Party of the Regions wages aggressive campaign for power (12/24/06)

Party of the Regions wages aggressive campaign for power

by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau

The following is the first article in a two-part series about the Party of the Regions' aggressive campaign of usurping power in the Ukrainian government.

KYIV - Ever since its ascent to power in August, the Party of the Regions led by Viktor Yanukovych has waged an aggressive campaign of usurping power within Ukraine's government to advance the Russian-oriented policies of its wealthy Donbas financiers and businessmen.

Their latest gambit, the attempted sacking of pro-Western Minister of Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk, was a direct attack against President Viktor Yushchenko, orchestrated to further diminish the president's authority, which had already been limited by the January 1 constitutional changes.

In his trademark boss man demeanor, Prime Minister Yanukovych revealed he isn't bothered at all by accusations of usurping power, saying it's necessary to restore stability in a country that has been mired in crisis.

"We are going to instill order in the nation, no matter what they call that process," Mr. Yanukovych said on December 1. "If it's 'usurpation,' then let it be 'usurpation.' You can hold us back, but to what benefit? I wouldn't advise that, neither to politicians nor the president."

Mr. Yushchenko had approved Mr. Yanukovych's nomination on August 4 as prime minister with the understanding that his Our Ukraine bloc would unite with the Party of the Regions in a broad parliamentary coalition based on the Universal of National Unity.

As foreseen by many political observers, the declaration was short-lived as Mr. Yanukovych and the Party of the Regions began to subtly, then flagrantly, disregard its conditions in a quest for expanding their power, while simultaneously curtailing Mr. Yushchenko's influence.

In fact, political experts said the Party of the Regions never had genuine intentions regarding the unity declaration, which was supposed to unite four of the Parliament's five political parties.

When signing it, President Yushchenko billed the universal as a historic moment to unite a deeply divided nation. Five months later, Ukraine is ever more divided.

"It's been clear to almost everyone that this national unity pact was just a piece of paper," said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Kyiv-based Institute of Statehood and Democracy, which is exclusively financed by Ukrainian business donations.

"In a normally functioning society, it would have some weight. But even in a democratically developed society, nobody would bring to power a group of bandits just because they signed a paper to work in Ukraine's interests," he added.

Foreign policy siege

Since the very first days of the Anti-Crisis Coalition, the Party of the Regions began asserting itself in Ukrainian foreign policy and violating the tenets of the Universal of National unity.

It began with Mr. Yanukovych's surprise announcement on August 8 that Ukraine would enter the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007, instead of fall 2006, the target date that Mr. Yushchenko and Mr. Tarasyuk had been aiming for.

Political observers suspect the Party of the Regions forced the delay in order to enable the Russian Federation to synchronize WTO entry with Ukraine.

Should Ukraine enter first, it would gain significant leverage in trade negotiations with its larger, eastern neighbor.

Incredibly, the Party of the Regions seeks to use the levers of Ukrainian foreign policy to benefit the Russian Federation, even at the expense of Ukraine's national interests, Mr. Lozowy said.

"Yanukovych is willing do deals of all types from Russia," he said. "In return, the Party of the Regions gets money and concessions for businesses in Russia. That's what the Donetsk clan is interested in."

Incidentally, Mr. Yanukovych made his WTO announcement while presenting Mr. Tarasyuk as his foreign affairs minister to the media. In his remarks at the same August 8 press conference, Mr. Tarasyuk stressed that the National Unity Declaration made Ukraine's WTO membership in 2006 a priority.

Therefore, tension between Mr. Yanukovych and Mr. Tarasyuk had been brewing since the very first days of the coalition government, when foreign policy differences were already apparent.

Mr. Yanukovych would thwart Mr. Yushchenko's foreign policy goals a month later while attending a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) conference in Brussels.

He sent a shock through the Ukrainian government by declaring on September 14 that Ukraine would postpone any action toward NATO membership, derailing the president's plan to sign a Membership Action Plan at the alliance's November summit in Riga, Latvia.

Though Mr. Yanukovych's and the Party of the Regions' opposition to NATO is well known, few expected that the prime minister would undermine President Yushchenko's authority so brazenly on the international stage.

The announcement disturbed Messrs. Yushchenko and Tarasyuk, who were yet again accusing Mr. Yanukovych of violating a foreign policy goal set in the National Unity Declaration.

Some political experts speculated that Mr. Yushchenko had expected Mr. Yanukovych to do exactly what he did in Brussels because he himself is aware Ukraine isn't ready for NATO.

However, the statement in Brussels marked a turning point in Mr. Yushchenko's relations with Mr. Yanukovych, which began to worsen significantly.

Mr. Tarasyuk harmed relations with Mr. Yanukovych when he neglected to arrange a meeting between the prime minister and Council of Europe Secretary General Terry Davis, who had visited Kyiv in November.

In his defense, Mr. Tarasyuk apologized but said the diplomatic protocol services were to blame.

It remained unclear whether the failed meeting was an intentional stunt by Mr. Tarasyuk.

However, clearly stung by Mr. Yanukovych's surprise in Brussels, Mr. Tarasyuk appeared determined not to allow the prime minister to make another foreign visit and subvert Ukraine's foreign policy goals.

In preparation for Mr. Yanukovych's December 3-7 trip to the U.S., Mr. Tarasyuk sent a message to the Cabinet of Ministers requesting that Mr. Yanukovych submit a list of his foreign policy directives for the trip.

After receiving no response for several days, Mr. Tarasyuk sent a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, informing him that the prime minister's trip was canceled.

Mr. Tarasyuk's letter was the last straw for Mr. Yanukovych, who sent the order for his party to launch proceedings to dismiss the foreign affairs minister for subverting his authority.

In justifying Mr. Tarasyuk's dismissal, Party of the Regions National Deputy Vasyl Kyseliov accused him of poor performance, harming relations with the Russian Federation and, of all things, failing to implement Ukraine's Euro-integration course. Furthermore, Mr. Tarasyuk committed the unprecedented act of complaining to a foreign government about the performance of his own superior, he explained.

The Verkhovna Rada's vote to dismiss Mr. Tarasyuk on December 1 marked the transition from what had been dubbed a "cold war" in the bipolar government to an overt battle between the two Viktors.

Mr. Yushchenko viewed the dismissal as Mr. Yanukovych's attempt to seize authority in a domain clearly designated for the Ukrainian president - namely, foreign policy. A Kyiv district court agreed several days later, ruling that Mr. Tarasyuk's dismissal violated the Constitution of Ukraine.

Nevertheless, the Cabinet of Ministers led by First Vice Prime Minister Mykola Azarov denied Mr. Tarasyuk access to its meeting the next day, and Ukraine's foreign policy leadership remains unresolved.

On December 20 the Cabinet of Ministers again denied Mr. Tarasyuk access to its meeting, prompting a scuffle between Mr. Tarasyuk, Our Ukraine National Deputy Mykola Katerynchuk and Party of the Regions National Deputy Vladyslav Lykianov.

Mr. Tarasyuk's letter to the U.S. ambassador was a mere pretext for a dismissal the Party of the Regions had been itching to execute for months, Mr. Lozowy said.

"It is a deliberate strategy to remove a serious problem standing between the Donetsk clan and potential future business agreements with Russia which go against Ukraine's national interest," he said. "They phrase it as improving relations with Russia, but these people are accommodating Russia."

Specifically, Russian businessmen will be looking to buy ownership in several significant Ukrainian businesses, including Ukraine's natural gas transport companies, that are critical to Russian expansionism, and Ukrtelekom, the national telephone network that may soon be privatized, Mr. Lozowy said.

"There are lots of areas Ukrainians can give away to the Russians, and these are people the Russians want to do business with," he said. "For Russia to pay these people a few billion dollars for a stranglehold on the gas transport system is very inexpensive."

Compared to Russia's other demands, including synchronized WTO membership and low prices for natural gas transit through Ukraine, Mr. Tarasyuk's firing was an easy way to please the Kremlin, said Serhii Taran, chair of the Socio-Vymir Center for Sociological and Political Research, which is financed by Ukrainian private enterprises.

"On natural gas prices, Yanukovych has to keep his position because if prices are too high, he won't remain as prime minister," Mr. Taran said. "But a cheap price such as Tarasyuk's head was very comfortable for Yanukovych to buy favors from the Kremlin."

Driven by power and money

The Party of the Regions is a political project originally launched in early 2001 and financed by Rynat Akhmetov, who became Ukraine's wealthiest man by viciously building his Donbas business empire during the 1990s.

The party was created or the purpose of promoting and defending the business interests of the Donetsk business clan, led and controlled by Mr. Akhmetov, political observers said. Given the enormous amount of business conducted by Mr. Akhmetov's System Capital Management (SCM), a political party was a logical necessity.

Only it's unclear whether anyone had expected the Party of the Regions would become as powerful and influential as it is today.

Though criminal authorities arose in all of Ukraine's regions during the 1990s and controlled local economies, the Donetsk Oblast is the only region where a criminal clan attained political dominance, Mr. Lozowy noted.

"During the last six or seven years they managed to wipe out everyone else," he said. "This is a mini-Soviet Union where one business clan, in the form of a disciplined political structure, completes all aspects of life for those living in the Donetsk Oblast."

From its stronghold in Donetsk, the Party of the Regions secured dominance in all of Ukraine's eastern and southern oblasts.

Part of its strategy was the formation of a strict top-down hierarchy, in which orders given by its leaders are passed down and systematically carried out through an organizational pyramid.

Unlike the Our Ukraine bloc, which consists of a mix of political parties and personalities that compete for attention and sometimes clash, the Party of the Regions is a single political entity that demands uniformity and unconditional loyalty.

For example, when former Kharkiv Oblast Administration Chair Yevhen Kushnariov opted to join the Party of the Regions, he had to sacrifice his New Democracy political party.

Although the current coalition government consists of three political parties, including the Socialists and the Communists, the Party of the Regions calls all the shots because of its dominant performance in the March 2006 parliamentary elections.

The Communists are bought off and act as a mouthpiece for the Donetsk clan, Mr. Lozowy said, while the Socialists toe the coalition line in most instances.

Unfortunately, Ukraine's most dominant political force is more committed to defending and promoting the interests of the Donetsk clan, than serving national interests, Mr. Lozowy said.

"The Party of the Regions by its nature is like a cancer," he said. "This is a huge pyramid that has to grow to stay alive. They need to feed a huge amount of people - the deputies, their families, SCM, their business structures."

"All of them have to be paid and make money. Plus they want to make money by stealing, not by thinking up a new mousetrap to sell to Japan. That's what drives them forward," M. Lozowy observed.

Although their politicians say the right things - calling for democracy, freedom of speech and an end to corruption - the Party of the Regions' actions and intentions aren't much different from before the Orange Revolution, said Mr. Taran of the Socio-Vymir Center.

After that humiliation, Mr. Akhmetov hired Washington consultants Davis Manafort to conduct a political makeover, which proved very successful and effective initially.

However, the makeover has proven to be only skin deep.

"On the surface, they've learned to say the right things," Mr. Taran said. "But internally, they're the same. They haven't learned how to think politically. They've only learned to think along the lines of a cave-like 'Kuchmism.'"

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