Sentimentalities apart

Leaders of the Dictatorship Resistance Committee (DRC) have been repeatedly saying that all of its members should coordinate their actions. Today, they represent heads of regional election headquarters almost every day, this time as part of the United Opposition. Moreover, they have even nominated first-past-the-post candidates in Zhytomyr oblast. It will be recalled that Vitalii Klitschko’s UDAR and Anatolii Hrytsenko’s Active Citizenship are not part of the DRC. Have the interests of all the DRC participants been taken into account in this case? What are the upcoming parliamentary elections going to be distinguished by? How is the opposition going to monitor the electoral process? What does the activity of Viktor Medvedchuk mean? This is the subject of an interview with Yurii KARMAZIN.

“THE DRC AND THE UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION, NOT THE DRC AND THE UNITED OPPOSITION”

Mr. Karmazin, do you think the Dictatorship Resistance Committee and the United Opposition are the same things?

“No, the Dictatorship Resistance Committee is a much broader notion than what is still called United Opposition. We can equate, though, such things as DRC and Ukrainian Opposition because the latter is almost entirely part of the committee, while only six of the 11 parties belong to the United Opposition.”

Does your party belong to the United Opposition?

“Did you see us among the Six at the forum? Our party belongs to the Ukrainian Opposition. We were the first to sign an agreement to join the DRC. And our party had suggested forming this association much earlier, on August 24, 2011. At the time, the Front of Changes, Fatherland, and other parties were still calling for going to the polls in several columns.”

And what happened then?

“Then Yulia Tymoshenko called upon the opposition to unite in a famous letter from the Lukianivska Pretrial Jail in November 2011. Besides, the abovementioned political forces were undergoing metamorphoses of their own.”

Why were you not present on the stage during the Opposition Forum?

“I sat among the participants. Why I was not invited to the stage and given the floor is a question to forum moderators, not to me. Frankly speaking, I did not expect this turn of events. Tellingly, the program guidelines announced on Mykhailivska Square differed from what we had worked out at DRC sessions.”

The point is the United Opposition works separately and is not exactly willing to see all the DRC parties, including yours, as part of itself.

“I would not like to aggravate differences now, but they in fact exist. Our party helped Yulia Tymoshenko very much to contest the presidency, we were aware of the colossal threat that Ukraine was facing, but, unfortunately, she failed to win. By contrast, the people who were doing their best to thwart Tymoshenko’s presidential bid, in fact playing up to the opposite side, are now among those who call themselves United Opposition. Obviously, they have somewhat different worldviews.

“IF WE LOSE THE ELECTIONS, THE GUILTY WILL HAVE TO WAIVE THEIR MANDATES”

In what constituency will you personally be running for a parliamentary seat?

“Neither I nor the Fatherland Defenders Party have yet chosen the format of participation in the elections. We are not breaking away from the DRC and are not striving to carry out our own egoistic projects. At the same time, if the Ukrainian Opposition does not have a broad format, I do not rule out that there will be various other formats of the participation of our party, and me personally, in the elections. I ran twice for a first-past-the-post seat, I was elected, also twice, to parliament on party lists, and I have the experience of managing a regional pre-election headquarters. I can officially disclose our position only after the end of the negotiations, the party political council’s session and the party congress. Should all the oppositional forces (no matter whether they are or are not part of the DRC) fail to unite, responsibility will be borne by the political leaders who hindered this process. If the elections are lost, these people will have to waive their parliamentary mandates.”

The BYuT’s Serhii Soboliev told The Day that these parties would be expelled from the DRC and would have no right to nominate their candidates at all.

“The DRC is working out the rules that are supposed to be binding on everybody. We are criticizing the now emerging selective approach. We must not allow for a situation, when one opposition candidate steals votes from another. I think a time will come when political leaders will understand this at last. I hope this will occur before they begin to tap on prison walls.”

This is why Tymoshenko has urged the opposition to make its lists public as soon as possible. Why is this process dragging on?

“As for the first-past-the-post candidates, I do not think it is absolutely necessary to disclose names. For once some of them began to show activity, they immediately had criminal cases opened against them. For example, this happened in Dnipropetrovsk. One should take a very balanced approach, discuss three or four candidates at a time, and then, having analyzed the reaction of the people and elites, choose the best one. As for the lists, they should be of the highest quality and embrace absolutely all the views. But, before drawing the lists, one should first think over the formation of election headquarters, for the authorities are taking a brazen attitude. We saw voters being bribed under the guise of Victory Day greetings. Food rations are being dished out in Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa. Of course, there is no reaction to this kind of actions. The Central Election Commission keeps silent – they think the electoral process has not yet begun. But there is a law on fighting corruption, which allows stopping those who bribe voters.”

“THERE SHOULD BE WEB CAMERAS AT EVERY POLLING STATION”

Lists and candidates are just a half of the job. How are you going to monitor the elections?

“The election monitoring should be a cut above the one in Russia. The Ukrainian state should do its utmost to have web cameras installed at every polling station. They should function online for all the Ukrainians without an exception. This will cost about 500 million hryvnias. In comparison to what the government is going to spend on bribing the voters, it is not so much. This equipment will not remain useless further on – it can be used in the next presidential elections. I am convinced that both the opposition and the government will be interested in this way of monitoring the electoral process because the government wants the outside world to recognize these elections. However, its behavior, especially in the first-past-the-post constituencies, shows just the opposite – these elections are unlikely to be recognized. Just look at the way the president’s son is behaving in Kirovohrad. Certain funds are already on the way to that place. At the same time, electoral commissions are about to be formed. All this only increases the necessity of video-filming the elections – not only on The Day of voting but also when the votes will be counted. The Dictatorship Resistance Committee should offer a candidature that has an unconditional prestige and experience of work in the opposition and can thus be entrusted to monitor this process. I can name my own candidature – it is Oleksandr Yeliashkevych, an MP of several convocations.”

What do you think of the possibility of Yeliashkevych coming back to big politics?

“I think that the politicians who were honest towards the Ukrainian people and, moreover, suffered for this (it is a proven fact that Yeliashkevych was assaulted for his political activism, and I personally has made three inquiries about this) should make a comeback to politics. In addition to Yeliashkevych, it may be, for example, Levko Lukianenko.”

Did the opposition discuss the question of video monitoring?

“The overall question of monitoring was raised, but we have not yet discussed video-filming. I hope we will be heard. Tymoshenko, Yatseniuk, Turchynov, Kozhemiakin, Martynenko, and others are supposed to show interest in this suggestion. Taking into account that we have decided not to introduce changes to the election law to prevent the authorities from taking undemocratic actions, the decision on video-filming during the elections may be made by the Central Election Commission.”

“MEDVEDCHUK’S PREMIERSHIP IN EXCHANGE FOR CHEAP GAS”

What does Viktor Medvedchuk’s pre-election activity mean?

“The whole country is strewn with billboards in the Russian language. Moreover, the words about the Ukrainian choice are spoken against the backdrop of a Russian flag. For some reason, there is no Ukrainian flag there – at least for the sake of parity. The fact that propaganda in favor of any state is allowed in this country shows that national interests are not being protected.

“Medvedchuk is undoubtedly a strong player, but in this case it is the question of zombying the Ukrainians by means of the Russian tricolor and a set of phrases. Is this a comeback? It is, rather, an attempt to remind us of himself and, what is more, to regain one of the topmost offices in the state – most likely, the office of prime minister or head of the Presidential Administration. He will not agree to something lower. This will be Ukraine’s price for cheap gas. But let me tell you at once that we do not need cheap gas. I am sincerely grateful to Putin and Medvedev for raising the gas price so high that we began at last to ponder over the exploitation of Europe’s largest shale gas deposits in Ukraine. I said a few years ago that we could turn from an importer into an exporter of gas and become a totally independent country in terms of energy. The sooner we do so, the sooner they will stop dictating us who must be appointed as prime minister. In the case of Medvedchuk, it is a clear hint that this beloved protege ought to be at the head of the Ukraine’s Cabinet. Yes, as far as efficiency is concerned, Medvedchuk is fit to become the premier, but, as far as devotion to the state is concerned, he should be kept at bay from this office. The billboards only confirm this.”

In what way can this be done?

“Now that the legislative branch of power has been destroyed, the president is running the show and appoints the Cabinet head. This means Medvedchuk can easily become the premier. His advertising effort is expensive and spans all over Ukraine. Apparently, this is not being done for the purpose of traveling to some first-past-the-post constituency in order to buy it wholesale and retail for a dozen million dollars and thus become a member of parliament. For 10 million dollars is the price of a constituency today. Incidentally, the cost of billboard advertising is different for the government and the opposition – two and a half times in favor of the government.”

To what extent is this scenario realistic?

“The chances are good, especially taking into account that Ukraine is unable to force Russia to treat us as equal partners when selling us gas. Almost all the countries, except for Ukraine, have seen the gas price reduced. I know that there was a proposal: we charge you 230 dollars per 1,000 cubic meters and you appoint Medvedchuk as prime minister.”

Will Yanukovych opt for this?

“This scenario is becoming increasingly likely as we are in a pre-default situation and the money-printing machine is working. Here is a small example. I come to Volodymyrsky Market to buy some vegetable, and a woman says to me: ‘Six people have paid me today with brand new bills.’ This means that the printing machine is at work. Our information says that over 20 billion hryvnias have been printed since the beginning of this year. Taking into account this circumstance and the fact that no efforts are being made to organize our own production of energy resources (there are only dreams about liquefied gas terminals, although they could have been built long ago) and, what is more, for the Party of Regions to retain power, Yanukovych can take this step. But this will be a murderous step for him because Medvedchuk will not content himself with the office of prime minister – he wants a higher office. Incidentally, Yanukovych is very well aware of this. This pessimistic (for Ukraine) scenario is a good occasion for the opposition (and not only the opposition) to think over things.”