#75_1-8

DECEMBER 5, 2017 ISSUE No. 75 (1127)
Tel.: +38(044) 303-96-19,
fax: +38(044) 303-94-20
е-mail: time@day.kiev.ua;
http://www.day.kiev.ua
Photo from Yurii ROMANENKO’s Facebook page
INSCRIPTION READS: “IMPEACHMENT!”
Where are we marching?
Expert: “The law on impeachment is a feature of civilized society, and it would be
a guarantee of the existence of a system of checks and balances in this country”
By Valentyn TORBA, The Day
Yet another march was held in Kyiv, with its
leaders traditionally including Mikheil
Saakashvili. Other marchers can be called
the government’s opponents only
conditionally, because some of them are still
members of pro-presidential factions, such as
Serhii Leshchenko or Mustafa Nayyem. In general,
we have a strange situation: MPs hold protests and
present demands at the walls of the Verkhovna Rada
instead of doing the same within that body. At the
same time, they fight the president while stubbornly
remaining in his faction. Moreover, it is not just
about criticizing Petro Poroshenko. They call for
impeachment. We emphasize, it is not just about
making changes to the law on impeachment, but
about going ahead with the impeachment itself.
Saakashvili has spoken quite clearly on that matter.
One can even say that this is the only clear demand
coming from him, because all his other demands
sound like a lot of noise about the “fat cats
government,” “criminals in power,” and so on.
Saakashvili puts forward his slogan of impeachment
with a direct hint that he is prepared to replace the
incumbent head of state. Whether other
participants of the protest scene share this opinion
about the “alternative to Poroshenko,” remains an
open question. It seems that each of them thinks
about reaping election dividends for themselves.
While the previous procession was called the
“March of the Outraged,” featured a banner with
the word “impeachment,” and did gather several
thousand participants indeed, then the present
event, which was attended by as many people at
least, was already called the straight-up “March for
Impeachment.” And even the very word “impeachment”
was far more frequent on the posters
carried during the event.
It is clear that the people who attend these
marches are mostly not interested in the subtleties
of legislation and changes to it. Back on October
17, when they marched to the government
quarter demanding political reform, the participants
had little idea what the Anticorruption
Court was, and were overall confused about the list
of demands. That was the first attempt to “bring
people into it.” Tents outside the Verkhovna Rada,
blocked streets, and large presence of police
(which then disappeared on Arsen Avakov’s orders
and left the protesters alone and in a certain state
of confusion) were an attempt to imitate the Maidan.
But it turned out that the use of the word
“Maidan” by certain politicians became a false start
for these protests.
In general, the technologies of bringing people
to rallies are simple and have long been in use. Representatives
of the current government took an active
part in such marches themselves before 2014.
Rounding up or assembling a crowd is not hard. This
requires a certain number of bribable people, a certain
number of local activists of varying degrees of
mental health, loudspeakers, flags, and a clear plan
of pickets with predetermined slogans. The slogans
themselves are easy to invent as well, as the theme
of reform and the fight against corruption is a longlasting
one under our conditions. Thus, the cocktail
for a picket, a rally or a march is ready, but it
is still not a Maidan.
“This is an exhibition
for strong people”
Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day
Emotions and thoughts
on the margins of Den’s
Days in Kharkiv
Continued on page 2

2
No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017
DAY AFTER DAY
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
By Natalia PUSHKARUK, The Day
Anunprecedented event occurred last
week at a session of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY): Slobodan Praljak,
72, a former Bosnian Croat general,
announced that he was “not a war
criminal,” drank a poison, and then died in a
hospital. This happened immediately after the
judge upheld his 20-year sentence passed in
2013. Deutsche Welle (DW) says that Praljak is
one of the six former political and military
leaders of Bosnian Croats who stood the trial. He
was one of the commanders of a unit that
committed war crimes against Bosnian Muslims
in almost 30 municipalities of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, including Mostar, where a 16thcentury
bridge was ruined.
This immediately touched off a wave of comments
in the world media about how the defendant
managed to carry the bottle with poison to
the court room. The Guardian says: “An investigation
is likely to be launched into... how he
could have smuggled the bottle into court
through what should have been strict security at
the longest-running war crimes tribunal in The
Hague.”
Radio Free Europe reports that Dutch prosecutors
have opened an investigation that
would focus on what killed Praljak and whether
he had received any outside help in obtaining
the poison.
Reuters says that stricter procedures at the
UN detention unit in The Hague were adopted
following the death of suspect Slobodan Milosevic,
the former Serbian and Yugoslav president,
of a heart attack. Previously, two defendants
awaiting their ICTY trial, both Serbs, committed
suicide in their UN cells.
Incidentally, the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia handed down
its last ruling on that day and now, almost a
quarter of a century later, has ended its work.
DW writes that the suicide death of Praljak
has overshadowed the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s final verdict.
According to the agency, over the last
25 years some 161 people have been charged with
crimes. The court convicted 90 people in all, including
presidents, generals, and intelligence
services leaders, most of whom were given long
prison sentences. The most spectacular of those
trials was that of former Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic who died before his trial was
concluded. And last week the Hague tribunal
sentenced former Bosnian Serb general Ratko
Mladic to life in prison.
● “THERE IS NO PROOF THAT
PRALJAK’S CONVICTION WAS
UNJUST”
Volodymyr VASYLENKO, Doctor of Law,
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador
of Ukraine, a judge at the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in 2002-05:
“This dramatic event is about one person – a
Croatian general who thus expressed his personal
disagreement with the International Tribunal’s
sentence – and will carry no political or
legal consequences. In principle, very many people
are dissatisfied with the rulings of both national
and international courts.
“As for the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia, the vast majority of
the convicted people have considered themselves
innocent and expressed disagreement with the
sentence even before. They and their sympathizers
used to express protests. In this case the
protest assumed an extreme and dramatic form.
But there is no proof that Praljak’s conviction
was unjust and is the result of a biased attitude
to the defendant.”
You were a judge at the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
Could you tell us more in detail about the performance
of this body?
“The tribunal was established to punish the
people who took part in the conflict on the territory
of the former Yugoslavia and committed
war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The tribunal practiced no discrimination against
either the Serbs, or the Croats, or the Bosnian
Muslims. The same norms, set out in the tribunal’s
statute and rules of procedure, were applied
to all. There was no bias against defendants
on the basis of their ethnicity.
“On the one hand, the tribunal was established
as a body that was to punish the guilty and fully
Final verdict in Hague and general’s suicide
Volodymyr VASYLENKO:
“I believe that justice
about Russia’s
crimes in Ukraine
will also prevail
sooner or later”
restore justice. On the other, it was to lay the
groundwork for a future reconciliation among the
populace and between the states that had emerged
on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. There
have not been so far and I don’t think there will be
any official complaints from European governments
about the tribunal’s performance. All of its
rulings were just and fair, for they were based on
the truth. I am more than sure that European
democracies will make no negative appraisal of the
tribunal’s performance. The main conclusion is
that the tribunal has played a positive role by adhering
to the principle of the unavoidability of
punishment for international crimes.”
War is going on in Ukraine, and Russia is
committing aggression against this country and
has annexed some Ukrainian territories. Do you
believe that Russian mercenaries will also be
punished one day for killing our citizens?
“I do believe in this and think that justice
will prevail sooner or later. As far back as
By Maria PROKOPENKO, The Day;
Liudmyla LUTYTSKA
Photos by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day
very scared when the events in
the Donbas began. I thought, what
Kharkiv would be like, and would
they move on it? Yes, most residents
“Iwas
of Kharkiv region support Ukraine,
and we are always with Ukraine. But,
unfortunately, not everything depends on our
choice alone. There is an external aggressor,
and the situation is very difficult. And we
need to look at these pictures, showing our
warriors, heroes…” shared her impressions
Maria Chumak, one of the first visitors of our
exhibition in Kharkiv.
When we sum up this or that event, in this
case – the opening of the photo exhibition,
then, of course, we consider the number of visitors.
But the main thing, after all, is the
amount of emotion. Were people just watching
the photos or were they empathizing with
their subjects, laughing and crying? Did they
vote for the best work? After all, if a visitor
cares enough to fill out the form, then the photo
really touched them. In Kharkiv, this was
very much present.
● “I HOPE THIS EVENT WILL HELP
PEOPLE TO BETTER UNDERSTAND
UKRAINE”
2015, the Verkhovna Rada resolved to recognize
mandatory jurisdiction of the International
Criminal Court (ICC) over the war crimes
and crimes against humanity committed during
Russia’s armed aggression against
Ukraine. And a case of this kind is now under
study at the ICC. The scrutiny of this case and
punishment of the guilty will depend on
whether the Ukrainian side will manage to furnish
the convincing evidence of the war crimes
and crimes against humanity committed by the
aggressor’s armed forces and occupational administration.”
The International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia passes judgments for flagrant
violations of humanitarian law. Meanwhile,
the British government refused the other
Thus, the national tour of Den’s 19th International
Photo Exhibition began in
Kharkiv. “The annual photo exhibition of
the Den newspaper is always a landmark
event,” asserted Yurii Chevordov, an advisor
to the chief of the Presidential Administration.
“This is a landmark event both in
Kyiv and in the provinces. I attended the
opening of the exhibition in Kyiv this year,
and now I got to attend the opening in
Kharkiv. The fact that this year the organizers
decided to start their tour from
Kharkiv, is a right and logical decision.
Kharkiv has always been an intellectual center
able to appreciate such an event. Moreover,
the leadership of the regional administration
as a whole and Yulia Svitlychna [head
of the Kharkiv Oblast State Administration
(KhOSA). – Editor.] in particular embraced
this idea with gusto and helped in organizing
the exhibition in every possible way.”
Let us recall that the exhibition is supported
by the KhOSA. Its head Svitlychna
told us about her impressions of the exhibition
as follows: “These pictures convey genuine
emotions. This is not some prearranged
scenario, but a real picture of life. I hope that
this exhibition will help people to better understand
Ukraine and Ukrainians, as well as
to sum up 2017 and make their own conclusions
about it.”
day to recognize the 1932-33 Holodomor in
Ukraine as genocide. How can you explain this?
“It is up to the British government to decide.
The government of every state has the right to
recognize or not to recognize a certain act, fact,
or situation. The British government says that,
to recognize the Ukraine Holodomor as a crime of
genocide, they need the ruling of a British court.
This is a strange excuse for refusing to recognize
the Holodomor as genocide. I do not see it necessary
for a British court to recognize the
Holodomor. Some measures could be taken. The
Kyiv Court of Appeal resolved on January 13,
2010, to uphold the previously-made conclusions
about the case opened by the Security Service of
Ukraine, which confirmed that the communist
regime in Ukraine had committed a crime of
genocide by intentionally killing millions of
Ukrainians in 1932-33 by way of famine.
“What is no less important than recognition
of the Holodomor as genocide by one government
or another is the attitude of Ukrainian society to
this tragedy. Opinion polls show today that
77 percent of Ukrainian citizens consider the
Holodomor as a crime of genocide. Compared to
previous surveys, this indicates a much larger
number of those who interpret the Holodomor
this way. This is gratifying because the attitude
of society to this crime as to a national tragedy
testifies to the growing national self-awareness
and further promotes the national unity of
Ukrainians. Therefore, the Ukrainian leadership
and civil society must focus on making concerted
efforts inside the country so that 100 percent
of our citizens are unanimous in the appraisal of
this crime against the Ukrainian nation and are
aware of who committed it. This would be a powerful
factor of national cohesion and reinforcement
of our national identity.”
“This is an exhibition for strong people”
Emotions and thoughts on the margins of Den’s Days in Kharkiv
● “OUR HOME, KHARKIV REGION,
IS DEPICTED HERE”
Thus, Den’s photo exhibition will continue
at Kharkiv Mykola Lysenko National Academic
Theater of Opera and Ballet (KhNATOB)
throughout December. By the way, the KhNA-
TOB building is not like your typical theater,
built in Baroque or Classicist style. This is a solid
monumental building made of granite, which
was built in the late 1980s and commissioned in
full in 1991. Kharkivites’ opinions of this building
differ widely. Still, our exhibition has fit
well into its clear geometry and has not got lost
in the large hall space.

WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
DAY AFTER DAY No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017 3
By Mykola SIRUK
Kyiv hosted the other day the International
Maritime Security Conference, one of the
participants of which was Rear Admiral
Daniel W. DWYER, Chief of Staff,
Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy,
Policy, and Requirements, US Naval Forces
Europe-Africa/US 6th Fleet. We began an
interview with the rear admiral, who came to
Ukraine for the first time, with asking him
about his impressions of our country. “Ukraine
is a very proud nation with a very proud history,
it’s a nation of people that want to determine their
own way of life, how they want to govern
themselves and how they want to interact with the
international community,” RDML Dwyer said.
● “BLACK SEA IS A FREE AND OPEN
INTERNATIONAL WATERWAYS,
NO NATION CAN INFLUENCE
THE FREE FLOW OF COMMERCE
AND TRADING”
Sir, what are your impressions of the
Ukrainian Navy? Have you contacted with the
Ukrainian naval command yet?
“I had a couple of opportunities outside of
Ukraine to meet with Vice Admiral Voronchenko
and his staff. We recently met at the regional sea
power symposium in Venice just two months
ago. And my commander, Admiral Foggo, had
an opportunity to sit down and have a one-on-one
discussion with Vice Admiral Voronchenko. Actually,
it was his first meeting at the conference,
showing importance that commander of US
naval forces in Europe and Africa places with
Ukraine and Ukrainian Navy.
“Ukrainian frigate Hetman Sahaidachny recently
participated in operational exercise Sea
Breeze that we conducted in the Black Sea, very
important exercise, it is held annually to bring
all NATO nations part of Black Sea region as well
as other nations outside the Black Sea to come
together to work closely, increase their own interoperability,
to increase their capability, and
In general, Kharkivites are most touched by
the pictures associated with the region. Maria
Chumak voted for Andrii Kravchenko’s photo,
made on March 24, 2017 in Balaklia, Kharkiv
oblast. The day before, the city was shaken by explosions
in an ammunition depot. The picture
shows a boy with a red puppy. “As a photographer,
I like this work’s colors and mood. The red color of
the puppy’s fur is echoed by that of the beams of a
destroyed building. Meanwhile, everything else is
dark, and the burnt remnants of wood make a
faint appearance in places,” commented Chumak.
“This is our home, Kharkiv region, and I remember
well that terrible day. People who had friends
or relatives in the affected area went there, my
friends evacuated people out of there, rescued
them. This story affected me as well.”
● “I SAW THE LIFE OF THE NATION IN
ITS ENTIRETY”
As usual, our partners donated books from
Den’s Library series to various institutions during
the event. This time, the intellectual sets (including
books The Crown, or Heritage of the Rus’ Kingdom;
Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25; My Sister Sofia
and the annual subscription to the Friday issue of
Den) were received by Rohan Agrarian Lyceum of
Kharkiv raion, Korobochkyne Educational Complex,
Korobochkyne Library, Chkalovske Educational
Complex, Kharkiv Military Hospital, and the
92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade (SMB) of the
Ukrainian Armed Forces. These gifts were purchased
by the Kharkiv Oblast Organization of the
Agrarian Party. It is noteworthy that, according to
its head Mykhailo Zolotariov, Den’s Days were, in
fact, the first cultural event to be supported by his
branch of the party.
“We agrarians nourish people’s bodies.
What we see at the exhibition is spiritual food.
In order for people to receive all that is necessary
for the soul and body, we gladly responded to the
book donation initiative,” continued Zolotariov.
“The books are really very good. I think both
children and adults will benefit from reading
them and find it pleasurable. Meanwhile, the exhibition
struck a chord in my soul. I saw here the
life of the nation in its entirety. The anti-terrorist
operation events and deaths are reflected in
these photos. One just cannot remain indifferent.
I admired a series of children’s photos – after
all, it is our future. Such pictures inspire optimism
and the belief that everything will turn
out fine for us at the end.”
“Ukraine is a very proud nation
with a very proud history”
Rear Admiral Daniel W. DWYER on cooperation between the Ukrainian
and US navies and the containment of Russia in the Black Sea
to encourage navies and other regional actors to
show that the Black Sea is a free and open international
waterways, that no nation can influence
the free flow of commerce and trading.”
● “IT’S VERY REFRESHING AND
IMPORTANT TO SEE THAT
UKRAINIAN NAVY CONTINUES
TO DEVELOP ITS MARITIME 2035
STRATEGY”
In what way do you think the US can help
Ukraine rebuild its Navy?
“First, you know, individual navy or nation
has to take the first step. They have to show that
they are committed to increasing their own capability.
And it’s very refreshing and important
to see that Ukrainian Navy has a vision as it continues
to develop its own command and control,
to look at the internal organization, to modernize
their organization, to approve the lines of
communication to other command structures, as
well as start to develop their own maritime strategy.
As Ukrainian Navy continues to develop
its maritime strategy, I believe they call it the
maritime 2035 strategy, it’s what they want to
see in the navy in 20 years, it’s very refreshing
to see these first steps. You have to know where
you want to get to, and set a course to get there.
And so from the United States Navy standpoint,
we certainly encourage that and we look to assist
Ukrainian Navy in developing this strategy and
● “THE WAR IS THE SAME EVERYWHERE”
The 92nd SMB is a special story for Kharkiv.
Residents of the city are proud of the soldiers of
this brigade, which is based near Chuhuiv. It was
Lieutenant Colonel Oleksandr Lutsenko, deputy
commander of the brigade, who came to receive
books from our Library series. During the tour
of the exhibition, he joined our effort to tell people
about the photos.
In Oleksandr Klymenko’s work The Fragments
of Civilization, Lutsenko recognized a soldier
from the 92nd Brigade. The picture depicts
a defunct library at the hospital for veterans of
war and labor in Marinka, Donetsk oblast, which
was defended by the 92nd SMB for a time. The
library is defunct because the building suffered
a lot of war damage, and its floor is covered with
abandoned books.
“It is nice to see our boys in these photos as
well,” said Lutsenko. “In general, one can see all
aspects of peace and war at this exhibition. By
the way, Avdiivka, which is pictured on one of
the photos, is very similar to some places near
Marinka. The war is the same everywhere, as it
brings devastation and makes locals very tired
continue to provide any guides and internship
that we can offer to help them achieve their
goals and vision.”
It’s common knowledge that Ukraine is unable
to build new warships immediately. What
about the leasing of US ships?
of it. People forget that we are still at war. Now
the war gets a minute or two in the news. It is
presented as an ordinary event: so many locations
have been fired upon, so many people
have died, so many have been injured. It is just
statistics. People are fighting, holding their
ground, defending it. Others do not feel at war
anymore.”
Lutsenko rejoiced at receiving books from
Den. “Humanities education is very important
for the soldier. They must know their mother
tongue, read, broaden their horizons. They
must know the history of Ukraine as well, and
not that imposed on us for 70 years, and then
some more,” emphasized the officer. “Den’s
books will be added to our library, and every
addition is a pleasant experience. Our collection
is not replenished that often, but this does
happen, in particular, due to the efforts of civil
volunteers. Our boys love to read modern literature,
including detectives and science fiction,
to get some respite from war and everyday
troubles. Some officers read military history
books that deal with tactics, operational
art, borrow something from the experience of
the Second World War.”
“We have a very robust program at the Navy
International Program Office, where we take
former United States vessels that still have service
life remaining, and we look to provide those
to our allies and partners if they have a need, or
they have a capability gap that they need to fill
with one of these vessels.
“Currently, the United States has a couple of
vessels that we can offer to the Ukrainian Navy
to fill some of those capability gaps, and we are
very hopeful that we can provide these excess defense
ships to the Ukrainian government and
Ukrainian Navy for their own use, for their own
self-defense.”
At what stage is this process of transfer?
What does the Ukrainian side have to do to receive
these ships?
“I am not an expert on this process, I know it
very basically. It requests from the Ukrainian
government to write US government requesting
those vessels, and then there is a certain price to refurbish
those vessels and bring to operational capability
and transfer them to the government that
wishes to take the possession of those vessels.
So, it involves your Ministry of Defense and our Ministry
of Defense, and an agreement made between
the two governments to make that transfer happen.
It’s a very common practice, we have many NATO
nations and many partner nations that we make this
available to. It offers a much lower price than building
a new ship, it’s about substantial savings to use
these excess ships that we have.
“Several Black Sea nations operate former
US Navy Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates, and
it’s very productive, and it’s very good to see
that those nations are taking advantage of that
program.”
● “EVERY NAVY NEEDS TO LOOK INTO
TECHNOLOGIES THAT COULD GIVE
THEM THE COMPETITIVE
ADVANTAGE”
Ukroboronprom director general Roman
Romanov emphasized at the panel “Regional
and Global Sociopolitical and Economic Consequences
of Challenges to Security in the Black
Sea Region” that more attention should be paid
to unmanned systems to provide security, particularly
at sea. What do you think of this?
“I think every navy needs to look into technologies
that could give them the competitive
advantage in the environment they are operating
in, whether it is the Ukrainian Navy or United
States Navy. I think it all gets us back to what
Ukraine’s overarching maritime strategy is.
Knowing the professional nature of the Ukrainian
Navy staff, their very strategic vision, I
would assume they would look at this kind of opportunities
and make their own assessment if it
has viability in the Ukrainian Navy.”
Can you say what role the US Navy is playing
in the Black Sea region after Russia’s illegal
annexation of Crime and the ongoing Russian
aggression in eastern Ukraine?
“US is part of NATO, obviously, and NATO
has quickly come out to condemn the annexation
of Crimea as an illegal act, and established a rapid
action plan as well as a quick reaction force to
increase controls on air, land and at the sea under
the NATO contract, and we fully support
that as a NATO member. And the US Navy in
particular has increased our patrols in the Black
Sea as we continue to work with our NATO partners
in the Black Sea as well as our other partners,
including the Ukrainian Navy. We hold
joint patrols and work to increase the Black Sea
nations’ navies’ capability and capacity to ensure
the safe transport and access to international
markets.”
In 2008 several US warships entered the
Black Sea to support Georgia and stop the offensive
of Russian troops on Tbilisi. So, can we
consider US warships as sort of a deterrent to
the aggressor?
“We always come invited: we come at the invitation
of other Black Sea navies to take part
in joint patrols. None of our patrols are unilateral,
they are always in conjunction with another
Black Sea navy. Just today, we have the
USS James E. Williams in the Black Sea conducting
operations with the Ukrainian Navy. In
2017 alone, the US Navy has spent over a hundred
days in the Black Sea, and we do it in partnership
with other Black Sea nations.”
What role do you think the US armed forces
can play to force Russia to observe the norms of
international law and retreat from Ukraine?
“I think you know that NATO came up very
quickly and stated that aggressive, illegal, illegitimate
action will not to be allowed for any aggressive
nation, and we will not stand by and allow
that to happen. And I think NATO has
shown that they can react quickly.”

4
No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017
TOPIC OF THE DAY
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
Kremlin’s plan
By Andrii TUZ
The Kremlin is trying to have
the Crimea and Donbas sanctions
lifted or eased. The Russian
leaders are irked at
personal restrictions for Vladimir
Putin’s inner circle and the
sanctions that ban the supply of
equipment and technologies to
Crimea. Moscow is attempting to
manipulate Ukrainian laws via its
straw men and venal judges.
● RUSSIA THREATENS TO GO
TO INTERNATIONAL COURTS
The so-called Russian government
of the occupied Crimea intends
to file lawsuits to international
courts, demanding that the sanctions
imposed over the peninsula’s
annexation be lifted. This follows
from an interview of Aleksandr
Molokhov, chief of the juridical
group in the “representation” of the
annexed Crimea under the president
of Russia. In his words, the first
suits may be prepared as early as
next year. “We are making efforts,
and we are sure to do so [prepare the
suits. – Author] if not this then next
year. We are working in two directions,
the first of which is to appeal
against personal sanctions,” RIA
Novosti quotes Molokhov as saying.
He claims that Russian lawyers
are also working on lifting or easing
the sanctions imposed over the occupation
of Crimea. Molokhov notes
that the Kremlin’s difficulty is that
the Russians are going to bring suits
to international courts, including
the Luxembourg-based European
Court of Justice, which requires essential
financial expenses. For the
time being, they are negotiating this
matter with Russia’s Ministry of
Foreign Affairs.
This is not the first time Molokhov
and the Crimean “government”
as a whole is discussing the
prospects of a legal action against
sanctions in international courts. In
early November, at the so-called Forum
of Crimea’s Friends held on the
annexed peninsula, Molokhov announced
the formation of a special
juridical group “to combat sanctions.”
Then he recalled two international
entities – the abovementioned
European Court of Justice
and the European Court of Human
Rights. Russian emissaries continue
to allege that the Crimean “referendum”
was legitimate. Therefore,
the US and EU sanctions must
be lifted. At the same time, Russian
lawyers and diplomats do not specify
when the first suit will be filed.
● HOW SANCTIONS AFFECT
THE KREMLIN
Kicking off the so-called “Russian
spring” in Crimea and the Donbas,
Vladimir Putin failed to take
into account the economic consequences
of his aggression. The Russian
government’s actions in the first
months after the annexation of
Crimea clearly show that Moscow
had no plans at all about maintaining
the occupied territories in the
conditions of sanctions, trade blockade,
and Russian economic backwardness.
Crimea’s water blockade
by Ukraine was the first serious
blow. Before the annexation, the
Northern Crimean Canal met about
85 percent of the peninsula’s industry,
farming, and household water
requirements. The blocking of the
canal caused an acute shortage of
water in Crimea. Today, Crimea receives
potable water from 15 reservoirs
that depend on precipitation
and underground sources. The area
Russia is manipulating international and Ukrainian
laws in an attempt to have Crimea sanctions eased
of irrigated Crimean steppes has
been reduced greatly. Farmers have
to bore wells, which results in
groundwater depletion and soil
salinity. Without the Dnieper water,
the peninsula may face an environmental
disaster. The mineralization
of water in the center and the
north has already exceeded the
norm two or three times. Moscow is
unable to meet Crimea’s need for
water without the participation of
Ukraine. The Crimean “government”
has discussed the plan of
building a water pipeline from
Kuban. The project was abandoned
because that region itself suffers
from water shortage.
The next blow was sectoral sanctions
of the West and the trade
blockade of the territory. Deprived
of a land boundary with the neighboring
Russia, Crimea has in fact
become an island. This triggered a
hike of prices for foodstuffs and
manufactured goods. In some cases,
prices skyrocketed by 250-300 percent
compared to 2013. Before the
“referendum,” Russian politicians
and propagandists lured Crimeans
with “high wages” and generous social
benefits. Today, the average
wages in Simferopol are about 250-
300 dollars per month. Before the
annexation, incomes were almost
the same, while prices were essentially
lower. The Russian authorities
promised to create a lot of new
jobs in Crimea but also failed to do
so. Russian big business, retail
chains, and state-run banks are giving
the peninsula a wide berth because
of sanctions. The only cell
phone operator is the Russian MTC
that works through bogus firms.
The Russian leadership does not
care about the way the Crimeans
live. Moscow is only interested in
the development of its military
base, which needs Western technologies
and domestic production of
electric power, gas, and oil. After
Ukrainian activists had cut off power
supply to Crimea, the invaders
faced an acute necessity to build
their own thermal power plants on
the peninsula. The so-called Putin’s
energy bridge from Kuban turned
out to be a commonplace publicity
stunt. Launching the “bridge” was
just for show. Putin and local officials
alleged that the republic had
gained “energy independence,” but
the “energy bridge” went out of order
several time last year. The system
could not carry the load.
Moscow is trying to solve the
problem by building two power
plants, but the project is moving on
extremely slowly. The point is that
Russia has no equipment and technologies
of its own. The attempt to
deliver German Siemens turbines to
Crimea caused a grandiose scandal.
German journalists found out that
Putin had personally promised the
company management that the turbines
would not go to Crimea, but he
lied for the umpteenth time. Although
the Russian authorities
made it clear that the turbines
would remain in Crimea, this will
not solve the problem. They need
servicing, but Siemens specialists
are unlikely to come to Crimea, even
on condition of complete anonymity,
after a scandal like this. Besides,
American and European sanctions
forced the Russian monopolist Rosneft
to freeze its Black Sea projects.
All the attempts of Moscow to
“sell” its ostensible assistance to the
West in the solution of the Syrian
Sketch by Viktor BOGORAD
question or to “exchange” the Donbas
for Crimea have failed with a
bang. The Kremlin’s attempts to interfere
into the US elections resulted
in more stringent sanctions
against Crimea and increased the
chances of Ukraine receiving lethal
weapons from the US. The Kremlin
knows only too well that it is so far
impossible to resolve the “Crimean
question.” This is why Russian officials
are saying they intend to file
lawsuits to international courts.
● IS THE KREMLIN ACTING
VIA UKRAINIAN COURTS?
Borys Babin, Representative of
the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous
Republic of Crimea, said in
a commentary to The Day that the
Russians could achieve certain success
in European courts. ”It is no
wonder that the Russians hope to
have the sanctions lifted on the international
level because they are already
doing this in a Ukrainian
court,” the official pointed out. The
point is that the Kyiv District Administrative
Court overruled in early
November the decision of the
Ministry of the Economy of Ukraine
to impose sanctions against the
Ukrainian branch of a Russian maritime
shipping company. The ruling
was published on the website of the
General Register of Judicial Decisions.
The entity in question is Maritime
Register of Shipping in Ukraine
which belongs to the Russian
Maritime Register of Shipping.”
Prosecutors found out last
March that the entity had been doing
business on the occupied peninsula
in spite of the legal ban. On the
basis of the military prosecution office’s
materials, the Ministry of
Economic Development imposed restrictions
on the Russian Maritime
Register of Shipping and its branches
in Ukraine. Now the Kyiv Administrative
Court has lifted sanctions
against this entity. The ruling
says that the Maritime Register of
Shipping in Ukraine did not violate
the laws of our country. The Military
Prosecution Office has announced
that it does not accept this
ruling and intends to file a petition
of appeal.
According to our sources in the
Ukrainian government, the water
blockade of Crimea may be the next
object of a “judicial attack.” The
Russians are going to use as a cover
the private enterprises that have allegedly
suffered from the blocking
of the Northern Crimean Canal. The
Kremlin has two options to solve
the water problem of Crimea: to
blackmail Kyiv with the escalation
of the Donbas hostilities or to resort
to craftiness. The latter envisions a
number of political and legal measures
to discredit the Ukrainian
state, leadership, and legal system
as a whole. One of the Ukrainian officials
told The Day that the Russians
are making use of venal
Ukrainian judges and lawyers. “The
intention is to file lawsuits to commercial
courts on behalf of private
enterprises that have allegedly suffered
from the water blockade.
They will be claiming damages associated
with the blockade of the
canal. The Russians need this kind
of court rulings to wave them in
Brussels or Strasbourg and say:
look, Ukraine itself admits that its
actions were illegal,” the interviewee
said.
Moscow’s plan is simple: to get
the sanctions lifted or essentially
eased without having to withdraw
from the occupied Ukrainian territories.
It is to this end that a large
number of the Kremlin’s agents in
Ukraine and the West are working.

WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
TOPIC OF THE DAY No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017 5
By Ivan KAPSAMUN,
Valentyn TORBA, The Day
Four years ago, on December 1,
2013, hundreds of thousands of
Ukrainians came to Independence
Square and Khreshchatyk. Such
was the reaction of society to the
brazen and brutal assault on students on
the night of November 30. Had the
Berkut riot police not crossed the red line
then, the subsequent avalanche-like
events could have failed to happen. Still,
they did happen. Why? Has the
Ukrainian public understood those
events in full? Who has actually won and
who has lost?
The Day has repeatedly written
about the events of four years ago. Accordingly,
the public, thanks to other media
outlets as well, has enough information
to offer its assessment of those
events. Today, we want to draw attention
to another aspect. The latest broadcast of
the big political talk show Ukrainian
Format on the TV channel NewsOne became
an illustrative example. Its participants
included both “pre-Maidan” and
“post-Maidan” politicians, and we mean
both the Orange events and the Revolution
of Dignity.
We will not go into details, let us just
note that the former “regionals,” or the
current representatives of the Opposition
Bloc (OB), behaved absolutely calmly
and confidently. And it was not because
this channel belongs to their colleague
Yevhen Muraiev who was present during
the show. In fact, the same Oleksandr
Vilkul, who, according to the current
mayor of Dnipro, had violently dispersed
the Euromaidan in the city, spoke
seemingly quite logical things regarding
the socio-economic or political situation.
For example, the OB members drew
the public’s attention to the fact that
Viktor Yanukovych’s team had passed
more European integration laws than
ever before.
Given the policies of the current
post-Maidan government, which have
raised many questions, some of them
voiced at the last summit of the Eastern
Partnership in Brussels (including the
self-created Mikhail Saakashvili problem,
the slow implementation of reforms,
and the dangerously high level of corruption,
etc.), it creates completely comfortable
conditions for the former “regionals”
to mix truths with untruths, incrementally
pouring oil into the fire of a
general permanent crisis.
So, against the backdrop of dissatisfaction
of the people who came to the
Maidan, but were once again used by the
current politicians and the Kremlin for
their own purposes, is a political revanche
of the previous government possible?
We have already been there. Remember
2010, when Yanukovych and
the Party of Regions (PoR) came to power
quite legitimately, having won an
election.
The ground for this is gradually being
prepared, both by former regionals
and their curators in Moscow, and by the
current government. It is enough to
point to the confrontation between lawenforcement
agencies, including the
Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine,
the Security Service of Ukraine, the
National Anti-Corruption Bureau of
Ukraine (NABU), the National Corruption
Prevention Agency, and the Special
Anti-Corruption Prosecutions Office
(SAP)... The abbreviations alone are
enough to make people disoriented, not
to mention dissuade them from any attempt
to understand the essence of the
showdowns between them. Moreover,
the confrontation has grown to involve
entirely new structures as well, such as
the NABU and SAP. Have the participants
of all these conflicts given thought
to the fact that were a revanche occur, it
will hit them all?
Another logical question being
asked these days is, why have the perpetrators
of Maidan-related crimes not
been punished yet? Why there are thousands
of witnesses, but the accused
number in single digits, and those punished
are even fewer? And again, is
not it likely that if there is a revanche,
then the Maidan criminal cases will be
completed by the “regionals” them-
“By and large, not all Maidan-related
criminal cases have been investigated because
the current authorities are helping
figures of the previous regime. Some of
these cases have not been investigated
due to a simple lack of competence and professionalism
on the part of investigators.
What is the worst, though, is such investigations
being a non-priority for the government.
They do not need them to succeed.
They are in power and do very well. Unfortunately,
implementing what the public
demands has never been a priority for
any government in this country, while
promoting one’s business, engaging in
get-rich-fast schemes and corruption have
always been a priority.
“Let us turn to another moment. When
we talk about revanche, we must see two
sides to this trend. If we are talking about
the former PoR staging a revanche, then
we should realize that we have former
representatives of that party in power
even now. Judging by the latest local elecselves?
And they will do it not for the
country, but for themselves.
There are countless questions. But
the essence of it all is that we are still living
through a crisis called “the Kuchmaless
of a European choice and more of rage
and protest against the system that had
taken shape in post-Soviet Ukraine and
blocked opportunities for development.
Therefore, if this did not happen then, it
known personal features, could take any
steps, even irrational ones. And once again,
it was Liovochkin who could facilitate it, as
he was the one who in fact shaped the information
circle around Yanukovych.
Yanukovych system.” Incidentally, the could have still happened later, because “Russia, meanwhile, believed until
presence of Volodymyr Lytvyn at the TV the fundamental problems that lay at the 2004 that no special effort was necessary,
show and the lack of punishment for origins of the protest did not disappear. as Ukraine would return to the Kremlin’s
people who ordered crimes in the
Gongadze-Podolsky case is another confirmation
of this. To change the situation, Maidan, we must realize that we were lin had become more active to prevent au-
“As to the violent dispersal of the embrace on its own. After 2004, the Krem-
we need different people in power who will dealing with representatives of the old administrative
school there. Under this mo-
I do not rule out that there was a plan for
tonomous processes developing in Ukraine.
change the rules. All those who have
brought the war about must go. This
was the goal of the real Maidan.
del, Yanukovych was accustomed to perceiving
any signs of dissatisfaction with
partitioning Ukraine under the guise of a
coup. After all, Russia did try to promote
Is a political revanche possible?
And who will replace the current team in case of its bankruptcy?
PLACARD READS: “WE ARE ASHAMED OF OUR POLITICIANS”
● “NOW WE HAVE A GENUINE
ISSUE WITH ALTERNATIVE”
Ihor LUTSENKO, MP, the Fatherland
faction:
“I do not think that the people who
stood on the stage of the Maidan defeated
anyone. They simply caught the power
that Maidan protesters won at the cost of
multiple sacrifices. Yanukovych was, most
likely, frightened by how the situation developed,
and, accordingly, he let the power
slip from his hands.
“Now we really have a genuine issue
with alternative. We need a high-quality
broad movement that would unite representatives
of the opposition and broader
public. Unfortunately, we have quite negative
traditions in this field. We have not
yet seen a great organized alternative.”
● “IT WAS LESS OF A
EUROPEAN CHOICE AND
MORE OF RAGE AND
PROTEST AGAINST POST-
SOVIET UKRAINE”
Petro OLESHCHUK, a political analyst:
“The Maidan events, as any other
events in Ukrainian politics, were rather
multidimensional. Even if certain
provocative measures were involved, the
organizers could not predict all the hypothetical
consequences of all that happened.
The society experienced a rather
high tension. Although we are used to calling
those events the Euromaidan, it was
him as his own weakness. It is worth remembering
how they acted in the Donbas,
their base region, when they were coming
to power and strengthening their positions
there. That is, letting people to conduct
large-scale events in the center of the capital
was for them a demonstration of
their own weakness, which they could not
tolerate. And where the whole system is
based on fear, any weakness is a threat to
the regime itself, because they then risk being
trampled by their own underlings. I do
not rule out that Yanukovych’s memories
of the 2004 Maidan, when no dispersal happened,
but he still failed to obtain power,
played a role. His entourage of 2014 could
use this situation and play to his stereotypes
and emotions. It should not be forgotten
that at the end of his reign,
Yanukovych was in an informational vacuum
situation. He could not just connect
to the Internet himself and do a deep
analysis of everything that was happening.
“Thus, he had a specific circle of people
who informed him and advised him. By the
way, informing Yanukovych in such a way
was ultimately Serhii Liovochkin’s responsibility
as chief of the Presidential
Administration. It is no secret that
Yanukovych’s entourage was playing to his
paranoid attitudes. They revealed some
‘conspiracies,’ told Yanukovych that someone
wanted to remove him from the position
of head of state. In this way, the entourage
expanded its power. One can recall the story
of Yanukovych going to Mount Athos and
allegedly getting told there that he would die
a violent death as a result of a coup. Accordingly,
Yanukovych, in line with his
Photo by Artem SLIPACHUK, The Day
first the idea of a coup having happened,
then a parade of sovereignties in southern
and eastern regions of Ukraine, then the introduction
of some sort of peacekeeping
contingents and, on the basis of this, to
achieve an effective partition of Ukraine.”
● “WE ARE LIVING THROUGH
AN AGE OF GRAY AND
SEMI-GRAY POLITICAL
FORCES...”
Oleksandr SOLONTAI, an expert of the
Institute of Political Education:
tions’ results, more former ‘regionals’
have been elected on the Petro Poroshenko
Bloc (PPB)’s lists than on the list of the OB.
If we add to this list members of the Our
Land party, which is the PPB’s satellite,
then it can be said that it is primarily the
current government that confidently sends
representatives of the former PoR to local
councils. Therefore, the party-based revanche
has already taken place.
“Nonetheless, were we to talk about a
revanche in the context of abandoning the
European choice, stopping implementation
of the EU Association Agreement,
and freezing the development of our relations
with the EU, then it is impossible. It
is impossible to bury pro-European aspirations
in Ukraine. The objective reality
forces even pro-Russian politicians say
phrases like ‘we are friends with Russia, but
are not against Europe.’ They even say
that the EU is our strategic partner. That
is, in Ukraine, the era when there was a split
between forces advocating a clear course for
the EU and a clear course for Russia, that
era is over. Now nobody cries ‘Down with the
EU!’ and ‘Down with the US!’ We are living
through an age of gray and semi-gray political
forces that lobby against and hinder
European integration in order to parasitize
on the views of millions of Ukrainians.
Unfortunately, we still have many Ukrainians
who have never been to the EU and never
seen how Europeans live since they do
not have an international passport.
“In addition, the politicians who act as
if they were pro-Russian are actually faking
it. After all, they themselves spend vacations
outside the post-Soviet space, their
children study in the EU and own property
there. Therefore, they play the roles of
pro-Russian politicians only to be able to engage
in corrupt dealings. As soon as the corruption
hydra is overcome, we will immediately
see that there is really no debate in
the country about whether we should go to
Europe or not. Ukraine has made a clear
European choice. But we are very vulnerable
as a result of the fact that we still have
not separated politics and business. And
this situation has not changed since the
1990s, when the clan oligarchy was actually
born. Thus, we are a free access zone
for Russian agents and information influences.
It is they who feed those views
that ought to naturally die out and be replaced
by progressive voter attitudes.”
● “UKRAINIAN SOCIETY
LACKS ONE OF THE MOST
IMPORTANT NEEDS – THE
NEED FOR SELF-ANALYSIS”
Andrii BAUMEISTER, Doctor
of Philosophy (facebook.com):
“Ukrainian society lacks one of the
most important needs – the need for selfanalysis,
the need to understand oneself
and one’s place in the world. We not only
do not want to know ourselves, but we are
also afraid to do so. This fear gives rise to
aggression. If some outsider tries to talk to
us about us, we become indignant and enter
a state of extreme excitement (‘How do
you dare!’; ‘Who are you to teach us!’).
Evidence of this symptom (which is very
dangerous for normal functioning of society)
can be seen also in the state of the socalled
expert community. Anything will do
as an expert opinion: a pleasant voice, a
gentle smile, a cheeky tone, long and
wordy musings about ‘everything there is,’
provincial gossip, indistinct chatter or
plangent lowing, as well as claims of largescale
‘analysis’ (they like talking about eras
and civilizational turning points while
sitting in front of a computer and flipping
through some obscure websites). The people
have got talk shows back, where guests
scream, fight, insult and accuse each other.
People like that, they are glued to
their TVs or computer screens. But when
will a sober and competent conversation begin?
When will the experts begin to demonstrate
at least elementary analytical skills
(combined with clear and transparent presentation)?
It will not happen anytime
soon, because ‘anything goes.’ Because
people still watch, read, quote it. When
there is no demand for reality, for an attempt
to understand what is happening to
us and who we are, everything that we call
‘TV channels,’ ‘expert opinion,’ ‘newspapers,’
and ‘talk shows’ will do. The only
comfort is that Christmas and New Year
are upon us. In that time, Reality knocks
at our doors, even if just once a year...”

6
No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017
CULT URE
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
“LUHANSK WINTER”
Artists from the east attempt at reinterpreting
conventional symbols in a joint exhibit
A UNICORN
By Maria PROKOPENKO, photos
by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day
Project “LUUK” is now presented
at the TSEKH Gallery in Kyiv.
The name stands for “Luhansk
Ukrainian.” The exposition
includes works by Yaroslav
Derkach, Zakentii Horobiov, and Serhii
Lykhovyd. All three come from
Luhansk oblast, which they left at
various times and for various reasons.
They have known each other a long
while, and now they come up with a
joint project.
● “TO LET PEOPLE SEE WHAT
THEY WANT”
Where do the stairs that do not go up
lead? Next to them are confusing traffic
lights, without the conventional
green, amber, and red. There are no
rules, climb as you wish. If you wish. Upstairs
you will face a competition, held
according to strange unwritten rules.
They are symbolized by new Olympic
rings. Here this symbol includes not
only circumferences, but also a triangle
and squares. The symbol of interconti-
nental equality is falling apart. Actually,
the Olympics themselves, revived in
the 19th century to promote the spirit of
fair, non-violent contest, not infrequently
turns into a demonstration of
wealth and power, or even of the
progress in pharmacological industry.
The laconic metal objects, described
above, are part of Derkach’s cycle
“Shape.” “In my view, the problem of the
conventional symbols is that their semantic
load is eroded. They are used universally,
but what do they stand for?”
Derkach muses. “My approach is to
choose well-known symbols and transform
them in some way, letting people
see them from a new angle. I interpret
these symbols in a certain way, but this
is my vision. The simpler the shape, the
more room for associations. I give everyone
room to see what they want to see.”
The artist has long worked with
metal. This is unprocessed steel,
which would be corroded with time.
“Such material speaks for itself. It is
heavy, it has an own character, and it
is convincing,” Derkach explains.
● “I WANT UKRAINE TO
RESEMBLE MY POSTERS”
When rules are broken, one could
look to common virtues and own principles
for guidance. Opposite Derkach’s
works is the series “Atisha” by Horobiov.
The author, graphic designer who
works with Cyrillic fonts, broke the
maxims by Atisha, a Buddhist thinker
and preacher, into parts and visualized
them. “Tranquility of mind is the ultimate
good,” “The most important quality
is working for others,” “The most
useful effort is free from expectations,”
etc. Sometimes the letters are
barely readable, they are perceived as
abstract symbols.
“At first, a person can perceive it superficially,
they focus on the form, and
dwell on the meaning later,” says Horobiov.
“I chose such a form because I wanted
to play with human perception. I am
interested in Buddhism. Back in Luhansk
I had many friends who frequented
the local Buddhist center, but I had ignored
that for quite a long while. But
when in Kyiv, I decided to give it a try.
Buddhism appeals to me due to its rationality,
explanations of the essence of
things, it gives a real scheme of problem
solution: your own problems as well as
those of others.”
Horobiov emphasizes that nowadays
Ukraine is undergoing a period of
revisiting its identity, which is reflected
in graphic art. “In my view, we had a
group of artists who dealt with visual
art in the 1980s, for instance, the
Kharkiv School, but later it disappeared.
You could not see people who
would keep making books, posters, etc.
They are replaced with people with
technical background, but they lacked
professionalism. Now, it seems to me,
the first post-1980s generation is active,
and it treats things seriously.
There are more and more sophisticated
artists, in particular, when it comes to
identity design, signature styles, and
logos. Earlier such things had to be ordered
in Moscow or Europe. Nowadays
both are expensive, and not really interesting.
In Ukraine studios dealing
with identic art have appeared. Working
on a font, I personally experiment
with various languages but I emphasize
Ukrainian and I tried to choose for a
HARVESTING CHAMOMILE

WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
CULT URE No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017 7
post-modernist form. I want Ukraine
to resemble my posters: contemporary,
dynamic yet flexible and
adaptive.”
● FANCY ARCHEOLOGY
A true Martian drama unfolds
at the exhibition “LUUK.” The author
of the eponymous project is
Serhii Lykhovyd, who early in the
2000s left Luhansk for Odesa, where
he still lives. “This is a version of the
history of human exploration. Mars
is a collective image. I tell about
man’s eagerness to learn something
new and losing what he already
has,” Lykhovyd comments.
The project could conventionally
be split in two. Corrugated steel
sheets are painted with episodes
from “the history of the exploration
of Mars,” executed in hot enamel
technique. The exquisite technique
is in stark contrast with the rusting
metal. Harvesting chamomile, flying
the hot air balloon: this life
seems familiar yet totally different.
But is it really different, even if it is
on another planet?
The next part of the project is a
series of objects skull-shaped objects,
also in the same technique. A
white tiger, a unicorn, a Martian:
they all look like archeological artifacts.
The skulls of non-existing animals
are a display of colors and cast
fantastic shadows. But in the beginning
they were just flat copper sheets.
“I am attracted by volume, I want to
break away from the two-dimensional
world,” Lykhovyd says. “I also
want to create something futuristic,
a figment of imagination. Yet in
any case at first you study what already
exists. If it is a plant, you look
at the water life or at macro-world. It
is so huge you can contemplate it endlessly.
A microscope reveals a totally
different picture of the world,
you see the geometry of design, the
structure, the backbone of everything.
I started with anatomical
themes, with animal skeletons. Often
I chose rare animals as my prototypes.
Yet when you start implementing
this, you realize that you are creating
a different, non-existing animal.”
● ETERNAL STRUGGLE
Oleksandr SHCHELUSHCHEN-
KO, founder of the TSEKH Gallery,
has jokingly dubbed the new project
“Luhansk Winter.” “I have read an
article about Zakentii, Yaroslav, and
Serhii a long time ago, and decided
to make their joint exhibit. They
cannot implement such a project
where they were born and shaped as
artists. And here they are together.
But this project is not associated
with Donbas, its coal-mining landscape
etc.,” Shchelushchenko says.
By the way, Lykhovyd admits
there was no artistic environment to
speak of in Luhansk, “before we
started doing something.” “What
was going on in Luhansk was a different
drama,” he goes on to say.
“There was only one exhibition room,
where you could display your work
only via the Association of Artists.
Which means you need to make a series
of exhibits which you do not
need. Back then, I could not afford
waiting five or seven years. We simply
rented room and made our own
exhibits with performance, although
no one knew the word back then.
For us it was like a rite or so. I see it
as absolutely different periods: in
Luhansk, in Odesa, and now.”
The works of Luhansk artist
avoid coal mines, and they also lack
references to war. Yet their
themes – escape from Earth, exploration
of new territories, life without
rules – suggest thoughts about
the developments in the east of
Ukraine. And not only there. It
may seem a platitude, yet life is a
battle in which you could best rely
on own principles and virtues.
■ The exhibit “LUUK” is
open at the TSEKH Gallery
through March 10.
By Liudmyla LUTYTSKA
Photos from R.LOOM Facebook page
In the early 19th century, there was
a 3,000-strong cooperative in
Reshetylivka, Poltava region, which
specialized in making unique
carpets (“kylyms”). About 1,000
weavers were making veritable objects
of art. But today Reshetylivka carpetmaking
is on the verge of extinction.
Only 11 masters can skillfully apply
the almost 500-year-old manual
technique of weaving original Poltava
region carpets. They are all employed at
Solomia, an arts and crafts studio
founded in 2006 by Serhii Kolinchenko.
He worked until 2004 as manager of the
factory that wove Reshetylivka carpets
and was shut down just six month before
its centennial.
Three years ago, a family of the
Donbas migrants Oleksandr and Maryna
Dovzhenko joined the Poltava carpetmakers.
While Oleksandr is mostly busy
performing managerial functions – he
drew up a project of preserving the ancient
handicraft, initiated raising funds
for carrying it out on a crowdfunding
platform, – Maryna, a former travel
agency manager, became an artist. She
makes mockups of carpets. “This is an
entirely new job for me. Of course, I once
painted, but it was not on a professional
level. I had to learn to dye threads,
make technical drawings and mockups.
It is very difficult to describe it in
words, for these production processes are
so fascinating that you should see them
with your own eyes. There is only one
loom in Ukraine, on which you can
weave a 6-meter carpet. We also make
tapestries, but our hallmark is monumental
creations,” Maryna Dovzhenko
says. I asked Oleksandr, an economist by
profession, why he had chosen to revive
and popularize traditional handicrafts in
Reshetylivka. His answer was short:
“Because I like all things Ukrainian.”
● INIMITABLE
The unique Reshetylivka carpets
adorn governmental institutions in
Ukraine, but the Poltava region carpet-makers
are mostly proud of the
fact that the tapestry “Tree of Life,”
made by their now late colleague Nadia
Babenko, hangs in the New York
UN Headquarters’ Blue Hall. “From
beginning to end, our carpets involve
handwork. They are made in the knotted
double-sided braiding technique.
They are, so to speak, ‘read’ from both
sides. They have no knots because
threads are finely placed one after another
under the strong pressure of a
comb. Then this woolen carpet is
steamed-ironed. The carpet looks absolutely
the same on both its ‘face’ and
underside. Only a specialist can distinguish
between the ‘face’ and the
underside,” Maryna Dovzhenko says.
Reshetylivka carpets display pastel
and grayish-blue hues, floral motifs,
and a harmony of yellow, green,
and red colors. What is fascinating is
not only their beauty, but also the harmony
they add to the space. Mistresses
claim that it is not easy to make
these “living carpets.” It is not only a
laborious, but also a physically hard
task. Most of the Reshetylivka carpetmakers
have more than 20-year-long
experience. Only the best remain behind
in the craft. Quite often, they
represent dynasties of carpet-makers,
for whom it is not just gainful employment,
but also an object of pleasure.
“When they go, this art will come
to an end,” Maryna notes sadly. She
says young people are not exactly
rushing to take up this craft. The girls
who come to work at the workshop after
finishing the local vocational
school hold out for six months at
most. They are dissatisfied with
wages, work conditions, and non-prestigious
status of the profession. To
change the situation at least a little
and keep Reshetylivka carpet-making
afloat, funds are being raised on a
crowdfunding basis for installing special
lighting and air conditioning in
the workshop. This will perhaps improve
the health of the so far irreplaceable
carpet-makers.
It is time to save
Reshetylivka carpets
Only 11 masters can skillfully apply the almost 500-year-old
manual technique of weaving original Poltava region carpets
● 8 TO 10 CENTIMETERS
OF FABRIC IN AN 8-HOUR
WORKDAY
The Reshetylivka traditional arts
and crafts workshop is always glad to
see guests. There are excursions here,
but the tourist potential of this place
has been minimally tapped so far.
Oleksandr Dovzhenko hopes that the
situation will improve and tour operators
will create routes to Reshetylivka,
for there are things to see and
learn here. The mistresses will be glad
to share the secrets of their trade with
those who wish to take it up. It turns
out that, to make a carpet, they need
about 100 shades of wool. They dye it
on their own with natural dyestuffs.
They buy wool in the Chernihiv region
because Poltava oblast is short of this
material. The basis of the future carpets
is laid in Kharkiv. The most
heartfelt work is assigned to the
Reshetylivka craftswomen – they
weave picture carpets out of these materials.
By far the largest of them was
a 300 sq.m. carpet on which the
weavers depicted the history of Azerbaijan.
They wove it at a time when
the factory was still named after Clara
Zetkin.
The price of Reshetylivka carpets
varies from 5 to 10 thousand hryvnias
a meter. It depends on how complicated
the image is. It takes a very long
time to make them, for the selection of
colors demands that carpet-makers
have a flawless taste and ideal lighting.
For this reason, weavers often
have to work on one carpet for not just
one or two but for four solid months.
An experienced weaver can usually do
8 to 10 centimeters of fabric in an
8-hour workday.
Maryna hopes that it is possible to
save and preserve the technique of
making Reshetylivka carpets, arouse
young people’s interest in this trade,
and open up the potential of Ukrainian
weaving to the world. For, in the
view of Maryna, this craft’s story is
very sad – the best examples of our
carpet-making have been taken abroad
and can only be seen in the collections
of New York or London... “And we
have what we have. What are left are
collections in Poltava and Kyiv. But
this cannot give you the full idea of
the uniqueness of Ukrainian carpetmaking,”
the artist says sadly and
calls for joining the effort to save the
unique technique of making Reshetylivka
carpets. Incidentally, they
are still woven on the old-fashioned
wooden looms inherited from the now
defunct factory.

8
No.75 DECEMBER 5, 2017
TIMEO U T
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
Ukrainian art and European choice
By Dmytro DESIATERYK, The Day
By Hanna PAROVATKINA
The first thing that attracts
your attention in the film
Loving Vincent is, of course,
the technique of execution.
The work of the Pole Dorota
Kobiela (scriptwriter of the fairytale
The Flying Machine, 2011)
and the Briton Hugh Welchman
(Oscar for the best animated short
film Peter and the Wolf, 2007) is
the world’s first full-length
animated movie fully drawn with
oil paints. A team of 85 artists
(including some Ukrainians) did all
the 62,470 frames in oil on a canvas
in the same post-impressionist
manner in which Vincent van Gogh
worked.
The protagonist is Armand
(Douglas Booth), the son of postman
Joseph Roulin, a hot-tempered
but sincere boy with a
strong feeling of justice. At the
beginning of the story, father
asks Armand to deliver van
Gogh’s last letter to some of the
painter’s relatives (it was addressed
to his brother Theo, but
he was also dead). Armand comes
to the town Auvers-sur-Oise to
find Vincent’s close friend doctor
Gachet (Jerome Flynn). Waiting
for the latter to come back, the
MUKHi (a Ukrainian acronym
that stands for “young Ukrainian
artists and...” and is consonant with
“mukhi” – “flies”) is a competition
founded by gallerist and
curator Maryna Shcherbenko
and held since
2009. Anyone aged up
to 35 can take part in
the contest except for
those who have already won
in it. For, as a rule, finalists
become very well known artists
not only in Ukraine and compete
with noted masters.
“The cause is a fair selection of
competitors,” comments Oksana
BARSHYNOVA, chief, 20th-early-
21st-century art research department,
National Art Museum of
Winners
of young
artists’ competition
MUKHi 2017
announced
in Kyiv
Ukraine; teacher of the contemporary
art history, national Academy of
Fine Arts and Architecture, Ukraine.
This year Barshynova is a member
of the contest’s international expert
commission for the second
time in a row. In addition to
her, the jury includes Jerzy
Onuch, ex-director of
the Contemporary Art
Center at Kyiv Mohyla
Academy and the Polish Institute
in Kyiv; gallerists
Tetiana Tumasian (Kharkiv),
Gunnar Kvaran (Astrup Fearnley
Museum of Modern Art, Oslo), and
Oleksandra Homeniuk (Hales Gallery,
London/New York).
“Competition experts are trying
to be as unbiased as possible. We do
not even take into account the space
On paintbrush tips
postman meets a lot of people who
not only knew van Gogh and the circumstances
of his death, but also appeared
on his pictures.
Biographic films about wellknown
people often “suffer” from excessive
melodramatics and simplified
plot-related techniques, when,
An animated drama
on the life and
death of van Gogh
is now showing
Photo courtesy of the organizers of the exhibit
in which the contest finalists’ exhibit
may be opened. I myself saw the exposition
at the Taras Shevchenko Museum
during the vernissage only. It was
very interesting,” Barshynova says.
MUKHi were exhibited at the
Taras Shevchenko for the first time.
Before that, finalists’ exhibits had
been held at the Institute of Contemporary
Art. This year the contest has
received 456 applications from young
authors in various regions of
Ukraine. The organizers have selected
a dozen of projects instead of the
planned 10.
“In 2015, many of the contestants
explored the themes of war and traumas
as well as of the current sociopolitical
situation. Now the young
authors have addressed the same
problems more subtly. Almost all of
to shape the story, scriptwriters
try to find a conflict in the life of a
hero or heroine, showing the finesse
of gutter-press journalists
and putting the blame on each and
every. The authors of Loving Vincent
also rely on a biographic material.
However, even introducing
some elements of detective investigation,
they still leave it to the
spectator to answer the question
about the cause of the artist’s
death (suicide or unintentional
murder?). Everybody is guilty of
something, but nobody is guilty in
essence. The permanent source of
Vincent’s misfortunes is not the
hypothetic mental abnormality but
his very nature and gift – too challenging
to the surrounding reality.
Interestingly, Vincent passes
as a secondary character, mostly in
black and white flashbacks. This
detachment, coupled with the
equality of various voices, views,
and versions, make the film’s style
fully justified or even the only possible.
People on the screen speak
about van Gogh and argue whether
he was a genius, but all this occurs
in the world he created.
And this metaphor also applies
to us. We are also, in a way, the
creatures of Vincent – on paintbrush
tips, lovingly.
them dropped straightforward options.
In spite of a young age, many
of the current participants know very
well how to put their ideas across,”
Barshynova emphasized. “And 12 finalists
were the result of an unusual
consensus of the experts.”
Yet Barshynova is too diplomatic
in her appraisals. In reality, according
to a well-known national tradition,
MUKHi nominees strove to
evade altogether acute social issues
and even the topic of war. Both the
“stars” and the totally unknown
short-listed authors preferred “pure”
art to the topics of the day. For example,
Kinder Album (Lviv) presented
a very impressive cycle of analogue
photographs, “Not My Hotel,”
in which hotel rooms symbolize the
fluidity of time. Dmytro Chervonyi
(Hlevakha, Kyiv oblast) turned to the
theme of a “little man.” He placed his
India-ink-drawn “heroes” under a
magnifying glass, as if it were a microscope.
In the installation “While I
Am Young, I Make Bad Works” (with
a toy speaking parrot), the Odesabased
Mykola Karabinovych makes
play with Oleksandr Brener’s classical
performance “Why Didn’t They
Invite Me to this Exhibition?”
The MUKHi 2017 grand prix was
awarded to “Hollywood-Troieshchyna,”
a project by Mykhailo Alekseienko
(Kyiv). The artist, who was
physically in Troieshchyna, hoaxed
his colleagues and acquaintances by
means of social media and convinced
them that he worked on contract in…
Hollywood. The award for this ironic
mockumentary was 40,000 hryvnias
and a trip of Alekseienko himself not
exactly to Los Angeles but to quite a
real FUTURA art residency in the
Czech Republic. Incidentally, the
artist’s 2018 exhibit will be also held
in Kyiv’s Shcherbenko Art Center.
Two special prizes (15,000 hryvnias
each) went to photo artists: the
Odesa-based Oleh Dymov for the conceptualistic
photo project “Document
of a Condition” and Kyivite Maria
Proshkovska for “Sensitiveness,” a
cycle of nude self-portraits.
MUKHi makes it possible to see
with your own eyes how the young
contemporary art of Ukraine is
changing. “Even in comparison with
2015, there are fewer traditional
techniques in and approaches to the
exposition,” competition curator Maryna
SHCHERBENKO says. “Today,
the oeuvre of our artists mirrors contemporary
worldwide trends by a
hundred percent. The Ukrainians are
integrated into the worldwide art
space and can well compete with their
Western counterparts.”
Among the traditional downsides,
there is an incredible deal of
kitsch (I mean the bulk of the participants,
not the finalists). The “young
ones” are trying to spread around the
well-known techniques. They are reproducing
somebody else’s ideas…
But this must be the common feature
of young people in any epoch, who are
looking for their own way in art.
Ukrainian young artists are extensively
working in Europe today,
not only at our contest. And this
poses a certain problem. They are
losing touch with the “inner” context.
And, as a result, they address
European, not Ukrainian, problems.
Conversely, searching for new
names in the national contemporary
art and integrating these artists into
the national art milieu still remains
MUKHi’s goal.
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