Head of Ukrainian association in Russia speaks on diaspora problems (06/01/03)

Head of Ukrainian association in Russia speaks on diaspora problems

by Maryna Makhnonos
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

MOSCOW - According to the head of the umbrella group of Ukrainians in Russia, the plight of Ukrainian Russians will improve only after the governments of Ukraine and Russia begin to show the will to formulate a clear policy on minorities.

However, that may not suffice unless the leaders of the Ukrainian diaspora in Russia, for their part, begin to rely less on emotion and more on rational and efficient efforts to present their problems to the government and to consolidate the lines of communication among the various Ukrainian groups within the vast regions of Russia.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with The Weekly Oleksander Rudenko-Desniak, the head of the Association of Ukrainians in Russia, urged the Russian government to establish an overall program focused on the problems of minorities in a country consisting of more than 200 ethnic groups, among them 4.5 million Ukrainians. He explained that local bureaucrats please the demands of ethnic groups only if the personal will exists to do so, and Russia lacks an overall and "consistent policy."

"It's time to understand that the Russian state, and first of all its society, should be interested in solving the nationalities' issue," Mr. Rudenko-Desniak said after the close of the organization's annual congress held in April. "It's the only way towards the development of a democratic state and society."

Giving an example of the weak cooperation between the Russian government and the Ukrainian community - the second largest ethnic community in Russia after the Tatars, Mr. Rudenko-Desniak said that the Russian Ministry of the Economy has refused to support a pilot program for the development of Ukrainian education and an information system. The ministry has explained that other ethnic groups would request the same, which would become a budget burden, according to Mr. Rudenko-Desniak.

"After the Third Congress of Russian Ukrainians last year, I wrote a letter proposing the project to Deputy Prime Minister Valentina Matvienko and have not heard a response yet. I tell myself it is only because of the bad state of the postal service," Mr. Rudenko-Desniak quipped.

From another perspective, the diaspora lacks the support of its native land inasmuch as Ukraine's programs of cooperation with its diaspora are not serious, which damages the country's international image, as well, he noted.

"The image of Ukrainians is awful in Russia," he said, adding that Ukraine should invest in a public relations information campaign to present an alternative to the perception that Ukrainians are only about "salo and horilka." He said this should include an effort to counter negative publicity against Ukraine and the creation of information programs that "would work on its image 24 hours a day."

Mr. Rudenko-Desniak also pointed out some of the Ukrainian community's less than ideal qualities, including its tendency to take an emotional approach to problem solving at "noisy gatherings."

He spoke after the council of some 70 top representatives of Ukrainian communities from all Russian regions analyzed past year's community activities.

The year had been proclaimed the "Year of Ukraine in Russia," which in the end caused a certain disappointment among diaspora members when their hopes and expectations that more attention would be paid to their problems were not realized.

"'The Year of Ukraine in Russia' revealed the great cultural, spiritual and social potential of the Ukrainian community ... but it also revealed great fundamental problems," Mr. Rudenko-Desniak said.

Instead of acting on their emotions, the leader urged his associates to respect pragmatism and discipline in meeting needs and mastering the art of interaction with officials and lobbying.

"Confrontation between the diaspora and state authorities offers no hope ... and that's why we should look for cooperation with official authorities," Mr. Rudenko-Desniak said. "You should search for allies in politics, because opponents will always appear on their own."

Another current problem Russia's Ukrainians face is a lack of modern information technology. Only half of local Ukrainian organizations have access to e-mail or the Internet. The rest continue to use the postal service and remain apart from the global information network - a problem that this congress set out to resolve as priority No. 1.

"We have a favor to ask our friends in Ukraine and in foreign countries further afar, which is to help in this matter if possible: we need computers or the means to purchase them," Mr. Rudenko-Desniak said, enthusiastically specifying that 25 computers would suffice to unite all the local Ukrainian communities of Russia via the Internet.

Speaking passionately in a tiny one-room office situated in the Ukrainian Cultural Center on the historic Arbat in downtown Moscow, Mr. Rudenko-Desniak seems to be one of the few activists who are truly inspired to work on behalf of the cause of Ukrainians in Russia. In addition to duties as leader of the Association of Ukrainians in Russia, he also heads the diaspora's information department and has organized a Ukrainian cinema club.

Mr. Rudenko-Desniak, 66, was born in Chernihiv and worked for more than 20 years as a journalist, in addition to being a cinema and literary critic as well as a translator of Ukrainian poets. In an effort to defend minorities' rights, he became active in Russian politics as a member of the Consultative Council of National Cultural Autonomies, whose chairman is Vladimir Zorin, Russia's minister of ethnic affairs.

The Consultative Council works in cooperation with members of the Russian State Duma on legislation to increase government responsibility and response to the needs of its ethnic minorities, something that Mr. Rudenko-Desniak is eager to see realized.

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