Last year, on December 9, 2014, U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, during an event at the National Democratic Institute in Washington, urged Ukraine not to blow its chance at change. “These people have braved snipers’ bullets, freezing cold, to win for themselves a chance to fundamentally alter their country for the better,” he said.
Ukraine continues to need reforms in its economy and in the fight against corruption. Battling “kleptocracy,” Mr. Biden added, would help protect Ukraine’s sovereignty, as Ukraine defended against Russian military aggression in the east. “Some think that’s offensive to say but it’s a reality. And they’ve made great progress [on corruption]. But there’s still major impediments.”
“Fighting corruption is not just about good governance, it’s about self-defense, it is about integrity, it is about sovereignty,” Mr. Biden noted. Ukrainians have a chance again, and “they can’t blow it,” he said, adding, “freedom is over 25 years old and they blew it; the Orange Revolution and they blew it.” Mr. Biden warned, “They don’t have many more chances in the near term.”
That same day, Mr. Biden was the keynote speaker at the annual NDI Democracy Award dinner “From Protest to Politics: Honoring Ukraine’s New Democrats” that was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Washington. The NDI Democracy Award, of which Mr. Biden was a recipient in 2004, honors individuals and organizations that have exhibited a sustained commitment to democracy and human rights, and have demonstrated leadership, integrity and courage in their dedication to democratic values and practices.
The 2014 recipients were Hanna Hopko, a legislative reform activist, Oleksandr Solontay, a political analyst at Kyiv’s Institute of Political Education, and Serhii Leshchenko, an investigative journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of Ukrayinska Pravda.
“Although what they’ll face now,” Mr. Biden said, “is not snipers on top of a building. What they’ll face now in a sense is harder – undoing 24 years of the vestiges of corruption in a system that was supposedly democratic. Ukraine is fortunate to have some of the bravest, most patriotic men and women I’ve ever seen. It’s a good thing because there’s so much for them to do.”
Ms. Hopko stated: “Being a civic activist for 14 years, I did not want to go into politics. But at some point I realized that I had to take responsibility for my daughter’s future in my own hands. It was not enough to complain from the sidelines.”
Mr. Leshchenko said, “We have a rare second chance to create a democratic and independent country. I have an obligation to myself and to those who died on the Maidan – to use my own hands to try to solve these problems.”
Sources: “Biden: Ukraine can’t ‘blow’ another chance to change,” by Luke Johnson (RFE/RL), The Ukrainian Weekly, December 14, 2014. (www.ndi.org)