Washington Post: Scandals Enveloping Leader Threaten Ukraine Democracy
02/19/2001 | Broker
Washington Post
Scandals Enveloping Leader Threaten Ukraine Democracy
By Sharon LaFraniere
Sunday, February 18, 2001
KIEV, Ukraine, Feb. 17 -- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who has long painted himself as his country's leading defender of democracy, now faces accusations he is anything but that.
His opponents allege he ordered the abduction and murder of a crusading journalist, condoned a grenade attack on a political opponent, threatened to jail officials who didn't produce enough votes for him and knew about the theft of $100 million of government revenue.
The scandals, which Kuchma calls "absurd" and "insane," have cost him control of parliament and drawn thousands of protesters to the streets of this capital, a mix of 11th century bell towers and utilitarian, Soviet-style skyscrapers.
The controversy comes at a pivotal moment in Ukraine's 10-year-old democracy. It could determine whether Ukraine, which is about the size of France and has 47 million people, is a Soviet-style dictatorship in disguise, like neighboring Belarus. It may also determine whether Ukraine turns toward the West, as Kuchma says he hopes, or falls back into Russia's orbit. Ukraine, which sits on the Black Sea southwest of Russia, declared its independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The government seems to be wavering between covering up the scandals, even if it means suppressing critics, or getting to the bottom of them, even if it means ousting the president. U.S. and European officials say they are increasingly troubled by how Kuchma's prosecutors are handling the investigation into the disappearance of Heorhiy Gongadze, 31, whose body was discovered in November. "There is not a clear feeling of how, in fact, they are going to move this forward," said a top Western diplomat here.
Kuchma insisted in an hour-long interview Friday that he, more than anyone, wants to find out who beheaded Gongadze, doused his body with acid and buried it in a shallow grave in a forest outside Kiev. Kuchma said a tape recording on which he is purportedly heard ordering top aides to "get rid of" Gongadze is a fake -- even though he acknowledged that a bodyguard may have surreptitiously taped some of his conversations.
"Just imagine this absurd situation when the president calls in several ministers and gives them an order to eliminate a journalist," said Kuchma, 63, who managed a Soviet missile factory before entering politics, and campaigned for democratic and market reforms. He became prime minister in 1992 and president in 1994. He was reelected in 1999.
"This has damaged not only my image, it has damaged my heart," he said. "I think some new fissures appeared on the surface of my heart. I have been criticized all my life, including during my term as president, as being a very soft person. I didn't allow myself to do anything that could be construed as rude or very strict. But all of a sudden [people are saying] that I ordered the assassination of a journalist."
Kuchma predicted that he would ride out the "political show," recover control of the parliament and eventually resume his pro-market reforms.
He dismissed as ne'er-do-wells the protesters who demand his resignation daily from tents erected on Kiev's main street. "Average people, they work," he said, leaning forward on a white brocade couch in front of a low, round wooden table in a corner of the presidential reception room. "Let them sit there, for God's sake."
In his 10 year political career as legislator, prime minister and president, Kuchma said, he has never suppressed protests or critics and won't start now. At the same time, he said, he won't give in to opponents' demands that he fire the prosecutor and other top law enforcement officials. If he did, he said, law enforcement would lose its ability to function and "ordinary people will lose their faith in the country, in the power. And then some people probably will go and ask for an iron hand in the neighboring country" -- apparently hinting that Ukraine could fall further under Russia's influence.
While some Western observers say Kuchma's hang-tough attitude is not much of a strategy, it may serve him well enough.
Volodymyr Polokhalo, a political scientist who edits the journal Political Thought, said many Ukrainians are too politically unsophisticated and too beaten down by their daily struggle to raise an outcry over a dead journalist. Protests of 5,000 people can be ignored, he said; 100,000 would be a different matter.
"I am shocked by the allegations," he said. "Many of my colleagues are shocked. But the part of the society that is shocked is not a critical mass. The society is weak, scared and unable to protect itself. Everyone thinks only of how to survive. Most people think in the following way: 'We don't want it to be worse.' "
Rousing the public is hardly the only challenge for Kuchma's opponents. They are divided by gaping philosophical differences and lack a single charismatic leader. Even if they were able to gather enough votes to impeach Kuchma, the law does not spell out what the impeachment procedure would be.
Mikolo Tomenko, who heads the Independent Institute of Politics in Kiev, said he believes Kuchma will be forced to cede some of his authority to parliament "to remove the sword over his head and put it next to his chair."
Tomenko said that in the 450-member parliament, he counts 163 Kuchma supporters, 180 who are ready to vote for impeachment and about 100 who could go either way.
"What happens with the president would greatly depend on how these people vote," he said. "And that will depend on the president's day-to-day steps."
So far, Ukraine's prosecutors are widely judged to have mishandled the Gongadze investigation. In a report last month, the group Reporters Without Borders said the chief prosecutor "has conducted his investigations with the sole aim of clearing the name of political authorities from any responsibility in this affair."
A parliamentary committee has been set up to investigate the Gongadze affair. But it has few legal powers, and its chairman, Oleksandr Lavrynovych, said in an interview that he can't begin to determine whether the purported tapes of Kuchma's conversations are authentic unless somebody gives him the originals. He said the situation is so politically risky that he wishes he had never agreed to head the commission. "Basically, I don't have any support," he said.
To some, the best hope is that the Council of Europe, a governmental body that focuses on human rights, will sort out the affair. The council has agreed to publish the results of an independent analysis of the tapes that will be arranged by the Vienna-based International Press Insititue and Freedom House, a New York-based nonprofit organization. The press institute has possession of the original tapes, according to the council. A Kiev research institute, which analyzed copies of the tapes, said it could not identify who was speaking because of the poor quality of the recordings.
Kuchma said he welcomes any outside help. "We are open. We are not trying to hide anything," he said.
Gongadze's mother, Lesya, a 58-year-old dentist, also welcomes the inquiry. But she expects a different conclusion.
She said she realized the investigation of her son's death was rigged when a prosecutor asked her to sign a false statement that her son was deeply in debt when he disappeared in September.
"I am sure it is all true -- what the tapes are saying," she said in an interview in a friend's crowded Kiev apartment, where she has moved temporarily so she can pursue her son's case. "Today it was my son. Tomorrow it could happen to anyone. That's why I must find out the truth. I must push it to the end."
Scandals Enveloping Leader Threaten Ukraine Democracy
By Sharon LaFraniere
Sunday, February 18, 2001
KIEV, Ukraine, Feb. 17 -- Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who has long painted himself as his country's leading defender of democracy, now faces accusations he is anything but that.
His opponents allege he ordered the abduction and murder of a crusading journalist, condoned a grenade attack on a political opponent, threatened to jail officials who didn't produce enough votes for him and knew about the theft of $100 million of government revenue.
The scandals, which Kuchma calls "absurd" and "insane," have cost him control of parliament and drawn thousands of protesters to the streets of this capital, a mix of 11th century bell towers and utilitarian, Soviet-style skyscrapers.
The controversy comes at a pivotal moment in Ukraine's 10-year-old democracy. It could determine whether Ukraine, which is about the size of France and has 47 million people, is a Soviet-style dictatorship in disguise, like neighboring Belarus. It may also determine whether Ukraine turns toward the West, as Kuchma says he hopes, or falls back into Russia's orbit. Ukraine, which sits on the Black Sea southwest of Russia, declared its independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.
The government seems to be wavering between covering up the scandals, even if it means suppressing critics, or getting to the bottom of them, even if it means ousting the president. U.S. and European officials say they are increasingly troubled by how Kuchma's prosecutors are handling the investigation into the disappearance of Heorhiy Gongadze, 31, whose body was discovered in November. "There is not a clear feeling of how, in fact, they are going to move this forward," said a top Western diplomat here.
Kuchma insisted in an hour-long interview Friday that he, more than anyone, wants to find out who beheaded Gongadze, doused his body with acid and buried it in a shallow grave in a forest outside Kiev. Kuchma said a tape recording on which he is purportedly heard ordering top aides to "get rid of" Gongadze is a fake -- even though he acknowledged that a bodyguard may have surreptitiously taped some of his conversations.
"Just imagine this absurd situation when the president calls in several ministers and gives them an order to eliminate a journalist," said Kuchma, 63, who managed a Soviet missile factory before entering politics, and campaigned for democratic and market reforms. He became prime minister in 1992 and president in 1994. He was reelected in 1999.
"This has damaged not only my image, it has damaged my heart," he said. "I think some new fissures appeared on the surface of my heart. I have been criticized all my life, including during my term as president, as being a very soft person. I didn't allow myself to do anything that could be construed as rude or very strict. But all of a sudden [people are saying] that I ordered the assassination of a journalist."
Kuchma predicted that he would ride out the "political show," recover control of the parliament and eventually resume his pro-market reforms.
He dismissed as ne'er-do-wells the protesters who demand his resignation daily from tents erected on Kiev's main street. "Average people, they work," he said, leaning forward on a white brocade couch in front of a low, round wooden table in a corner of the presidential reception room. "Let them sit there, for God's sake."
In his 10 year political career as legislator, prime minister and president, Kuchma said, he has never suppressed protests or critics and won't start now. At the same time, he said, he won't give in to opponents' demands that he fire the prosecutor and other top law enforcement officials. If he did, he said, law enforcement would lose its ability to function and "ordinary people will lose their faith in the country, in the power. And then some people probably will go and ask for an iron hand in the neighboring country" -- apparently hinting that Ukraine could fall further under Russia's influence.
While some Western observers say Kuchma's hang-tough attitude is not much of a strategy, it may serve him well enough.
Volodymyr Polokhalo, a political scientist who edits the journal Political Thought, said many Ukrainians are too politically unsophisticated and too beaten down by their daily struggle to raise an outcry over a dead journalist. Protests of 5,000 people can be ignored, he said; 100,000 would be a different matter.
"I am shocked by the allegations," he said. "Many of my colleagues are shocked. But the part of the society that is shocked is not a critical mass. The society is weak, scared and unable to protect itself. Everyone thinks only of how to survive. Most people think in the following way: 'We don't want it to be worse.' "
Rousing the public is hardly the only challenge for Kuchma's opponents. They are divided by gaping philosophical differences and lack a single charismatic leader. Even if they were able to gather enough votes to impeach Kuchma, the law does not spell out what the impeachment procedure would be.
Mikolo Tomenko, who heads the Independent Institute of Politics in Kiev, said he believes Kuchma will be forced to cede some of his authority to parliament "to remove the sword over his head and put it next to his chair."
Tomenko said that in the 450-member parliament, he counts 163 Kuchma supporters, 180 who are ready to vote for impeachment and about 100 who could go either way.
"What happens with the president would greatly depend on how these people vote," he said. "And that will depend on the president's day-to-day steps."
So far, Ukraine's prosecutors are widely judged to have mishandled the Gongadze investigation. In a report last month, the group Reporters Without Borders said the chief prosecutor "has conducted his investigations with the sole aim of clearing the name of political authorities from any responsibility in this affair."
A parliamentary committee has been set up to investigate the Gongadze affair. But it has few legal powers, and its chairman, Oleksandr Lavrynovych, said in an interview that he can't begin to determine whether the purported tapes of Kuchma's conversations are authentic unless somebody gives him the originals. He said the situation is so politically risky that he wishes he had never agreed to head the commission. "Basically, I don't have any support," he said.
To some, the best hope is that the Council of Europe, a governmental body that focuses on human rights, will sort out the affair. The council has agreed to publish the results of an independent analysis of the tapes that will be arranged by the Vienna-based International Press Insititue and Freedom House, a New York-based nonprofit organization. The press institute has possession of the original tapes, according to the council. A Kiev research institute, which analyzed copies of the tapes, said it could not identify who was speaking because of the poor quality of the recordings.
Kuchma said he welcomes any outside help. "We are open. We are not trying to hide anything," he said.
Gongadze's mother, Lesya, a 58-year-old dentist, also welcomes the inquiry. But she expects a different conclusion.
She said she realized the investigation of her son's death was rigged when a prosecutor asked her to sign a false statement that her son was deeply in debt when he disappeared in September.
"I am sure it is all true -- what the tapes are saying," she said in an interview in a friend's crowded Kiev apartment, where she has moved temporarily so she can pursue her son's case. "Today it was my son. Tomorrow it could happen to anyone. That's why I must find out the truth. I must push it to the end."