ANALYSIS
Kyiv launches far-reaching reform of Internal Affairs
Ministry
by Taras Kuzio
Eurasia Daily Monitor
It was inevitable that radical, democratizing reforms would be launched
within the Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry (MVS) after the appointment
of Yurii Lutsenko as minister of internal affairs. Already the new atmosphere
inside the MVS has contributed to progress in the Gongadze murder investigation.
Mr. Lutsenko is a young activist from the Socialist Party of Ukraine (SPU)
who was highly involved in the Ukraine Without Kuchma movement (2000-2003)
and then in the Orange Revolution protests.
Mr. Lutsenko is being assisted by MVS officers who also want to cleanse
their agency of corruption and human rights violations (Zerkalo Nedeli,
February 5). The Ukrainian media now regularly publish highly critical open
letters from MVS officers and addressed to Mr. Lutsenko (maidan.org.ua,
February 22, 25, 28, March 1; kuchmizm.info, February 27).
Mr. Lutsenko has made tackling corruption an urgent priority. "Without
this step it will be impossible to revive trust towards the MVS," he
declared, adding "And only after this can one hope of struggling against
criminality inside Ukraine" (Ukrainska Pravda, February 4). MVS officers
who are likely to be charged with human rights and corruption violations
include former MVS Minister Mykola Bilokon and the former head of the Kyiv
City MVS, Oleksander Milenin. Under former President Leonid Kuchma, the
MVS was widely regarded as the most corrupted power ministry.
The degree of corruption inside the MVS could be seen from the size of
bribes required to land one of its high-ranking positions, such as the heads
of oblast departments. The highest bribe known is $1 million for the post
of chief of the Donetsk Oblast MVS. Other oblasts reportedly cost between
$50,000 and $250,000 (maidan.org.ua, February 28).
Mr. Lutsenko is in favor of bringing in younger people and of raising
the status of the MVS as steps towards introducing democratic reforms. During
his first month in office, Mr. Lutsenko has introduced six key reforms at
the ministry.
- First, all MVS officers were to be evaluated by March 1. Citizens with
grievances against any MVS officer were asked to come forward and provide
evidence. This process was intended as a way to measure the trustworthiness
of MVS officers and the level of corruption inside the MVS.
- Second, Oleksander Kikhtenko replaced Serhii Popkov as head of MVS
Troops. Mr. Popkov had been ready to use force against the Orange Revolution
crowds. MVS Troops will be renamed the Republican Guard.
MVS Troops were downsized after Ukraine became an independent
state and some of its functions were assigned to the newly formed National
Guard. Although the National Guard became the most professional and patriotic
combat unit of the security forces, Mr. Kuchma never trusted them because
they were the only unit under joint parliamentary-executive control (Ukraine
did not have a president when the guard was established in late 1991).
Mr. Kuchma disbanded the National Guard in 1999 and transferred their functions
back to the MVSl Troops. Mr. Lutsenko was surprised to find that the MVS
Troops had tanks and artillery, equipment that will not go to the Republican
Guard.
The plan to re-name the MVS Troops the Republican Guard
is a throwback to the 1990s, when the National Guard was modeled on West
European paramilitary formations, such as the Italian Carabineiri, French
CRS, and Spanish Republican Guard. The national democratic parties that
back President Viktor Yushchenko will welcome the change, due to the negative
image of MVS Troops as the descendants of the NKVD troops who fought Ukrainian
nationalist partisans during and after World War II.
- Third, the most criminalized wing of the MVS, the Directorate to Combat
Organized Crime (UBOZ), will undergo reform. UBOZ stands accused of colluding
with organized crime - not combating it - under the Kuchma administration.
A large group of UBOZ officers and organized crime members was recently
detained and charged with murdering wealthy individuals in order to steal
their property.
UBOZ officers are also believed to be behind the murder
of Gongadze. The secret audiotapes made in President Kuchma's office include
mention of "Eagles" by then-MVS Minister Yurii Kravchenko. The
comment is believed to be a reference to an UBOZ spetsnaz unit (Sokil).
UBOZ officers are also believed to have organized the "car accident"
that led to Rukh leader Vyacheslav Chornovil's death in 1999.
- Fourth, Ukraine's new leaders intend to turn many MVS functions over
to civilian services. Mr. Lutsenko is himself a civilian. The ministry's
militarized nature is a holdover from the USSR. Again, this is an attempt
to bring the MVS closer to the Western norm. Along with renaming the MVS
Troops, the divisions that currently guard prisons (as they did in the
USSR) will be transformed into Western-style prison guards. The passport,
medical and press service departments of the MVS are to be civilianized
as well.
- Fifth, the State Automobile Inspectorate (DAI), the most disliked arm
of the MVS, is to be disbanded, a step copied from Georgia. Former DAI
officers will conduct joint patrols with regular MVS officers to oversee
road safety and traffic issues and will no longer hand out automatic fines,
a DAI activity that bred massive corruption.
- Sixth, Mr. Lutsenko dispatched MVS Troops to the two most criminalized
regions of Ukraine, Zakarpattia and Donetsk, to assist in rooting out organized
crime and high-level corruption. The mayor of Donetsk, Oleksander Lukianchenko,
complained that this move fed the widely believed stereotype that Donetsk
is a highly "criminalized region," a perception that "should
be proven with facts" (Interfax-Ukraine, March 1).
MVS Troops are also bound for Crimea. That these three
regions are controlled by former local parties of power under President
Kuchma - the Social Democratic Party - United in Zakarpattia and defeated
candidate Viktor Yanukovych's Regions of Ukraine in Donetsk and Crimea
- is likely no coincidence.
Taras Kuzio is visiting professor at the Elliot School of International
Affairs, George Washington University. The article above, which originally
appeared in The Jamestown Foundation's Eurasia Daily Monitor, is reprinted
here with permission from the foundation (www.jamestown.org).
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March
13, 2005, No. 11, Vol. LXXIII
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