New Eastern Europe Issue 1

Viktoriya Chyrva, We, the Barbarians of Ukraine Opinion and Analysis 75
Th e truth is that Yushchenko’s campaign slogans, such as “criminals to prisons”,
spread fear among the opposition, but only for a short period time. Politicians close
to Yanukovych, who were alleged to have manipulated the election results, as well
as other crimes, were put behind bars but soon released. Conversely, today’s leaders
have taken the fi ght with their opponents much more seriously. Yanukovych’s opposition
regards it as revenge and political repression. Yuriy Lutsenko, the former
Minister for Internal Aff airs who spent half a year in prison, has the right to such
thinking. His prison sentence seems to be revenge for his lawsuit fi led against the
current deputy prime minister, Boris Kolesnikov, back in 2005.
Th e arrest of Yulia Tymoshenko and dozens of her colleagues, despite objections
by foreign diplomats, illustrates the tenacity of those in power. Her arrest was the
ultimate goal of the new power elite. Naturally, the prosecutor general denies the political
nature of the case against Tymoshenko and is trying to convince Ukrainians
that justice is blind to human divisions between the government and opposition. An
illustrative example is the case against former President Leonid Kuchma. Kuchma was
considered to be “one of our men”, and yet he was interrogated in the case of Georgiy
Gongadze (the Ukrainian journalist of Georgian origin who was kidnapped and murdered
in 2000 – editor’s note). During the interrogation he was found neither guilty
nor not guilty, and the case probably won’t have any serious consequences for him.
It is also possible that people around Yanukovych wanted to “butter up” Kuchma’s
son-in-law, Viktor Pinchuk, who happens to be one of the wealthiest businessmen
and the owner of one of the most popular television channels in Ukraine.
Th e freedom of speech is still a burning issue in Ukraine. All television channels
in Ukraine belong to people who are close to the president. Th eir reports on the
government are like funeral speeches, where one can only speak positively about
the government or say nothing at all. Th e journalists commenting on current events
have started to look so much like their Russian colleagues. At times it is easy to
forget that one is watching Ukrainian TV and he or she may think that they have
accidentally switched over to a Russian station. Not that under the Orange camp
the media were free. Th ere may not have been a lot of censorship, but many texts
were written on request. Journalists were easily bought, and the Orange team did
not plan on following up the beautiful slogans on freedom of speech that they had
propagated during the Orange Revolution.
Sharp divisions between “us” and “them” are also noticeable in business. In the
last six months, a new tax code has become a deterrent for small and mediumsize
entrepreneurs. Around half a million have decided to close their businesses.
Methods of fi scal control are quite tough and the tax administration feels free to
act, while transparency in business is being reduced. People are less and less willing
to a start business on their own and the Ukrainian middle class is shrinking.