Although President Yanukovych’s power vertical is being consolidated, “work aimed at organizing the Ukrainian community should be done calmly,” says the Opposition’s Taras Stetskiv, adding that this work is being done. Granted, but no results are visible. Even when concerned citizens’ groups are formed (as when protecting Gorky Park from destruction in Kharkiv), no opposition MPs are seen or heard. Below MP Taras Stetskiv comments on President Yanukovych’s 100 days in office, a Russian scenario, and the opposition’s recipe.
Mr. Stetskiv, what do you think of President Yanukovych’s 100 days in office?
Stetskiv: “The main result is the consolidation of political power by copying the Russian model. In domestic policy, it is an attempt to work out the rules of the game using the unlawfully built majority in parliament. In foreign policy, it is vassalage in regard to Russia, in other words transforming Ukraine from a subject into an object of international politics. There have been no reforms, and nor could there have been any, considering that the buzzword of those currently in power is stabilization.
“No reforms whatsoever in the social sphere. My overall impression is negative, for there are no positive aspects. Given this political model, it is hard to expect any serious modernization.”
Is a Russian scenario possible in Ukraine?
S.: “No, it isn’t. It won’t work. Too bad Yanukovych doesn’t realize this. He keeps building an authoritarian model, but our society is different; it has stronger civic institutions. The Russian model is possible given the following two conditions: resource potential (oil, gas) and the special services’ power. Ukraine has neither, so this model is doomed here; it would only serve to provide a degree of temporary stabilization, but no modernization. In terms of history, this political system has no future.”
The Ukrainian and Russian special services have signed an agreement. Could it be the beginning of a Russian scenario?
S.: “The very fact of signing this agreement is inadmissible. Any normal country protects its national security, including by means of counterintelligence. Ukraine, in contrast, allows a foreign special service to operate on its territory, allegedly due to the deployment of the Russian fleet. This obviously weakens Ukrainian sovereignty.”
We have always heard about the team currently in power as being strong and pragmatic (as people who will at least protect their own businesses). Why are strategically important Ukrainian steelworks being handed over to Russian businessmen?
S.: “We have never harbored any illusions. These people’s actions stem from two complexes. The first one is their being ‘Russian people’ who won’t protect Ukraine because they are mentally in the ‘Russian world.’ I mean people like Yanukovych, Azarov, Kliuiev, Tabachnyk — they see themselves as part of the Russian state. The second one is an ex-con’s mentality. A large number of members of the Party of Regions have criminal records. Their policies are aimed at personal enrichment and taking orders from Russia, rather than serving Ukrainian national interests. They think the same way the governor of Krasnodar Krai or Chukotka does. Controversies will eventually pile up within this political force, because the PR oligarchs aren’t interested in a strong expansion of Russian business in Ukraine.
“With respect to steelworks, the Russians have simply pulled a fast one on Yanukovych. First they arranged for their fleet to remain in Ukraine, in return for allegedly cheap gas supplies. Cheap for whom? The oligarchs, of course, not the common folk. Now they’re buying steelworks that will use their gas. In other words, they made it cheap for themselves.
“After taking away from Ukraine all it needs, Russia will lose interest in Yanukovych. They will make him governor general or simply forget about him.”
What about the bill on Ukraine’s domestic and foreign policy that has been adopted in the first reading?
S.: “This bill was adopted for the sole purpose of leaving out the NATO clause and replacing it with the one about Ukraine’s non-bloc status. This isn’t a law but a demagogic document made up of various slogans. It has nothing to do with legislation, the Constitution of Ukraine. This is a ritual gesture meant to once again force Yanukovych to his knees before Russia. Deleting the NATO clause and proclaiming the non-bloc status was what Russia required, so you don’t have to bother reading the rest of the law because it is a free-style composition, something you can’t put to practical use.”
But at one time Yanukovych did rise above his own and party interests in the matter of NATO membership. Could his change of heart be explained by the inability of the Orange government to secure this membership?
S.: “It’s common knowledge that Yushchenko did nothing for Ukraine’s integration into NATO in the five years if his presidency. NATO’s door was closed to us also because of the way in which he ran this country.”
So what’s the opposition’s recipe?
S.: “Without a doubt, our society and opposition must become organized, there must be civic self-organization. This will happen, sooner or later, because work is being done along these lines. The only way out of this situation is to deprive the Party of Regions of political power by way of elections and quickly cancel all their decisions. Work on organizing the Ukrainian community must be done calmly, there will be no blitzkrieg.”
