Yanukovych – Neither New nor Improved

By Volodymyr Kish

The actions of Ukraine’s President Viktor Yanukovych since he got elected have certainly caused great consternation to most Ukrainians, both there as well as here in the diaspora.  I think it would be safe to say that his election was less an affirmation of his policies and politics and more a strong statement by the Ukrainian electorate that they were tired of the lack of leadership and competence of his predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko. Despite Yushchenko’s deluded belief that he will eventually be vindicated by history, it is much more likely that he will be remembered at best as a great disappointment and at worst as either a total incompetent or a traitor to the movement and people that brought him to power.

I had hoped that despite my distaste for Yanukovych’s ideas and methods, he would focus on re-establishing some stability and governance in a nation badly in need of a return to normalcy. The last few years of Yushchenko’s Presidency were marked by complete political chaos, lack of governance and economic collapse.  People were worn out and Yanukovych campaigned on some simple promises to bring order and stability to both the government and the economy.  This was ostensibly a “new and improved” Yanukovych, one who had learned some lessons from the recent past and was trying to reach out to all Ukrainians and not just the Russian minority.  Enough of the electorate bought into those promises to get him elected.

Sadly, it has become obvious that there is nothing “new and improved” in President Yanukovych.  He has reverted back to the same tactics that marked the worst excesses of the Kuchma era – autocratic rule, lip service to the law and the constitution, filling the ranks of government with his Donetsk cronies, choking off journalistic liberties, denigrating Ukrainian language, history, culture and traditions, ignoring rampant corruption, and re-establishing Russian dominance of Ukrainian politics and the economy.

Whether he will succeed in these endeavours is problematic.  Former President Leonid Kuchma was a lot smarter and shrewder than Yanukovych and those same practices brought about his downfall.  Yanukovych is obviously gambling that he will be able to gain enough control to stifle any dissent and establish a regime based on former President Vladimir Putin’s highly successful model in Russia.  However, as even Kuchma pointed out, Ukraine is not Russia, and in addition, Yanukovych is no Putin.  Sooner or later, if he continues on his current track, he will enrage enough Ukrainains that they will once again knock him off his lofty perch, only this time it will certainly be permanent and there is a very real danger that it will not be as peaceful a revolution as the Orange one was.

This is particularly troubling for Ukrainian organizations here in Canada who, since the Orange Revolution, have succeeded in building good relationships with both government and NGO’s in Ukraine.  The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, the Canada Ukraine Foundation and the Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce, among others, have made great headway in establishing co-operative ties and constructive dialogue with counterparts in Ukraine.  How should they now deal with this new government?

The more radical nationalists are proposing a suspension of any dealings with the Yanukovych regime and waging a new “ideological war” on these latest “enemies” of Ukraine. 

Needless to say, such an approach is ludicrous and counter-productive on many levels.  Whether we like it or not, and despite some electoral irregularities, Yanukovych was elected more or less fairly by a majority of Ukrainians.  We should not throw out the results of two decades of relationship building just because we don’t like who got elected.  We should use the ties that we have forged to voice our concerns, to oppose constructively the programs we don’t agree with and ensure that lines of communications are open.  We should lobby both the Canadian and Ukrainian governments in a mature, professional and intelligent manner to maximize whatever influence we may have.

Reverting to “Cold War” tactics of polarized opposition, cliché denunciations and “megaphone politics” is not only ineffective, but would enable the Yanukovych government to brand and dismiss us as ultra-nationalist fanatics.  We must fight this latest challenge more with our brains than with our emotions.