Our friend in Kiev

Working indefatigably as mentor, guide and intellectual match-maker, has been Valentin Yakushik, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy. Kiev-Mohyla is one of Ukraine’s leading universities, with faculty and staff who were among the leaders of protest on the Maidan,Independence Square, that freezing winter two years ago when the Orange Revolution took place. On our study tour, we met some of the students who had been there, some disappointed in the consequences of the revolution, all still wanting to see Ukraine transformed. 

But Valentin had not been among the crowds on the Maidan. He fears that Ukrainian nationalism could divide Ukraine, neglecting the legitimate aspirations of those who speak Russian, primarily in the east of the country, especially around Donetsk. This is the territory of the Party of the Regions, led by Victor Yanukovich, who was denied the Presidency by the Orange Revolution, but is now Prime Minister after the elections earlier this year. Valentin thinks the present coalition of Our Ukraine, the ‘Orange’ party of President Yushchenko, with Victor Yanukovych’s Party of the Regions, is just what is needed to pull the country together.

But what about the murky past of so many politicians here, with corruption, vote-rigging, the buying of parliamentary seats? Optimists, like Valentin, don’t deny all this, but they say 'don’t exaggerate, not all politicians are bandits, and what is now needed is a period of normalization'. The Party of the Regions is extremely uncomfortable about Our Ukraine’s determined moves towards Nato membership, a process recently slowed down by Victor Yanukovych. But the coalition is, at least formally, united in wanting to move closer to the EU. Some say this is lip-service and that there is a growing feeling that there should be a ‘third way’, Baltic to Black Sea co-operation, distinct from both the EU and Russia.

Either way, open up lines of communication, Valentin argues, with more European forums, more opportunities for the exchange of ideas and more joint projects. Above all, he says, don’t view
Ukraine in black and white, good and bad - it’s a time of transition, a time for all parties to be linked closer to Europe.

The ethical issues will remain tricky - there has been no Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ukraine. But Valentin’s experience illustrates one of the remarkable and encouraging features of revolution and its aftermath - the lack of violence. It was touch and go, and the situation has been tense while the new coalition was negotiated, but civil peace has been maintained at the national level, and also at the more personal - Valentin has friends on all sides. Everyone among his Orange Revolution colleagues and students know where he stands, but debate continues, civility survives. Long may that continue, and whatever debates there may be about what Valentin says, long may he continue to build bridges across divides.

Author: John Lotherington