Russia's Interference in Ukraine Is in Vain

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/10/27/006.html

Wednesday, October 27, 2004. Page 10.

Russia's Interference in Ukraine Is in Vain

By Borys Tarasyuk

President Vladimir Putin's visit to Kiev for the commemoration of Ukraine's liberation from the Nazis during World War II is an attempt to save the failing presidential campaign of incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. For months Kremlin spin doctors aiding the Yanukovych campaign have used a strategy of splitting Ukraine's multicultural society along linguistic, ethnic and religious fault lines. They've taken great pride in authoring temnyki -- special instructions from the presidential administration to the mass media on what events and issues should be covered -- creating an information vacuum on objective news coverage in our country. In the week before the election, they've given more airtime on Ukraine's national networks to Putin, Russian Duma Deputies and Russian pop stars than to the presidential candidates who will decide Ukraine's future. Yanukovych's billboards have mushroomed all over Moscow. Russian officials supporting Ukraine's prime minister wooed our diaspora recently in the Kremlin's column hall. And an unprecedented number of polling stations have been opened in Russia to serve hundreds of thousands of newly found Ukrainians, many with Russian passports. All the while, we are told that Russia is not interfering in Ukraine's presidential election. Nothing can be further from the truth. However, I believe the strategy to influence Ukraine's election by Russian spin doctors will fail and here's why. The choice facing Ukrainian voters in the election is clear. It is not between politicians from the left or right, different vectors in international relations, or between differing tongues and nationalities -- it is a choice between two competing value systems. One, represented by Ukraine's dynamic opposition leader, Viktor Yushchenko, is based on democratic values, respecting individual liberties, and promotes economic opportunities and competitiveness. The other, represented by Yanukovych, proposes keeping in office a ruling clan that values autocracy and crony capitalism more than freedom and the rule of law. There is no doubt that Ukrainians want this election to bring about change. Overwhelmingly, they think the country is heading in the wrong direction. They are tired of a corrupt government that does not respect human rights, ignores democratic principles, abuses law enforcement officials and works to enrich a handful of oligarchs at the expense of all citizens. They want opportunities to build a better life for their families and want leaders they can trust. To derail voters from their yearnings for change, a dirty campaign has been launched. With advice from Russian PR specialists, the regime of outgoing President Leonid Kuchma has mobilized government resources to create a pre-election environment of fear, intimidation and uncertainty. Independent media have been systematically silenced, businesses that support the democratic opposition are harassed by tax and police authorities, presidential candidates are illegally shadowed, public rallies are ruthlessly suppressed and civil unrest is being provoked by state-controlled mass media days before the election. The election campaign has been unfair from the start because it openly ignored two basic OSCE criteria for free and fair elections: the absence of government interference in the electoral process and equal access of candidates to mass media. Thousands of pre-election violations by the incumbent regime have gone unpunished by law enforcement bodies. Under pressure from top government officials, bureaucrats at all levels have been forced to campaign openly for the incumbent prime minister. Even the chairman of Ukraine's Central Bank has put the country's currency stability in jeopardy by leaving its stewardship to an unaccountable deputy, while taking a leave of absence to steer the prime minister's election campaign. What can save Ukraine's autumn presidential poll? Ballot security -- and that will only be guaranteed on election day by the impartial actions of individual election commissioners brave enough to withstand the pressure brought to bear on them by local authorities and rogue police officers instructed by Kuchma's machine to deliver the vote it wants. Domestic and international election observers are needed to help ensure the final act in this election campaign is not stolen by the incumbent regime, as has been done before. I am convinced all these government efforts are in vain because Ukrainian society has long ago made its choice in favor of democratic values and the rule of law. However, it is the incumbent government that has not delivered on earlier promises of moving Ukraine closer to Europe. With Yushchenko at the helm, a democratic Ukraine will live up to its international commitments before the Council of Europe, OSCE and the EU. A democratic Ukraine will encourage the inflow of investment capital, including Russian. Our foreign policy will become consistent and predictable because it will be based on our national interests rather than the individual interests of Ukraine's ruling clans. Sixty percent of Ukrainians support closer European ties and want to maintain good neighborly relations with Russia. This is Ukraine's national interest. Unfortunately, the incumbent Kiev government remains wedded to policies that divide not only our own society, but also our international relations. A democratic Ukraine will build relations with Russia based on a mutual respect of national interests, leaving behind old stereotypes. We will sustain historic economic relations with Moscow and forge new initiatives, both bilateral and multilateral, benefiting the people of both countries. This should not be accomplished at the expense of our national interest and democratic values. Ukrainians sense there is a rising threat of a new bipolar Europe, with centers in Brussels and Moscow, and with competing sets of values. Ukraine will guarantee our nation's stability through democratic values and will support European security by promoting these values among our eastern neighbors. If Ukraine veers off the democratic path, an alarming message will be sent to the elites and proponents of democracy in Russia, Belarus and other former Soviet states. The prospect of having an entire bloc of authoritarian, corrupt regimes on the border with Europe should awaken all those who hold dear democratic values and individual liberty. The wall that separated us ideologically during the Cold War should not be erected anew based on these competing sets of values. Ukraine's democratic forces are committed to bringing about change in our country peacefully and legally. The Oct. 31 election is our chance for new opportunities and a better life for all Ukrainians. Millions of my fellow citizens will not allow the government to rob us of this chance. Borys Tarasyuk, an elected people's deputy, is chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on European Integration and was Ukraine's foreign minister from 1998 to 2000. He contributed this comment to The Moscow Times.