The Ukrainian Revolution

I made a conscious choice to go to Kyiv during the Orange Revolution. This letter contains the musings of an eyewitness from Moscow about what he saw there and about Russian-Ukrainian relations.

I was most impressed by the people of Kyiv, above all by their warm, cordial, and tolerant attitude; and how easily strangers (a young couple named Oleksiy and Kseniya) invited me to stay at their place, a single room apartment, after learning that I had come to support their revolution, and where I thought I’d spend a couple of nights, which turned out to be a couple of weeks. They adamantly refused to take any money, even though my stay was obviously a burden on their modest family budget. Moreover, every day would begin with Oleksiy taking me on a sightseeing tour to see the most memorable sites of Kyiv.

The absolute majority of Ukrainians, on seeing a Russian flag with an orange ribbon, would greet me with warm smiles. Many would come over, saying, “May I shake your courageous hand?” or “Thanks for joining us, we are very glad to see you among us.” Strolling on the Maidan with some of the locals, I’d be greeted with cheers and shouts “Good job, Russia!” People would constantly ask me what people in Russia thought about what was happening in Ukraine and said they were sorry to watch President Putin’s awkward behavior, immediately adding that Ukraine would remain Russia’s good neighbor; they would also ask me to tell the truth about the Orange Revolution in Russia. And they would insist that I take a sandwich or a doughnut, have a cup of tea or maybe some vodka. People would invite me to their homes for a hot meal, to take a shower, and stay for the night. I would be interviewed several times a day, mostly by Ukrainian media.

Many Russians would also approach me after spotting my Russian flag. Here is a far from complete Maidan geography: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Tver, Yaroslavl, Nizhni Novgorod, Irkutsk, Rostov-on-Don, Adygei, Sakhalin, Nefteyugansk, Tambov, Syktyvkar, and Sochi. The Maidan cheered the Russians who gave speeches: Nemtsov, Dorenko, Piontkovsky, Shevchuk, and others. Their speeches were punctuated by shouts from the huge crowd chanting “Well done!” and “Ukraine and Russia!” All told, hard as Comrade Putin, and Co., tried to make events take a different course, they failed to make Russia look like an enemy of Ukraine and to sow the seeds of discord between these truly brotherly peoples.

After spending two weeks in revolutionary Kyiv and returning to Moscow, I found myself being lectured on what had allegedly “actually” taken place in the Ukrainian capital. I was told that no popular revolution had occurred, simply that America wanted Ukraine as its fifty-first state, so Ukraine would be fenced off from Russia with a palisade and a deep moat teeming with crocodiles. With that goal in mind, the United States had bought ex-Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko lock, stock and barrel, paying a reasonable price (his wife is a US citizen, meaning that she is a CIA agent, of course!), and the same for his team. In order to push through their presidential candidate, the agents of imperialism had Kyiv and a dozen other large Ukrainian cities infiltrated by and packed with young fascist UNA-UNSO activists, who used bludgeons to herd the unfortunate Ukrainians to the main city squares and force them to chant “Yushchenko!” in front of the television cameras. Most interestingly, all this nonsense was forced on me with what looked like sincere conviction, that this was the truth, that no other explanation was possible.

Most people in Russia simply couldn’t believe what they were seeing: those downtrodden backwater khokhly [derogatory appellation for Ukrainians — Transl.] suddenly transformed into courageous and freedom-loving people with a keen sense of national dignity! Was it really possible that Ukraine was begetting a truly civil society capable of not only making an independent and conscious choice, but also defending it?

The Ukrainian nation’s manifest refusal to submit to the Kremlin meant an end, once and for all, to any further attempts to revive the Russian empire, in whatever modern format. Here everything happened the way it does in a joint stock company. Whereas Russia may have a controlling interest in the former Soviet territory, Ukraine holds the blocking one, meaning that any important corporate decisions must be made with Ukraine’s prior knowledge and consent. But this situation can only benefit Russia. Take the postwar experiences of Germany and Japan: they show that an effective turning point in a former mother country is possible only after that country abandons all imperial ambitions.

Indeed, the United States has proved to be more attractive to most of the post-Soviet and post-socialist countries than Russia. This is only natural, considering that America is better off and guarantees more civil rights and freedoms than Russia — and not just Russia! It’s like a girl in search of a suitable man to marry, who prefers a well-dressed and well-mannered one to a hobo. Russia has absolutely nothing with which it can counterpoise America ideologically. If the United States is a bulwark of freedom and democracy, with an increasing number of countries rallying under the Stars and Stripes (recall the number of democratic states in the early twentieth century), then all the Russian leadership’s attempts to place the greatest number of peoples under its control, exploiting ideologies like protecting them first against the “infidels” (e.g., the slogan: “Moscow — the Third Rome!”), then against capitalist oppression (e.g., Communist International) have invariably failed. Today Russia remains a bulwark of isolationism, which is not attractive to its neighbors, to put it mildly.

But not everything in the world that is being done to install democratic rule in one country or another is being done on express instructions from the US or its direct support. Likewise, it may be stated with the utmost certainty that Ukraine has a sufficient number of wealthy individuals who want to secure a free and prosperous future for themselves and their children.

The worst possible option would be if Vladimir Putin refused to forgive Ukraine’s “treachery” and proceeded to strangle it with economic sanctions, considering that he is well equipped to do just that. In that case, however, Russia would finally lose its Ukrainian brother. Let us hope that common sense and healthy pragmatism will prevail over political ambitions, and that both countries will continue to cooperate on a mutually advantageous basis.

As for Ukraine, no one actually idolizes Viktor Yushchenko; everybody understands that he is backed by forces that are pursuing their own interests. However, the main force backing him is the possibility of a civilized European future. If he makes serious mistakes or heads in the wrong direction, I am sure that the kind of civil society being formed in Ukraine will put the new administration in its place. After all, the Ukrainian people with their active joint efforts have shown other nations, primarily the members of the CIS, an excellent example of a bloodless national-liberation struggle.

Glory to Ukraine and Ukrainians!

A DIFFERENT OPINION

It has become obvious to the whole world that the United States brutally intervened in the Ukrainian presidential campaign. The Orange Revolution, carried out by Viktor Yushchenko and his team after the second round, is an example of an excellent scenario financed by the US. The then President Leonid Kuchma, aware of the dangerous situation that had developed in Ukraine, preferred to sit back and observe. His cold-blooded attitude allowed the Orange coup to happen, leaving this country in a state of chaos and lawlessness. Many people, blinded by big money, abandoned their common sense. There is no denying the fact that some of our students, pensioners, even coal miners (mostly young people) traveled to Kyiv to earn good money and buy clothes for their families.

Yes, we lost because we didn’t want a civil war in Ukraine. But deep in our hearts we have forever preserved our dignity, conscience, and culture.