It is little wonder that many of Kyiv’s problems and oversights come to a head in the Crimea of all places, above all for the simple reason that the Crimea’s status of autonomous republic runs counter to the unitary setup of Ukraine, because any autonomous entity always strives for greater self-sufficiency. Furthermore, there are foreign military facilities on the peninsula, whose existence stirs up many both juridical and political disputes. The Crimean land is a priceless treasure that many are trying to grab at any cost. This land is also the ancestral home of the Crimean Tatars, who have come back and now have to struggle for the right to be full-fledged citizens in their native land.
The Crimea is very special owing to its multiethnic and multicultural character. Every year it welcomes millions of CIS residents and, therefore, should develop effectively in order to withstand competition from other world holiday resorts. Naturally, to a large extent the local authorities are responsible for the development of and preservation of peace in the region. Above all, this applies to the Supreme Council of the Crimea, the autonomous republic’s government and its leadership.
Anatoliy Hrytsenko, whom the new Crimean parliament elected as chairman, is not new to this autonomous republic. He was born, raised, and educated in the Crimea, and he has carved out a political and administrative career here. Nor is he a novice as parliamentary speaker: Hrytsenko chaired the Supreme Council in 1997-1998. The recent events in the Crimea have propelled the newly-elected speaker to political prominence in the peninsula. In his interview with The Day, Hrytsenko reveals his opinion on the events in Feodosiya, cooperation between Symferopil and Kyiv, and ways to solve the peninsula’s many problems.
“Mr. Hrytsenko, you used to say that the current Crimean parliament, dominated by pro-Russian deputies, would be neither a ‘fifth column’ nor ‘anti-Kyiv enclave’ in Ukraine. But even today the Crimean parliament, whose members supported the decision of local councils to declare the Crimea a ‘NATO-free territory,’ is regarded as a destabilizing factor. During your previous tenure as head of the Crimean parliament, you actively opposed the separatist tendencies of Meshkov (president of the Crimea — Ed.). This time around, will you again be playing the role of a peacemaking speaker curbing the extremist passions of some parliamentarians?”
“I interpret such phrases as ‘fifth column’ and ‘anti-Kyiv enclave’ as pure journalese aimed at drawing their readers’ attention to the problem. You have to understand that there is some exaggeration here. Although there really are preconditions for a conflict with Kyiv, so far they are only potential ones, and I will make every effort not to let them materialize.
“At the same time, not only can there be work differences and debates, they must exist. Contradictions arise from the Constitution of Ukraine itself because there is an autonomy that is bound to lay claim to its own share of power in any event. In particular, the Crimea will continue to insist on greater economic powers, on the right to greater economic initiative and the right to apply additional leverage for filling the budget.
“I see no reason why the center should deny us these rights. If the autonomy has opportunities for boosting the budget through an economic experiment or additional tax payments that would naturally stimulate the economy, instead of being a burden on the public, why not allow us to do this?
“From the political angle, I would like Ukrainian politicians to adopt a more balanced approach to the Crimean events and not provoke conflicts. Those who have been elected to the Supreme Council of the Crimea and hold leading posts are civil servants who have sworn an oath, and I am sure they will observe the Constitution and laws of Ukraine. We are all aware that our country has a president, and no matter what political party he may represent, he is the head of state.
“So the Supreme Council of the Crimea is not going to be in opposition to him. At the same time, we will be expressing our attitude to certain actions of politicians and the decisions of some bodies that are destabilizing the situation in the Crimean autonomy by, among other things, appealing to the highest governmental bodies and the president. I think President Yushchenko fought for this very right of the people on Independence Square. I hope the time of uniformity of thought has gone forever in Ukraine.”
“The Meshkov affair is usually recalled when separatism is discussed. You were elected parliamentary speaker right after the constitution was repealed. How did you manage to normalize the situation?”
“The point is that Meshkov personally was the factor that increased tensions both in Ukraine and the Crimea: as you remember, he even had the Supreme Council building blocked and tried to dissolve parliament. Some politicians now reproach me for working with Meshkov. Yes, I was in parliament during his presidency, but we played different roles. When he began subverting the sociopolitical situation in the country, a group of deputies and I did our best to have Meshkov dismissed from office. I had always defended the law and the unity of state by mobilizing MPs against the separatism that Meshkov was encouraging in the Crimea. By the way, I did not vote for the first constitution.
“After the constitution was abrogated, I was entrusted with restoring the status quo. And together with the newly-formed majority I succeeded in persuading parliament to pass the law on the Supreme Council of the Crimea, which not only ensured stability but also turned our parliament into a legitimate body. This law is still in force. We also managed to have the law on elections to the Crimean Supreme Council passed and began to work on the constitution. If you remember, only 17 out of 138 articles were not approved.
“This means we were on the right track even then and might have averted some of the difficulties that we are experiencing now. For example, if we had approved the article that there are three official languages in the Crimea — Ukrainian, Russian and Crimean Tatar — as we in fact intended, today there would be no exacerbation of the language problem at all.”
“Was it possible to predict what happened in Feodosiya?”
“This is a totally unexpected exacerbation of the situation. Clearly, Kyiv missed an opportunity to get parliament to allow the presence of foreign troops. Because of this, the local authorities were not duly informed about the forthcoming Sea Breeze-2006 exercise. But now it is too late to discuss the root cause. My efforts were aimed at warding off an even more dangerous showdown. As a result, we managed, in spite of essential differences, to maintain stability in parliament and suppress antagonism among the corps of deputies.”
“Right now it is very important for the Crimea to spell out the prospects for its development. Do you have a development strategy, and what does it entail?”
“We are going to form a task force in the nearest future to map out a 15-year comprehensive program for our autonomous republic. We already have a lot of programs and strategies, but they are either of a sectoral or short-term nature, whereas the Crimea needs a long-term comprehensive strategy.
“I am sure we can draw up quite a viable plan, but to apply any strategy you need certain leverage, above all in financial terms. We used to criticize the system where you had to ask Moscow to approve the development plan for almost every village. But today we have an equally imperfect system of budgetary relations. For example, 42 million hryvnias have been earmarked for our social needs this year, but we still have to get the budget utilization program approved by the Cabinet of Ministers.
“Does the cabinet know our requirements better than we do? Why on earth do we have to set aside considerable funds for the center and then to go there and beg for subventions to tackle various problems? That is absurd. Does this mean they want to burden the Crimea with economic problems so that it won’t engage too much in politics? I think we must obtain the right to fill our budget according to the constitution, which envisions that all tax returns remain in the Crimea, while the center only receives funds for the purposes of nationwide importance.
“By the way, it is not normal that Naftohaz Ukrainy should buy gas from Chornomortnaftohaz at cost and we should beg for it, only to receive what has been left over. Since Chornomornaftohaz is allowed to sell fuel to individual consumers only, our industrial sector is fully dependent on gas deliveries from Haz-Teplo, while irregular supplies of this gas impair the entire sector. When we are allowed to fill our own budget, we will be able to claim that any strategy will be implemented, and people will see that the Crimean authorities are efficient. The resort and recreational sector should become the top priority of our strategy. These days we often say that our resorts are far from world standards. Indeed, to bring this sector to the international level, we need to give it sizable financial injections. But we cannot do this simply by waving a magic wand. If we are to build resort facilities, we should establish a special fund as soon as possible and invest this money in the reconstruction of the resort-oriented infrastructure. Only then will we have a stable taxpayer and can establish a land sales fund; only then will our cities and villages develop.
“Moreover, we should revise our resort strategy. I recently spoke to Germany’s Ambassador to Ukraine Dietmar Stuedemann, who asked me: why are you building 16-storey hotels in Yalta, because Europeans are used to vacationing in cottages and will never come here? We are still building hotels for prospective CIS vacationers, but their tastes will soon change.
“Furthermore, we have not yet fully appreciated the Crimea’s healing factors that are in high demand all over the world. Our mud-treatment hospitals are mostly concentrated in Saky, although there are several salubrious water reserves on the Kerch Peninsula, including unique Chokrak Lake, which has 4.5 million tons of argentiferous mud. So far, private entrepreneurs are producing several dozen varieties of cosmetics there, but this is a recreational Klondike that we are still overlooking and do not take into account in our strategy.”
