INSIDE: • World Council of Ukrainian Cooperatives meets in Ukraine – page 3. • 35th anniversary of the Helsinki Accords – page 9. • U.S. Plast scouts active in environmental projects – page 13. THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No. 32 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Economists in Ukraine question Ukraine in danger: Government wisdom of IMF’s decision on loan moves to control fall elections by Zenon Zawada “Ukraine is a country which is in a by Zenon Zawada Kyiv Press Bureau very critical state for the rest of the Kyiv Press Bureau world, and the IMF is the last life buoy. KYIV – The administration of But the question is not in getting the KYIV – The government of Prime President Viktor Yanukovych has intro- credit, but how it’s being spent,” he com- Minister Mykola Azarov has spent the duced almost no reforms to improve the mented. summer tightening the screws of authori- Ukrainian economy, in the view of econ- The loan also serves the purpose of tarianism in Ukraine, pressuring the omists. As illustrated in the recent bud- keeping the pro-Russian government led opposition, getting court rulings to clear getary and tax codes, his measures main- by Prime Minister Mykola Azarov illegal conduct, dismissing non-compliant tain the status quo for oligarchs and busi- engaged with the West, experts said, rath- officials and restricting the individual ness clans without helping small busi- er than turning its foreign policy scope rights of ethnically conscious Ukrainians. ness. wholly in the direction of Moscow. On In preparation for the fall elections, the Yet that didn’t stop the International June 11 the Russian government lent Ukrainian government has attempted to Monetary Fund (IMF) from extending the Ukraine $2 billion to cover budget gaps. splinter the Batkivschyna party, led by Ukrainian government a two-and-a-half “They could have thrown Ukraine to opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, by year program for a $15.2 billion loan on the will of the Russian Federation and not allowing courts to interfere with deci- July 29, with its first tranche of $1.9 bil- offer this money, understanding that it sions reached by the party congress. The government’s neo-Soviet mea- lion delivered just four days later. would lose control,” said Volodymyr sures threaten the legitimacy of the The funds won’t bring any long-term Horbach, a political analyst at the October 31 elections for oblast, city and benefit to the Ukrainian economy Institute of Euro-Atlantic Cooperation. UNIAN/Mykhailo Markiv village councils and chairs, in the view of because structural reforms aren’t being “Through these credits, the West contin- ues to influence the Ukrainian govern- Ukraine’s expert community. They unani- Maryna Stavniychuk (above), a member pursued, economists told The Ukrainian mously criticized the regional elections of Ukraine’s delegation to the Venice Weekly. Instead the IMF, financed pri- ment because it will be a debtor to the West.” law signed by President Viktor Commission of the Council of Europe, marily by the U.S. Treasury, wants to pre- Yanukovych on July 27. and Oleksander Chernenko (below), vent further economic decline, which Offering the IMF’s official explana- tion, First Deputy Managing Director “Ukraine is being thrown back not chair of the Committee of Voters of would hurt Western investments and spill even to the Kuchma era, but even further Ukraine, say legislation on elections into Europe. John Lipsky said Ukraine is emerging from a difficult period during which “the as if into the Soviet past, when elections signed by President Viktor Yanukovych “They don’t want the political situa- economy was severely hit by external were held in name only,” said Maryna calls into question the legitimacy of the tion to be destabilized by economic rea- shocks and exacerbated by domestic vul- Stavniychuk, a member of Ukraine’s del- local and regional elections scheduled for sons,” said Andriy Novak, an economist nerabilities.” egation to the Venice Commission of the October. who served in prior Cabinets and author Amidst this, the Yanukovych adminis- Council of Europe. of the book, “How to Lift Up the The regional election law is “a peculiar Ukrainian Economy.” (Continued on page 8) Rubicon, which was crossed by the ruling party in its desire to make its government absolute,” said Ms. Stavniychuk, who served the Presidential Secretariat under Head of National Memory Institute denies former President Viktor Yushchenko. Rigged elections Famine of 1932-1933 was deliberate The more experts dig through the RFE/RL which has been harshly criticized by regional elections legislation, the more Russian officials. KYIV – The new director of Ukraine’s evidence they find that it’s intended to Some Ukrainian historians and opposi- give the Party of Regions full advantage, Institute of National Memory says that tion politicians have condemned the while the 1932-1933 Famine in Ukraine whether by eliminating competitors, appointment of Mr. Soldatenko to head the changing the rules or making them so was “the result of difficult circumstances,” Institute of National Memory, which was it was not artificially provoked, RFE/RL’s founded in 2006 under then-President contradictory that the party’s interests Ukrainian Service reported on July 29. Viktor Yushchenko. will prevail in the ensuing chaos. Millions of Ukrainians died in the Prior to the collapse of the USSR, Mr. The Central Election Commission Famine, which was at least partly the result Soldatenko conducted research into the his- (CEC) must create more than 700 local of restrictions imposed by Soviet leader tory of the Communist Party of Ukraine. In election commissions within 50 days of Joseph Stalin on farmers across the Soviet recent years he worked in Kyiv at the election day, “a procedure so complicated Zenon Zawada Union. National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine that it won’t allow an adequate contingen- Valery Soldatenko told RFE/RL that he (NASU), focusing on early 20th-century cy to be formed,” Ms. Stavniychuk said. day from fielding candidates, forbidding drafted a resolution on the Famine that was Ukrainian history. Moreover “some of the laws contradict independent candidates, limiting cam- adopted by Ukraine’s Communist Party in In an interview on July 26 with RFE/RL, one another,” said Oleksander paigning to a month, allowing home-vot- January 1990, and he has not revised his Mr. Soldatenko said he has never surren- Chernenko, chair of the Committee of ing without a medical document, and view since then. dered his Communist Party membership Voters of Ukraine (CVU). “Fulfilling one allowing election commissions to operate That resolution for the first time formally card. “I share the Communist ideas of norm automatically violates another. It criticized the policies of the Soviet leader- social and national justice, social and without a quorum. would be good to remove them, but at the More dubious conditions have sur- ship. At the same time, it stressed that the national equality,” he said. same time, I think changing the law three Communist Party did all it could to help the faced since. The former director of the Security days before the campaign’s start will Famine victims. Service of Ukraine Archives, Volodymyr In fact, all it will take is three commis- In 2006 the Ukrainian Parliament adopt- Viatrovych, told RFE/RL that Mr. again introduce a certain element of sioners to approve the vote tally at a ed a bill officially recognizing the Famine Soldatenko’s Communist views will pre- indefiniteness, chaos and confusion.” given polling station. as genocide. But President Viktor vent him from overcoming the totalitarian Some techniques of rigging were Newly drawn election districts for sin- Yanukovych, who was inaugurated in immediately evident: forbidding blocs of gle-winner (majoritarian) voting won’t be February, questions that interpretation, (Continued on page 19) parties from running, banning parties formed less than a year before election (Continued on page 8) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 8, 2010 No. 32 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Putin, Luzhkov and Patriarch Kirill President signs election law in Ukraine is “by forgetting the current disputes and recognizing the autocephaly promote Russian interests in Ukraine KYIV – President Viktor Yanukovych [independence] of the local Ukrainian on July 27 signed the law on regional Orthodox Church,” the UOC-KP said. “It by Pavel Korduban 24; Kommersant-Ukraine, July 26). elections that was passed by the is clear from the speeches and statements Eurasia Daily Monitor Mr. Luzhkov’s visit raised controversy Verkhovna Rada. In October, voters will made by senior members of the Moscow even before his arrival. He told a press con- elect mayors and local councils. The new Patriarchate during the current visit by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, ference in Moscow on July 19 that he would law bans political blocs from running in the leader of the Russian Orthodox Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Patriarch not change his view on the status of the regional elections. It also bars parties Church to Ukraine that they do not want Kirill flocked to Ukraine last week. While Sevastopol which is “a Russian city,” add- established less than a year before the a constructive dialogue to overcome the the official goals of the visits were different, ing that “We must never leave either election, ruling out participation, for division within the Ukrainian