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WWW.DAY.KIEV.UA<br />
DAY AFTER DAY No.43 AUGUST 23, 2018 3<br />
over the occupied territories. It is a<br />
wide range of questions – who<br />
should be pardoned, lustrated or<br />
punished? We drew up a bill like<br />
this. Almost all the governmental<br />
bodies, including the Border Guard<br />
Service, the Ministry of Defense, the<br />
General Staff of the Armed Forces,<br />
the Security Service, the Ministry of<br />
Finance, and the National Bank,<br />
supported us. But the president refused<br />
to support this decision. Instead,<br />
he proposed a bill of his own.<br />
But the adopted law ‘On Reintegration’<br />
says nothing about the abovementioned.”<br />
Khrystyna SAVCHUK, Taras<br />
Shevchenko National University<br />
of Kyiv: “You wrote on your Facebook<br />
page about grave consequences<br />
for Ukraine of the construction<br />
of Nord Stream 2. What<br />
or who can stop this process? How<br />
can Ukraine influence?”<br />
“It is not ruled out that Russia<br />
conceived Nord Stream 2 in order<br />
to break up the European Union.<br />
As a matter of fact, Russia and<br />
Germany are building a transit capacity<br />
which, together with Nord<br />
Stream 1, will be enough to pump<br />
gas, bypassing Ukraine. After<br />
building the new branch, Russia<br />
will be free to just shut off the<br />
valve and pump nothing, including<br />
to Ukraine. This is why our gas<br />
transportation system is like another<br />
‘nuclear arsenal.’ After the<br />
failure of the Budapest Memorandum,<br />
its loss will be one more security<br />
guarantee lost.<br />
“What can stop this project?<br />
Only harsh US sanctions. Europe is<br />
so far unable to make a joint decision<br />
against Nord Stream 2.<br />
Ukraine should in turn seek a way<br />
not to fall into the pit which the<br />
construction of Nord Stream 2 is<br />
pushing Europe into.”<br />
● “I HAVE ALSO BEEN<br />
ABROAD, BUT I CAME<br />
BACK BECAUSE IT IS<br />
MUCH MORE<br />
INTERESTING TO DO<br />
SOMETHING IN YOUR<br />
OWN COUNTRY”<br />
Vladyslava SHEVCHENKO,<br />
Kyiv Mohyla Academy: “In the<br />
past few years, young people of<br />
Ukraine have been going abroad<br />
on a mass scale because they do not<br />
believe in their country. How can<br />
this negative tide be stemmed?”<br />
“One must believe in success. It<br />
is logical that young people want to<br />
be ‘cool’ and successful, have a<br />
good job and housing, and be able<br />
to keep a family. But when they see<br />
our politicians devalue the state,<br />
they get disappointed and, as a result,<br />
do not want to identify themselves<br />
with this country. On the<br />
other hand, we harbor an illusion<br />
that it is easier to achieve success<br />
in other countries, but no matter<br />
where you come, you will always<br />
remain an emigrant. Very few take<br />
into account that an unstable country<br />
provides a larger space for<br />
successful enterprise because it<br />
is possible to ‘catch the wave.’ I<br />
have also been abroad, but I came<br />
back because it is much more interesting<br />
to do something in your<br />
own country rather than jump on<br />
someone else’s bandwagon. You<br />
are facing a major challenge, but<br />
you are also standing a chance to<br />
amply realize yourselves in your<br />
country.”<br />
Project Summer School<br />
of Journalism was carried<br />
out with support from<br />
the NATO Information and<br />
Documentation Center in<br />
Ukraine<br />
By Olesia SHUTKEVYCH, The Day,<br />
Vinnytsia<br />
We met Vinnytsia Mayor<br />
Serhii Morhunov in a<br />
working atmosphere,<br />
finding a “slot” in his<br />
tight schedule full of<br />
briefings and routine meetings.<br />
Vinnytsia is often cited as an example<br />
of new dynamism. The city is<br />
building new kindergartens, producing<br />
its own VinWay trams, updating<br />
public transport stops, and has opened<br />
an NGO hub, an IT entrepreneurial<br />
center and original museums. City<br />
residents can communicate online<br />
with the Round the Clock Watch rapid<br />
response center, use the services of<br />
the “mobile” Transparent Office and<br />
follow the electronic traffic schedule.<br />
But is it all that quiet in the “kingdom”?<br />
As Vinnytsia-born people hold<br />
key offices in the state, the city is always<br />
in the focus of attention. You<br />
can’t take your hand off the pulse<br />
even for a minute, Mr. Morhunov<br />
says, for the mayor’s job is not only to<br />
seek the solution of difficult problems,<br />
but also to provide safe and comfortable<br />
conditions for city residents.<br />
What brought about the active<br />
and dynamic development of Vinnytsia:<br />
the previously taken pace or of<br />
the decentralization reform?<br />
“Both things did. When our team<br />
came to power in the city, we began by<br />
improving the quality of the city<br />
council’s performance and restructuring<br />
the system of administration.<br />
When all the units began to work as<br />
one mechanism, we mapped out a comprehensive<br />
strategy of urban development,<br />
‘Vinnytsia 2020,’ which made it<br />
possible to take a more effective approach<br />
to the existing problems. But,<br />
having a clear vision of the problems<br />
and the ways of their solution, we had<br />
no financial resources. For this reason,<br />
when Volodymyr Hroisman was<br />
transferred to the Cabinet of Ministers,<br />
he began to introduce decentralization<br />
which offered [regional bodies]<br />
certain powers and finances and made<br />
it possible to effectively develop the<br />
community, its infrastructure and social<br />
sphere, and improve investment<br />
attractiveness.<br />
“While Vinnytsia’s development<br />
budget was a mere 40 million hryvnias<br />
in 2006, it reached one billion hryvnias<br />
last year. Today we have achieved<br />
a level when one fifth, 20 percent, of<br />
the budget is being spent on the development<br />
– civil construction, reconstruction,<br />
and modernization projects.<br />
This year the development budget<br />
is 857 million hryvnias. On the<br />
whole, compared to the first six<br />
months of the last year, city budget<br />
revenues have gone up by almost<br />
500 million hryvnias, or 25 percent.<br />
It’s a good dynamics, isn’t it?<br />
“Additional financial resources<br />
opened up new opportunities. Previously,<br />
we could not even dream of winterizing<br />
several schools in a year. We<br />
did not even dare take up large-scale<br />
projects. And today, for example, we<br />
have begun to finish the construction<br />
of a 3,000-sq-m emergency hospital.<br />
Incidentally, we’ve received serious<br />
financial support – over 70 million –<br />
from the national budget for this project.<br />
The hospital is supposed to have<br />
an intensive care unit with a shock<br />
room, a resuscitation block, and an<br />
up-to-date urgent surgery block with<br />
laparoscopic equipment. You will find<br />
such a systemic approach to the organization<br />
of medical care nowhere<br />
else in Ukraine so far.<br />
“At the same time, we are carrying<br />
out some spatial development<br />
projects. We noticed after reconstructing<br />
Kosmonavtiv Avenue that<br />
business activity had increased on this<br />
territory. We began to open cafes,<br />
stores, and new offices. This means<br />
creation of new jobs, gentrification of<br />
“It’stimetoshowourstrongsides”<br />
Vinnytsia Mayor Serhii Morhunov on real<br />
capabilities and powers of urban selfgovernment,<br />
implemented and planned<br />
projects, new challenges and provocations<br />
the area, and, what is more, positive<br />
mood of the residents who always relax<br />
near fountains and the Atlant<br />
[sport club].”<br />
Vinnytsia once set a goal to keep<br />
public transport going. The city’s<br />
transport reform is still called the<br />
most successful one, and Swiss-made<br />
trams run like clockwork. Does the<br />
city plan to develop the public transport<br />
network? What advantages will<br />
city residents get from introduction<br />
of the electronic ticket in 2019?<br />
“Public transport now accounts<br />
for 80 percent of passenger carriage,<br />
so it must be of high quality and safe,<br />
and the Vinnytsia Transport Company<br />
is constantly trying to update the<br />
rolling stock. While purchasing new<br />
municipal buses, we also do heavy repairs<br />
and restorative maintenance, if<br />
necessary. And, what is more, we continue,<br />
together with our Swiss partners,<br />
to draw up a delivery schedule<br />
for a new batch of trams that are so far<br />
running down the streets of Zurich.<br />
Vinnytsia is going to receive 70 vehicles<br />
from 2021 on. So it is time to prepare<br />
the infrastructure, tracks, and<br />
overhead wires.<br />
“At the same time, we are working<br />
on introducing the electronic ticket –<br />
it is an effective system, a worldwide<br />
practice, and a call of the time. To carry<br />
out the project, we took a loan at<br />
the European Bank for Reconstruction<br />
and Development, and all the<br />
preparatory work is drawing to a<br />
close. What advantages are Vinnytsia<br />
residents going to get? Firstly, they<br />
will find it convenient to pay fares.<br />
Secondly, the system will make it possible<br />
to effectively use public transport.<br />
Thirdly, it will be clear what resource<br />
the Vinnytsia Transport Company<br />
will gain for the service it provides.<br />
Moreover, the electronic ticket<br />
is the first step towards creating the<br />
comprehensive ‘Vinnytsia resident’s<br />
card.’”<br />
Vinnytsia was named Ukraine’s<br />
most comfortable city for the fourth<br />
consecutive year. But still here is “a<br />
fly in the ointment”: while everything<br />
is OK, as far as the city’s infrastructure,<br />
the humanitarian sphere, and<br />
municipal services are concerned,<br />
this year’s polls show that industrial<br />
development is an obvious downside.<br />
“Frankly speaking, it is the problem<br />
of not only Vinnytsia but of<br />
Ukraine as a whole because this country<br />
is at war. The city is tackling the<br />
problem of attracting investments.<br />
This year we finished the construction<br />
of the first stage of a UBC Group<br />
plant, and the state-run company<br />
Electric System, where there will be<br />
2,500 jobs by the end of this year, has<br />
been working for almost two years. A<br />
memorandum has been signed about<br />
the construction of a HEAD sport gear<br />
factory. Besides, there are about<br />
100 various industrial facilities in<br />
Photo by Ruslan KANIUKA, The Day<br />
APRIL 25, 2018. THE OPENING OF DEN’S PHOTO EXHIBIT IN VINNYTSIA. THE<br />
MAYOR HOLDS THE CROWN, OR HERITAGE OF THE RUS’ KINGDOM, A NEW<br />
DEN’S LIBRARY BOOK, WHICH WAS HANDED OVER TO ALL DEPARTMENTS OF<br />
VINNYTSIA PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY AND THE CITY’S 17 LIBRARIES AND<br />
BRANCHES<br />
this city – some of them worked in the<br />
Soviet era and adapted to contemporary<br />
business conditions, and some<br />
have been founded by foreign investors<br />
in the past 10-15 years.<br />
“But to build an enterprise is one<br />
thing and to find working hands is another.<br />
The training of adequate shopfloor<br />
workers at vocational schools is<br />
on the skids, to put it mildly. The<br />
problem we are facing today is that<br />
there’s nobody to work at factories.<br />
For this reason, the question of attracting<br />
investments – both foreign<br />
and domestic – requires a multipronged<br />
approach. It is unrealistic to<br />
solve this problem within the city limits<br />
because there are some points<br />
which only the central authorities can<br />
settle.”<br />
The city council has been paying a<br />
lot of attention to local history lately.<br />
The Center of Vinnytsia History functions,<br />
past events are being reenacted,<br />
films are being made, and monuments<br />
are being unveiled. Is it because<br />
you are a historian by education<br />
or is the answer not so simple?<br />
“As far as historical renaissance<br />
and filling blind spots and pages are<br />
concerned, the newspaper Den is second<br />
to none, for which kudos to its<br />
team and personally editor-in-chief<br />
Larysa Ivshyna. As for the history of<br />
Vinnytsia, its residents have in fact<br />
known nothing about their city’s past<br />
for a long time except for Pirogov and<br />
Hitler’s headquarters because Soviet<br />
ideology hushed everything up. But<br />
Vinnytsia is 655 years old! There were<br />
people in every century, who gave impetus<br />
to the development of our city.<br />
And, not to make mistakes, we must<br />
know our past. Therefore, it is very<br />
important to develop historic locations,<br />
establish museums, and restore<br />
historical justice.<br />
“It’s time to show our strong sides<br />
and learn to position ourselves correctly<br />
so that we can win first – not<br />
second, third, or twentieth – places.<br />
For example, the Vinnytsia Museum of<br />
Transport Models ‘grew’ from the private<br />
collection of a Polytechnic lecturer.<br />
He used to collect vehicle models in<br />
all of his lifetime and can now display<br />
them to people. It is one of Ukraine’s<br />
largest and best museums today.”<br />
Den’s Days came back to Vinnytsia<br />
this year. What are your personal<br />
impressions of the event and to what<br />
extent topical are intellectual projects<br />
of this kind? Are they popular<br />
with Vinnytsia residents?<br />
“Incidentally, I recently came<br />
back from a city, where I saw a splendid<br />
exhibit of celebrity photo portraits<br />
right on the street. I immediately recalled<br />
the Den’s photo exhibit we received<br />
this year. Both adults and children<br />
visited it, and the press and social<br />
media were full of comments. But<br />
it would be a good idea to display this<br />
photo chronicle more widely – in<br />
squares, the river front, and parks. It<br />
is our photo history, and we should<br />
show it to all people – not only to the<br />
conscientious and the interested.<br />
What is more, this exhibit mirrors the<br />
mood of the people of different ages,<br />
occupations, and preferences. It is a<br />
ground of sorts for research and reflections.”<br />
Vinnytsia-born people are holding<br />
key governmental offices now. As<br />
the elections are coming up and spin<br />
masters are on the alert, do you have<br />
any “safety devices” to stabilize the<br />
situation if somebody tries to rock the<br />
boat?<br />
“Frankly speaking, there are<br />
enough provocations even now. There<br />
always are disgruntled people, both on<br />
the central and urban level, who want<br />
to destabilize the moderate climate of<br />
Vinnytsia. But we are repulsing attacks<br />
on all ‘fronts.’ Of course, we<br />
won’t be able to cover all of our backs.<br />
It’s politics! And we are aware that nationwide<br />
events, such as the antismuggling<br />
campaign now underway in<br />
the city on the prime minister’s initiative,<br />
are to be dealt with by our<br />
team. But it is unrealistic to build a<br />
successful Ukraine without overcoming<br />
corruption. Please pay taxes, develop<br />
the economy, create jobs, work<br />
honestly, and nobody will bother you.<br />
The task of Vinnytsia and its residents<br />
is to withstand this political struggle<br />
and further develop.”<br />
Vinnytsia will be marking its<br />
655th anniversary in a few weeks’<br />
time. What do you personally think of<br />
the mood of Vinnytsia residents?<br />
“People are tired of the hybrid war<br />
with Russia which is terrorizing<br />
Ukraine for the fifth consecutive year<br />
and slowing down economic development.<br />
They want reforms to work at<br />
once. But there’s no such thing. Any<br />
kind of development means hard<br />
work. You can take different attitudes<br />
to the leadership, but everything also<br />
depends on people’s actions. We have<br />
a colossal potential and show unfailing<br />
love for the land we live on. We<br />
must work more and speak less. If<br />
everybody works wholeheartedly at<br />
his place, the result will not be slow to<br />
arrive.”