ANALYSIS: Is Yuschenko's Our Ukraine bloc really Kuchma's political project? (09/30/01)

ANALYSIS

Is Yuschenko's Our Ukraine bloc really Kuchma's political project?

by Jan Maksymiuk
RFE/RL Poland, Belarus and Ukraine Report

Kyiv-based political analyst Volodymyr Polokhalo, editor-in-chief of the Politychna Dumka (Political Thought) magazine, said last week that the Our Ukraine election bloc of former Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko is a "political project" of President Leonid Kuchma's administration, Interfax reported.

"From the very beginning, [Yuschenko] has been acting according to his formulations - which, possibly, were voiced awkwardly but quite openly - to the effect that any actions on his part should be coordinated with the president, as between a son and a father. This means that [Yuschenko] accepts the president's world outlook and the steps he takes in any situation. ... There is no evidence that Viktor Yuschenko is an independent, self-sufficient political player," Mr. Polokhalo noted.

Mr. Polokhalo added that the presidential administration has taken every measure to prevent Our Ukraine from including forces that are in opposition to President Kuchma. According to Mr. Polokhalo, neither the anti-Kuchma Forum for National Salvation nor its individual representatives have any chance of joining Our Ukraine.

"The political regime is interested in creating such blocs and such political players that are not interested in real competition and have no ideological differences that would bring this competition about," the September 20 issue of the newspaper Den (Day) quoted Mr. Polokhalo as saying. According to the political analyst, Mr. Yuschenko's Our Ukraine is one vivid illustration of this thesis. Another illustration, Mr. Polokhalo added, is the planned bloc that journalists have dubbed "Tundra" - it reportedly will consist of the Labor Party, Party of Regions, National Democratic Party and the Agrarian Party, whose combined acronym in the vernacular sounds close to the word "tundra."

Mr. Yuschenko, in his turn, denies that his bloc is steered by the presidential administration. But he does not conceal that he consults on his political steps with President Kuchma and would prefer not to call Our Ukraine an opposition force.

In an interview with the September 11 issue of Stolichnie Novosti Mr. Yuschenko glibly said:

"My attitude toward Leonid Danylovych [Kuchma] has been and remains honest. Neither I nor Our Ukraine are under the president's control. ... I hope that Leonid Danylovych's attitude to the bloc will be the same as our bloc's attitude toward him. Today, I am confident that the president needs constructive criticism from a bloc with a patriotic stand much more than radicalism. This criticism from our bloc is not personal criticism of the president. I will respect the president because he is the symbol of my state."

"Without respecting the president I will not get marks as an intelligent and educated man. This is reality and it speaks for itself. People from my bloc often say that I consult the president too much. But I would like to consult him even more. Not because the bloc's policy is under his control, but because the president plays a special role in Ukraine. It is not going easily for him now, or for the country. Any bloc gets marks rather than loses them from communications with the authorities."

The parliamentary caucuses of the Ukrainian National Rukh, National Rukh of Ukraine, Reforms and Order Party, and Reforms-Congress on September 19 announced the creation of the Our Ukraine group in the Verkhovna Rada to represent the Our Ukraine election coalition headed by Mr. Yuschenko.

But it is unclear what other political parties will be in Our Ukraine.

Ukrainian media reported last week that Mr. Yuschenko would like the Party of Regions led by State Tax Administration Chairman Mykola Azarov to join Our Ukraine in an effort to get leverage in Ukraine's eastern oblasts. But Mr. Azarov reportedly answered that Our Ukraine would be better served by joining the Party of Regions in the Tundra bloc.

Jan Maksymiuk is the Belarus, Ukraine and Poland specialist on the staff of RFE/RL Newsline.

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