In the photos you can see Boris Yeltsyn, George Bush, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger smiling to Kravchuk. One photo is from a reception in his honor in Washington, DC. In some other pictures Kravchuk appears not as a president but simply as a person: in the costume of Father Frost or as a young pioneer leader in a summer camp.
In the span of 50 years Kravchuk moved up from a teacher at the Chernivtsi Financial College to the Head of the Propaganda Department in the Chernivtsi Oblast Communist Party Committee to Speaker of Parliament and President of Ukraine. He likes to say that only a dead person does not change his convictions. The former Central Committee’s Secretary for Ideology banned the Communist Party itself. He was very composed while making a decision in the the Bialowieza Forest Reserve to break up the Soviet Union, although this step was highly risky. At the time no one knew what would come out of it. Now it is evident that the agreements signed in Belarus were the only possible peaceful solution to the situation.
Perhaps, Kravchuk could have done a better job as a president. However, we need to take into account that his presidency lasted for a mere two years. He fell victim to the first wave of political struggle launched by the then-Speaker Ivan Pliushch, something few people remember now.
Kravchuk has been accused of letting numerous negative tendencies begin during his presidency. But look at what heights they reached in the ten years that Leonid Kuchma was the president of Ukraine. If you compare how Kravchuk’s and Kuchma’s anniversaries were celebrated, you will see, among other things, the difference in their political styles.
For the third straight year Kravchuk is outside politics, but he is needed as much as before. Journalists like him a lot because he has a gift of explaining the intricacies of Ukrainian politics and giving a comprehensive analysis of events. The first president has also coined many maxims: for example, ‘We have what we have’; ‘If you want to test a person, promise him power and wait. Then give him power and wait. Then take power away from him and wait. If the person passed all three tests, he can be trusted.’; “Public arguments between the leaders of the country are not democracy but striptease.”
We congratulated Leonid Kravchuk on his anniversary, but even on a day like this we could not but touch upon the subject of natural gas.
Mr. Kravchuk, since January 1 all Russian TV channels have been broadcasting around the clock the message that Ukraine is stealing gas. What was Ukraine’s response? Until January 9 the Ukrainian government was silent, while Oleh Dubyna had to field all the questions. No one said: “Russia is lying.” It was only on January 9 that Ukraine started to counteract the informational attacks little by little. Why is this so? Why are we so helpless in information conflicts?
“I believe that the problem here is that after all this time Ukraine still does not have a strategy of dealing with Russia. We have mostly acted as poor relatives, sometimes leaping forward and saying that we will show you something, too. However, all these cases had bad endings. This one is no exception.
“The conduct of the Ukrainian government is not determined by today’s situation — there is a substantial background to it. Although it can be said that both the president’s administration and the premier’s people are working hard to bring our relations to another level, Russia keeps the initiative all the time. Europe depends on Russia, rather than Ukraine, although Ukraine has shown that it cannot be excluded from gas issues because the pipelines go via its territory.”
But still, Ukraine’s image suffered powerful blows for an entire week. How can you explain the fact that Tymoshenko, who is usually quick with a response, was silent from January 1 until January 9. This is surprising to many people.
“This does not surprise me. If the president did not always interfere with this, did not make decisions, and did not pretend that he is resolving this problem, the government would have no opportunity to take a laid-back position. I am putting myself in Tymoshenko’s shoes. I am the premier, but the president is taking everything upon himself. He is actively initiating things and giving orders to Dubyna, instructing him on whether to sign documents or not. Tell me, please, what do I, as the prime minister, do? Do I issue parallel directives? Do I cancel the president’s directives? That is why Tymoshenko was silent. As far as I understand, it was the president, rather than Tymoshenko, who ordered to refrain from signing the contracts according to which Ukraine would get gas for $250 per 1,000 cubic meters.”
Mr.Kravchuk, do you watch Russian TV channels?
“I do. I have a satellite dish and I wash all of them: NTV, GRT, and RTR. Putin and Medvedev are acting better than they do in the Taganka Theater. Putin tells Miller in his office about how he is sorry for the brotherly Ukrainian nation. Then he pauses and says: ‘Well, if Yushchenko is not concerned about the life of the Ukrainian people, then why do we have to be worried?’ Pure theater action!
“I have friends in Moscow, my former classmates. They tell me: ‘Leonid, they have launched such a massive anti-Ukrainian propaganda in Moscow that we could not even image that something like this was possible.’ I understand how complicated these gas problems are now, but we will overcome them. This will not last forever, but the life of nations is an eternal thing. You may dislike Yushchenko, but you cannot set one nation against another.”
Aren’t you outraged by what they are saying about Yushchenko?
“We know what Yushchenko is worth, and it is up to us to rebuke him. This cannot be done at the state level. They look at Ukraine as at Tula oblast: they say whatever is on their mind.”
However, some countries, for example Hungary, have believed Putin — this is not to mention housewives in Russia. Do you have hope that experts who will monitor the transit of gas will be able to restore Ukraine’s image?
“I have grave doubts that they will be able to be objective, understanding that the warmth in their homes largely depends on Russian gas. This is very complicated. They are thinking about themselves in the first place. I have heard them say many times that it is all the same to them who is to blame, Russia or Ukraine, and that the main thing is that their homes are warm. I cannot say that they are wrong. As they say, charity begins at home. This is life. That is why I am telling you sincerely that I have grave doubts regarding their absolute independence.”
Let us speak a little about Ukraine’s domestic problems. The year of 2009 is the year of presidential elections. Do you think that the question of the snap parliamentary elections is off the agenda? Or are they still possible in the spring?
“I believe that there should be no early elections. When, after all, can they be held? Nearly a year remains before the presidential elections. Today we need to solve the most burning issues, the most painful ones for the Ukrainian people. These include the energy problem, the social problem, and the economic crisis. We need to put the powers that be in order. It is unacceptable that every institution of power should work autonomously. The National Bank says it will not fulfill the regulations contained in the State Budget. The president signs the budget and submits it to the Constitutional Court. How can we live by the principle, ‘Whatever I do is right and whatever others do is wrong’?
“Two weeks ago I returned from Poland, and was told by everyone I met: ‘We can understand everything: the financial crisis, the existing problems in Ukraine, and your relations with Russia. But we fail to understand why there is chaos on the highest level of power in your country. Why in the face of the economic crisis can’t you adopt common decisions and jointly enforce them? This is something we cannot comprehend.’ I told them: ‘I cannot grasp this myself, even though I live there.’”
