- as “affordable housing” are stag- nomic agents are an important indi- nating due to an almost complete situation and ineffective cator of a recession. Key recorded lack of effective demand from economic policies pursued indexes are worsening. For exam- Ukrainians. ple, Ukraine’s investment attrac- Agricultural production fell by by the Ukrainian tiveness index, calculated by the Eu- 4.6% in the first nine months of government ropean Business Association, was 2012, compared to the same period 2.4 out 5 points in the third quarter in 2012. Given that the harvest sea- of 2012, which is the lowest since son began four weeks earlier than rate has been influenced by both 2008. A number of foreign inves- usual this year, the decline in Sep- world macroeconomic trends and tors say that the investment climate tember could also be in the double- some administrative decisions in the country is deteriorating for digit region. Moreover, the output of taken by the National Bank of everyone except Ukrainian oli- core agribusinesses, which account Ukraine, which are more of a tacti- garchs. for the lion’s share of the entire agri- cal, short-term nature. Under such According to GfK Ukraine, the cultural sector, dropped by 7.8% in According to GfK conditions, bank loans are essen- consumer sentiment index fell by Ukraine, Ukraine’s the first eight months, year-on-year. consumer sentiment tially inaccessible to both busi- 4.8 points in September, while the The production crisis is a result index fell by nesses and average citizens. This is devaluation expectation coeffi- of both an unfavourable global sit- confirmed by the NBU’s data which cient grew by seven points. Ac- uation and the ineffective eco- 4.8 shows that the weighted average cording to the NBU, Ukrainians points in September, nomic policies pursued by the while the devalua- loan rate exceeded 20% in August. bought USD 1.8bn more foreign Ukrainian government. Instead of tion expectation in- In its analytical report, Erste Bank currency than they sold in Sep- stimulating business by making dex grew by stresses that this rate was 10 times tember. Despite sky-high hryvnia higher than that of real GDP. deposit rates (20-30%) in com- loans more accessible, the govern- 7 points ment is going all out to maintain Real GDP would have plunged mercial financial institutions, such even further if not for the services deposits have grown by a mere sector. But even there, negative 6.3% and foreign-currency depos- trends can be seen. For example, in its by 9.5% in 2012. Given the cur- Ukraine’s transport sector, the main rent economic trends in Ukraine, component of which is, in fact, the it is hard to find an analyst who transit of Russian energy resources, would not expect the hryvnia’s ex- freight transport shrank by 3.4% change rate to plunge immediately and gas pipeline transport by 17.9% after the election. drawing by ihor lu kianch e nko by drawing in January through September, Moreover, most experts are cer- year-on-year. tain that Ukraine’s economic per- In sharp contrast, retail trade formance is going to decline, plung- has been growing by leaps and ing the country into a second reces- bounds. According to the State Sta- sion in the past four years. “The tistics Committee, which also takes dynamics of the GDP in the third informal markets into account, the and fourth quarters will be nega- sector grew by 16% in January tive,” predicts Erste Bank. Ukrai- through September, year-on-year. nian analysts also point out that This is a result of the populist so- business activity in Ukraine is at a cial spending that the government very low level, while foreign de- made before the parliamentary mand for our products is constantly election. The average nominal decreasing. Many companies also monthly salary increased by 16.3% report a catastrophic shortage of in January through August, year- working capital. Everything is just on-year. However, retail growth like on the eve of the 2008 crisis. may also be viewed as a negative At the same time, independent trend in Ukrainian conditions. As economists do not see any real steps The Ukrainian Week noted previ- from the Azarov government that ously, Ukrainians largely spend would address these negative their income on food. When food trends. However, most experts are production slumps with the simul- certain that the decline will not be taneous growth in retail sales at the nearly as severe as in 2009 when same rate, this means that the the GDP took a 15% plunge. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|29 economics|Oligarchy Big Business in Service of the Public In countries the size of Ukraine, there is a correlation between economic breakthroughs and the extent to which big business potential has been adjusted to serve national interests

Author: t is important to eliminate oligar- Oles chy, yet the struggle against it Oleksiyenko should not become a war on big Ibusiness. The priority should be to put big business in a framework that will make it useful for the ben- efit of the nation, while not damaging small and medium business (SMEs) as the foundation of Ukraine’s stability and democratic development. This is possible only under a number of conditions, a crucial one being the segregation of industries. Thus, SMEs should dominate in domestic market-oriented branches that do not require a significant concentration of production facilities and capital investment, while big business is vital to a slew of industries that are the cornerstone of economic growth. These include sectors domi- nated by transnational corporations as new airplanes and cars, space Under normal circumstances, where big companies are mostly an shuttles, cruise ships, and modern the bigger the share of private capi- important prerequisite for the pro- communications devices. It is eas- tal, the more efficient the business. motion of Ukrainian goods in new ier for such companies to survive Therefore, most big corporations markets. Without this, a compact the initial pressure when imple- prefer this form of ownership to any economy like Ukraine’s that de- menting long-term innovation other, while the government retains pends heavily on foreign trade can projects and cover their costs with its impact through legislation and a hardly develop successfully. accumulated reserves and reve- range of “carrot and stick” economic nues from other branches of their instruments. A necessary link operations, while small businesses The experience of most countries – despite their flexibility - are Carrots and Sticks that are comparable to Ukraine in forced to reject projects that take A government that has sufficient size and have managed economic too much time and money, and political will and is truly indepen- breakthroughs over the past 50 have limited capacities in compet- dent of individual oligarchs in deci- years proves that the effective in- ing for foreign markets. sion making can create an effective volvement of big business in the Another important factor is that system of restraints and counterar- process has been a crucial compo- large companies fall under various guments to get the most use out of nent of success. The governments of ownership models—from fully gov- big companies while minimizing countries that had no big business ernment-owned, to partly govern- risk. “grew” it intentionally. ment-owned or fully privately Governments have a range of They realized that only large owned. Therefore, the methods by incentives to encourage big busi- companies have the necessary re- which the government influences nesses to develop in innovative sec- source potential and, conse- and channels their operations in tors and industries that fit national quently, the ability to generate ex- line with national interests must be interests the most, such as govern- pensive hi-tech innovations such varied as well. ment loans, tax cuts, accelerated de- 30|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Oligarchy|economics PPP GDP per capita in countries with Great Four including Sumitomo, business separated Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Yasuda – from the govern- controlled the economy, as well as ment, 2011 the domestic and foreign policy of Big Business in Service of the Public Germany – Japan through their own political parties. $40,280 After Japan’s defeat in the war, In countries where Japan – the US occupational administration industrialization took place $36,000 implemented a series of reforms. later and massive businesses South Korea – gained dominating positions One was the elimination of 16 zai- in the economy, such as the $31,770 batsu clans and the forced rear- USA, Germany and Japan, rangement of another 26. As a re- the government solved the sult, the tycoon families that owned problem of adjusting them them lost control over the nation’s to national interests through economy and politics. active interference In the 1950s, the zaibatsu tycoons were replaced by keiretsu, a new type of powerful business entity based on cross-ownership of companies by a group through shares, rather than family domination. Such companies relied on this sort of cooperation (the need partly lingering from their earlier operation as part of one structure) for stability and efficiency in their struggle to survive and win over the world market. The keiretsu system laid the ground for long-term planning and investment into innovative projects. These corporations used their re- Adjusting big business to national interests was a prerequisite to the post- war economic wonders in Germany and Japan

preciation, targeted subsidies and ernment solved the problem of ad- sources much more efficiently com- subventions, profitable public con- justing them to national interests pared to the pre-war zaibatsu. tracts, and other instruments. The through active interference. In Ger- Moreover, widespread horizontal list of restraints includes harsher many and Japan, that was one of and vertical ties within keiretsu tax burdens, special regulations, the crucial prerequisites for the eco- structures played an important role forced splits or even nationaliza- nomic leaps that brought them the in the protection of the Japanese tion. These can deter big companies most rapid economic and welfare economy – still weak at that point – from acting in a way that damages growth in the world. from being swallowed up by foreign the national interest, blocks compe- Giant companies, such as Volk- capital. tition or leads to stagnation. swagen, Audi, Grundig, Siemens, Meanwhile, the Japanese gov- In European countries such as and others played a crucial role in ernment regulated the economic ac- the UK and France, whose econo- the rise of the post-war German tivity of these business entities by mies historically are not highly mo- Federal Republic, making it the sec- determining the priorities for eco- nopolized or concentrated in the ond largest exporter of industrial nomic development and encourag- hands of big businesses, the fairly products for quite a long time, and ing them to invest into specific in- PPP GDP per capital influential and powerful medium- facilitating the concentration and in countries with dustries. This role was delegated to sized businesses have been han- increase of its technological poten- oligarch-controlled the Bank of Japan and the Eco- economies, 2011 dling the task of matching business tial. At the same time, the govern- nomic Planning Agency, but the groups to national priorities quite ment’s economic policy kept them Russia – Ministry of Foreign Trade played well. from abusing their dominant posi- the most important role, facilitating $17 750 In countries where industrial- tions in the domestic market. the import of new technologies in Mexico – ization took place later and massive industries determined to be priori- businesses gained dominating posi- Away with clans $17 700 ties, and ensuring that businesses tions in the economy, such as the In pre-WWII Japan, big zaibatsu Ukraine – could get affordable loans for USA, Germany and Japan, the gov- family-run conglomerates – the $7650 growth. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|31 investigation|Investigative reporting Investigations Without Borders

Paul Radu: “Once we get rid of offshore companies, we can break most of the world’s corruption scams”

Interviewer: aul Radu is the executive di- international crimes. It was through – We managed to investigate Nataliya rector of the Organized Crime cooperation with OCCRP that Azer- important deals involving politi- Gumenyuk and Corruption Reporting baijani journalist Khatidjha Is- cians and criminal groups from all PProject (OCCRP). Its has mailova discovered the offshore over the world. To reveal organized been investigating organized crime, companies owned by Azerbaijani crime or corruption on the govern- corruption and money laundering President Ilham Aliyev. While comment level, you have to know every- in Eastern Europe for five years. piling a database of shell company thing that’s going on inside the The office of one of the projects in owners, reporters found that the country. A reporter working just Bucharest looks like that of Millen- company that renovated the Olym- within his own country can hardly nium from the Girl with the Dragon pic stadium for Euro 2012 was offi- figure out a complicated corruption Tattoo, while the reporters bring cially owned by a yoga instructor or criminal scheme today, because Stieg Larsson’s dream to life by in- from Cyprus. Without the support such things have no borders. It’s so vestigating the world’s most serious of their colleagues in Bucharest and easy for dealers from Ukraine and cases. Their network includes inves- Sarajevo, Cairo reporters would Romania, or Moldova and Russia to tigative journalists from Albania to never have managed to investigate arrange a scam, while local journal- Russia, from Latvia to Georgia. The the foreign assets of Egypt’s richest ists will hardly interact with each project is the only one of its kind in oligarch and the right-hand man of other in the same way. It’s even the world. Although several coun- President Hosni Mubarak. harder for Romanian police to in- tries have their own investigative vestigate cases with Ukrainian offi- journalism centres, OCCRP is the UW: Which of your investigations cers because that is already a matter only international project focusing were most significant? What of politics. Earlier, big media, such on the discovery of corruption and makes OCCRP’s job so important? as The New York Times, AP or Re- 32|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Investigative reporting|investigation uters, would be sending their corre- names are on the documents – their cartels launder money in American spondents to do an investigation in passports were stolen. Others sold banks. several countries at once. But for- their identities for a few hundred eign journalists cannot understand bucks or a bottle of vodka, allowing UW: Which of your investigations a society that is completely foreign someone to make copies of their concerned Ukraine? to them. Clearly, the language bar- IDs. We are mostly interested in –The story of Lana Zamba, the rier is one cause. Foreign reporters people who earn money in this busi- yoga instructor from Cyprus, regis- have no access to serious informa- ness, working on the market and tered as the owner of one of the big- tion – I mean data allowing them to pretending to own dozens of com- gest companies that built Euro 2012 trace how cash flows out of the panies all over the world. Without objects. We found her while work- country. And the power of reporting our transnational network we could ing on our offshore project. It is without borders is in the sharing of not have carried out a single investi- cases like this that feed corruption information among those who gation about offshore companies. at top levels. Once we get rid of off- know all about the situation in their We are constantly updating this da- shore companies, we can break home countries. tabase. For instance, if a number of most of the world’s corruption companies are registered in Belize, scams. And the links are much UW: Who initiated OCCRP? we look at them and put them on deeper than they seem to be. Lana – It was our joint idea with our record. That’s real “business Zamba is involved in Ukrainian Drew Sullivan, an American jour- without borders”. But doing the re- companies and the Magnitsky case nalist. He has been working in Sara- search without reliable people who in Russia. jevo for a while now, and set up the can analyse all of the complicated Centre for Investigative Reporting documentation of local companies UW: Where is it safer to hide in Bosnia. We met by accident and in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Ro- money now? realized that we were working on mania, Serbia or Hungary would be There are too many places. In the same thing. I was working on a totally impossible. In some coun- the US, for instance, especially Del- similar investigation on human aware and Nevada. Austria, Swit- trafficking for the London-based In- zerland, Italy, France, and Spain of- stitute for War and Peace Report- To reveal organized crime ten come up in scandals about ing. The concept of investigative re- or corruption on the banks hiding money. There was this porting without borders came from HBSC case – it was accepting Charles Lewis, the founder of the government level, you have money from Mexican drug cartels. Washington-based Centre for Pub- to know everything that’s Another big bank Wachovia also lic Integrity. He created the first in- dealt with dirty money. We’re talk- ternational consortium of investiga- going on inside the country ing hundreds of billions of dollars. tive reporters attempting to gather Latvia is a good place for money the best reporters from all over the tries, the police can solve such cases. laundering in our region. world – a super team to do interna- They operate under their own juris- tional investigations. I was lucky to dictions. Even when reporters have UW: Why Latvia? be one of them. But we worked on access to an opened case, it makes – It wants to create an image of the materials only when we had little sense if the criminal network an Eastern European Switzerland; money for a project, no matter what covers all of Eastern Europe and convince all others that doing busi- it was – tobacco or illegal tuna fish- may reach as far as Vanuatu and the ness there is as comfortable and ing. The consortium coordinated U.S. Once, Moldovan journalists easy; and they know how to keep from Washington was not that ef- helped us find the accounts of some bank privacy. The only thing the fective when it was about some big companies in Latvia, Russia, Roma- Latvians missed is that the lack of regional or local thing. Moreover, nia and Delaware State. transparency has brought quite a we are now working on an on-going few crooks to their country. More- basis, not just when we have the UW: Many claim that offshore over, many Russian oligarchs have money. If a journalist from say, zones are legal even if they are not transferred their business to Latvia. Ukraine, needs help finding some really a good thing. A person They can influence politics there, information about a firm registered cannot be arrested simply for using and money has no smell, as you in Cyprus, we ask people from our offshore accounts. know. network for it. Our real collabora- – The lack of transparency is tion is based on the common goal, the problem. Why would an owner UW: Why do European countries not money. hide his name if his business is per- and the USA tolerate scams on fectly legal? Offshore zones are their territories? UW: Which of your projects would mostly for criminals and politicians - We asked Delaware State offi- have been impossible without this who don’t want their voters to know cials why they allow money laun- sort of cooperation? about it. They may say that offshore dering. We have proof that many First of all, we could not have business is the only way to evade ex- Eastern European companies use created the databases of proxies op- cessive taxes. But that’s a moral is- their banks. Local authorities told erating in Eastern Europe. Proxies sue. Most banks in the world have us that they were not going to are people registered as company to know the names of their clients. change a great system because of a owners to hide the real owners. How do you find out whose money few rotten apples. But in fact, off- There are several types of proxies in it is if the documents list the name shore companies fill half of the our region. Some of the so-called of a counterfeit owner? It is through state’s budget. Look at Cyprus, Gi- executives have no idea that their schemes like this that Mexican oil braltar – these countries have lim- № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|33 investigation|Investigative reporting ited resources, but they earn their ping mall in Bucharest. We dation for corruption. These busi- money on those who store their launched an investigation, found ness owners will get the most profit- money in their treasuries. Even the out which Romanian businessmen able public contracts. In fact, the UK does. owned the business jointly with the most important thing in the work of Egyptian oligarch, and even found a a reporter is to note the links be- UW: What are your most successful photo of Romania’s ex-prime minis- tween politics and big business. investigations? ter cutting the ribbon at the shop- They have to dig deeper and notice – One of the latest investiga- ping mall opening ceremony. And all the threads, especially at the re- tions was related to gold mining in that was not all. I continued to regional and international scales. We Azerbaijan. A consortium was set search the documents of Salem’s expect machinations between Rus- up to develop so-called gold fields. Panama companies and found that sia and Ukraine. When we started to The Azerbaijani government owned his son and daughter charged with work on the proxy database, it a share in it. The rest was owned by money fraud and corruption trans- turned out that they spread to Ser- a few little-known companies. One ferred their companies to three bia, Romania, Moldova, and up to was registered in the UK but the Azerbaijani citizens the day before Switzerland. It’s huge money, and it tracks led to Panama. Our Azerbai- they were arrested. Later, Khatidjha goes right to the people who rule jani colleague Khatidjha Ismailova continued the research in Baku. She these countries. conducted the investigation. Ear- noticed some names and told me lier, the Investigation Dashboard that those people were well-known UW: Are these influential people showed us that the family of Presi- in Azerbaijan. They own shopping trying to exert pressure or sue you? dent Ilham Aliyev was running its malls, car factories and more plants. – OCCPR is the only organiza- own business through companies Then we found out that one of these tion in Eastern Europe insured registered in Panama. This time, we people was close to Aliyev, Azerbai- against libel suits. We received let- decided to take a closer look, re- jan’s president. He was arrested in ters from oligarchs for several years searched the materials, and found Spain but he remained out of jail before they realized that we have that there are three companies in somehow, and now he is on the In- the best lawyers in London and Panama owned by Aliyev’s wife and money to pay for their legal support. daughters. They are linked to the Many politicians may be This insurance covers publishers development of these gold fields. ideological opponents, yet whose reporters prepare the investi- Later, Khatidjha received docu- gation under our project framework ments signed by Ilham Aliyev him- when it comes to business, provided that the article is pub- self transferring the territory to the lished after we edit it. We work un- consortium – hence, to his own all differences fade der strict fact check rules. At first, family. our reporters were annoyed about Another example comes from terpol wanted list. Still, we proved the amount of time the editing Egypt. Last year, my colleague Drew the links between these companies. takes. They got annoyed when, after Sullivan and I held a media training The main thing was that we showed they spent months working on the in Cairo. Beforehand, we got the list how millions of dollars were taken article, the editor asked them, how of all the companies owned by out of Egypt. Several conversations can you prove that the person you Egyptian citizens in Switzerland and documents revealed deals in mention is 24 years old? All the ma- and the UK. Thousands of names, Spain and Switzerland that involved terial we get from reporters should hundreds of pages. Personally, I influential people in Egypt, Roma- come with references to documents, never heard all those names. I nia and Azerbaijan. quotes from interviews, audio or handed the data over to Cairo re- video files accompanying every sin- porters. They were surprised to see UW: What have you discovered in gle fact mentioned. For instance, the name of Hussein Salem among your native country of Romania? when a reporter writes that Mr. A those who owned companies in – There was an interesting case works at company B, he should Switzerland: “Hussein Salem is a related to the assets of Prime Minis- send us a copy of the document to very well-known figure; he’s the ter Victor Ponta. It turned out that confirm this. The next sentence says right-hand man of Mubarak and the he was linked to a business group that Mr. B is linked to company D. founding father of Sharm-el-Sheikh related to President Traian Băsescu. Again, we want a reference docu- resorts.” Our Cairo reporters began Romania’s president and prime ment. And that’s true for each line. to dig deeper and found that in ad- minister are enemies and diehard Sometimes, even I got annoyed by dition to those in Switzerland, Sa- political opponents. But, if you look how scrupulous our fact checkers lem also owned companies in Pan- closer, they turn out to have com- were. But it won’t work any other ama and Spain. That was in May mon business interests. Sometimes, way. That’s what makes our materi- 2011. The next month, he was ar- the impression is that there is some als so unique and valuable. rested in Spain. The investigation ideological difference between the got a lot of attention. But that didn’t politicians – left or right – but when UW: How much effect does your end the case. Six months later, we it comes to business, all differences work have? Whenever allegations met with those reporters in Am- fade. Everyone earns money, re- that a French president, for man. Our Egyptian colleague told gardless of their political prefer- instance, is involved in financial us that Hussein Salem owned a few ences. There are wealthy people in fraud surfaces on the cover of a companies in Romania. Yet, it took Romania who support all parties fi- tabloid, the main thing is that it a lot of time to confirm that Egypt’s nancially because they seek prefer- will draw the attention of the major oligarch – arrested at that ences regardless of which party police. Here, however, point – owned a huge luxury shop- comes to power. This lays the foun- investigations often remain in 34|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Investigative reporting|investigation www.r ep orting p roj e ct.n t newspapers even if the crimes of Otherwise, their business and rep- Money with UW: There is plenty of discussion top officials are much more political on whether it is appropriate to utation are ruined. Scandalous rev- flavour: serious. elations are fine, but we appreciate OCCRP work for money from the West. – Important investigations the long-term effect most of all. investigative Critics say that a good quality tackle people in power. They con- reporters found publication should be a commercial trol law enforcement authorities UW: You are working on a project the scheme to success. that decide whether they should to investigate media owners in launder – Our work speaks for itself. open a criminal case or not. There- EasternE urope. Why do you think RUR 5.4bn Yes, we get foreign funding, but fore, it’s not easy to have an impact this is important? paid as tax read our reports. If you’re honest on public opinion in Eastern Eu- – A lot of media in Eastern Eu- by the fund and publish documents and evi- rope. Once the publication goes in- rope have ended up in the hands of of the killed dence openly, any charges are in- attorney Sergei ternational, such as with the off- people who have political and fi- Magnitsky and valid. Still, we are forced to live on shore network in Eastern Europe, nancial interests. This is the best stolen from the grants. We run another Romanian it is harder to hush it up. Dozens of way to blackmail political and busi- Russian budget project and could easily get finan- companies were closed down in ness competitors. Moreover, media cial support from local business New Zealand after our investiga- in Romania and all over Eastern owners. But if our investigation tions revealed that Latvian banks Europe are owned by people who tackles our donors, it will fuel a were using companies there. have faced criminal charges, in- conflict of interests. In fact, you Mostly, they operated in Eastern cluding financial fraud. Some can’t earn much on these kinds of Europe. If one country fails to do wealthy people bought TV studios investigations that sometimes take act because of its corrupt police, after criminal cases had been years to complete. Their main impact is still possible – even if in- opened against them. It was a good value is their significance for soci- direct. There is another level of in- instrument of pressure on the court ety. A perfect scenario would be for fluence. Google is our biggest help. and protection from their oppo- people to support us. For example, When we publish materials on the nents. In fact, that is one of the rea- there is a website in California; website, we always give the right sons why our region barely has any whenever the local authorities in index of names, trial protocols and media that offer good quality jour- the documents for the search sys- nalism. So, we want to list the 50 tem to offer the right records. If most influential media tycoons in Investigations are costly someone is offered a stake in a Eastern Europe, check their con- and time-consuming but joint business, it makes sense to do nections with companies in Cyprus some research on the potential and Panama, and examine their their main value is the partner and check what the Inter- offshore accounts. And we would significance for society net has to say about this person. like to find out their real owners And the first entry says that he is a since many politicians prefer to San Francisco raise bus fares, the crook. Of course, you shouldn’t keep their connection to the media website’s reporters appeal to the trust the first article you see, but a secret to make them appear inde- public, asking people to fund their our materials contain references to pendent. investigation if they want to know documents confirming that the po- why the price is going up. People tential partner used to own a busi- UW: Who is funding OCCRP? are ready to pay: some donate $5, ness with criminals. That is how we – Our biggest donors are Open- others give more. But that’s already can limit opportunities for crooks. Society and USAID. However, we possible there. I don’t think we’ll We are often asked to remove some have a small staff. Most journalists have anything similar in Eastern names from articles printed years are paid by the publications where Europe, but that could be a model before. People beg us to do that. they work. for the future. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|35 society|ukraine on the european map In Russia’s Shadow Andreas Kappeler talks about why Ukraine is still a blank space on Western Europe’s mental map

t takes more than just a few de- Interviewer: UW: How did perceptions of were acknowledged as one of Aus- cades – centuries sometimes – to Oleksandr Ukraine change after it was tria’s nine nationalities with their shape the international image of Pahiria annexed to the Russian and own schools, language, Greek- Ia country or a nation. Ukraine is Austrian empires in the late 18th Catholic Church, and so on. How- no exception in this sense, but a century? ever, the perception of Ruthenians typical model. The image of modern Ukrainians lost their reputa- in Vienna was not really different Ukrainians in the West has largely tion as a political force after the de- from that oriental discourse. They been shaped by the stereotypes of cline of their sovereignty. In the were seen as poor people living in previous epochs layered over new late 18th century, Ukrainians ap- an underdeveloped country with perspectives. Austrian historian An- peared in several Western Euro- interesting folklore. They had a dreas Kappeler talks to The Ukrai- pean works as primitive savage and very low position in the hierarchy nian Week about the historical era peasant people with interesting of peoples in the Habsburg mon- that brought Ukraine onto the Eu- folk traditions. The most well archy. ropean mental map, how its inter- known text of that period is Johann national image has transformed, Gottfried Herder’s utopian vision UW: How did the short period of and what Ukrainians should do to of Ukraine which portrayed Ukrai- statehood revival and national improve their image in the world. nians as wild and uncivilized peo- liberation struggle in 1917-1921 ple who had the potential to be- affect the perception of Ukraine UW: When did Ukraine appear on come a civilized nation like the in the West? the mental map of Europe? Greeks. That was quite a new view During the First World War, Ukraine appeared in the 17th of Ukrainians, emerging on the the interest in Ukraine suddenly century largely due to the Cossack verge of the 18th and 19th centuries, rose, because Germany and Aus- revolution led by Bohdan Khmel- as a non-civilized people of half- tria-Hungary tried to use it as an nytsky. Before that, there were European and half-Asian composi- instrument in their war against Beauplan’s maps that launched the tion. Actually, they were explored Russia. There was a short period name Ukraine into scientific and as part of Oriental studies. In 1845, of German and Austro-Hungarian political circulation, preceded by ex- German writer Friedrich von occupation of Ukraine in 1918, tremely interesting reports on the Bodenstedt published a collection when politicians and advisors life of Zaporizhian Cossacks by Aus- gained some knowledge of the trian diplomat Erich Lassota von Only in 1991, the West country, especially as a grain pro- Steblau, published only in 1866. slowly began vider. And indeed, it had to deliver With the 1648 revolution, Ukraine a lot of grain to Germany and Aus- appeared on the mental map of to acknowledge tria. Then the German and Aus- Western Europeans, and it stayed that Ukraine could exist trian empires collapsed. Central there until the end of the 18th cen- and Western Europeans lost their tury. There were detailed maps of apart from Russia interest in Ukraine. Newspapers Ukraine; it was described and men- mainly focused on the struggle be- tioned in the travel reports of West- of Ukrainian folk songs Poetic tween the whites and the reds in ern European diplomats and trad- Ukraine (Die poetische Ukraine), the context of the Russian civil ers, as well as the press. and he was a specialist on peoples war. Western politicians and dip- On this map, Ukraine and Cos- of Asia and the Caucasus! Ukraini- lomats thought that Ukraine had sacks were almost identical. ans who lived in the territories that no chance of defending its state- Ukraine was marked as the land of were part of the Russian Empire hood and did not support it. Cossacks. Its image was not only were then seen in this oriental con- In the interwar period, topographic on the map – it had a text. Then, complete oblivion fol- Ukraine once again disappeared political meaning presenting Cos- lowed. By the middle of the 19th from the mental map of Western sacks as people who valued freedom century, Ukraine disappeared from Europe, although to a lesser extent above all. Ukraine was treated as a the mental and geographic map of than in the 19th century. This was political player on the map of the Western Europeans. due to several immigrant centres continent, and the image survived Ukrainians who lived in the that were active in Central and for almost 150 years in the Euro- Austrian, and later Austro-Hun- Western Europe, including the pean mind. The last testimony of garian Empire, were always seen Ukrainian Free University in this period was Johann Christian as Rusyns (Ruthenians – Ed.). Prague and Ukrainian Scientific von Engel’s History of Ukraine and They had great advantages com- Institute in Berlin. However, their the Ukrainian Cossacks, published pared to Ukrainians who lived in scientific and publishing activities in 1796. the Russian Empire, since they were hardly noticeable in Europe. 36|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 ukraine on the european map|society R U S S I A E ROP ? EU

The only event that caught the at- There were some events that The West may have recognized tention of Europeans was the as- preceded this stereotype. The ter- it as a separate entity in a short sassination of Symon Petlura by rible anti-Jewish pogroms during period during the 1920s, but not Sholom Schwartzbard in 1926. the Khmelnytsky’s uprising were after the 1930s. From then on, That was the time when the image often brought up in the Jewish Ukraine disappeared from the of Ukrainians as anti-Semites ap- memory; another element was the mental map again, being seen as peared and grew stronger – it has anti-Jewish pogroms by Ukrai- part of the USSR, which was re- persisted to this day. nian otamans in 1919, which be- garded as a new form of Russia. came widely known in the West Western Europe did not differen- UW: How did the Second World after the assassination of Petlura tiate Soviet people into Russians War change the attitude towards by Schwartzbard. However, the and Ukrainians – to them, all of Ukraine in the West? Second World War was far more them were Russians. Just like during the First important in that matter. Again, For the broad public in the World War, Ukrainians were used there was some truth to this im- West, Ukraine had not existed until as a political instrument of Ger- age, including the collaboration of the early 1980s. Only in 1991, the many against Russia in 1939-1945. Ukrainian forces with German oc- public slowly began to acknowl- The Third Reich had plans to use cupiers and participation in the Ukrainians in its destruction of extermination of Jews and Poles. the USSR but Hitler opposed the This stereotype is still greatly Ukraine is often mentioned idea of an independent Ukraine. damaging to the image of Ukraini- in newspapers, although Before and during the Second ans abroad. World War, numerous works were However, there is another di- mostly in the context of published to justify these projects. mension: the Holocaust is a cen- gas conflicts with Russia, The fact that Ukrainians were tral factor for the European con- used as a political instrument by sciousness. Meanwhile, Western the Tymoshenko case and the Nazis was detrimental to the Europeans often do not realize its backslide on democracy image of Ukraine in the long run. that Stalinism was at least as im- Ukrainians as a nation were of no portant for Ukrainians, and com- interest to the broad public, except ing to grips with the suffering of edge that the Soviet Union might for a few outsiders. Central and Eastern European na- disappear as a state. Western poli- tions under Stalin’s rule should ticians did not think it would until UW: How did the stereotype of become another main element of the very end. When it collapsed, Ukrainians as nationalists and European consciousness. people realized that it was not just anti-Semitists emerge in the Russia. But the broader public did West? What role did the legacy of UW: Did Soviet Ukraine exist on not see Ukrainians as a separate the Second World War play in the the mental map of Europe in the nation then, unlike Lithuanians process of its establishment? time of the USSR? who had their state in the interwar № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|37 society|ukraine on the european map period, or Georgians whose cul- Since the second half of the 19th strong in their minds. There is one ture, language and traditions were century Ukraine has been in the example to prove it: Bratislava is totally different from those in Rus- shadow of Russia, not just politi- just 60 kilometres away from Vi- sia. Even after Ukraine declared cally – that is a very important as- enna, but to Austrians it is as dis- independence in August 1991 - as pect of the Western perception of tant as Zurich, which is 800 kilo- all republics did - the West still Ukraine. metres away, in terms of mental thought that a new federation of Many Ukrainian scientists and perception. Countries may be in Soviet republics would emerge. intellectuals are perceived as Rus- the EU and NATO and still these Then, people slowly became aware sians. In Germany, only Russian old mental borderlines persist that that Ukraine could exist apart from Don and Volga Cossacks are many people are reluctant to Russia. This process continues unknown, but not Zaporizhian Cos- cross. It is even more difficult with til today. sacks. European historians even Ukraine, which is a grey zone of used to write about Kyiv Rus as sorts between Russia and the UW: What are the key elements part of the history of Russia. This West. of Ukraine’s image in the world image sits extremely deeply and Another great obstacle for the today? firmly in the minds of most Wes- appearance of Ukraine on Euro- In my opinion, Ukraine does term Europeans. pean mental map is the lack of any not yet have a firm place on the The impact of the Cold War personalities or events that were mental map of Europe. The West and the iron curtain is still very associated with Ukraine and could lacks knowledge of the country, serve as components of Ukraine’s language, culture, traditions, and image. Not a single Ukrainian history. There have been many ex- composer or writer has been ac- amples of this, especially in the cepted into the pantheon of Euro- early years of Ukraine’s indepen- pean culture. Taras Shevchenko, dence. I remember one time when for instance, was never widely the then President Kravchuk vis- known in the West. Nikolai Gogol ited Helmut Kohl. When Kravchuk was never regarded as a Ukrainian started his speech, the Germans writer. Oleksandr Dovzhenko was provided a translator for Russian known as a Russian director. only. This was a typical situation: There are virtually no building nobody thought that Kravchuk blocks with which to create a rec- could speak any language other ognizable image of Ukraine. The than Russian. This lack of knowl- Orange Revolution with its two edge is still present, even if less leaders, Viktor Yushchenko and widespread than in the 1990s. But Yulia Tymoshenko, had the poten- Ukraine was absent from the Eu- tial to fill this gap offering person- ropean mental map for 200 years. alities that were known world- It takes a lot of time for the broad wide. However, one has disap- public to get to know the facts of peared from politics completely; its existence as a national inde- the other one is in prison, seen as pendent state. Today, Ukraine is a martyr or victim, which is hardly often mentioned in newspapers, the best foundation for image although mostly in the context of building. gas conflicts with Russia, the Ty- moshenko case and its backslide UW: How can we change the way on democracy. There are impor- Europe and other countries view tant non-political aspects, too, Ukraine? such as the nation’s football team, Tourism, cultural and aca- Olympic athletes and fantastic demic exchange programmes, in- Klitschko brothers in boxing. Be- ternational sports events such as fore 1991, all this was Soviet. Now, ch e km niov o le ksandr p hoto: Euro 2012, and deeper diplomatic, Bio it is Ukrainian, and this probably Andreas Kappeler was born in Zurich in 1943. He majored economic, research and cultural has a much bigger impact on pub- in Slavic Studies and History at the universities of Zurich contacts – especially in the lic opinion than politics. Now, the and Vienna in 1962-1969, and got his PhD at the Univer- younger generation - may contrib- evolution has begun and it is irre- sity of Zurich in 1969 followed by a scholarship in Moscow ute to this greatly. Take one exam- versible. More and more Western and Leningrad in 1970. In 1971-1979, Dr. Kappeler worked ple: the number of dissertations Europeans – the broad public, I at the University of Zurich and completed his habilitation. written on Ukrainian history in mean – are learning about In 1982-1998, he worked as Professor of Eastern Euro- German-speaking countries was Ukraine. Recognition is a difficult pean History at the University of Cologne. Dr. Kappeler zero in the 1960s-1970s, and three process that takes much time. It has been foreign member of the National Academy of Sci- per cent in the 1980s. This has takes consistent efforts from ences of Ukraine since 1996, and Professor at the Univer- grown to 10% currently. This is a sity of Vienna since 1998. In 2000-2009, he supervised Ukrainians and Ukraine, as well as the Doctoral Programme Austrian Galicia and Its Multicul- great trend. Ukrainian language people interested in Ukraine, like tural Heritage. Andreas Kappeler wrote a number of and history are presented in Euro- me, to build its image abroad. books, including The Russian Empire: A Multi-Ethnic His- pean universities on a better scale tory; Mazepintsy, Malorossy, Khokhly: Ukrainians in the now. It would also be very helpful UW: Why is Ukraine still a blank Ethnic Hierarchy of the Russian Empire, and Kleine Ge- to have special institutions abroad spot for Europeans? schichte der Ukraine (A Short History of Ukraine) to promote your culture. 38|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Life in the time of war|history The Life of the Rebels The absence of elementary living conditions and a regular supply system in the UPA was offset by active assistance from the local population

espite certain romanti- Author: The local population as and developing the infrastructure cism, service in the UPA Oleksandr the donor in the controlled territory were was an arduous, perilous Pahiria The foundation of the military activ- during the Nazi occupation as Dand risky experience re- ity and longevity of the Ukrainian there was more freedom in terms quiring survival and fighting in insurgent movement was the eco- of everyday living and economic Spartan conditions in which nomic system based on self-organi- transactions. Low-level procurers there was not enough time or op- zation and self-provision. “Every- were stanychni – a kind of secret portunity to meet personal thing had to be found somewhere: elders in villages. They monitored needs. “It was a horrible experi- firearms, uniforms, food, etc.,” Ivan the procurement and storage of ence to have an army without a Yakymchuk, former UPA member foodstuffs, clothes, uniforms, fire- state. We didn’t have anything from Kalush County, says. An orga- arms, medications and household and went barefoot and without nized guerilla formation would not items and clandestinely trans- clothes,” former insurgent Dmy- have been able to exist for any ex- ported them to insurgents. tro Purkha recollects. Moreover, tended period of time without this The UPA had its most widely the fighters often faced danger system and social support. developed infrastructure in Volyn and death, pushing elementary The most “favourable” condi- (in the second half of 1943 through needs to the background. tions for building insurgent units the first half of 1944), in Zakerzon-

LUNCHTIME: Sometimes, UPA fighters would seize cattle from retreating Nazi troops and stored the meat and fat in barrels as a contingency reserve. Often, captured cattle and foodstuffs were distributed among peasants.

№ 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|39 history|Life in the time of war nia (territories west of the Curzon men” as a more pleasant burden Line inhabited by Ukrainians, in than feeding the invaders. More- 1944-47) and in the Carpathians over, local young men were (from 1944 until, in some places, members of UPA units. Some- 1947-49). With the arrival of the times relatives would go to the Soviets and NKVD-MGB repres- forest themselves to bring food sions in the core territories of in- to the insurgents. However, as surgent activity, the supply system the enemy approached, such with a network of stanychni in vil- contacts became very dangerous lages and storage places, which and were strictly banned. During had been developed under the raids to unexplored terrain, such Nazi occupation, was destroyed. as in Right-Bank Ukraine where This was a hard blow to the eco- there was no developed under- nomic component of the Ukrai- ground and economic network, nian independence movement and the insurgents would come to caused its leaders to change their peasants themselves and ask for tactics. When the UPA rebuilt its food. economic system and began operating in smaller units, the local Trophies population was the main donor as In addition to internal resources, locals actively supported the which were often inaccessible Ukrainian national liberation during difficult long raids, the movement. They saw the UPA as UPA replenished its stock of the force protecting them against foodstuffs, firearms and ammuni- the violence of invaders and they tion by capturing spoils of war. In linked it to their dreams of reviv- particular, UPA fighters seized ing an independent Ukrainian from the Nazis and their allies state. cattle (previously commandeered Insurgent republics as In most cases, people volun- from peasants) and echelons with UPA suppliers tarily provided the insurgents with food, as well as firearms, uni- The “insurgent republics” in Volyn food, clothes, footwear, medica- forms, equipment, medications, served as the economic bases of tion, shelter, and so on. The “for- etc. For example, Yevstakhiy Do- the insurgents for several months est men” were normally strictly brovolsky, a fighter in the Rena in 1943. They included several forbidden to demand anything battalion led by Vasyl Mizerny in dozen villages controlled by the from peasants when they were Zakerzonnia, says that his com- UPA command. Barracks for fight- quartered in villages. “Our pro- pany procured food on its own, ers, first-aid posts, infirmaries, curement people would approach particularly by seizing cattle from baths, meat-processing plants, a peasant and tell him that, look, retreating Nazi troops in the sum- bakeries, sawmills, water mills we need help. Then five or so men mer and autumn of 1944 and and various workshops were set would get together and give a pig storing the meat and fat in bar- up in these areas. The involve- to the UPA. This was absolutely rels. “It was a contingency reserve ment rate of the local population voluntary; no-one from the UPA in case people were relocated to took anything by force then. Peo- Poland and we were left without ple gave us everything, because them. Then we would use this re- As an organized guerilla everyone knew that if Ukraine ex- serve.” Often, captured cattle and formation, the UPA would isted, people would have every- foodstuffs were distributed thing,” Volodymyr Domansky, for- among peasants. not have survived for as mer insurgent from Volyn, says. In the Soviet period, UPA long as it did without the “They gave us everything: fried companies attacked collective and baked food, cakes, bread, etc. and state farms, storage facilities system of food supply and Girls made gloves, socks and and local stores to replenish their social support it had handkerchiefs with inscriptions stocks. The UPA men usually ate ‘From Halia’, ‘To our dear insur- field rations. Sometimes, primar- was seen by the insurgents as gents’, ‘To our dear friends’, ‘To ily in villages, they were able to quite significant. Dmytro “Maly” fighters for Ukraine’,” Petro enjoy hot dishes. Under the Na- Supinsky, who worked in a sewing Kasinchuk from Ternopil Oblast zis, large insurgent units had field workshop in the headquarters of recollected. kitchens and cooks on the staff, the UPA-South, says: “There vir- There is documentary evi- while smaller units used caul- tually no people there who did not dence showing that commanders drons seized from the enemy. work in the UPA. My sister worked and workers of the UPA’s eco- However, with the arrival of the there for two years, and my grand- nomic departments issued spe- Soviets this “luxury” was quickly mother worked and healed people cial lists which clearly stated the abandoned. In conditions of there. There was no-one who fighters’ needs, thus putting a heavy battles and persecutions by would not provide aid to the insur- certain obligation on peasants. the Soviet punitive troops, the in- gent army… Under the Nazi gov- However, the majority of the surgents often had to starve, ernment, the Germans did not Ukrainian population viewed sometimes going for several come to us, they did not show up. providing food to “their own weeks without a source of food. Ukrainian flags and tridents hung 40|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Life in the time of war|history outside. Everything was Ukrai- as producing alcohol. At the same Unlike underground fighters, nian, and the government was time, the insurgents were forced to UPA men made virtually no use Ukrainian.” take crash courses on first aid in of kryivkas – hiding places. Uniforms were most often conditions of armed struggle. As a However, when they began fight- captured as booty. Under the Nazi result, “every soldier became a ing against the communists, the occupation, the insurgents used medical attendant.” underground war began to pre- the uniforms of the Wehrmacht dominate and disassembled and the police, the Hungarian and moments of peace large UPA units switched to un- Polish armies and the Red Army, During breaks between battles, the derground guerilla activities. At remodeling some elements in a insurgents held tactical and other that point, the insurgents had to Ukrainian style. Many fighters training exercises and cleaned their hide from the persecutions in wore civilian clothes. In 1943, the clothes and weapons. The daily kryivkas, especially in winter- UPA organized the production of schedule was strictly planned: get- time. However, they stayed away its own uniforms in the territories ting up, praying, morning exer- from the mould and dampness of under its control. Uniforms were cises, washing, breakfast, military underground shelters longer made by women and girls working training, etc. Heavy regular battles than any other participants of at home, while special workshops and night raids left insurgents with the Ukrainian liberation move- were set up in “insurgent repub- virtually no time for leisure activ- ment. “Forest was my kryivka,” lics” which also produced foot- ity. They especially lacked time for Dobrovolsky claims. wear and white camouflage coats. sleep and rest under Bolshevik per- The relationships with the fair secution after the war. A natural sex are a separate topic. Says A neat and clean army? consequence of this situation was Petro “Klen” Hrynchyshyn, Another important component of when insurgents slept on the fighter from the Chornomorets everyday living was hygiene and march. company which was active in the medical provisions. Away from Singing songs while quartered Lviv region: “When a courier hearth and home, the insurgents or on the march or raid was would arrive, the company stand had to satisfy their everyday hy- something close to recreation. there with everyone staring at gienic needs in the depth of for- Some units had music instru- those girls.” The command tried ests, in marshes, along rivers and to regulate personal relationships so on. There was simply no time Singing while quartered by putting strict bans on sexual for such things when units were intercourse (considering that sex- engaged in permanent battles and or on the march was ually transmitted diseases were moved about all the time. something close to widespread in the wartime) and In the warm season, the insur- imposed punishments up to the gents usually bathed in small and recreation – some units death penalty. big rivers. Under the Nazi occupa- had music instruments to Any violence against women tion, they sometimes went to vil- was penalized. “We had an order lage baths or washed near wells. play during calm breaks strictly forbidding us to hurt any But such opportunities presented between battles of the girls. There was great disci- themselves very rarely under the pline in this matter. There were Soviets. UPA fighters most often no drinking parties or carousing. did their laundry themselves in ments to play during calm be- We treated women with the ut- bodies of water. Sometimes they tween battles; there were even most gallantry. There was great would give the job to women in entire choirs and brass bands. Be- respect for women,” Petro Mar- villages or to medical departments tween battles, raids and trainings, tyniuk, UPA fighter from Volyn, in UPA units. insurgents studied the press and remembers. In some cases, companies and leaflets, sometimes read fiction Chaplains from the Greek detachments (to say nothing of and history books and trained in Catholic Church or the Orthodox the “insurgent republics”) had sports. They sometimes played Church (sometimes both) were their own barbers, but more often cards, chess or draughts and lis- attached to detachments. They than not the fighters clipped each tened to radio programmes on conducted key services on holi- other's hair and shaved them- the quiet. “Insurgent republics” days (Christmas, Easter, Pente- selves on their own. “No-one even had special drama circles cost, Intercession, etc.) and work- wore beards. The army was neat which staged plays for peasants days. They blessed those going and clean,” Dobrovolsky says. and guerillas to liven up everyday into battle, led morning and eve- Medical aid was provided in life. ning prayers and prayed for the UPA units by orderlies (primarily Fighters were normally not dead. workers of the Ukrainian Red allowed to take any holidays for The punishments given to the Cross), doctors and medical atten- fear that they would be identified insurgents for disciplinary viola- dants (a large percentage of these by occupation authorities or re- tions ranged from moral educa- were Jews). Severely wounded ported by enemy agents. UPA tion, standing guard, flogging fighters were taken to underground commanders allowed insurgents with rods and carrying burdens hospitals. Stanychni and special to leave the unit for longer peri- on one’s shoulders for small in- “green” UPA companies, such as in ods of time and more often under fractions up to the death penalty the Kolky Republic in Volyn, were the Nazi occupation. When the for grave crimes, such as treason, charged with collecting medica- Soviets came, trips to civilian set- desertion and, surprisingly, con- tions, bandages and herbs, as well tlements became too dangerous. sumption of vodka. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|41

Culture & Arts|history in mass culture The Art of Resistance The theme of Ukrainian insurgency as a component of mass culture

Author: hen yet another film Rostyslav or book made in Semkiv Ukraine or elsewhere Wpromotes a historically or culturally misleading portrait of Ukrainians, indigna- tion is not enough. Attempts to forge history should be prevented at all levels, from aca- demic to daily life. One widespread belief in Ukraine – almost superstitious at times – is that withstanding powerful informational influence and pressure - foreign or domestic - is next to impossible. However, this sort of pressure often tends to make beliefs only stronger – as it does with the history of UPA, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. Mil- lions of Ukrainians believe that the rebels were heroes. This conviction can spread or stay within the circle of those who have it now, but it will not fade away. * The theme of Ukrainian insurgents has extended beyond historical monographs and little- known novels growing into a component of mass culture and collective consciousness – and a new style of resistance. The unbreakable opposition Mass culture is based on very simple things – essentially op- posites, such as good and bad or native and strange. A teen- ager who folds the Ukrainian flag around his shoulders at a football match will never think they enter Kryivka – a bunker the Second World War better of it as strange. Insurgent his- or shelter in English – a popu- than any speech does. tory has similarly become na- lar UPA-themed restaurant in Modern mass culture grows tive to many of those who pre- Lviv. This shows that they sim- from oppositions and attempts viously could not have thought ply accept the rules when they to make them simple. It presents it would. Now, it is the perfectly are in this separate territory, the most important things as a visible, no longer hushed past even if it is strange to them. game – and Kryivka is a perfect with its original and well- Their Facebook photos with example. However, it does not known images and rituals. Rus- fake machine guns from this lose the opposition of good and sian-speaking tourists eagerly restaurant confirm the status of bad or native and foreign. Their say “Long live Ukraine!” when the UPA as a fighting party in action is smoothed out, sharp- 42|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 history in mass culture|Culture & Arts ness blurred, yet every Ukrainian first person to write openly well-known examples citizen or a visiting tourist un- about the insurgency campaign Our Partisans (Nashi Partyzany), a collective recording by Plach Yer- derstands them as soon as they in his “Cherry Nights” pub- emii and Skriabin, was released in see them, even if they hide this lished in 1985, to the high-pro- 2000. It is a compilation of 11 covers understanding behind courteous file “Sweet Darusia” by Maria of insurgent songs, including “Hey grins. Meanwhile, even in the Matios released in 2004, where Hu, Hey Ha”; “We Are Going For- game, its participants come to the description of the UPA’s ward” (“My Ydem Vpered”); and see the poles and lines of the re- campaign is generously fla- “By the Lviv Castle” (“Tam, pid Lvivs- sistance clearly. These visions voured with folklore and bibli- kym Zamkom”). The record was the turn into firm beliefs that are cal elements. She was obviously first spark of the insurgency theme subsequently difficult to change. trying to leave a strong impres- on a mass scale in Ukraine. In this aspect, mass culture has sion on the readers as she cre- Sweet Darusia (Solodka Darusia) is no equals. ated the worst image of the en- an expressionist novel by Maria Apart from the political im- emy in her prose of resentment. Matios, and the first Ukrainian best- pulse to focus on gaining and In “The Museum of Abandoned seller published in 2004, giving a developing an independent Secrets”, Oksana Zabuzhko retrospect of a tragedy that evolved state that is Ukrainian in form gave a more realistic and gen- in a Bukovyna village during the in- and spirit, UPA insurgents have eral portrait of NKVD agents, surgent struggle against the NKVD. left an extensive legacy of pho- yet punished them publicly and tographs, stories, songs and po- demonstratively in her text – The Company of Heroes (Zalizna ems. Some of these songs have the revenge found them at least Sotnia) is a 2004 film directed by grown more popular than those in modern times, if had not Oles Yanchuk based on memoires of Yuriy Borets. considered to be the nation’s during the war. favourites. Even the words used Mass culture offers black and In the Whirlwind of Struggle to describe the Second World white stereotypes, lacking deeper (U Vyri Borotby) is arguably the best War have changed: kryivka and psychological insight. It appears film ever made about the UPA. De- bunker for an underground that both writers use its tech- spite its simple plot, the film is a cap- shelter have ousted the soviet niques to make sure that their tivating revival of the historical ep- army’s blindazh and ziem- tragic stories reach out to the och. lianka. Music projects, such as widest audience possible. And Taras Chubai’s Plach Yeremii, they actually succeed in this. Al- Don’t Tell Anyone (Ne Kazhuchy Andriy Kuzmenko’s Skriabin, though this satisfies the broader Nikomu) is a song recorded by Tartak and Andriy Pidluzhniy in 2006. The Sashko Polozhynsky’s Tartak, demand, part of the audience video for the song is dedicated to the Andriy Pidluzhniy’s Nichlava still seeks a more subtle and in- uneven fight between an UPA unit and Orest Liuty’s (whose sur- tellectual description of the and German soldiers in 1943 near name means “enraged” in Eng- struggle that does not involve the the Zahoriv Monastery in Volyn. lish –his real name is Antin hero – traitor opposition. That Mukharsky) Tender Ukrainiza- time was much more compli- Kryivka is an UPA bunker themed tion, have been a major contri- cated, and there were far more restaurant opened in Lviv in 2007. * bution to the establishment of a roles than a hero and a traitor. Visited by nearly 100,000 people an- positive image of insurgents, nually, it is one of the biggest outlets for UPA souvenirs. especially among young people. Historical justice Tender Ukrainization was espe- Glorified in elite literature and The Museum of Abandoned Secrets cially interesting in terms of its brought to the fore by the pres- (Muzey Pokynutykh Sekretiv), a creative revision of the boring sure and pace of mass literature, novel by Oksana Zabuzhko, was old chanson and the accent on UPA’s heroic exploits will un- published in 2009. A monumental the UPA’s equally anti-Bolshe- doubtedly stay in the memory of saga that started in wartime where vik and anti-Nazi struggle, as modern Ukrainians. As numer- one of the key storylines is about well as its multiethnic and egal- ous facts of its struggle were re- the underground activities of OUN, itarian nature. vealed in the 1990s and huge the Organization of Ukrainian Na- layers of information are still tionalists, and the UPA’s struggle against the NKVD. Revenge in words found and delved into today, the The circulation of the rebel history of the national resis- Tender Ukrainization (Lahidna theme in mass culture could tance is no longer a sacral Ukrayinizatsia) is a project by Antin

stration by A ndriy Ye rmo le nko by Illu stration make it look anecdotic if it did knowledge passed down secretly *Long live the heroes! Mukharsky launched in 2012 as a not at the same time appear in from the older to the younger compilation of Ukrainian-language a more up-market dimension. generation in families. Today, it sarcastic covers of the biggest hits in Literature is an artistic mani- is a full-fledged component of Russian chanson, a genre of music festo of historical memory, es- civil identity. In the second de- dedicated to prison life. sentially encouraging people to cade of Ukrainian indepen- picture themselves in a given dence, episodes of this struggle The Tango of Death (Tanho Smerti) is a brand new novel by Yuriy Vynny- time and situation. Aware of began to circulate in the mass chuk that intertwines pre-war and this mission, Ukrainian writers culture, thus reaching beyond wartime Lviv and the 1980s. Intellec- who focus on the history of the just the borders of Halychyna tually intriguing and historically thor- national resistance present it in and Volyn, the heartland of the ough, it is one of the best portraits of a tragic manner, ranging from action, to become recognizable the psychological atmosphere and Borys Kharchuk who was the nationwide. everyday culture of that time. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|43 Culture & Arts|Personalities Animal Planet Anticommunist socialist George Orwell and his gift to Ukrainians

Author: Bohdan Tsiupyn often told that the aboriginals were wild people and that they should n 1947, American soldiers in the stay away from them, though they western occupation zone of Ger- could be hired and trained as ser- many stopped a cargo of several vants. Ithousand newly printed copies After the Blair family returned of a book in a language they did not to England, Eric went to Eton, the understand, with an evil looking most prestigious and expensive pig holding a whip on the cover. school in the UK, where he studied The name of the author was George between 1917 and 1921. He grew Orwell written in Latin letters. more opposed to social and racial Apparently, someone had tried barriers after he tried to enter the to explain to them that the books British colonial police service in were for hundreds of thousands of Burma. There, he faced what many Ukrainian refugees in displaced Englishmen turned a blind eye to: persons camps. At one point, their colonized nations not wishing to estimated number in the western obey the colonizers, even if the for- zone was 118,625. However, the eigners were well-educated and American soldiers decided that built modern railways with the Ukrainians had something to do hands of the aboriginals. Orwell with Communists and handed the quit the service and on his return to books over to Soviet repatriation Europe, headed off to study the committees. poverty in the working class areas They interpreted the books ti- of London and mazes of Paris. tled Animal Farm as propaganda and confiscated them. Part of the The Spanish Civil War cargo was saved, though. It was the Being sharply critical of social un- first translation of George Orwell’s fairness, George Orwell was one of Animal Farm into a foreign lan- the first people in the West who guage. Later, the novel – Orwell nated but first I would like to say faced the threat of totalitarianism called it a fairy tale – brought him something about myself and the in its fascist, Nazi and later Soviet- worldwide recognition. experiences by which I arrived at Communist forms. When the Civil my political position.” War broke out in Spain, Orwell and Satire on Stalinism This was one of the rare occa- his wife volunteered to fight on the The chekists were right. For the sions when George Orwell de- side of the Republicans. Kremlin, it was a dangerous book scribed his childhood and ex- His Homage to Catalonia, that harshly criticized Stalinism. plained the shaping of his world- published in 1938, was a documen- Ukrainians asked Orwell to write a view. Such, Such Were the Joys, an tary record of the six months he personal preface for the refugees essay published in 1953 after he spent fighting. It was in Spain that who had personally witnessed and died, was probably the only similar he witnessed and experienced survived many dirty Communist confession he ever wrote. Stalinism: “Through a series of ac- propaganda campaigns. cidents I joined not the Interna- In addition, Orwell covered Lessons of colonialism tional Brigade like the majority of part of the cost of publication at Eric Arthur Blair known by his pen foreigners, but the POUM militia — Prometheus, a Ukrainian publish- name George Orwell was born into i.e. the Spanish Trotskyists. So in ing house in Germany. “I have been a British family in India in 1903. the middle of 1937, when the Com- asked to write a preface to the He was destined to become a mem- munists gained control (or partial Ukrainian translation of Animal ber of the privileged establishment control) of the Spanish Govern- Farm. I am aware that I write for of the British Empire. Instead, he ment and began to hunt down the readers about whom I know noth- grew into an independent free- Trotskyists, we both found our- ing, but also that they too have thinker. selves amongst the victims. We probably never had the slightest Young Eric was probably smart were very lucky to get out of Spain opportunity to know anything enough to note how his parents, alive, and not even to have been ar- about me. In this preface they will who were not very well-off, tried to rested once. Many of our friends most likely expect me to say some- fit into the unspoken sahib rules in were shot, and others spent a long thing of how Animal Farm origi- colonial lands. Kids like him were time in prison or simply disap- 44|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Personalities|Culture & Arts peared. These man-hunts in Spain The best-known the Soviet regime for what it really The birth of a tyrant went on at the same time as the novels was. Since 1930 I had seen little Ukrainian writer Mykola Kostoma- great purges in the USSR and were evidence that the USSR was pro- rov has a short story, parts of which a sort of supplement to them.” gressing towards anything that one could be considered to be quotes In an essay review of Mein could truly call Socialism. On the from Animal Farm: “Brothers oxen, Kampf written in 1943, George Or- contrary, I was struck by clear signs sisters and wives cows! Honourable well was virtually the first person to of its transformation into a hierar- cattle, which deserve a better fate compare Stalin to Hitler. Accord- chical society, in which the rulers than what you now have at the will ing to Andrea Chalupa, an Ameri- have no more reason to give up of someone unknown, who made us can researcher of his biography their power than any other ruling the slaves of human tyrants! You and writing, many people found it class. Moreover, the workers and have been drinking from the bucket hard to believe this at that time. intelligentsia in a country like Eng- of misfortune for such a long time Therefore, Animal Farm, written land cannot understand that the that none of you can remember in 1944 as an allegorical novel hint- USSR of today is altogether differ- when it started, and you have no ing at Stalin’s usurpation of the ent from what it was in 1917. It is chance of drinking it to the end!” Russian Revolution and betrayal of partly that they do not want to un- Kostomarov’s parable read as a socialist ideals, was initially almost derstand (i.e. they want to believe warning: a revolution, the partici- impossible to publish. In 1945, that, somewhere, a really Socialist pants of which do not know how to Secker and Warburg took the risk country does actually exist).” use its fruits will remain nothing and published Animal Farm, pay- Orwell’s voice remained almost but an uprising that ends quickly ing Orwell just GBP100 for a small solitary and was barely heard for and tragically for many rebels. In circulation, which was immediately several years after the Second Kostomarov’s short story, the ani- sold out. World War. In the early 1950s, mals rose against their human however, those who had previously masters, but Orwell went farther. Mr. Jones’ legacy swept away his warnings, began to He showed that not just enemies, The uprising of animals in Orwell’s use Animal Farm in their informa- but even those who start revolu- dystopia takes place on Mr. Jones’ tional campaigns against the Soviet tions may eventually become ty- farm. Some assume that Orwell’s Union during the Cold War. rants. choice of the name Mr. Jones was no coincidence, but a reminder of Gareth Jones, the first Western reporter to tell the truth about the horror of the Famine in Ukraine and Stalin’s repressions in the USSR. Orwell later admitted that he had never been to the USSR him- self, and his knowledge of how the Communist system operated there was based on Gareth Jones’ reports and his own experience in Spain. Later he wrote that this whole experience had been a valuable les- son for him as a demonstration of how easy it is to manage the opinion of educated people in democratic countries through totalitar- ian propaganda. In Homage to Catalonia, Or- well mentioned one of the agents of the Soviet special services who turned out to have been involved in the assassination of Gareth Jones. He was murdered in 1935 in China, far away from his homeland in Wales, under circumstances that to this day, raise many questions. George Orwell knew what the Kremlin bosses and their assistants in the most remote corners of the world were capable of. He tried in vain to reveal to his compatriots the threat of Moscow’s greedy ex- pansionism, hidden behind propaganda manipulations. “It was of the utmost importance to me that people in Western Europe should see № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|45 culture & arts|Reviews and event calendar Tender Ukrainization

ntin Mukharsky is a TV host, theatre actor, artist, leader of the Union of Free Artists and father of four. Bright, funny, observant and Aenthusiastic, he currently performs as Orest Lyuty - the last name translating as “outraged” in English – in a band called Lahidna Ukrainizatsia or Tender Ukrainianization. The band plays satirical covers of some of the most notorious Russian pop and prison chansons that flood the media and minds of Ukraine. I’ve had this Tender Ukrainization project in mind for years. The idea first came to me in my youth, when I was in the army. I worked on it from time to time, then dropped it, then returned to it again. The final straw was the notorious language bill and the Party of Regions’ Olena Bondarenko who said that Ukrainian music had to fight and compete on its own, with no help. That’s when I decided to create my own project as a rival to prison chanson, ugly pop music and other “accomplishments” of our big northern Interviewer: Cultural expansion is one of the key tools brother. I completed all the songs on the album in Bohdan of influence and struggle in the modern world. just two weeks or so. We didn’t expect the project to Butkevych Ukraine is in a position whereby most of its territory become a success. We uploaded the first video and a is under the influence of Russian mass culture. Over month later, were invited to play gigs. The stuff we the past century, Ukrainian culture was barely inte- play turned out to be extremely popular - a trend-set- grated into the world cultural process, unlike Soviet ter of sorts. culture, for instance, replayed and promoted abroad

Events 1 – 18 November 16 November, 7 p.m. 30 October – 18 November ART KYIV contemporary ArtPole November Party A Hundred wIcons of Lviv 2012 StereoPlaza The Green Sofa Gallery Art Arsenal (17, vul. Kikvidze, Kyiv) (7, vul. Virmenska, Lviv) (12, vul. Lavrska, Kyiv) ArtPole is once more gathering the The purpose of the joint exhibition The 7th contemporary art festival best friends of the festival in order to of young Lviv artists, Olha will take the format of a forum, as gladden the guests with the latest Kravchenko, Uliana Nyshchuk- opposed to the usual format of a fair portion of vibrant music and make an Borysiak and Ostap Lozynsky, is this year. 30 leading galleries of the autumn evening pleasant and cosy. to open the eyes of the viewer to world will be presenting the work of One of the first to take to the stage the mysterious essence of the city contemporary artists from Ukraine, will be the founders of the world of Lviv, which lives in old legends Austria, Italy, Germany, France and music style, Transglobal Underground and tales. One hundred fragments Russia. The special projects include from Britain. The unique Khmeleva from these stories are depicted on Symposium of Modern Art Biryuchiy Project will be presented canvas and are kinds of 012, Volodymyr Naumets. Lucidity, by the ethno-house windows, revealing the and the Cleaning group, DakhaBrakha, mysteries of medieval video project by together with their Lviv. The source of Polina Kanis, last colleagues from the their creativity is the year’s winner of the avant-garde Port Mone iconographic image, Kandinsky Prize, the trio. The special guest which helps to paint most prestigious of this evening, Hudaki the sacral space of contemporary art Village Band will share its the city in great detail prize in Russia. emotional melodies with and portray its ancient the audience. atmosphere. 46|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Reviews and event calendar|culture & arts The modern world is made to suit the tastes and preferences of the booboisie and the nouveau riche. And it’s fake, not real. A representative of that class is a fake that has no essence of his/her own. Such an individual is forced to mask this personal shallowness under someone else’s ideology, culture or worldview. But when you talk to him/her, you can immediately see that this is fiction, in spite of his/her apparent humanity. This is why the role of artists is to help people tell the difference between what is real and what is fake. But the booboisie will do anything to hide its shallowness behind brand labels, cars and cash. Thus, they create glamour and show business as a way to fool others. I have this project; it’s called Zhlob Art, which translates as booboisie art. It’s called on to replace the irritation with booboisie domination in Ukrainian culture with mockery. Who- ever is able to irritate you can also control you, while mockery and laughter is the best means of resistance. Most Ukrainian artists are in deep shit but in their thoughts, they walk around Paris or New York in a nice white suit. This is a kind of eternal syndrome of a 20-year old, thinking that everything is nonsense and that everything can be changed by simply moving one finger. Ten years pass, and nothing has changed. The artist is still sipping his cognac or coffee and prattling about the same things, while the crooks he thought would fail and disappear because they are so bad, are in control. They tell him what to do because they have the tools to manipulate him. I always knew that I wanted to be an independent artist. If you fail to fulfill your mission, you by the modern Russia. Soviet writers and artists were accumulate this negative potential from an internal pretty well-known – as representatives of the Russian conflict with yourself. Still, 90-95% of people live that Empire. By contrast, Ukrainian art – young, unknown way. They keep lying to themselves and blaming their and neglected by the government – is now forced to failures on someone or something else – parents, cir- work ten times harder to gain at least some success cumstances, and God knows what else. But in truth, compared to a similar product in countries that real- they are really smothering their real calling. Instead, ize the importance of culture. they become the slaves of the world.

30 October – 18 November 24 November, 7 p.m. 30 October –28 November Until 30 November Brazil Bossa Nova Quartet KievFotoCom 2012 Nightmare Art Bernadazzi Restaurant and Club Ra Gallery, Soviart Museum of Dreams (15, vul. Bunina, Odesa) contemporary art centre; Ivan (55, vul. Chyhorina, Kyiv) The Brazil Bossa Nova Quartet will Kavaleridze Workshop Museum From now on, dreams can be seen not bring hot, intoxicating, but at the (32, vul. B. Khmelnytskoho; only when you sleep. The Nightmare same time refined and tender bossa 22-а Andriyivskiy Uzviz; 21, Art exhibition-performance allows nova to Ukraine. Ark Ovrutski on Andriyivskiy Uzviz, Kyiv) you to see your dreams in reality double bass and guitar, who is well- Conversation is the subject of this and cross the boundary between known to the Ukrainian audience, year’s international photograph festival fiction and reality. The subject of together with Helio Alves on piano, that will present photographers from the art research was the nightmare Duduka da Fonseca on percussion, Mexico, Poland, Ukraine and France, and its most diverse manifestations. and vocalist Maucha Adnet, will all original and versatile. For example, Armed with a special instrument for demonstrate the the subject of the photo research of the study of horrors, visitors to the highest class of Eric Vassoler from France, is expressed exhibition can find their own hidden the “new style”. in the laconic title “Be associations and This is the literal young and shut up!”, reflections in the translation of while Ukrainian artists, game created by “bossa nova” – a Valeria Trubina and the museum. This mixture of the Yuriy Boyko, focus on is an amazing traditional rhythms the theme of universal opportunity of the Brazilian identification, aimed to meet and samba and classic at a dialogue with the overcome your American jazz. audience. fears face-to-face. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|47 Navigator|Forgotten lands

Mission: Discover Polissia Thrill seekers head to Zhytomyr and Rivne forests – a terra incognita for most Ukrainians

Article and xcuse me, when is the have been for hundreds of years. staring at us from the walls photos by bus to the village “Have you heard of our uncle Se- (photo 2). Apparently, the Olena leaving?” “What? A men…?” cue the legends about lonely hosts passed away and the Maksymenko “Ebus?! There aren’t werewolves and witches that go house has been slowly dying any buses, there’s only a logging along with authentic songs that without them. truck. It goes there on workdays.” you will never hear from a folk We follow the map to find the “How do we get to town then?” band in a city club. best place to host an international “Take a school bus.” “Does any- Leather bags nailed to festival. There are virtually no one in the village own a car? We’d wooden fences are used as mail- forms of transport or roads here. pay someone to give us a ride!” boxes. Shabby local shops sell ho- Hospitable locals take us through “Ha-ha-ha!” This is Polissia, Zhy- rilka, bread and mayonnaise. Bat- the forest, which is the only way tomyr Oblast. Just 200 kilome- teries for a camera are simply an to get to the spot. All around us tres away from Zhytomyr city it- inaccessible luxury. On our way, are ancient woodlands. self – and we are in a different di- we see abandoned houses where mension. Here people live with everything has remained intact The most valuable pieces their own special dialect, anthro- ever since the hosts left their Wild Polissia has lured thrill pological type and a totally differ- homes: frozen wall clock hands, seekers, researchers of folk music ent view of the world. Pristine na- dust-covered clothes in a closet, and culture and adventurers for ture dictates the laws of life here schoolbooks and letters turning years, yet it is a terra incognita and the locals are still in close more and more yellow with time, for average tourists. It is full of connection to it, just like they and family pictures and icons historical and cultural sites but 48|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012 Forgotten lands|Navigator Polissia relics Wild honey harvesting is one of the most respected crafts in Polissia today. Sur- prisingly, the local tradition hardly changed over centuries: wild honey is still gath- ered using techniques that trace back to the times of Kyiv Rus.

The old noble family of Levkovski still lives 5 km from the Ukrainian-Belarus frontier in Voznychi, a village in Zhytomyr Oblast. It came to settle here from Levkovychi, their ancestral village, in the 18th century. Having survived wars, a revolution, exiles and soviet terror, the family remembers its noble roots. Its members often marry with members of "brotherly" noble families. Since virtually all people in the village have Levkovski as their last name, they call each other by nicknames.

the nature and people are its most in a pine tree forest on the bank valuable pieces to see. Sadly, of the Somyne or Verbytske lakes what urban guests view as exotic, near the village called Vysotsk. the locals see as a tragedy: unem- These lakes are smaller than the ployment is huge, young people Shatsk Lakes in North-Western are leaving in droves, weeds over- Ukraine but they are known for grow desolate gardens, and the the healing qualities of their wa- villages are slowly dying (photo ter and the contrasting view of 4), taking the huge and not yet the snow-white sand shores adja- chronicled cultural layer with cent to the water – hot on the sur- them. Alcohol addiction aggra- face and freezing cold down be- vates the situation – people who low closer to the springs - they could work have no jobs and fill look black due to their peat bot- their free time with booze. toms. Polissia’s tourist potential is NGOs and charity funds are equal to that of the Carpathians doing their best to reveal Polissia in Western Ukraine or the to the public. They arrange press Crimea. Skilful promotion of the tours, pilgrimages to holy places, region could kill two birds with kayaking on the rivers, work- one stone: decrease unemploy- shops for authentic arts and ment and reveal new destinations crafts and they bring books and for the fans of summer vacation- popular writers to local school li- ing. It has it all - medieval braries. The Our Land charity churches, Stone Age villages with foundation has recently arranged Mission: Discover Polissia archaeological finds for the fans a local history tour to show peo- of pre-historic times, spots where ple the best tourist destination in Kyiv Rus princes had once ruled, the Horyn river basin. Flowing and shelters of the OUN-UPA, the into the River Prypiat, Horyn is a Thrill seekers head to Zhytomyr and Rivne forests – a terra incognita Ukrainian Insurgent Army. source of many sad legends about for most Ukrainians Extreme tourists can go kaya- beautiful girls named Horynia or king down the local rivers (photo Horynka. One escaped captivity 1) while those who prefer quiet by stabbing a khan who wanted and serene rest can rent a house her as his mistress; another one poured tears over the death of her mother and unanswered love; yet another girl ran from an old un- wanted fiancée to her godmother named Prypiat to find shelter… As the legends go, they all turned to the river. As Horyn gently carries our kayaks on its yellow back, the landscapes leave us breathless. Steep banks dotted with swallow nests flow into wild bushes and welcoming sand beaches. “Going to Belarus after Lukashenka, are you?” local kids and fishermen call out jokingly from the banks. Otters with crayfish in their teeth pop out from beneath the kayaks. The locals say that the forests here abound with wildlife includ- 1 ing foxes, wolves, deer and many more. № 18 (41) november 2012|the ukrainian week|49 Navigator|Forgotten lands Following the princes Polissia tapestry. It is now home “The idea of this project came up to a generation of artists includ- a while ago,” says Natalia Poz- ing four women who have pre- niak-Khomenko, Chief Editor of served the unique technology of the Our Land publication, mem- weaving with linen and embroi- ber of the Our Land charity foun- dery on it. The birth and develop- dation and the tour coordinator. ment of this art are on display at “I used to go to many festivals the local museum. “There is a and worked with Chervona Ruta woman called Uliana Kot in Kru- and Taras Bulba1. Then, there pove,” Natalia says. “We’ve re- were festivals of authentic cul- corded 1,050 folk songs from her. ture where every town and city Now 75, she preserves the old wanted to show its deep histori- melodies, the real authentic sing- cal roots. Only Dubrovytsia has ing.” slumbered the years away… In The John the Baptist Catholic 1986, it became the third Chor- church (photo 3) in Dubrovyt- nobyl zone. There is no construc- sia is a masterpiece of temple ar- tion of enterprises or industry chitecture. However, the local here. But the radiation is gone 2 parish hardly counts 50 people and the environment has cleaned and the church, which is an ar- itself. We have fantastic lakes chitectural monument on a na- and rivers here, and a far-reach- tional scale, is severely neglected ing history. This place, for in- as no funds are allocated to fix it. stance (Berezhnytsia village – Still, it looks the most impressive Ed.), is over a thousand years in town: maybe it is the open old!” space typical of Roman Catholic Dubrovytsia is a town where architecture, or its special en- the Olshanskis, a Lithuanian ergy, or the stucco faces of the princely family, had once lived. saints looking right into the Prince Yuriy Olshanski was heart… known as a talented warrior from Other local attractions in- his battles with the Tartars and a clude the 1,350-year old oak tree donator who funded the con- and the Lukovski crosses lost in struction of many churches. His the forests where, according to two daughters were equally fa- rumours, miracles happen and mous. His eldest daughter Anas- people come for cures from ill- tasia (her last name after mar- nesses and grievances. riage was Zaslavska) had a bril- Vysotsk is a village where an- liant education at that time and cient Dulebe and Drevlian trives arranged the translation of the had once lived. In more recent Peresopnytsia Gospels into the history, it was one of the OUN- “language of the people”. Ukrai- UPA’s hot spots. nian presidents still make their Solitary sheep trot across the oaths on it today. Her younger 3 streets and the air has the smell sister Uliania Olshanska lived of the warm sun from childhood less than 16 years, but was can- years. Virtually every village and onized for her virtues. She is yard here has its secrets and won- guardian saint of Polissia. ders. Polissia looks like the world Kurash, a village in Dubrovyt- on the other side of the mirror – sia County, used to be a house for flamboyant and diverse – where hunters built in the middle of a one can wander from one story thick forest where the nobles into another that the people, trees came to hunt and rest. It is best and stones will readily share till known for its wooden church and the end of time. the relics of an old Rus town discovered nearby. INFO Geographically, Polissica reaches into From the Dulebes to four states, including Ukraine, Be- Ukrainian insurgent larus, Poland and Russia. Chronicles fighters from the 14-16th centuries mention the name for the first time. According All fans of handmade things and to most researchers, Polissia is the accessories must go to Krupove, a territory of the River Prypiat basin and village known as the centre of the adjacent forest line. Ukrainian 1Named after one the most popular Ukrainian hit songs by Polissia is divided into the Left-Bank Volodymyr Ivasiuk, Chervona Ruta is a music festival that and Right-Bank parts, covering parts started in Chernivtsi in 1989, launching the careers of of Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Chernihiv, Rivne, many well-known Ukrainian performers and bands. Taras 4 Bulba is a folk rock festival in Dubno, Rivne Oblast. Volyn and Sumy Oblasts. 50|the ukrainian week|№ 18 (41) november 2012