Valentyn NALYVAICHENKO: “We will disclose all the offshore accounts of oligarchs and their families”

Our interviewee, Valentyn NA­LY­VAI­CHEN­KO, now an UDAR party member, has not yet been elected to parliament, but third place on the UDAR party list gives him every chance of this. Earlier, Na­ly­vai­chenko planned to make his way to this country’s highest legislative body from a Ternopil region first-past-the-post con­sti­tuency. But then he changed his plans. Why? This is what we began the interview with.

Mr. Nalyvaichenko, you have said more than once that you want to run for parliament from a Ternopil oblast first-past-the-post constituency, representing the Dictatorship Resistance Committee. But now you are No. 3 on the UDAR list. Will you explain this?

“Only a new force and new politicians can bring about changes. UDAR is this force and it is shaping a policy of new standards. This policy is based on an orientation to people’s support, which was and still is the main thing for me during the political campaign in the Zboriv constituency. My team took part in the primaries and in the public discussion of the program, and it also favors open talks between the opposition candidates. Vitali Klitschko supports all these attitudes. We are like-minded people. I think UDAR is the most dynamic and most promising force in the opposition camp.”

You also negotiated with the United Opposition. Did you fail to make a deal?

“UDAR and the United Opposition are the teams that oppose the current regime. You heard a clear five-point (‘five-strike’) program. I am reso­lutely determined to support this program. As for the United Opposition, they are our political partners. I am strongly convinced that UDAR will be campaigning for Yulia Tymoshenko and Yurii Lutsen­ko to be freed, and the two forces will cooperate in the future parliament, for example, in the ca­ses when a simple and then a constitutional majority is required to pass a prepared bill or one that is still being drafted. For instance, we seriously intend to propose that those who have breached the law and have offshore accounts should be kept from power. These high-profile bills require cooperation from and fair voting by every opposition MP. Besides, we must unite right now in such questions as protection of elections, the voting procedure, and election observation. This activity will require every poli­tical force and first-past-the-post candidate to make an all-out effort and cooperate with the community. And, finally, we must rally together today to protect local communities from injustice, arbitrary rule, and human rights violations.”

On whose initiative did you join the UDAR team?

“It was, incidentally, thanks to the newspaper Den. It all began with your roundtable last March, which was attended by active citizens and politicians who wanted to be honest, cooperate with moral authorities, and support such a movement as Ho­nestly. The goal is to allow new reputable people, who have not yet been at the Verkhovna Rada, to go to po­­li­tics. The only politician who meets these requirements is Vitali Klitschko. This is why I entered his team. There were no conditions on either his or my part about a place in the list, which is often the crunch point for the do-called politicians in this country. The crucial point of our discussion was different – what and how to do for Ukraine. This road brought me first to being a party member, then the congress, and now to working as part of the UDAR team.”

So you are a member of the party?

“Yes. I took part in drawing up program documents on foreign policy and European integration. We are making some serious proposals about canceling visas for our citizens, opening up the European space of education and science, simplifying the procedure of doing business in Ukraine and conducting trade with European Union members and Russia.”

Could you comment on the presence of such well-known politicians as Hurvits and Kunitsyn on the lists?

“About Mr. Hurvits. I have visited Odesa more than once: the Country Modernization team and I worked to protect the Odesa mass media, such as the Circle TV channel, which defends the local community’s interests, the newspaper Chornomorski novyny, and Veteran, a chain of low-cost dining rooms. In 2011, they were often harassed by the Party of Regions and the Communists. I know that Hurvits has a team worthy of respect. He himself is clearly aware of the interests of Odesa city and oblast. He is an experienced national-level politician. His experience and knowledge of the problems of local go­vernment and the economy will be of use for our political force.

“As for Kunitsyn, I don’t know him well, but I know very well other people who fought, as he did, in Afghanistan. As a former security service chief, I can say that antiterrorist and other related units, whose servicemen really risk their lives during the service, include people who went through the Afghan war. They adhere to high moral principles. Today, the ‘Afghans’ are unsatisfied with the situation in this country, and they do not support the current go­vernment’s policies.”

Is your third place on the list the result of a deal?

“What distinguishes UDAR is that there were no deals. Another pleasant surprise was that both on the night before the congress and a day before it there were no queues or locked rooms in Vitali Klitschko’s office. Nobody stood and haggled for a place. Klitschko does not accept this in principle. So neither I nor Ms. Matios knew our numbers. We only knew what team we belonged to and what assignments we should carry out. My domain is fo­reign policy, national security, corruption control, and the drafting of laws on these matters. Everybody else who has joined the UDAR party also knows what they are responsible for.”

When you speak about locked rooms, do you hint about the United Opposition?

“What I can say clearly is that Klitschko has ne­ver had this as well as such thing as nepotism. UDAR has avoided this. Whoever represents this party in the elections bears personal responsibility.”

On what principles is the party funded?

“It is the principle of membership fees from those who join the team and are in the party’s political council. Every party member is doing politics on a non-profit basis because he or she is a self-sufficient person.”

What about the money of oligarchs?

“No oligarchs want to or will fund us for one crucial reason. Our first bill will be about fighting corruption and lustrating all those officials who are in fact in the pay of oligarchs – from top central go­vernment executives to local administrators. Ordinary people eke out a miserable existence because the corrupt bureaucrats are advancing the interests of oligarchs. The next step will be disclosure of all the offshore accounts of oligarchs and their families. The accounts will be disclosed so that the embezzled bud­getary money can be returned following an international inquiry. If a corruptionist took the money offshore by breaching the law, he or she will be brought to justice. So I doubt that any of the 100 richest people in Ukraine would choose to help us. We are not even expecting them to do so.”

Vitali Klitschko estimates that the future parliament will have about 70 UDAR members. What is your forecast?

“It is not up to me to forecast. I should work. There must be only one approach: to win the trust of people by actively explaining UDAR’s program to them. We are going now to cities and villages in order to hear and mingle with people and offer them our recipe of changes. I am sure we will find support.”