CANDIDATE PROFILE: Capt. Mykola Huk, National Front of Ukraine (03/01/98)

CANDIDATE PROFILE: Capt. Mykola Huk, National Front of Ukraine

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - One wouldn't expect anybody but a navy man to run for the Verkhovna Rada electoral district seat of Sevastopol, home of the Ukrainian Naval Forces and the Russian Black Sea Fleet.

The National Front of Ukraine political bloc is offering just the candidate to its potential supporters in the 224th electoral district of Sevastopol for the March 29 elections.

The candidate, 2nd Capt. Mykola Huk, is a former commander of the Black Sea Fleet who swore allegiance to Ukraine in 1992 and consequently was removed from his post by the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Ihor Kasatonov who today is the vice-commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Capt. Huk then became the senior officer for the perodical press at the Social-Psychological Department of Ukraine's Ministry of Defense.

His removal from the Black Sea Fleet was not his first run-in with anti-Ukrainian forces. In July 1991 he was thrown out of the Soviet navy for pro-Ukrainian agitation associated with his involvement with the Ukrainian Prosvita Society, but was brought back into the folds of the jointly held Russian-Ukrainian Black Sea Fleet after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Today he is editor of the only Ukrainian-language newspaper in Sevastopol, Dzvin, and on the editorial staff of the newspaper Flot Ukrainy, as well as the head of the Sevastopol branch of the Prosvita Society.

The 37-year-old captain, however, faces a major battle if he hopes to win a Parliament seat in the heavily pro-Russian and pro-Communist naval port. Capt. Huk is realistic about the possibilities. "We are looking for victory where we may not be able to achieve it, but we must plant the seed, especially in the culturally unaware soil of Sevastopol," said Capt. Huk.

There is hope, however, Capt. Huk explained. "This is a new election system. Who knows who will get what? There will be unexpected results and because of this a chance remains that the candidate from the National Front Party will get elected."

His goal in running is to bring national awareness to citizens living in Sevastopol. He said there can be no economic revival in Ukraine until there is a national reawakening. "If we develop a patriotic spirit we will achieve economic rebirth and all else," said Capt. Huk. "If we don't, we will only harm Ukraine as is happening already in today's Verkhovna Rada," he continued.

He said the main problems that confront Ukraine flow from a lack of a patriotic sense of country. He said he envies the Russian and Polish people, who have a strong sense of their national identity, and waits for the day when Ukrainians will have established theirs. "There must be more time, effort and perhaps even lives spent for this country," said Capt. Huk.

He said his alliance with the National Front is a natural one: "In Sevastopol they have called me a nationalist for 10 years, the Communists, the imperialists, even my fellow officers. I didn't want to disappoint them."

In fact, Capt. Huk is not a registered member of either of the three political parties in the bloc, the Republican Party of Ukraine, the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists or the Conservative Republican Party of Ukraine. But he does, as he said, uphold their ideals. "I believe in the idea of Ukrainian nationalism, that only a Ukrainian patriot can make Ukraine great," he underlined.

He explained that he was motivated by leaders of the bloc, Lev Lukianenko, Slava Stetsko and Stepan Khmara, and by Stepan Bandera, who was the leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in the 1940s and 1950s.

"I went with them because it is headed by people like Levko Lukianenko, who has given his life for an independent Ukraine, and Slava Stetsko, who while she lived much of her life outside of Ukraine never took citizenship in the United States or Germany, but took Ukrainian citizenship when she returned home."

As any military man should, Capt. Huk considers himself to be part of a team. He emphasized that he fully supports the program of the National Front. "I will go with our bloc. I will not give my own promises, but will carry out the program of the National Front and keep the promises it has given and will give."

But he has made one individual commitment: to work to have non-commissioned officers become part of the professional army. "The sergeants who live with the soldiers in the barracks should receive pay as do the officers," he said.

He said that the morale among non-commissioned officers today is at a critically low level, which results in abuse of enlisted men caused by frustration. "Today mothers are scared to send their children into the armed forces. The sergeants' ranks are demoralized, they do not get paid," said Capt. Huk. "Making them professional is the first step to a truly strong armed forces."

As the head of the Sevastopol Prosvita Society, Capt. Huk can take credit for already planting several seeds that may vitalize a Ukrainian identity in the city that is the headquarters for Ukraine's navy, including the establishment of two all-Ukrainian schools and the introduction of Ukrainian language courses in all of the city's schools, as well as the establishment of a Ukrainian library and a Ukrainian church.

"We have done this with a small team. With a larger team we will do much more. We believe that we will; we cannot do otherwise," explained Capt. Huk.

He said that even with 22 candidates running in his district, his main competition in Sevastopol in the upcoming elections, without doubt, is the Communist Party. He explained that it has kept its cadres and its discipline, and that its political structures are still evident in towns and villages throughout Crimea. "They are old, that is true, but it is the old ones who turn out to vote," said Capt. Huk. "The youth doesn't yet understand the importance."