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No.20 MARCH 29, 2018
DAY AFTER DAY
WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA
Pryluky: An Updated Profile
The fresh issue of Route No. 1
offers a unique look at that
“small great city”
By Olha KHARCHENKO, The Day
“...How many people know that there
was a time when Pryluky actually ruled
Muscovy? And this plotline could have
been used to create a drama on William
Shakespeare or Friedrich von Schiller’s
model, or a whole historical TV series, given
the present realities. It would have become
another Game of Thrones...
According to biographers of the city,
the Hlynsky princely family owned Pryluky
for a time. Studying the story of the
Hlynskys makes clear how we were giving
impetus to the birth of a monster from
the very beginning. One of the Hlynskys
wed his daughter to Prince of Moscow
Vasily III, and from this marriage Ivan IV
was born, known as Ivan the Terrible.
And does anyone ever recall that
Boris Godunov was among those who
destroyed Pryluky? But after its many destructions,
that occurred at various
points in time, the city always revived.
And it was mainly by the efforts of the
princes, whom many of us “abandon” to
Poland, Russia, or Lithuania... But all of
them were actually locals: the Vyshnevetskys,
the Galagans... In western
Ukraine, they use a very good word for
it – tuteishi, ‘natives,’” editor-in-chief
Larysa Ivshyna intriguingly writes in her
column for the latest issue of the glossy
magazine.
The creative team of Route No. 1’s
March issue made every effort to make
the word “Pryluky” sound in a new way.
We talked about people as the main asset
with Artem Skrypka, director of production
at the OJSC British American Tobacco
for Ukraine, Caucasus, Central
Asia, Belarus, and Moldova subregion.
This enterprise provides sizeable incomes
to approximately 10 percent of the city’s
population and implements a number of
social projects in it. The rich church architecture
of the city, the centerpieces of
the Pryluky Local History Museum’s
collection, the unique Hustyn monastery
and the nearby villages of Kachanivka,
Trostianets, and Sokyryntsi are all covered
in our separate travel descriptions.
Also, Route No. 1 talked about their
perspectives on Pryluky to prominent natives
of the city: Consul General of
Ukraine in Chicago Larysa He rasko, Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
of Ukraine to the Holy See (Vatican)
and the Sovereign Order of Malta Tetiana
Izhevska, actress of the Franko National
Academic Drama Theater Svitlana
Prus, director of the Chernihiv State
Center for Olympic Training Viacheslav
Derkach, and well-known citizen of Pryluky,
Paralympic champion Oleh Len.
In addition, the issue offers contributions
dealing with how Pryluky has
used its right to self-government, how the
authorities are making the city attractive
to young people, where one can get a tasty
meal in it, and which European localities
are also 933 years old.
You can order Route No. 1. Pryluky
from Den’s online store at https://
day.kyiv.ua/en/catalog/9678 or by calling
our sales department: (044) 303 96 23.
Also, you may wait till March 30 to buy
it at a newsstand in your city or go to Pryluky
on March 29 to attend the solemn
opening of Den’s Photo Exhibition, as our
glossy magazine will reach that city before
it appears anywhere else, as an exclusive
gift!
The Kremlin’s “Ukrainian gambit”
By Mykola SIRUK, The Day
All over the world, no one doubted
that Russian President Vladimir
Putin would be re-elected for a
fourth term. Indeed, the Russian
regime had done everything to
ensure the necessary turnout and, most
importantly, a convincing victory in the
first round.
During the election campaign, the
Russian regime widely exploited anti-
Western rhetoric, using as an excuse the
expulsion of Russian diplomats from
Britain because of the involvement of
Russian security services in poisoning a
former Russian spy and his daughter.
Now, after the end of the campaign,
many politicians and experts ask a question:
what will Russia’s policy under
Putin be with regard to the EU, the US,
and Ukraine, and vice versa, how will the
Trump administration build relations
with the Kremlin, given that its head has
not personally criticized Putin and is
trying to establish friendly relations with
the Russian leader? The Day asked Russian
political analyst, expert in Russian-
American relations Lilia SHEVTSOVA to
answer these questions.
● “WHILE MAINTAINING
AGGRESSIVE RHETORIC,
THE KREMLIN IS TRYING
TO LOOK FOR WAYS
TO EASE TENSION”
“The Kremlin’s foreign policy has always
been an instrument for ensuring its
domestic agenda succeeds. Until recently,
the Kremlin was able to resolve tactical issues
of survival at the expense of foreign
policy. For instance, the annexation of
Crimea added about 30 percentage points
to Vladimir Putin’s support level and allowed
him to obtain legitimacy for a time
as a ‘gatherer of Russian lands.’ But at the
same time, the ‘Ukrainian gambit’ of the
Kremlin has begun to destroy the model under
which the Russian system existed by
using Western resources.
“The main foreign policy challenge of
Putin’s new presidential term is to find a
balance between deterring the West and
maintaining dialog with it, which would allow
Russia to go back to using the Western
By Natalia PUSHKARUK, The Day
This week the world has shown an
unheard-of solidarity with the UK in
connection with Russia’s likely
complicity in poisoning the former
spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter
Yulia – about 20 countries expelled over
100 Russian diplomats (as we were going to
press, the exact number was 139).
At first, a decision to this effect was
made in the European Union: Donald Tusk,
President of the European Council, announced
that 14 EU member states had
joined the initiative. “Additional measures,
including further sanctions within the common
EU framework, cannot be excluded in
the coming days and weeks,” Reuters quotes
him as saying. In particular, the number of
Russian diplomats was reduced in the Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany,
Hungary, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands,
Poland, Romania, Spain, Sweden, and
Finland, CNN reports.
Following the EU, the US took a similar
step, giving 60 diplomats a week’s notice to
leave the country. Besides, the Russian
consulate in Seattle will be closed. In Canada
it was announced about the expulsion of
financial and technological potential.
Putin, apparently, hopes that by escalating
tension and threatening to ‘break windows,’
he will force the spineless liberal
democracies to accept his rules of the
game and return to the previous policy of
appeasement. He obviously expects that the
Russian elite and society will be compelled
to agree to living in a ‘besieged fortress’ for
an indefinite period of time.
“However, neither the Russian president
nor the ruling team is fully confident
that this madman blackmail will succeed.
And it is already obvious that, while maintaining
its macho and aggressive rhetoric,
the Kremlin is trying to look for ways to
ease tension. ‘You did not hear us, you did
not respect us, and look what you have
made us to do! Listen to our complaints now
and we will again comfortably coexist!’ is
the current Kremlin mantra.
“The problem is that the Kremlin,
while knowing how to escalate, does not
know how to retreat when it becomes clear
that the West is not ready to return to the
pre-Crimea consensus. Meanwhile, the
blinking game can end badly for both
sides.
“Of course, the Kremlin’s main focus
is on the US. Donald Trump’s presidency
turned out to be much more unpleasant for
Russia than fairly harmless Barack Obama’s
America. Despite Trump’s inexplicable
sympathy for Putin, his administration
is pursuing a rather tough course
against Russia, which the previous American
president did not dare to do during his
four Russian diplomats and the denial of accreditation
to three. DW quotes Canadian
Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland as saying:
“The four have been identified as intelligence
officers or individuals who have
used their diplomatic status to undermine
Canada’s security or interfere in our democracy.”
Australia is going to expel two
diplomats, while New Zealand says they
have no Russian agents, but if there were
some, they would also be expelled.
Lilia SHEVTSOVA:
“It has begun to
destroy the model
under which the
Russian system
existed by using
Western resources”
term. The Kremlin, of course, will try not
to provoke the US to take even tougher
measures. But here is the question: how is
one to swallow insults without losing
face?!”
● “THE KREMLIN HAS BEEN
QUITE DISMISSIVE ABOUT
THE ABILITY OF EUROPE TO
DETER RUSSIA SO FAR”
“Speaking of Europe, the Kremlin
has been quite dismissive about the ability
of Europe to deter Russia so far. The
Kremlin did not expect at all that the Europeans
would be prepared to maintain
sanctions against Russia for so long. But
now, when the position of Chancellor Angela
Merkel, who ensured European unity
on the issue of sanctions, has begun to
weaken, the Kremlin will again hope that
Europe can be split, either by intimidation
or by seducing with ‘carrots’ businesses
and politicians who are ready to cooperate
with Moscow.
“The Europeans’ reaction to the Skripal
case will be a test of their ability to take
a tough stand against Russia: to what extent
will Europe support Britain in its confrontation
with the Kremlin over a poisoning
with a neuro-paralytic agent in the
UK that Russia denies its involvement in?
But no matter how this story ends, Russia
will continue its old policy towards Europe,
which is to disregard the EU outright
and to try to split the Europeans and
create blocs of Russia’s own making with
‘Trojan horses’ – the countries which
stand ready to resume dialog with the
Kremlin.”
“The next goal is to build up the pressure of sanctions”
What does the unprecedented expulsion of
more than 100 Russian diplomats mean?
● UKRAINE’S SOLIDARITY
Ukraine has also made a similar decision.
According to President Petro
Poroshenko, this was announced “synchronously
and in coordination at 3 p.m.
Brussels time, or at 4 p.m. Kyiv time.” “I
am sure that the expulsion of 13 Russian
diplomats from Ukraine will strengthen
our security and dash the efforts of the
fifth column to destabilize the domestic situation
in Ukraine,” he said. In the head of
state’s words, diplomatic presence has
long been reduced almost to zero – “to the
critical minimum that allows us to care
about our citizens held hostage in Russia.”
This stirred up discussions about
whether or not this step of Kyiv was reasonable.
The Russian president’s
spokesman Dmitry Peskov has already
said Russia will be guided by the principle
of reciprocity when taking retaliatory
measures. At the same time, it
should be taken into account that some
Ukrainian citizens, including political
prisoners, still remain in the neighboring
state – they need support and help
from our diplomatic representatives.
Commenting this, Iryna He ra -
shchen ko, First Deputy Chairperson of
the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, noted
that the expulsion is a right decision, a
political signal of solidarity to our European
partners. “Freeing the Kremlin’s
political prisoners depends on Putin
alone, not on consuls. At the same time,
support and help from consuls is perhaps
the only support our political prisoners
receive and are aware of. Given a complete
isolation, a ban on being visited by
and communicating with relatives by
phone and by correspondence, the absence
of the Ukrainian press, TV, and
books, a consul’s visit, at least once in
several months, is perhaps the only link
with Ukraine, a signal that the fatherland
is struggling for them. Consuls will
find it more difficult to contact the political
prisoners, for it is obvious that
Russia will be revenging itself. But we
have the right to demand that the world
increase pressuring Russia into releasing
our captives,” she wrote in Facebook.
Continued on page 4 ➤
● “THE ‘RUSSIAN FACTOR’
IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
TOOL THAT STRENGTHENS
UKRAINIAN IDENTITY”
“What about Ukraine? Russian leaders
understand that Ukraine remains the
main reason for Russia’s current confrontation
with the West. Undoubtedly,
the Kremlin will hope that the Ukrainian
issue will vanish from the main international
agenda and the West will get tired
of Ukraine. By exacerbating the issue of international
security and shifting attention
not only to international terrorism, but to
the threat of the collapse of the strategic
security system, as well as turning nuclear
weapons into an instrument of blackmail,
the Kremlin effectively tells the West:
look, we have more important problems for
discussion and we have a means of coercing
you to adopt our vision of global priorities
and the rules of the game.
“Of course, as long as imperialism and
the view of Ukraine as an element of the
‘Russian civilization’ remain elements of
the political mentality of the Russian ruling
elite, Ukraine will always be in a zone
of geopolitical instability. On the one hand,
having Russia in the neighborhood and the
Kremlin’s desire to undermine Ukraine’s
territorial integrity will destabilize the
situation in Ukraine. On the other hand, the
‘Russian factor’ is the most important
tool that strengthens Ukrainian identity.
“But it is also obvious that President
Putin understands that the Donbas is not
benefiting him, but harming his reputation
and narrowing the room for international
maneuver instead. Still, I think that despite
this understanding, Putin is not ready to
willingly abandon the Donbas and lose
this instrument of influence in Ukraine and
a possible pawn in dealing with the West.
Apparently, surrendering the occupied
districts of the Donbas is seen by Putin as
likely to have worse consequences than
keeping the current conflict going.
“However, the situation is developing
rapidly. We extrapolate the current trends
into the future, but new circumstances
arise all the time, which can radically
change the political picture. What is impossible
today can become possible tomorrow,
and it can happen very quickly and unexpectedly.
After all, we are at the stage of
the collapse of the former world order
and the formation of a new one. In any case,
the situation in the ‘Russia-Ukraine’ space
is not static and it is hard to freeze, unlike
other conflicts in the post-Soviet space.”
Should we expect any progress on
the part of the Kremlin in fulfilling the
Minsk Agreements?
“I do not see any opportunities so far
for the Kremlin’s position on the Minsk
Agreements to change, as Putin has repeatedly
said. But we are talking about the
present moment here. It is difficult to
foresee at the moment what will happen in
a year or two.”
● “ANY THOUGHT OF
NORMALIZING RELATIONS
WITH RUSSIA MAKES THE
U.S. ELITE TO SUSPECT ITS
AUTHOR OF BEING
A SELL-OUT”
What do the US elite expect from
the fourth term of Putin, and what
kind of policy are they going to pursue
with regard to Russia?
“I think that neither the American
establishment, nor the Trump administration
can, or want, to think strategically
now. Everyone in Washington is obsessed
with a situational agenda, often regulated
by President Trump’s crazy tweets. It is
clear that the ‘collective Washington’ does
not expect anything good from Putin.
Moreover, we see that any thought of normalizing
relations with Russia makes the
US elite to suspect its author of being a sellout.
Even Henry Kissinger, who liked to visit
Putin in the Kremlin and always called
for ‘taking into account the interests of
Russia’ on his return, has now fallen silent.
Continued on page 5 ➤