Горизонт N26/855

RUSSIAN DENVER / HORIZON
8
N26/855 от 07.08.2016 e-mail: info@gorizont.com Simply the best
Moscow’s aggressive behavior
toward Ukraine and Georgia is
ruthless and unfortunate, but
does not threaten America. Both
of these troubled nations were
long controlled by Moscow, first
under the Russian Empire and
next by the Soviet Union. Neither
state ever was considered
relevant let alone essential to
U.S. security.
Further, Washington’s own
hubris helped stoke Moscow’s
paranoia. NATO’s absorption
Dan Peleschuk
Amber trade booms in northwestern
Ukraine, but a shadowy
criminal network largely benefits
over thousands of miners.
Trundling along the decrepit
roads of this remote corner of
northwestern Ukraine, past dreary
villages and decaying bus stops,
few would suspect that the ground
beneath is abundant with amber,
a gemstone valued around the
world as jewellery.
In reality, the business here
is booming – but the profits are
whisked away into the shadows.
The vast majority of the poorly
regulated industry operates outside
state control, funnelling hundreds
of million dollars each year
into the hands of illegal miners,
smugglers and, critics say, the politicians
and armed gangs who run
the racket.
«The closer you are to the trafficking,
the more money it makes
you,» said local investigative journalist
Dmytro Leontiyuk.
As Ukraine struggles to shake
off its reputation as Europe’s most
corrupt country, authorities here
are proving how hard that can
be by failing to rein in a lucrative
trade that deprives the state of desperately
needed cash.
Currently, only a handful of
firms hold extraction rights. Officials
say up to 300 tonnes are extracted
from this part of Ukraine
each year, feeding demand from
Let’s see how it was two years
ago. The past is a mirror of the
future. From May, 2014
Political situation deteriorated,
I tracked back and forth
across the country in search of
people who could help me make
an accurate assessment.
Well, I can only report what
buyers from as far away as China
and the Middle East.
Activists say effective legislation
would be a first step in regulating
the business, even if few believe
it would change things overnight.
But a draft law legalising amber
extraction is still sitting in parliament.
Meanwhile, brigades of miners
toil in forests here in the Rivne
region, and two neighbouring regions,
are ravaging thousands of
hectares of local land by uprooting
trees and digging out amber from
the soil.
Vasyl Bedriy, head of the regional
branch of the Security Service
of Ukraine (SBU), said they
are only one part of a sophisticated
and wide-ranging network.
The gemstone might be
bought and sold several times
before it’s smuggled to other
Ukrainian regions, or across the
border to Poland. Then there are
those who physically protect the
I found – and that was an overwhelming
majority of ordinary
Ukrainians keen to reject the
myths of fascism, division and
unavoidable civil war that have
been vigorously peddled by
those with something sinister to
gain.
Let’s look at some of those
of former Soviet states and expansion
to Russia’s border could
not help but be seen as hostile
in Moscow. Even worse were
promising alliance membership
to both Georgia and Ukraine
and intervening in Kiev to help
oust the elected, Russia-leaning
president. One can imagine
Washington’s reaction had Russia
behaved similarly toward
Mexico.
Moscow’s behavior is not
justifiable, but it is understandable.
And it does not presage an
attack on the rest of Europe, let
alone America. Putin wants his
country to enjoy border security
and be treated with respect.
His actions in Georgia and
Inside Ukraine’s ‘amber mafia’
also the son-in-law of a former
deputy governor, is suspected by
authorities of overseeing a scheme
some critics believe earned up to
$75,000 a day, according to local
media. The head of Ukraine’s
Anti-Corruption Bureau recently
complained that an investigation
into the official was stalled in the
general prosecutor’s office.
Yet despite the huge sums of
money collected by organisers,
few of the serious profits trickle
down to the tens of thousands of
ordinary miners who work in the
region, according to former amber
miner Oleksandr Vasyliev,.
Their average wage – about
$30 a day, according to various
estimates – is far above Ukrainian
standards, but that’s not factoring
in the bribes that often have to
Ukraine advance those ends.
Swallowing Ukraine, seizing the
Baltic States, or invading Poland
would not. Going to war with
America is not likely on his «to
do» list.
In fact, there are many areas
where Washington and Moscow
could cooperate: Syria/Is-
ВНИМАНИЮ lamic State, ВЛАДЕЛЬЦЕВ North Korea, Iran, Ukraine. КРУПНЫХ,
China, and terrorism. Even in
СРЕДНИХ И МАЛЫХ БИЗНЕСОВ!
Europe, Russia likely desires
stability so long as the latter’s
security remains undisturbed.
Закаленный в победах доблестный отряд
Putin is no friend of the liberal
славных Western вебмастеров order, but that doesn’t газеты "Горизонт"
объявляет mean о начале there are грандиозного no shared interests.
A U.S. электронной promise to forswear общины
строительства...
единой русской Колорадо.
NATO membership for Georgia
and Ukraine could be the foundation
for a more permanent
deal to end Moscow’s support
for violent separatism in Eastern
The Ankara-Moscow agreement
highlights how countries
may shift from near conflict to w
at least cold peace despite sharp
differences over policy. It’s a very
positive development. And one
Washington should learn from.
Putin is no democratic crusader,
but he appears to be eminently b
practical. If Turkey and Russia
can make up, so can Washington
and Moscow.
Ukraine: A dangerous game
myths:
The Russian president has
stated that «terror, murder and
pogroms» are taking place in
Ukraine. «The perpetrators», according
to President Putin, «are
nationalists, neo-Nazis, Russophobic,
anti-Semites».
It was interesting then that
90km north of Rivne’s eponymous
regional capital.
Serhiy Knyazev, the newly installed
regional police chief, said
local law enforcement should target
the higher echelons of the corrupt
hierarchy instead of its workforce.
Arresting common miners
and confiscating their equipment
will only further fuel local anger,
he said.
the very first person to catch my
eye in March, filming amid the
demonstrators on the famous
Maidan in Kyiv, was an elderly
pensioner wrapped up warm
against the cold. She was holding
up a handwritten sign which
read: «Putin – Do I look like a
Nazi to you?»
business, usually the police or be paid just to gain access to the «People will simply rise up,»
security services, and those who fields.
said Knyazev, whose previous as-signment
ensure legal immunity in the For most, extraction remains
included fighting ciga-
courts, such as current or former the
Интернет
only viable way
сайты
to make
ВСЕХ
ends
русских
rette smuggling
бизнесов
in another Ukrainian
region.
local prosecutors, if it becomes meet in the impoverished region.
necessary.
«Even и частных if they make предпринимателей
the absolute According to Leontiyuk, the
«All component parts are engaged,»
minimum,» на одном said гигантском Vasyliev, who портале. local journalist, mining villages
said Bedriy, describing was elected to the regional coun-
in more remote parts of the re-
the mechanism known locally Все as бизнесы cil last year, «people могут will принять still come участие gion are в under проекте such rigid control
Ukraine’s «amber mafia». out to work because they’ve got by miners and armed gangs that
More recently, the trade recaptured
national attention независимо thanks Vasyliev от особенностей himself has been других acequipped
видов police рекламы. don’t even bother b
nowhere
СОВЕРШЕННО
else to go.»
БЕСПЛАТНО
the outnumbered and under-
to what observers say has been a cused of controlling part of the entering.
redistribution of the spoils among business in his home district, but «People exercise their impunity
there, and total impunity at
political and criminal Это groups. denies Новогодний the charge and claims подарок
it’s a
Clues have emerged in recent response to his efforts to legalise that,» he said. «Because objectively
от газеты "Горизонт"
months revealing what sort of mining. On a dreary April morning,
speaking, we just don’t have a force
he
players typically pull the strings.
Для этого
criticised
надо
what
занести
he claims is
информацию
that could compel them to quit
For instance, the ex-deputy a broader trend of venal officials mining.»
head of the regional SBU, who
о
is
своем
profiting
бизнесе
from the
ДО
country’s
НОВОГО
lack
ГОДА
The
по
virtual
адресу
anarchy that pervades
this amber-rich part of
of transparency.
www.gorizont.com/letmein
«That’s how we’re trotting into Ukraine has even earned it a curious
Europe,» he said bitterly. «By quietly
nickname: the «People’s
robbing our own people.» Republic of Amber,» a nod to the
Все вопросы Nevertheless, по Ukrainian тел. law 720-436-7613
pro-Russian separatist regions of
enforcement is making a new push eastern Ukraine.
to crack down on the business. To Vasyliev believes legislation
coordinate the fight, the reformed would boost the local economy
National Police of Ukraine has set and help cut out corruption by
up a special task force near the encouraging miners to police one
epicentre of illegal mining, some another. While they wait for politicians
in Kiev to act, places such as
Klesiv are sliding deeper into a cycle
of destitution and lawlessness.
«If Johnny will be able to do
this legally, but Pete wants to keep
mining somewhere illegally, then
believe me, Johnny won’t let him
do it,» he said. «But when neither
Johnny nor Pete have the opportunity,
that’s when you have a problem.»
Of course, such sentiments
mean nothing in isolation, but I
know that she wasn’t (and isn’t)
alone. Spend any time perusing
the thousands of comments and
satirical cartoons on social media
coming out of Ukraine in the b
last couple of months and you’ll
see just how many people have
y