The Ukrainian Week
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THE THREE MAIN OPPOSITION PAGE DAVID KRAMER: It'S TIME TO HAVE PAGE GEttING THE NEIGHBOURS' EAR: PAGE FORCES: BACKGROUND, A SERIOUS CONVERSATION WITH THE WHITEWASHING OF THE PARTY FLAWS AND POTENTIAL 10 UKRAINIAN AUTHORITIES 16 OF REGIONS IN THE WEST 22 № 19 (42) NOVEMBER 2012 WWW.UKRAINIANWEEK.COM FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION Featuring selected content from The Economist |CONTENTS BRIEFING FOCUS POLITICS Latest Transfers in Time for a Time for Action No Illusions: the Law Enforcement: Tymoshenko- Yanukovych & Co do not hide background, flaws The police undergoes Lutsenko Bill? the fact that their strategic and prospects of personnel rotations Will sanctions goal is to retain control over the three major after the election against Ukrainian the country. Society is ready opposition parties officials follow the to resist this with bottom-up 4 Magnitsky Act? 5 consolidation and initiative 6 10 Another Step to David Kramer: Steven Pifer: The West Isolation: Janusz It’s time to have a now views Ukraine as a Bugajski on US- serious conversation country that has gone off Ukraine relations with Ukrainian the democratic track after the election authorities 14 16 18 NEIGHBOURS OPINION Azarov Versus A War for the Ihor Losev Firtash: Media buzz Neighbours’ on the kidnapping of Leonid about escalating Ears: The Party of Razvozzhayev as a signal conflicts within the Regions’ lobbyists of Ukraine’s illusionary ruling party in the West sovereignty 20 22 25 ECONOMICS INVESTIGATION The Dollar Fight: Money Talks: Enhanced Security: Why the government An effective Oligarch-owned private wants to maintain the social media “armies” are set to benefit current dollar-hryvnia since ancient from the new law on security exchange rate at any times activities price 26 29 30 SOCIETY HISTORY Warm Relations: The Ukrainian Week continues its Where the Ukrainian series about ancient peoples with Catholic University’s the Yotvingians - the quick, fierce friendship with Dmytro and courageous Baltic tribes that Firtash may take it once inhabited Ukraine 33 36 CULTURE & ARTS Ukraine Finds Sophie Jullien on the Anna Shevchenko: The Its Place on Cognac literature festival Ukrainian-born British writer the European as a platform for sharing talks about her debut novel Bookshelf ideas and discovering little Bequest and history for known cultures the mass audience 40 42 44 NAVIGATOR The Louvre Strong Spirits: Yuri In the Footsteps of Fallen Heroes: Welcomes Johann Andrukhovych and The Ukrainian Week takes a drive Georg Pinsel, a Karbido present the third to explore the sites of significant master of Ukrainian part of their poetry and military campaigns baroque sculpture music trilogy 46 47 48 Natalia Romanec, Shaun Williams, Editors; Anna Korbut, Translator Mailing address: PO Box 2, Kyiv, 03067 The Ukrainian Week № 19 (42) November 2012 Publisher address: vul. Mashynobudivna 37, Kyiv 03067 Ukraine Founder: ECEM Media Ukraine LLC Publisher: The Ukrainian Week LLC E-mail: [email protected], Tel.: (044) 351-1300 First published in January 2010 www.ukrainianweek.com State registration certificate Print: The Novy Druk, LLC, 1 Mahnitohorska Str. Series KB No18352-7152ПР of October 24, 2011 Ordering number: 12-6950. Print run: 15,000 Bohdan Andriytsev, Director, ECEM Media Ukraine LLC Sent to print on 22 November 2012 Serhiy Lytvynenko, Editor-in-Chief, The Ukrainian Week Free distribution № 19 (42) NOVEMBER 2012|THE UKRAINIAN WEEK|3 BRIEFING| 5 November 6 November The opposition gathers in The parliament passes the National Referen- front of the Central Election dum Law that gives the president more op- Commission, protesting portunities to change the Constitution through against the falsification of the public voting and to manipulate the outcome election QUOTES ANDREW WILSON on the media The expert of the European Council Lateral Transfers on Foreign Relations believes that the Ukrai- nian government will renew pressure in Law Enforcement on the media once the election process is over 1 VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH Quiet lay-offs The president has made no public statements since October 31, but officials who failed to ensure high support for the PR are fired upon his instructions LESIA OROBETS The first victim of the election? Unidentified people attack the office of her husband’s firm. She assumes that the government is trying to force her into the pro-presi- dential majority in the new parliament ersonnel rotations began at Ukrai- mentary campaign. Hennadiy Moskal, a re- nian law enforcement agencies after tired general in the police, feels that this is VOLODYMYR YELCHENKO the election. They are particularly no- how the government is trying to get its loyal UNIAN PHOTO: Ready for the Customs Pticeable at the Ministry of Internal Af- servants in place, prior to the presidential fairs, where the heads of ten oblast depart- election. The newly appointed generals also Union ments were replaced within the course of include the following infamous names: the Ukraine’s Ambassador to one day. There were also new appointments Ivano-Frankivsk Office of the Ministry of Russia explains that in the Ministry’s central apparatus as well Internal Affairs will be headed by Oleh Salo Ukraine will join the Customs Union if the as in some departments. Notably, the per- (photo 1) and the Zakarpattia Office – by financial crisis contin- sonnel clean-up largely pertained to the re- Vasyl Vartsaba (photo 2). Both “distin- ues in the EU gions where the Party of Regions (PR) did guished” themselves during the 2004 presi- not enjoy significant support. However, ex- dential election. That very year, Vartsaba, perts are not prone to think that the rota- the then head of the oblast Ministry of In- tion is a direct consequence of the parlia- ternal Affairs conducted the so-called “Mu- The month 2 November 1917 3 November 1937 10 November 1764 in history The Third Military Convention Soviet authorities Russian Empress, Catherine opens in Kyiv, demanding conduct the mass the Great, abolishes the the immediate declaration of execution of the rule of hetmans in Cossack Ukraine’s independence Ukrainian intelligen- Ukraine tsia in Sandarmokh, a forest in Karelia. 4|THE UKRAINIAN WEEK|№ 17 (40) OCTOBER 2012 |BRIEFING 11 November 12 November 13 November Volodymyr Klitschko Catherine Ashton and Štefan The final results of the defends his world cham- Füle express doubts as to parliamentary election pion title in a 12 round whether the new Verkhovna are officially announced fight against Poland’s Rada reflects the will of the Mariusz Wach people kachiv destruction” when the government tried to distort the will of the people with the aid of law enforcement agencies during the mayoral elec- Time for a Tymoshenko- tion. In 2005, a criminal case was initiated against the indicated persons and they were put on the international wanted list. According to some Lutsenko Bill? data, Salo and Vartsaba were in hiding in Russia. The government of the PR reinstated them and even gave them positions in Kyiv – and has now On November 16, the US House of Representa- sent them to “the places of their former glory” – Western Ukrainian re- tives passed the Magnitsky Act entailing sanctions gions. against Russian officials involved in the death of in- They say that the personnel re-shuffle of the Interior Ministry is a sort carcerated Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. The of preparation for the return of the despicable Mykola Bilokon, who Senate may vote on it by the end of November, and headed the Ministry in the last years of the Kuchma presidency. Today, the President is likely to approve it by the end of the former minister is working at the Russian Ministry of Justice and the year. The EU is preparing similar sanctions. In holds Russian citizenship, so his reincarnation in the office of the head of July, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly passed the the Ukrainian police, would be a significant event. There is another as- Magnitsky Reso- sumption – that the large-scale personnel changes were initiated by the lution calling on current Minister of Internal Affairs, Vitaliy Zakharchenko, who is at- European coun- tempting to create a network of “his own people on the ground”. tries to apply Zakharchenko is part of the Yanukovych family clan, so it’s very likely that sanctions against another position has been found for him outside the Interior Ministry the respective (some say that he could replace Serhiy Liovochkin as the President’s Chief Russian officials. of Staff). If that is the case, Zakharchenko’s personnel combination is cal- Thus far, the UK culated to maintain indirect influence within the Ministry of Internal Af- has done so. At fairs through those loyal to him. the end of Octo- ber, the Euro- phl фото: pean Parliament 2 passed a resolution urging the European Council to apply similar sanctions. At this point, the US and EU sanctions include visa bans and the freezing of bank accounts. Experts project that the US might also use the Magnitsky Act to apply sanctions against officials that violate human rights in other countries, including those involved in the persecu- tion of opposition leaders in Ukraine. In a recent interview for Deutsche Welle, German EMP Re- becca Harms stated that the EU is seriously con- templating sanctions against certain members of the Ukrainian government following the US model in the case of Magnitsky. However, there is a differ- ence between the current situation in Ukraine and the Magnitsky case in Russia. The Ukrainian offi- cials who were directly involved in the trials against opposition leaders were simply following orders from Ukraine’s top officials, thus the most effective solution entails sanctions against those who or- dered the persecution. Otherwise, trials similar to those against Tymoshenko and Lutsenko will per- sist, as those who follow orders are far more con- cerned about what may happen to them if they dis- obey than they are about possible sanctions against them in the EU or the US.