Over the past several years the Western press has focused on two themes
relating to Ukraine: Chornobyl and corruption. Needless to say, this has
created a certain negative image of Ukraine, so one should not really wonder
at the lack - rather, absence - of foreign investment here.
Ex-Premier Lazarenko's detention in Switzerland, whether his alleged
crimes on Swiss soil are proved or not, is another and perhaps the darkest
spot on Ukraine's already motley visage.
On the one hand, European, US, or African investors, now only potential,
know full well that no one can be trusted in Ukraine, just as no one can
give any real guarantees.
On the other hand, recent history knows too many examples of corruption,
abuse of power at the highest level - even in the developed, most civilized
countries. Both predecessors of the current South Korean President were
arrested and tried in South Korea, not in Switzerland or elsewhere. All
trials of Italian premiers and other bribe-taking top-level bureaucrats
took place in Italy; all Turkish problems were resolved using only Turkish
resources.
In the case of Lazarenko one finds additional proof that Ukraine is
incapable of even trying to get things straightened out at home, using
its own resources. Only a fool can rely on its legal/judicial system, especially
now that there is less than a year left before the presidential elections.
Even optimistic forecasts, like the one voiced by Oleksandr Razumkov, Deputy
Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, have
it that it will take Ukraine another 10-15 years to adapt to European standards.
It would probably take another revolution to make Ukrainian integration
with Europe a reality and see Ukrainian names and attainments on the front
pages of British, German, Swiss, and Bulgarian newspapers. A revolution
of the mentality, something Ukraine's so-called elite cannot do. It would
take conditions in which no "Lazarenko case" would have been possible in
the first place, yet informed sources report that competent authorities
in certain countries have opened cases on certain persons allegedly involved
in or with the Ukrainian political leadership.
Considering that foreigners - bankers, businessmen, even politicians
- frankly say on newspaper pagers that, if and when Lazarenko is retired,
corruption will not abate in Ukraine, it means that visa barriers will
be mounted and Ukrainian business entities will continue to be barred access
to the World Trade and other organizations; it means that Ukraine will
have to kiss goodbye to European Union, let alone NATO, membership... The
Times, Le Monde or Frankfurter Allgemeine will continue to write about
Ukraine as just the place where they can (or want to) do nothing to close
down the Chornobyl station and stop corruption. And Ukraine will remain
European purely geographically. That would be a shame. As a taxpayer, I
hate to put up with the kind of international image Ukraine is donned by
her leadership.






