THE US SENATE paSSES paGE OPEN LETTER: THE UKRAINIAN WEEK paGE DESPITE LOW SUppoRT, paGE A RESOLUTION AGAINST IS FACING PRESSURE AFTER YaNUKOVYCH WANTS A MAJORITY Top UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS 4 THE WoRLD NEWSpapER CONGRESS 19 IN THE NEW paRLIAMENT 20 № 16 (39) OCTOBER 2012 AUTUMN BLITZKRIEG AGAINST THE LAST FREE MEDIA UNDERWAY DRAFT LAW DESIGNED TO ELIMINATE FREE PRESS REMAINING INDEPENDENT MAGAZINES UNDER PRESSURE WWW.UKRAINIANWEEK.COM FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION Featuring selected content from The Economist 2|THE UKRAINIAN WEEK|№ 14 (37) SEPTEMBER 2012 THE US SENATE PASSES PAGE OPEN LETTER: THE UKRAINIAN WEEK PAGE DESPITE LOW SUPPORT, PAGE A RESOLUTION AGAINST IS FACING PRESSURE AFTER YANUKOVYCH WANTS A MAJORITY TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIALS 4 THE WORLD NEWSPAPER CONGRESS 19 IN THE NEW PARLIAMENT 20 № 16 (39) OCTOOCTOBER 2012 AUTUMN BLITZKRIEG AGAINST THE LAST FREE MEDIA UNDERWAY DRAFTDRAFT LAWLAW DESIGNEDDESIGNED TO ELIMELIMINATEINATE FREEFREE PPRESSRESS RREMAININGEMAINING IINDEPENDENTNDEPENDENT MMAGAZINESAGAZINES UUNDERNDER PPRESSURERESSURE WWW.UKRAINIANWEEK.COMWWW.UKRAINIANWEEK.COM FORFOR FREEFREE DISTRIBUTIONDISTRIBUTION FeaturingFeF atturingi selectedselel ctedt d contentcontetentt frfromom TheThe EEconomistconomist 01_FACE.indd 1 26.09.2012 18:25:58 |CONTENTS BRIEFING FOCUS From Isolation to Disgracing a Sleeping Beauty Sanctions? Why Country: and Bread Crumbs: some representatives The government The lack of an of the government fails to used the effective media could face personal foreign media to market deprives sanctions in addition to improve its image Ukrainians of the international isolation 4 in the world 6 Fourth Power 10 POLITICS Ukraine’s Last Open Letter: The Ukrainian Minority Rule: Independent Week reports harassment Viktor Yanukovych is Magazines are after the World Newspaper preparing for a constitutional under Threat Congress in Kyiv majority in the new parliament despite low support 16 19 20 Powers of Persuasion: Voting Wrong? Thorbjørn Jagland: The Party of Regions Yuriy Makarov on “the Trial against is exploiting every why Ukrainians Tymoshenko possible financial and choose inefficient should not have administrative resource leaders over and been initiated at of the government for its over again all” election campaign 24 28 29 ECONOMICS NEIGHBOURS Why is Ukraine Brand New: Jerzy Buzek: “The a Cade for Emerging- most convenient way Entrepreneurs? market for Ukraine to resist The challenge of companies are Russian influence doing business trying to build would be to sign in Ukraine global brands the Association 30 34 Agreement” 36 Andreas Gross: Brussels against Leonidas “Ukraine Gazprom: Can the Donskis on needs another European Commission criminals in democratic win the conflict regarding politics revolution” Gazprom’s monopoly prices on Central 38 European markets? 40 43 SECURITY INVESTIGATION SOCIETY World Without Bird Rebellion: A Planetary Megalopolis: Leadership: Berkut fighters Blair Ruble on how cities Ian Bremmer on protest against adjust to global climate why the global corruption change and the new structure is within the economic environment becoming less special service manageable 44 46 48 HISTORY CULTURE & ARTS NAVIGATOR Urbanization He who became a Thrill Seekers According to Plan: Strongman: A new Find Adventure in The source of the film about Ivan Firtsak, Ukrainian Cities: modern look of a Ukrainian who was Extreme city tours Ukrainian cities recognized as the reveal a different strongest man in the Kyiv 50 world in 1928 54 56 The Ukrainian Week № 16 (39) October 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: 12-6211. Print run: 15,000 Natalia Romanec, Shaun Williams, Editors; Sent to print on 27 September 2012 Anna Korbut, Translator Free distribution № 16 (39) OCTOBER 2012|THE UKRAINIAN WEEK|3 BRIEFING| 16 September 20 September 21 September The law banning the The Ukrainian The International advertising of tobacco Stock Exchange Memorial for Victims comes into effect in suspends trade of Totalitarianism is Ukraine in protest opened near Kyiv against the law on depository record keeping From Isolation to Sanctions? he events of the last week are evi- (although according to our information, dence of the increasing likelihood a meeting is planned with the Secretary of personal sanctions being im- General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon).” Tposed against of the representa- These are the means by which the im- tives of the current government. pression is created of the remarkable in- The fourth Ukrainian President has ternational activity of Mr. Yanukovych already become a person not to shake “as a regular” occurrence, his ability “to hands with (or not even to greet from a resolve issues” with the heads of leading distance) for a number of Western politi- countries and international organisa- cians. Those who continue to communi- tions. “What isolation can you be talking cate with the Ukrainian leader generally about ” — is the question for which the do so because of official necessity, but mass reader is programmed. keep it to a minimum. Against such a However, the reality is something background, the efforts of the Ukrainian completely different. Immediately prior Ministry of Foreign Affairs and govern- to the visit, the US Senate approved a ment-controlled media resources to resolution — more harsh than the docu- deny obvious facts and search for all ments of this kind issued by European possible pretexts to argue “the absence institutions (PACE and the European of isolation” of the current guarantor, Parliament). The resolution condemns Mr. Yanukovych, appear somewhat the “politically motivated persecution comic. In this sense, Yanukovych’s last and imprisonment” of Tymoshenko; visit to the 67th session of the General warns that “the continued detention of Assembly of the United Nations in New Tymoshenko threatens to jeopardize ties York was quite revealing. between the United States and Ukraine” For example, one of the main mouth- and calls on the State Department to im- pieces of the current government, Rinat pose sanctions, initially in the form of a Akhmetov’s Segodnia daily newspaper ban on issuing visas to “those responsi- announced it as follows: “This is the ble for the imprisonment and illegal The desperate attempts of the Ukrai- third time that the President is partici- treatment of Tymoshenko and more nian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to con- pating in the main UN forum, but over- than a dozen political leaders, connected vince us that the Resolution was suppos- all, this is his fifth visit to the USA as the to the Orange Revolution of 2004”. This edly merely approved due to a question- head of state.... Although visits to the is the first instance of the approval of able procedure emphasize even more the USA are not a rarity for Mr. Yanukovych, such a document by a legislative body of desperate corner into which the Yanu- this one is of great significance. How- a specific country, which has not yet kovych regime has painted itself. It is ever it is true that the issue at hand is happened in Europe. The Resolution well-known that such expectations were the possibility to have one-on-one talks was approved after the former Secretary also expressed to the last, as regards on political and economic issues with of State, Condoleezza Rice, demonstra- Angela Merkel on the eve of the EURO the leadership of the USA and the IMF, tively ignored Viktor Yanukovych during -2012, however, the issue ended with the rather than the General Assembly itself the recent YES meeting in Yalta. German side switching from ever more HISTORICAL 23 September 1872 28 September 1939 29 September 1845 DATES Solomia Krushel- The USSR and Germany Ivan Karpenko-Karyi, nytska, one of the sign the Treaty of Friend- a prominent Ukrai- best Ukrainian so- ship, Cooperation and De- nian playwright, is prano opera singers, marcation, dividing Poland born is born into occupation zones 4|THE UKRAINIAN WEEK|№ 16 (39) OCTOBER 2012 |BRIEFING 22 September 23 September 24 September 26 September The Central Elec- The parliamen- Yuriy Siomin is An unknown man tion Commission tary election in replaced by Oleh shoots three security makes the deci- Belarus is boy- Blokhin as head coach guards at the Kara- sion to restrict cotted by the of Dynamo Football van shopping mall in the migration opposition and Club Kyiv in the middle of of voters to one not recognized the day constituency by the West At least business in Ukraine is al- ready aware of the serious implications of the continued worsening of relations with its Western partners if the Ukrai- nian government fails to change its stand, or if there is no change of the government itself. More specifically, Bradley Wells, an analyst at Concorde Capital investment company recently stated that he does not believe that the Ukrainian government will react duly to the US Senate Resolution, since “the current functionaries are simply too os- sified”. However, if there are no changes, “both the EU and the USA will carry out their threats and apply severe sanctions against Ukrainian officials”. And this, of course, will also influence the investment climate in Ukraine, as well as the prospects for currency-fi- nancial stability. “The elections will come to an end — new, restored relations will begin with many countries of the EU and the USA ,” declared Viktor Yanukovych in New York. The West has similar expectations. The problem only lies in the fact that each of the parties has its own view of the process for the normalization of re- lations. For the West, a condition for the rebooting of relations is the rejection by the Yanukovych regime of the usurpa- tion of power and the marginalization of the political opposition, public organisa- tions and an independent mass media.