aaus-list @ ukrainianstudies.org -- [aaus-list] Ukraine's Image


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Ukraine's Image

Roman Kupchinsky, Ukraiinska Pravda, 6 August 2002


 
     A recent two year study of Ukraine's image conducted world wide by two
companies, MIP and Troon Fields produced 5 large volumes of data. It shows
that Ukraine is seen in the eyes of policy makers around the world as a
state run by the mafia: a corrupt, unreliable and rather distasteful place.
Most respondents associate Ukraine with the killing of Gongadze and the long
string of scandals and corruption which have plagued the country for the
past 7 years. 
The only pleasant associations they saw in Ukraine were "culture" and
sports. The company which commissioned the study, Ukraine Cognita," when
releasing the study, announced that it had applied to the Ukrainian
government for a grant of 20 million Hryvnia's to bolster the image of the
country. 
It plans to do this by first inviting a group of 20 or so journalists to
tour parts of the country and show them the finer side of Ukrainian reality.
This might indeed be a painless way of improving the image in the short
term, but in the greater picture it would be a terrible waste of money. In
order to improve Ukraine's image in a meaningful way, much more needs to be
done then merely wining and dining 20 journalists so that they in turn would
write nice articles about Ukraine.
A few suggestions which might save Ukrainian taxpayers 20 million hryvnia's
and dramatically improve Ukraine's image can be as follows:
1. President Leonid Kuchma should resign his position as President of
Ukraine immediately and new elections be held within a period set by
parliament. He is the person most responsible for Ukraine's terrible image
and there is no way that a Ukrainian state led by Kuchma will ever improve
its image in the world.
2. The real killers of Gongadze must be arrested and tried in a court of
law. Those among them who presently hold parliamentary immunity must of
deprived of this shield. Their names are not a state secret and every
reasonable person who has followed developments in the case knows their
names, as does Mr. Piskun, the new Prosecutor General. For some strange
reason however, he pretends that he knows nothings and insists that elected
members of parliament and journalists also refrain from learning the truth ­
under penalty of prosecution. Mr. Piskun promised to bring the killers of
Gongadze to trial in 6 months, by January 2003. Will he keep his promise to
a parliament which confirmed him, or will he continue to push Ukraine's
image into the gutter as his predecessor Poteben'ko did?
3. Those responsible for illegal arms sales to criminal regimes and those
who stole millions, including those now hiding in parliament, must be
prosecuted to the full extent of the law. This includes such people as
Alexander Volkov for his alleged money laundering and other illegal acts;
Andriy Derkach for his alleged involvement in illegal arms sales and
financial crimes, Ihor Bakaj for alleged fraud and depriving the state
treasury of millions of dollars by his activity as head of Naftogaz Ukraina.
Mykola Azarov must be brought to trial for abusing his official position by
activities which were highly illegal. Mykola Poteben'ko should be tried for
obstructing justice and possibly receiving bribes. Vadym Rabinovich should
be made to stand trial for his alleged involvement in the illegal arms
trade. Yuriy Lytvyn should be made to answer charges of being an accomplice
to a number of high crimes. Oleksander Tkachenko should be made to stand
trial for alleged fraud. Gregoriy Surkis should be investigated for possible
involvement in the murder of Jefferey Ostrovsky in New York. This is the
short list. The long list is too long to elaborate upon. Once they are
indicted and placed on trial you can count upon Ukraine's' image to
dramatically improve.
4. The Ukrainian military must be brought under civilian control before it
is too late. Their record of incompetent criminal behavior followed by
cover-ups reached its limits by the downing of the Russian airplane over the
Black Sea and the tragedy at the Lviv Air Show disaster. It seems that the
military leadership of the country cannot be trusted to command when left to
it's own cadres. If anything, they are a major factor for Ukraine's terrible
image of a state out of control.
5. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be investigated for possible
criminal activities, including bribe taking for assigning positions abroad,
illegal commercial activities, incompetence of some of its staff and
mismanagement.
6. The SBU should be deprived of a role in domestic police work. It cannot
be a tool of the President to gather compromising information about his
political opponents. The numerous illegal operations mounted by Mr. Leonid
Derkach when he headed the SBU contributed greatly to the image of Ukraine
becoming what it is today. This seems to have ceased under the new
management, but it can emerge again.
7. Ukraine's borders should be made more visitor friendly. The long and
complicated entry procedures, the needless redundant paperwork and the often
hostile attitude of the border inspectors all contribute to a shocking
"welcome to Ukraine" for first time visitors. Why is it that Poland, the
Czech Republic, Hungary and other former socialist countries have managed to
make their entry points friendly and welcoming, while the protectors of
Ukrainian borders are still more geared to keeping Western spies out of the
country then making visitors feel welcome? The Soviet era managers of
Ukrainian borders should once and for all be told that the cold war has
ended, that Ukraine wants to join NATO and that visitors from the West are
not saboteurs and agents, but VIP's who do not want to pay the outrageous
bribe charged by the "VIP Lounge" in order to be treated as people.
Ukraine, as they say, must "clean up its act" and then its image will
improve very rapidly. There are many people in the West who want to see
Ukraine succeed and join the European community of states. The image will
not improve however, if the hard political and legal measures are avoided.
It is no use trying to fool the World by pretending that the cause of
Ukraine's poor image is the Western press which is "hostile to Ukraine."
This is nonsense. You do not shoot the messenger of bad news.





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