#6 (112) June 2017 How Ukraine's trade New language bills Joseph McElroy on postmodernism with Russia has changed and public opinion on the issue and his novel Cannonball THE THREE-YEAR ITCH WWW.UKRAINIANWEEK.COM Featuring selected content from The Economist FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION CONTENTS | 3 BRIEFING 32 Numbers about words: Is Ukrainian 5 Round and round: How the May-June society ready for changes in language session of the Verkhovna Rada started policy? and what to expect of it 34 Water of discord: How the water supply system is working in Donbas FOCUS today 7 The three-year itch: How Ukraine’s presidents lived through their third- NEIGHBOURS year crises 36 Bad luck: Michael Binyon on how 10 Poroshenko vs the memes: How social NATO and G7 meetings will affect media users react to the President Theresa May’s prospects in the UK election POLITICS 38 Electronic bandits: Can WannaCry 14 Vitaliy Kasko: “The steps made largely make people treat cyber-security under the pressure of civil society more seriously? and foreign partners are not yet irreversible” 40 Joshua Tucker: “A huge question is whether it will become a norm that Ex-Deputy Prosecutor General on presidents and prime ministers will reforms of the law enforcement start to use social media to drive system in Ukraine, anti-corruption mainstream media coverage more court globally” 18 Narodniy Front redux: What awaits New York University Professor on Arseniy Yatseniuk’s party social media and political behavior of citizens, protest movements ECONOMICS 20 Diversifying from Russia: Don’t stop CULTRE & ARTS now... How Ukraine-Russia trade 44 Joseph McElroy: “Critical thinking is balance has changed and what is what makes us humans and voters” to be done next America’s top postmodernist writer on war and politics, humanism, emotions SOCIETY and rational thinking 24 Where are we? Politicians, 46 Sky-blue instruments: The history of activists and experts on the point Ukrainian electroacoustic music from of no return between Ukraine the 1960s to the present day and Russia 50 Architecture, contemporary music and 28 Linguistic puzzle: Current status and film festivals:The Ukrainian Week prospects of new bills on the state offers a selection of events to attend language in June E-mail [email protected] www.ukrainianweek.com Tel. (044) 351-13-00 The Ukrainian Week #6 (112) June 2017 Office address Kyiv, Ukraine, 36A, vul. Bohdana Khmelnytskoho, apt. 3 Founder ECEM Media GmbH. Publisher ECEM Media GmbH Print run 15 000. Free distribution Address Austria, Am Gestade,1, 1010 Vienna Our partner State registration certificate КВ № 19823-9623ПР 19.03.2013 Chief Editor Dmytro Krapyvenko Editors Anna Korbut, Lidia Wolanskyj #6 (112) June 2017 | THE UKRAINIAN WEEK THE UKRAINIAN WEEK | #6 (112) June 2017 BRIEFING Round and round Andriy Holub n May 16, the Verkhovna Rada resumed work after a one-month recess. It is too early to judge whether this time off influenced the configuration of political forces. But we can confidently say that the working style of parliamentarians has remained unchanged. O When MPs were sent on holiday in mid-April (although supporters of such breaks insist on calling them "work in constituencies and committees"), the ability of Parliament to make any major decisions was non-existent. People’s representatives consistently failed to make any progress on several important issues: the appointment of auditors to NABU, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, a new law on the Constitutional Court and amendments to the widely criticised Savchenko Law on amnesty for wide categories of convicted criminals. The current sixth session of the Rada will end in mid-July. Then Parliament can break up again, this time until September. During the time that remains, there will only be four weeks of sessions UNIAN PHOTO: for voting, the first of which is already underway. #6 (112) June 2017 | THE UKRAINIAN WEEK 6 | BRIEFING | The first days in the Rada showed that it is hardly chamber. In particular, they voted to remove Andriy worth expecting any changes in quality. This was evi- Artemenko, a Radical Party MP known for submit- dent even on Monday when the Coordination Board ting what he called a peace plan for Ukraine (it offer met. The rhetoric and content of statements from rep- a lease of Crimea to Russia in exchange for lifting resentatives of different factions have not changed. sanctions against it) to members of the Trump team, For example, Batkivshchyna MP Serhiy Vlasenko re- from his seat. Earlier, the President revoked his citi- peated his party's old talking points: the ban on land zenship due to the fact that he has a Canadian pass- sale should not be lifted under any circumstances, port, and he was expelled from the Radical Party. nor should the pension reform requested by the IMF Another topic that was discussed on the first day be implemented. Instead, it is necessary to repeal the was the ban by law of the St. George Ribbon, as of- recently adopted law on the electricity market, as it is fered by NF MP and Advisor to Interior Minister An- leading to higher rates on this commodity. Oleh Li- ton Herashchenko. Parliament managed to do this ashko, now in opposition, was not too far behind in towards the evening of the first day at the VR. From criticising those same things. Interestingly, even the now on, making and wearing the orange and black resignation of National Bank head Valeria Hontareva, striped ribbons will be punished by a fine of 5,000 which his Radical Party demanded almost every day, hryvnias (US $190). Nevertheless, all interested did not affect his rhetoric, because "it will come to parties found time to cause a stir before the law nothing without a change in monetary policy". was passed. Nestor Shufrych, an Opposition Bloc Samopomich, represented by faction leader Oleh MP and formerly member of the Party of Regions, Bereziuk, is trying to maintain a balance between appealed to the conscience and historical memory sinking into populism like their former coalition of his colleagues – in defense of those who fought colleagues and preserving their image as opposition in the ranks of the Russian Army during the First to the government. Evidence of this is their position World War, Crimean War and others. He alleged on the land market: they want to postpone the de- that, by prohibiting the ribbon, Ukrainians are re- cision for a few years to first create the right con- jecting these ancestors. ditions for farmers, who in the meantime will save However, discussions on these topics and the money and start to compete with the oligarchs and news of the sanctions against a number of Russian international corporations. websites overshadow much more important mat- ters that MPs have been putting off for months or even years. For example, for the past three years FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS MPs HAVE BEEN UNABLE they have been unable to change the composition of TO CHANGE THE COMPOSITION OF THE CENTRAL the Central Election Commission. The term of the current members in office has long expired. The sta- ELECTION COMMISSION WHOSE TERM HAS LONG tus of the occupied territories remains unresolved. EXPIRED. THE STATUS OF THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES Moreover, the fate of the current law "On the special REMAINS UNRESOLVED procedure for local government in certain districts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts", which was ad- opted for three years in 2014, is also unclear. Finally, Even Narodniy Front, which is allied to the there are no explanations on how exactly deputies Presidential Administration, continued to play its plan to solve the problems regarding auditors for "broken record" about the urgency of passing a bill the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the laws on a Special Confiscation Regime (it would regulate needed to continue judicial reform. the forced recovery of assets gained illegally by the Instead of answering all these questions, the representatives of the previous government). This MPs became embroiled in several scandals on their saga has been going on for over a year. A third bill on first days back at work. One of them is linked to bill the subject has now been submitted to the Rada for No 6220, which proposes amending the provisions consideration, as the other two were withdrawn due of the Unified Register of Pre-Trial Investigations to significant corruption risks they entailed. In De- on launching inquiries. Opponents of the document cember, NF even blackmailed the Petro Poroshenko warn that if it is passed, the investigating authorities Bloc by threatening to sabotage the budget vote if will not have the right to open new investigations if the said law did not pass. According to fraction head similar ones on the given individual have already Maksym Burbak, the best evidence that the law is been closed. In this way, the government would be needed is the recent seizure of over US $1 billion of able to cancel out the NABU’s investigations by clos- Viktor Yanukovych's funds. However, Burbak did ing similar cases through the Prosecutor General's not explain how this happened in the absence of the Office, which it seems to control. Another scandal is abovementioned law on special confiscation. associated with revisions to the bill On Cybersecu- According to the new head of the Petro Porosh- rity proposed by Vidrodzhennia (Renaissance) MP enko Bloc, man of few words Artur Herasymov, over Viktor Bondar. The rules could block the operation the past month no decisions have been made regard- of procurement system ProZorro. Bondar submitted ing candidates for the post of head of the National identical amendments to another bill in February, Bank or Parliamentary Human Rights Commis- but they did not pass.