DOUBLE EXPOSURE: Sympathy for the devil (12/17/06)

DOUBLE EXPOSURE

by Khristina Lew

Sympathy for the devil

Viktor Yanukovych returned to the United States as Ukraine's prime minister for a second time on December 3-6. Gone was the man who feigned a mortal wound when struck by an egg on the campaign trail in the fall of 2004. Or the man who for many prompted what came to be known as the Orange Revolution.

This year's Viktor, who was appointed as prime minister by President Viktor Yushchenko in August after the Orange forces couldn't unite into a majority, is downright genteel. He says all the things the West wants to hear, like that Ukraine is rapidly preparing for WTO entry by passing all but two laws related to accession. That corruption in Ukraine is "a sickness that must be treated." That Ukraine's gas storage facilities are full, and Europe will have all the natural gas it needs this winter.

This year's Viktor speaks only in the Ukrainian language, as does his staff, including his press secretary Denys Ivanesko - no small feat given that most of the press corps traveling with the prime minister spoke only in Russian.

It would seem that the U.S. government was unconvinced of Mr. Yanukovych's intentions, keeping meetings between the Ukrainian prime minister and Vice-President Dick Cheney and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice closed to the press. In fact, Dr. Rice went to such lengths to distance herself from Mr. Yanukovych that no official photograph was taken of the two by the State Department. When The Weekly inquired why there was no photo, the editor was told that the State Department photographer was sick.

The chill did not carry over to unofficial Washington - staffers, NGOs, Beltway bandits - who packed a standing-room only auditorium at the Center for Strategic and International Studies to hear the prime minister speak.

There Mr. Yanukovych actually wrapped himself in the mantle of the Orange Revolution, claiming that "everyone has had one's own maidan, and it brought about a powerful purification process for the Ukrainian society."

There were some among the Ukrainian community in the U.S. who did not buy Mr. Yanukovych's "purification" and actively boycotted his visit to Washington. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America declared that they would not attend a meeting with the prime minister at Ukraine's Embassy to the United States on December 4; the organization sent via courier an open letter to Mr. Yanukovych outlining issues of concern to its membership.

Representatives of other Ukrainian American organizations like the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council and the Ukrainian National Association (which belongs to both the UCCA and the UACC umbrella organizations) also did not attend a reception in the prime minister's honor at the Embassy on December 4, although there certainly were members of the diaspora there (my favorite wore an orange blazer and her husband wore a red-and-white tie). The reception was packed - again, with staffers, NGOs and lobbyists - and it seems a shame that those who didn't attend hadn't embraced the old devil-that-you-know adage.

Lest my readers think I've completely gone over to the "Dark Side," I will point out that Mr. Yanukovych took swipes at his opponents during his CSIS address. In a veiled reference to former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, Mr. Yanukovych said that his government has "excluded the word 'reprivatization' from our political vocabulary" and vowed to make privatization an "instrument for market restructuring and capitalization of the economy."

He also said Ukraine has yet to resolve the "final redistribution of power among the branches of government" after the constitutional reform of 2005, and invoked the "wisdom and tolerance" of America's Founding Fathers when he said, "They had mastered their will to subordinate all the minor differences and personal ambitions for the sake of the ideals of democracy and freedom. For every complicated issue they were able to find the golden middle - the compromise that has passed successfully the test of over 200 years." I think we know who he had in mind when he uttered those words.

Tensions over control of Ukraine's foreign policy were an undercurrent during his Washington stay, and when Mr. Yanukovych responded to a reporter's request for his reaction to the presidential decree defying Parliament's vote to remove Borys Tarasyuk as minister of foreign affairs, the veneer cracked. The prime minister clearly had President Yushchenko in mind when he said, "When the Ukrainian Parliament makes a decision, its decisions are to be respected and honored. It underscores that this person is irresponsible." (Mr. Ivanesko had to later clarify that the prime minister was referring to Mr. Tarasyuk, and not to Mr. Yushchenko).

So, things are not always as they seem, especially when it comes to Ukrainian politics. We'll see what 2007 brings.

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