Crimean political crisis apparently averted as new Parliament chairman takes charge (02/16/97)

Crimean political crisis apparently averted as new Parliament chairman takes charge

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Perhaps the events of the last weeks involving the government bodies of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea have received less than their usual attention in Kyiv because the crises of Crimea have become routine.

To a much greater degree, the focus has been on the Russia-Ukraine debate over the on-again, off-again resolution of the division of the Black Sea Fleet and the status of the city of Sevastopol, located on Ukraine's southernmost territory.

Moscow Mayor Yurii Luzhkov's visit to Sevastopol, where on January 19 he unequivocally stated the city does and will belong to Russia, overshadowed an issue that has brought the latest rebukes by Kyiv over the Crimean peninsula's attempt to distance itself further from Ukraine: the contents of the yet to be approved constitution of the Crimean Autonomous Republic.

The latest debacle began with the beginning of the sixth session of Crimea's Verkhovna Rada. The first order of business was review of the second draft of the proposed constitution that had been marked up by an ad hoc committee of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. That immediately drew criticism from Crimean legislators. As Deputy Chairman of the Crimean Parliament Volodymyr Klychnykov noted from the speaker's podium on January 15, "a number of provisions have been substantially amended in the new wording of the draft."

This included defining terms in the draft constitution, such as "citizen of the Republic of Crimea," which the legislators in Kyiv had clarified by way of adding that "citizens of Ukraine permanently residing in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are citizens of the Republic of Crimea." The ad hoc committee also added the word "autonomous" to references to the peninsula throughout the document that had read "Republic of Crimea."

The latest change to the Crimean draft constitution sparked an uproar in the Crimean Parliament, where there has been much friction with the central government of Ukraine over an unyielding demand from Kyiv: Crimea shall make no law that is not in conformity with the laws of Ukraine and that all laws passed in Symferopol are subject to review in Kyiv.

It was too much for those deputies in Crimea's Verkhovna Rada who are oriented toward strong autonomy if not outright independence, of which there are many. On January 23, in an act of defiance, 51 of 97 members of the Crimean legislature voted to dissolve Crimea's Cabinet of Ministers in favor of a Council of Ministers (which harkens back to the Soviet system), and to give the chairman of the autonomous republic's legislature the power to appoint the chairman of the council.

Six days later, by a of vote of no confidence, it ousted the peninsula's prime minister, Arkadii Demydenko. Mr. Demydenko said the vote was "initiated by a certain group of deputies pursuing their own selfish and mercantile interests," reported Interfax-Ukraine the same day. He said that Anatolii Franchuk, President Kuchma's son-in-law and Crimea's former prime minister who was dismissed by the president in 1995, was behind the work of the Parliament.

Deputy Chairman of Parliament Klychnykov, who had proposed the dismissal of government, had suggested Mr. Franchuk as a worthy replacement to Mr. Demydenko after the vote.

The Crimean legislature also authorized its chairman, Vasyl Kyseliov, to speak with President Kuchma to explain the circumstances behind the vote of no confidence and to get the president's approval.

Mr. Kyseliov acted otherwise and, speaking before his fellow parliamentarians after conferring with President Kuchma, called the legislature's decision "a serious mistake, if not a fatal one."

Hours later, President Kuchma issued a decree suspending the resolution on the Crimean Cabinet of Ministers because it was in conflict with the Constitution of Ukraine.

A week later, on February 5, Mr. Kyseliov himself was sacked by the Crimean Parliament "for improper execution of his duties" as a majority group continued to tear apart its government. Along with him went the rest of the presidium, including the chairs of all the parliamentary committees.

But most telling was that only 59 of Crimea's 97 legislators were in the Parliament assembly hall, 51 of whom voted for the dismissal of the chairman. Most of those who did not register for the session were supporters of Mr. Kyseliov.

After the vote, Mr. Kyseliov said he was not concerned about his dismissal because he "does not believe that the Crimean Parliament will last to the end of the year," according to the February 7 issue of the newspaper Den.

In Kyiv, political leaders showed they were fed up with the three-week-old chaos in the Crimean government. In the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv deputies expressed frustration at the on-going state of affairs. Ex-president and member of Parliament Leonid Kravchuk called the fiasco in Crimea "a political showdown." He said that under current conditions the legislature "is unable to function" and that "the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine should decide to help the Crimean population live under proper legal conditions."

The statement was echoed by Rukh leader and National Deputy Vyacheslav Chornovil, who called for dissolution of the Crimean Parliament. Even Communists, notably National Deputy Vasyl Tereshchuk, agreed. He said "it is necessary that the Verkhovna Rada react adequately."

Meanwhile, President Kuchma sent four of Crimea's laws to the Constitutional Court of Ukraine for review of their constitutionality, including the law "on foreign investment," which the president stated is in conflict with Ukraine's laws on regulation of foreign investment.

He caught everyone off guard on February 8, a day that the Crimean legislature was not in session, when he appointed the just-deposed Mr. Kyseliov as the presidential representative to Crimea, to replace Dmytro Stepaniuk, who had resigned after he was elected to the Verkhovna Rada in Kyiv.

The president then continued to act decisively and quickly. He sent the vice-prime minister of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, Valerii Pustovoitenko, and the assistant director of the presidential administration Volodymyr Yatsuba to Symferopol, along with Mr. Kyseliov, to announce that the situation in Crimea must stabilize, or else. One alternative suggested by the president's representatives was that the post of chairman of the Council of Ministers and the office of the presidential representative to Crimea could be made one, although Mr. Yatsuba was quick to point out at a presidential press conference in Kyiv on February 12 that the Kyiv government still considers Mr. Demydenko the prime minister of Crimea. Mention was also made of another option open to the president: the dissolution of the legislature.

This effort may have finally broken the will of the renegade deputies in the Crimean Parliament. After a week in which the Parliament could not attain a quorum to open its daily sessions, the deputies in Crimea on February 13 voted in Anatoliy Hrytsenko as the new chairman of the Parliament, although he received only 58 of the 97 votes.

Interfax-Ukraine reported that he immediately stated he would first meet with the presidential representative, Mr. Kyseliov, "in order to jointly coordinate our actions." A new Parliament Presidium was quickly voted in. And then, in the most notable gesture of the leader's willingness to work with President Kuchma, Mr. Hrytsenko pushed through legislative motions to cancel several laws it had passed that Mr. Kuchma had vetoed as unconstitutional, including the February 23 decision on the Council of Ministers.

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