Yushchenko's shameful WSJ article

When most European and North American capitals have roundly condemned the politically motivated persecution of former prime minster Yulia Tymoshenko by president Yanukovych of Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, in his WSJ opinion piece "Ukraine's Democracy Hasn't Come Of Age"  cannot find one good word for the woman without whose support during the Orange Revolution he would certainly never have become president. 

Even though international observers had adjudged the 2004 presidential elections to be fraudulent, he was ready to 'throw in the towel'. It was Tymoshenko who rallied demonstrators in Kyiv's Independence Square until the elections were re-run and Yushchenko finally elected into office. 

The EU clearly recognise the current roll-back of democracy in Ukraine - and they have had enough of Ukrainian leaders' geopolitical playing off of Europe against Russia. 

Yushchenko claims: "..democracy and the rule of law have not yet come of age [in Ukraine]. They remain fragile; the gains of the Orange Revolution could still be reversed." 

The gains  of the Orange Revolution have been reversed 'big time' in the two and one half years of Yanukovych's presidency -  Yushchenko should hang his head in shame. 

Insensitive Yanukovych will rile Ukrainophones

Today in Kharkiv a Radio Liberty correspondent asked president Yanukovych a question. He suggested  the recently-passed controversial language law was divisive, and wanted the President to explain why he spoke only in Russian when he inaugurated a new Ukrainian Independence monument earlier in the day in the city.

A visibly annoyed president replied:"I always speak in any region in the language of the people who live there. And it is those who make such suggestions and raise such questions without considering the point view of people who live in this land, who split Ukraine. I've always been a supporter of the view that there should be understanding in the state and harmony, regardless of which region people live. Financing, attitude towards people and social programs for all will be the same ... And you, young man.. hear this...and tell everyone else: We will never divide people according to who speaks what language and in which region they live. All people are the same".

Note: According to the census of 2001 in the Kharkiv region 53.8% of the population consider Ukrainian their native tongue (3.3% more than in the 1989 census). The Russian language is considered native for 44.3% of the population (a decline of 3.8% since 1989)

Ukrainian remains the sole state language. Yanukovych is the president of Ukraine. Many Ukrainians consider their country's independence was denied for centuries by the rulers of the Russian, and latterly the Soviet empire, and that their language and culture devalued or oppressed by them.
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And this From 'Tyzhden.ua':

Over the past two years nine highly-place officials from  Yulia Tymoshenko's premiership period have been charged and prosecuted, but only the former PM and her Minister of Internal Affairs, Yuriy Lutsenko, are in prison.

Tymoshenko is facing further serious tax evasion and other charges dating back from more than a decade and a half ago.

 Lutsenko was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment with confiscation of property for exceeding his authority, and was recently was given a sentence of 2 years confinement for allegedly approving unauthorised surveillance in the criminal investigation into the poisoning of Viktor Yushchenko.

Former Acting Defense Minister Valeriy Ivashchenko had been sentenced to 5 years imprisonment last April for abusing his office but a couple of weeks ago the Court of Appeal suspended his sentence and released him from custody.

Former Minister of Environment George Filipchuk was sentenced in April this year to 3 years imprisonment for abuse of power. However once Filipchuk gave back 1.4 million hryven to the state a Kyiv Appeal Court reduced his sentence to a 2 year suspended sentence.

Former First Deputy Justice Minister Yevhen Korniychuk has been released from criminal liability under an amnesty the law. Korniychuk is son in law of former Chief Justice Vasyl Onopenko.

Three senior officials were sentenced for illegally releasing 11 billion cubic meters of gas allegedly belonging RosUkrEnergo company.

Former first deputy chairman of "Naftogaz Ukraine", Ihor Didenko, had been sentenced to three years in prison but prosecutors later reduced charges against him. Didenko decided not to appeal against the guilty verdict and he was released.

Former head of the State Customs Committee Anatoly Makarenko received a 4 year suspended sentencence, as did the former head of the Kiev regional customs service, Taras Shepitko. They had been found guilty of illegal customs clearance of natural gas.

The case against Makarenko and Didenko Shepitko was opened after Ukraine failed to defend its case in the Stockholm Arbitration Court where RosUkrEnergo won a lawsuit against Naftogaz.

Naftogaz were ordered to return to RosUkrEnergo 11 billion cubic meters of gas and provide and extra 1.1 billion cubic meters of gas in damages for breach of contract.

Former head of the State Inspection for Control of prices at the Ministry of Economy, Tetyana Rud was sentenced in November 2011 to 5 years for bribery  However, a court later reduced this punishment to 3 years probation.

The former head of State Reserve Committee Mykola Pozhyvanov, the former head of the State Treasury Tetyana Slyuz and former governor of Kharkiv, Arsen Avakov are currently being sought by law enforcement authorities. Avakov is in Italy.

Former Economy Minister Bohdan Danylyshyn has been granted political asylum in the Czech Republic.

LEvko thinks Yanukovych's wave of persecution is looking more and more like a vendetta against just the opposition's two biggest hitters...but everyone knows this anyhow...

And Yanukovych's insensitive attitude on the question of the Ukrainian language  will cost  more votes that it will gain him...

Yanukovych's problem...and a solution

I have just read, and can recommend, Masha Gessen's chillingly brilliant account  describing Vladimir Putin's unlikely rise to power in Russia and how quickly he dismantled democracy in that country.

Since becoming president two and a half years ago president Yanukovych has ploughed a similar furrow in Ukraine. There is already much to suggest October's Parliamentary elections will not be deemed fair by Western governments. One informed Polish journalist suggests: ".. [Ukraine] has been transformed into a country where elections are a playing field for manipulation, fraud, and total war.."

However, Presidential elections in March 2015 will be more difficult to steal, and if current trends continue the likelihood of Yanukovych being re-elected for a second term is not great. But any yielding of power to an opposition candidate is unthinkable - too many red lines have been crossed, the empire his family have built up recently would be smashed and, at best, they would  be forced to flee.

Vitaliy Portnikov, in an interesting article, suggests Yanukovych could be considering a solution to his dilemma - the creation of a new state, a kind of Ukrainian Transdnistria, with its capital in Donetsk, from where he could continue to rule. The recent upgrade in status of the Russian language [and the inevitable de-Ukrainianisation in this part of the country] could be a first step in this process.

The consequences for any such a split would be monumental...

p.s. Health and Safety note for Femen:

When operating hand-held power tools appropriate clothing should always be worn as loose-fitting clothing can be caught by moving parts. Safety glasses must be worn to protect eyes from flying, or splintering debris.

But....Long hair should always be held back with a band or neatly tucked away under a hair net or cap...so....silly girl. [Brightly coloured balaclava helmet to match shorts may have been appropriate]

Pussies strike fear into presidents..

I love this story on how humour and pussies can outwit the greatest efforts of a mighty political machine...and not only in Russia..

A friend sent me this with more details:

Ukraine cat-and-granny poster causes stir ahead of polls

A poster with an elderly lady holding a cat has caused controversy in Ukraine as preparations get under way for parliamentary elections due in October. The poster, put up in the east Ukraine city of Dniprodzerzhynsk, carried a humorous call not to vote for the ruling party.  Next to the picture of the lady with the cat, a caption said: "I have learned that my grandson voted for the Party of Regions. So I have rewritten my will so that my cat inherits the house." Within a few days, the top part of the caption that mentioned the party had been removed, leaving the granny merely declaring that her house goes to the cat.

Regional Governor Oleksandr Vilkul - also the local Party of Regions leader - had called the billboard's owners, demanding that "this outrage be dealt with", said a local news website.  Dneprodzerzhynsk Online said that there was nothing illegal or offensive about the poster.

"It is a shame, comrades, a shame," it said.   "Lives in danger"  A day later, the same website reported that the man behind the poster was Maksym Holosnoy, an opposition-minded head of a local village council. He told the website that the head of the billboard advertising company had been admitted to intensive care "following a telephone conversation with a high-ranking official".  Holosnoy also told Dneprodzerzhynsk Online that he was wanted by the police, but it was not clear why.  "It has been more than a month now and my lawyer cannot make it any clearer: we are not allowed to see any documents and we can't appeal," he said. "The example of our billboard is so telling. The Party of Regions has hundreds of billboards in our city alone, which it uses to proclaim that stability and prosperity have arrived. We only had one, which told the truth, albeit in a humorous way. Because of it, several people have suffered and their lives have been put in danger," Holosnoy said.

Fatherland, a major opposition alliance in Ukraine, described police interest in Holosnoy as persecution and offered legal assistance to those who created and put up the poster. "The government's reaction to humour once again points to the dictatorial leanings of [President] Yanukovych and his entourage. Being unable to laugh at yourself shows that the authorities are immature, and that the Party of Regions leaders are beset by complexes and phobias," the alliance said on its Facebook page. However, Dnipropetrovsk police denied Holosnoy was being prosecuted for political reasons. He was wanted for embezzling state property when he was a local official, the police said.  Meanwhile, in a YouTube video, Holosnoy said he was "being hounded" by the police because he is running as a candidate in the parliamentary elections.

Drilling platform scandal update

I have posted previously about kick-back deals involving hundreds of millions of dollars on the purchase via opaque off-shore companies, of deep sea drilling rigs to be used in the Black Sea .

Now Halliburton, the world's second largest oilfield services company, is getting drawn into this corruption scandal.

An letter from the company that was supposed to provide a fig-leaf to Ukraine's corrupt ministers and state gas company officials turns out to have less value than the paper it is written on.

This at a time when former Interior Minister Lutsenko is serving a four year 'stretch' in prison for allegedly providing perks to his driver...According to the prosecutors. the total damages allegedly caused to Ukraine’s budget was estimated to be $125,000...

Sliding to crackpot autocracy

On July 4 800 teddy bears descended by parachute onto Belarus territory from a light plane piloted by Swedish nationals. The pro-democracy stunt has created a mighty diplomatic bust-up between Sweden, the EU and Belarus dictator Lukashenko. [Video and story from Euronews here ]

Journalists in the country have been heavily fined for posing with teddy bears in a photo session, while others are currently detained and could face years in prison for posting pictures of the teddy bears on the net.

In Ukraine, crackpot deputy prosecutor general Renat Kuzmin says Yulia Tymoshenko is under investigation for assaulting a male prison guard and could face criminal charges. The slightly-built Tymoshenko has been suffering from a ruptured spinal disc for many months and is virtually bed-ridden.

And a  leading Ukrainian human rights spokesman, in his detailed analysis of Former Minister of the Interior Yuriy Lutsenko's current trial, says: "The court trial has vividly demonstrated that in our country absurdity is reality, and reality – absurd. If the [Ukrainian] legislation on investigative operations complied with the demands set out above of the European Court of Human Rights, this case would simply be impossible!"

Vitaliy Pornikov, concludes an article entitled 'The dragon and the teddy-bears' thus:

..observing the swift "Belarusization" Ukraine, I want to warn those who think that none of this concerns them. It does concern them. The dragon will not be sated with just Tymoshenko or opposition members. And even journalists will not be enough. The dragon will eventually devour everyone. Woe to the people who feed the dragon.

New parliament to be short-lived?

The 'Economist' writes about the pressure being applied on Ukraine's media here

They claim: "[October's parliamentary] polls (and the media climate in which they are held) must be fair enough to avoid sanction [from the West]. But they must also secure a majority for the ruling team in parliament."

Whatever the results of these polls, Sonya Koshkina of LB.ua predicts the seventh convocation of the Verkhovna Rada will be truncated at some point. Here's a summary of what she says:

The V.R.'s lifespan depends on how long it will be amenable to the president's whims. Parliament has long ceased to be a place for political debate and decision-making, or for generating new ideas. Moreover it has long-ceased to be a self-contained branch of government, balancing out the cabinet of ministers and the presidential administration. It is no longer a place where the remnants of political competition can be maintained; as soon as Parliament tries to become what once was and what it is duty-bound to be, Yanukovych will dismiss it. He has the power to do so.

All those standing for election and investing considerable sums to do so should be aware of this.

The three main tasks assigned for new parliament will be:
Transfer of the remainder of state property into the hands of the country's most influential clans;
Removal of immunity from prosecution from its members to produce a more obedient and subservient parliament;
and alteration the Constitution, to provide an opportunity for president Yanukovych to be re-elected for a second term in office by a vote in parliament rather than by popular mandate.

Another reason for the fragility of the seventh convocation is economic.A sharp downturn in November and December is inevitable, because of the current global economic situation, and because of the big pre-election bugetary splurge currently being indulged in by the  Ukrainian government.

Yanukovych will deflect blame on PM Azarov, possibly sacking him and dissolving parliament. But everyone knows he has concentrated all authority in his own hands - it is he that will ultimately be held responsible.

p.s.
Responding to questions from 'Ukrainska Pravda's Mustafa Nayem, about Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, an American law firm contracted by the Justice Ministry of Justice earlier this year in connection with the Tymoshenko trial, Ukraine's Ministry of Justice replied:

"The Ministry of Justice has concluded an agreement with the Skadden legal company to provide services in the field of legal investigation.

According to the conditions of the agreement, lawyers of Skadden should conduct an investigation on the adherence to the principle of supremacy of the law and practices of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of "Tymoshenko vs Ukraine", which is [currently] being examined in the ECHR.

According to the agreement, payment for services...cannot exceed 90,000 Hryven, [less than $12.000] hence tender procedures need not be applied..."

In other words, they are being employed to provide justification for Tymoshenko's persecution.

Top Washington lawyers do not even get out of bed for this sort of money, never mind travelling abroad to conduct investigations in a distant foreign country. If the Ukrainian Ministry were serious they would earmark a sum of at least an order of magnitude greater. Skadden's 'fig-leaf' report will only be suitable for lavatorial purposes. Why on earth did they not employ a major Ukrainian law firm? It's all just a cheap PR stunt...and an embarrassment for Skadden.

Corruption at the borders

I recommend this article from the London 'Guardian'

"Odessa's 7km bazaar has its own language of globalisation - The vast Ukrainian market operates as a law unto itself, with stallholders from all over the world dealing mostly in counterfeit goods of every description"

The country's customs service and their control of imports is a huge milch-cow for Ukraine's political/criminal clans. President Yanukovych has personally distributed the entire system of import among the three influential groups. The first of these is headed by Chairman of State Customs Service of Ukraine Ihor Kaletnik, the second by Yanukovych's grey cardinal, Yuriy Ivanyuschenko, [about whom I have blogged previously]  and the third by former head of the State Security Service, now first vice-PM, Valeriy Khoroshkovsky.

Party of Regions' election list dirty as ever

According to the respected 'Dzerkalo Tyzhnya' over half of the deputies in the last parliamentary convocation systematically truanted sittings. At one time or another over 90% of all deputies handed over their voting cards to other party members allowing anti-constitutional absentee voting to take place. Over 80% failed to provide proper income declarations. Over one half were allegedly linked to corrupt activities. Broadly speaking, Party of Regions' deputies were twice as culpable as those of BYuT.

PoR recently published its list of election candidates for this autumn's parliamentary elections. It is a joke - packed with family members of the Donetsk clan. Many on the list have been in parliament previously but hardly ever attended any parliamentary session - their contribution virtually zero. Others only turned up when the party's leadership required their presence to physically 'rough up' or assault opposition deputies.

[More information at www.chesno.org]

Pledges by opposition parties that their deputies will do away with absentee voting and always attend pleniary sessions to vote in person will gain them many votes.

p.s. I can recommend this London 'Daily Telegraph' article entitled: "President Vladimir Putin’s cruel tyranny is driven by paranoia".

Putin is Yanukovych's role model - there are certainly many parallels.

Huge obstacle, or "irritant"?

In an 'FT' blog entitled "Ukraine says Tymoshenko an ‘irritant’ to EU ties" Ukraine’s foreign minister, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, today acknowledged that the former prime minister had become more of a problem for his government in jail than free, noting her imprisonment has made an “association agreement” with EU almost impossible to finalise. “We [see] this issue as a certain irritant which obviously is not helping to move ahead with a positive agenda with the European Union." 

Foreign Minister Gryshchenko admits: ".. for the last 20 years almost every government official at the highest level presumed that they would never be asked to answer questions about their actions that were contradicting the law."

These actions by 'almost every government official that were contradicting the law' were almost always taken for self-enrichment.

Most of Gryshchenko's current cabinet colleagues, the current President, and members of his administration have held high office for many years in previous governments. Why aren't any them facing charges?

By charging and sentencing only their most feared opponents: former PM Yulia Tymoshenko and former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, accusations of selective justice will inevitably be made against today's authorities.

Ukraine's leaders remain amongst the most corrupt in Europe.

The face of an idiot

Party of Regions' parliamentary deputy Vladislav Lukyanov [see picture] has bragged on his facebook page how he drove the 440 km between Kyiv and Odesa in 2 hours 40 minutes - despite a blanket 110 km/hour speed limit. He even posted a photograph with the speedometer of his Audi A8 showing 241 km/hour as he was driving. 

He can do this because of he is protected from prosecution by parliamentary immunity.

What a complete and idiot... what a complete a***hole. 

Lukyanov is a high-profile politician, frequently seen in the mass media...always available for a comment - particularly to rubbish the opposition.

In a normal country his party would kick him out so fast his feet would not touch the ground following such an incident...

Could there a better example of mindless arrogant behaviour to demonstrate what kind of morons run the country..

p.s. Ukraine has one of the highest traffic-related death rates in Europe. E.g. about 5 times as many people are killed on the roads per capita per annum, than in the United Kingdom, where there is a blanket 70 miles per hour [112 km.hr] speed limit on motorways. There are, astonishingly, over 20 times as many road fatalities per 100,000 vehicles in Ukraine, that in the UK, per annum.

War against independent news media declared [updated]

"State Tax Service: Criminal case opened against TVi director over evasion of payment of Hr 3 million in taxes"

"Prosecutor's office opens criminal case against LB.ua on violation based on Landik's claims"
[Announcement by Kyiv City Prosecutor's office here]

My previous blog on this topic here

The Lb.ua site has been erratic today - at time of posting all that is being displayed is 'temna makhorka' i.e. head of president's administration Lyovochkin  - deputy prosecutor-general Kuzmin  - vice PM Khoroshkovsky - presidential judicial system adviser Portnov..

cf:  "Yanukovych calls on local authorities to ensure election campaign is fair" 

p.s. The Akhmetov-owned 'Segodnya' have given the Lb.ua story prominence...

Khoroshkovsky has now publicly distanced himself from the attack on Lb.ua....But he  has has certainly directed heavy fire onto TVi in the past.

Could this be just a sign of an internal feud inside the party of power... or are these two cases examples of simple personal vindictiveness, or part of a wider attack on the media?

Update: Prominent journalist Mustafa Nayem places the blame for this attack against press freedom firmly at Yanukovych's door.  Lb.ua's chief editor Sonya Koshkina, in comments on her publication's site is more cautious and hints 'el presidente' may be above the fray - perhaps to provide some 'wiggle room' for an honourable backdown...but she does say:  "The scale of the persecution means no one has any doubt: the joking has long finished, this war is a matter of life and death and they've gone for us seriously... I assume many would be pleased to see me on the scaffold..."

The mugshots above are of guys who tend to be associated with Firtash, RosUkrEnerho and the so-called gas lobby, rather than that of the Donbass 'metalbashers'

Update 2: "The president is concerned about the recent events around the Ukrainian media" including those surrounding LB.ua and TVi,  according to the official presidential site..

Too late pal, these bully-boy tactics make you all look like a**holes.. The little guys have made you eat dirt....

p.s. 'K.P.' reports : "The prosecutor's office in Kyiv has denied reports on the opening of a criminal case against the LB.ua online news site, as claimed by the publication, citing its own sources." What bungling incompetent liars - see link to Kyiv City Prosecutor's office above...

But 'the evil empire' will already be plotting it's revenge for this humiliation..

p.p.s. CNN's report on Tvi here 

Independent TVi under assault by Yanukovych's tax goons

Ukraine's only independent TV channel, which, i.m.o. employs some of the country's best journalists,  has been under attack by the Ukrainian tax authorities for many weeks. 

Yanukovych and his son have a total grip on the levers of power. The head of the state tax service Klimenko, the head of the ministry of interior Zakharchenko, head of state security [SBU], Kalinin, and prosecutor general's office top knobs Pshonka and Kuzmin are 100% Yanukovych loyalists. They are shamelessly conducting an assault on independent media in the country in order to neutralise them before the next parliamentary elections. 

A trumped up tax evasion criminal case has now been opened against one of TVi's most prominent front-men and general director, Mykola Knyazhytsky,  He has responded in an open letter to the president published on 'Ukrainska Pravda' site. 

All this despite the Ukrainian State Tax Service's announcement on March 30th this year on its website, that it will not be conducting any tax checks on the mass media in the second quarter of the current year in order to provide them with "all the  [necessary] conditions for objective illumination of the [October parliamentary] election campaign"

A few days ago I blogged about the disgraceful attack on the independent LB.ua website which has driven its top journalist to seek refuge abroad until she receives an undertaking that the absurd case against her and the site is dropped.

Most television channels, newspapers and other mass media are controlled by wealthy oligarchic Party of Regions' supporters already - their news broadasts and current events programmes are heavily biassed. Tvi and Lb.ua are in a disadvantagous position..now they are being squeezed even harder. 


p.s. This blog was temporarily closed down recently by what was described as 'suspicious activity'. LEvko may be moving to another site soon, if this continues...

Warning on language

Kyiv Dynamo fans protested against the possible adoption of new laws which could enhance the status of so-called minority languages, including Russian, during Saturday's Dynamo vs Metallurg Donetsk soccer match.

Watch video here:

 The banner reads: :Ukraine has 46 million tongues - but one language" 

The fans lustily sang the national anthem of Ukraine..

LEvko's view? Most demo's in Ukraine are staged for money ...this looks for real....

P.S. However you look at it, Yanukovych was humiliated by Putin last Thursday.

Their tete a tete, which was delayed by four hours, was preceeded by Putin's meeting with 'The Night Wolves' and their leader who goes by the name of 'Surgeon'. After their meeting he popped in to see Viktor Medvedchuk to look at his musical fountain. Watch video here

Medvedchuk, who was Kuchma's grey cardinal, sees Ukraine's future firmly in Russia's orbit.

A man with Putin's  St Petersburg KGB background will inevitably have a disdain for the likes of Yanukovych who was brought up in the rundown criminalised hinterland of Yenakiyeve and spent three and a half years in prison for violent crimes..

Who pays what for gas...

Serhiy Vlasenko, in his 'Kommersant' blog,  posts details of a recent article from the authoritative Polish 'Gazeta Wyborcza.biz' site.

The graphic below, from the article, shows the price in dollars per t.c.m. charged by Gazprom to countries in Europe for their gas.

This is the reason why, despite all of the hot air, the president's administration will not be challenging the allegedly scandalous Tymoshenko gas contract until at least 2018....

Language issue is contrived says Iosif Kobzon

Legendary Soviet and Russian pop singer, long-time member of the Russian State Duma, Iosif Kobzon, attended a ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of Donetsk region where he was born and where he is revered. 


During the festivities he and president Yanukovych even sang a rather overblown duet together - 'My mother [is] Ukraine, my father.. Donbas'... 

Kobzon was asked by a 'Novosti Donbassa' journalist for his opinion on the current Russian/Ukrainian language scandal. He did not understand why the status of Russian needed to be changed.

"...who today gets in the way of anyone speaking in parliament in Russian? Who obstructs anyone speaking Russian in Donbas? And would anyone be surprised if any of you were to speak in Ukrainian? So, it's a contrived political conflict, which I hope, will be resolved without any particularly serious consequences", said the Russian singer. 

My guess is most Ukrainians who live in the region think the same way...

p.s. If you are interested in this sort of thing, I couldn't help noticing....Kobzon has a very peculiar hair-line...

p.s.

MONACO DECLARATION AND RESOLUTIONS ADOPTED BY THE OSCE PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY AT THE TWENTY-FIRST ANNUAL SESSION: MONACO, 5 to 9 JULY 2012

Pdf version available at this link at  "Final declaration in English

Resolution on Ukraine at page 17...

Also this on the Magnitsky case: "Calls on national parliaments to take action to impose visa sanctions and asset freezes on persons responsible for the false arrest, torture, denial of medical care and death of Sergei Magnitsky,.."  Could cause some furrowed brows on Ukraine's mount Olympus..

Own goal after Euros

PoR bulldozed the second reading of their language bill through parliament on Tuesday, trampling over procedural rules to force through this most controversial of policies. A host of voting irregularities took place - speaker Lytvyn is set to resign.

PoR could have basked for a while in the afterglow of a reasonably successful Euro 2012 football competition. They have chosen not to do so and as a result have infuriated a large portion of the electorate.

The new policy will become law if and when it is signed off by the president.

What the authorities' language policy does is provide is a totem around which the opposition can unite - as can be seen in the today's protests outside the 'Ukrainskiy Dim' where the president was to deliver a grandiose press conference. This has now been cancelled - providing the opposition an easy victory. They can say despite the appearance of phalanxes of 'space cadets' he chickened out...

The arrogance of his party colleagues has forced Yanukovych to now face what could be the greatest crisis of his presidency so far.

The president faces an dilemma - but the damage has been done. Whether he and PoR back down or continue with this policy, this crisis could turn out to be the start of the turning of the political tide.

The Euros - and what could have been

The Euro 2012 football competition has ended. 

Despite some shortcomings, most Ukrainians across the land have experienced a genuine feelgood factor such events bring to a host country. When pushed they have shown they can deliver a world-standard event, (even if its pure financial benefits are a matter of conjecture).  One blogger writes,  the granting of half the tournament presented Ukraine with a challenge. These included strict closely monitored deadlines set by Europeans, which were successfully met by the country. The project could have been a fine template for any Euro-integrational plans.

The project was also footballing joint venture between a fully paid-up member of the EU - Poland, and a country that right now is not even a candidate member. The test of practical compatibility was successfully passed; but it should also have been the start of an entirely new relationship between Ukraine, its greatest promoter inside the EU, and the EU itself.  This has been still-born. The possibility of ratification of any EU-Ukraine association agreement is receding into the distance, and we all know the reason for this...

The British 'Independent' wishfully notes in a recent editorial: "With the successful Euro 2012 under its belt, Ukraine, it must now be hoped, will take another look at the state of its own politics and how it measures up to the Europe it still aspires to join. Reconsidering the prosecution and imprisonment of the former Prime Minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, must be part of that."

Ukraine's small-scale entrepreneurs at the end of their tether

Just watched Vitaliy Portnikov's latest 'Politklub' tv programme on-line about the ever-increasing difficulties being faced by Ukraine's small and medium-sized businesses and traders as they are, to an ever-greater degree, being systematically squeezed by corrupt state officials, tax collectors and 'business raiders'. The atmosphere in the studio was sombre. Some called the process a second phase of 'oligarchization' of the country.


These are the people on whom the future prosperity of the country to a great extent depends.

Astonishingly, according to the programme, ever-more of their number are moving from Ukraine to Belarus to do business -  there, they say, at least  they know where they stand....

The small-scale entrepreneurs taking part in the programme feel very badly let down by Party of Regions and  the president - they are at the end of their tether. You get the feeling that if the October elections are significantly 'fiddled'  their anger may well spill out onto the streets..

Independent Ukrainian news website under serious threat..[Updated]

In the past your blogger has referred to articles from the 'Lyeviy Bereg' site, now 'lb.ua', on many occasions.

The independent lb.ua site posts articles by many authors, including some who strongly pro-ruling authorities as well those who are highly critical.The site is a project of the Gorshenin Institute  - who also publish this excellent weekly newsletter in English

Several of the site's staff, including well-known journalist Sonya Koshkina could now be facing criminal charges for doing their job - in particlar for writing about the severe beating last year of a young woman by Roman Landyk, son of a prominent PoR parliamentary deputy. The case was prominently covered across the entire Ukrainian media because is cast a spotlight on the frequently boorish, lawless behaviour of Ukraine's ruling elite and their children.

An Lb.ua photographer managed to take readable photographs of Landyk Sr. sending SMS messages whilst attending a pleniary parliamentary session. The photographs were taken quite openly from the journalist's gallery overlooking the main chamber of parliament where photographers are permitted to sit. There was nothing illicit or underhand in the way the photographs were taken. Deputies are well aware that everything they do in the main chamber is under scrutiny.

"From the contents of the SMS it is clear that in order to optimize his son’s image, Landik Senior is engaging political technologists as well as journalists from the Luhansk TV company to write positive comments in the news and texts about the Landik junior trial."

Koshkina and the others could now be facing up to seven years in prison for alleged 'violation of private corresondence'. Full story in English here

After being questioned by law-enforcement officials, Koshkina herself 'phoned Landyk sr. and wrote about their conversation, or rather his abusive, explative-ridden tirade, in this lb.ua piece. The bright, charismatic and charming journalist has certainly 'trodden on more than a few toes' in her many articles, but has nevertheless always appeared to have had cordial relations with the 'great and good' of the land.

Koshkina considers she and other at her site are now under grave threat, and that this assault is not merely a token 'shot across their bows' - it may well be the start of a campaign to 'clip the wings' of independent journalists before next autumn's parliamentary elections. Or maybe someone has  just decided to seek revenge and 'get even'...

Another example of creeping authoritarianism?
And should not Landyk sr. be investigated for possible abuse of power and perverting the course of justice? Not in the Alice in Wonderland world of Ukrainian politics.

                                                                Sonya Koshkina

Update:

Sonya Koshkina appeared via Skype on last night's 'ShusterLive' programme. She is out of the country and will not return until she and her lb.ua colleagues receive cast iron guarantees that they any possible criminal charges against them in the Landyk affair will be dropped. 

She accuses highly-placed officials in the presidential administration of organising a sustained 'nightmarish' attack against lb.ua in the last months , but without the consent of either the president Yanukovych or prosecutor-general Pshonka. [Your blogger considers the last assertion may be a ploy to enable this pair of oafs to emerge from the scandal unscathed without loss of face or embarrassment.]

The president's representative in parliament Yuriy Myroshnichenko said on the programme that Koshkina's appearance itself showed freedom of expression in the country was not under attack. However, he added prosecutors had the right to conduct any investigations in this case.

Everyone knows that internet websites now are the biggest and best source of unbiassed information on the political scene in Ukraine...LEvko suggests such attacks will become more commonplace in future..and this is the reason lb.ua are fighting back so vigorously...

p.s. Several years ago a British minister was photographed walking into Downing Street with her  briefing papers visible. Their embarrasing contents, discussing the double impact of falling house prices and rapidly rising food and fuel prices, a lethal political cocktail which were damaging to the then prime minister, were widely reported. No-one dreamt of attacking journalists for doing their job.
The minister in question held no grudge against them despite the sensitivity of the information placed into the public domain.

See also here, here, and here for similar cases.