Nationalist organizations to unite in support of Yushchenko candidacy (06/20/04)

Nationalist organizations to unite in support of Yushchenko candidacy

by Vasyl Pawlowsky
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

KYIV - Acting together on June 16, the leaders of two nationalist organizations, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists led by Mykola Plaviuk and the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (Revolutionary) headed by Andriy Haydamakha, and two political parties, the Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists (CUN) and the All-Ukrainian Union Svoboda, led, respectively, by Oleksii Ivchenko and Oleh Tiahnybok, publicly announced that the process of uniting had begun.

In fact, the consolidation process started on May 28, when the four leaders signed a declaration under the title "Unity - A Guarantee for Victory!" Their declaration read: "Ukrainian nationalists are convinced, that the only real candidate who can win from the national-patriotic camp is Viktor Yushchenko." In order to facilitate the unification their declaration read, "We are also conscious of the necessity, and that the time has come for the consolidation of the Ukrainian nationalist movement. With this as our goal, we declare that we have formed working groups, which in a short time frame must develop the ideological and political principles of a united Ukrainian nationalist movement."

"The interests of the state are currently such that Kuchma must go and Yushchenko must come in, and then solve a lot of problems that were left behind by Kuchma," said the leader of Svoboda, National Deputy Tiahnybok. "However, in order for us to unite effectively, we must go through certain stages. And we need time to do this," he added.

When asked whether the coalition's support of Mr. Yushchenko could actually do more harm than good to the Our Ukraine leader's presidential bid, particularly in the southern and eastern regions of the country, Mr. Ivchenko of the CUN explained, "the participants of the union are trying to dispel the myth the nationalists are strong only in Western Ukraine, along with the myth regarding radical nationalists." He added that the CUN "is dynamically developing, particularly in the east, south and central regions of Ukraine - it is in these regions that we have 60 percent of our branches."

Asked how they would counter the fact that nationalists were often seen as radicals, Mr. Tiahnybok replied, "One of the main things that we are trying to demonstrate is that we can work together, we must not give into provocations, and there will be provocations."

He added, "One of the most important things is that we stick to our outlined goals and objects of our declaration of May 28, and that is why we have developed some common principles and ideology. And as you heard, we are all against the Single Economic Space agreement, as it is just another way in which Russia will try to dominate us, and also drain our country of its potential."

There is also the possibility that the coalition will grow. As reported by Lvivska Hazeta, talks are currently under way about the possibility of UNA-UNSO (Ukrainian National Assembly-Ukrainian National Self-Defense), led by Andriy Shkil, joining the group of four.

However, as declared by the coalition on June 16, the possibility of other groups like the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in Ukraine, an organization registered with the Ministry of Justice in Ukraine back in the fall of 1993 - and which the four coalition members consider to be a group "that was created as a political project, whose aim was to break up the Ukrainian opposition and discredit the nationalist movement" - joining the nationalist coalition would not even be considered.

In addition to supporting Mr. Yushchenko in his bid for the presidency, the four nationalist groups declared that they would be running as a common bloc in the 2006 parliamentary elections. Mr. Ivchenko claimed that the CUN has 100,000 active members and 3,000 registered organizations.

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