THE PERILS OF PRAVDA UKRAINY

Officially, the order was not related to the paper's content; that would be a violation of the freedom of the press, which is proudly enshrined in Ukraine's new Constitution. Rather there were three violations concerning the paper's registration and paperwork. However, in what Western experts consider one of the world's most over-regulated economies, virtually nobody has all their papers in order, and the authorities can always find some kind of regulation that hasn't been fulfilled to the letter. The point is that, while the government is starting to talk a good game about deregulating the economy, over-regulation means power, and nobody with power likes to give it up.

On the one hand, the political struggle over the mass media is heating up, and a not terribly popular government is doing everything it can to control whatever it can and neutralize its main opponents like Mr. Lazarenko, whose reputation is not exactly sterling either. On the other hand, Mr. Lazarenko and his Hromada friends have shown that the state simply cannot silence their mouthpiece. In a state where something illegal can be found about virtually anything or it can be at any time declared illegal, official rights don't always mean a lot. See, for example the material on the Donetsk Metallurgical Plant where the people who thought they bought it and have invested in it no longer know whether they own anything or not because now there is talk that the plant was undervalued when it was sold. In a country crying out for investment, be it domestic or foreign, putting those who have already invested here in limbo is not exactly the best possible signal for those who might want to do likewise.