EDITORIAL: Beware: elections ahead (11/02/97)

EDITORIAL

Beware: elections ahead

The election season has begun in Ukraine. Even before any major announcements of candidacies were made, Pavlo Lazarenko - once branded as one of the most corrupt officials in Ukraine - arrived in the United States. He said the goal of his October 19-24 visit was to spread "objective information" about developments in Ukraine, but others saw it differently: here was candidate Lazarenko, suddenly a reformer and democrat, preparing the ground for his run at the presidency.

In New York he plugged the platform of his Hromada (Community) party, and said the Kuchma administration has repeatedly harassed him and his party. In Washington he went on the offensive against the Kuchma administration, telling Ukrainian Americans: "There is no democracy in Ukraine. It died with the coming of the current administration, or regime."

Soon after his return to Kyiv, Pravda Ukrainy and Vseukrainskie Viedomosti, two Russian-language newspapers largely controlled by supporters of Mr. Lazarenko, published glowing articles about the visit. Both were replete with errors (some laughable, like references to "Harry" Kissinger, "Stan" Sestanovich, and "Congressmen" Morningstar and Pascual) and falsehoods (these much more serious, such as reporting that Ukrainian Americans support Mr. Lazarenko, that the U.S. government has soured on the Kuchma administration and that the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. is not doing its job). Both disinformed the Ukrainian public by stating that The New York Times and the Washington Post had reported on the visit. The Kyiv articles were neatly timed to appear before Mr. Lazarenko announced the Hromada party's intentions for the upcoming elections. Apparently, having the diaspora's support (or apearing to have it) has some cachet in Ukraine, as does appearing to have the ear of top American movers and shakers.

We feel it is important for us to set the record straight on at least several matters connected to the Lazarenko visit. First it should be noted that no one organization at this time speaks for all Ukrainian Americans, so it is certainly ludicrous to state that our diverse community supports this particular politician. Since Askold Lozynskyj was the person cited in the articles as saying the Ukrainian American diaspora supports Mr. Lazarenko, we contacted the UCCA president to confirm that statement. He laughed: "The same thing happened after the Marchuk visit" (when former Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk attended the UCCA convention).

Mr. Lozynskyj explained that, when Mr. Lazarenko had turned to the UCCA for help in arranging meetings, we agreed because "in the minds of many, including our community, he was corruption personified - we felt he should be given an opportunity to explain his position." He underlined that the UCCA would help organize a tour of anyone on the political spectrum from Slava Stetsko to Oleksander Moroz, but given the organization's legal standing as a tax-exempt organization it simply cannot support candidates. "We're not Ukrainian citizens, anyway," he added.

Well, to that we respond by saying perhaps it is fine and good that the UCCA is willing to provide a forum for Mr. Lazarenko and others, but the UCCA, and perhaps all Ukrainian Americans, have been used by Mr. Lazarenko. And, frankly, we don't like being used. We had better beware, as there certainly is more to come before the 1998 parliamentary elections and the 1999 presidential balloting.

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