Yuri Lutsenko: Ukraine is not Belarus yet, but already a half-jail

Former head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Yuri Lutsenko gave an exclusive interview to the website charter97.org.

Before Viktor Yushchenko’s victory at the 2004 presidential elections, Yuri Lutsenko was an active opponent of Leonid Kuchma’s regime. In the autumn 2004, he was among those who organized and carried out the action of civil disobedience in Kyiv. Lutsenko was the commander of the tent camp on Maidan. In 2005, he became the first civil head of the Ukrainian Interior Ministry. Lutsenko worked in three consequent governments of Yulia Tymoshenko, Yuri Yekhanurov and Viktor Yanukovich.

On December 26, 2010 Lutsenko was arrested by the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine and charged with illegal spending of a large amount of state funds. After the trial held in early 2012 the former minister was sentenced to a four-year prison term. All his property was confiscated.

On April 7, 2013 Lutsenko was released from prison on Yanukovich’s pardon decree.

Presently the former interior minister of Ukraine is undergoing a treatment in Poland where he gave an interview to charter97.org.

- How would you describe the political and economic situation in your country?

- Today Ukraine is on the peak of economic stagnation aggravated by shameless crime and stealing of the powers. Oligarch monopolies dictate their prices, several times higher than in the European Union, which turns the lives of common Ukrainians into fight for survival. To maintain this order, the powers have established an authoritarian system that has basically eliminated independent parliament, courts and media. Of course, it is not yet Belarus, but this form of “half-prison / half-mental asylum” is ontologically close to the Belarusian reality.

- How sincere is the intention of Viktor Yanokuvich and his team to develop a closer relationship with the European Union? Would you agree that its actual goal is to sabotage the European integration and to join all integration projects of the Kremlin?

- They say that in Texas, only Texans can rob banks. Yanukovich is convinced that Ukraine can be robbed only by the members of his Donietsk clan. He is afraid of the Customs Union because he can lose his monopoly to rob Ukraine. And all his attempts to hide under the umbrella of the Association agreement with the European Union originate here. The ways of the incumbent mafia and strategic interests of the nation coincide in this very unpleasant fashion. The Association is a barrier that should prevent the Kremlin from absorbing both Ukraine and Yanukovich’s clan. This is the price of Ukraine’s European future.

- In this case why won’t Yanukovich release Tymoshenko?

- Yulia Tymoshenko’s freedom is the most important step towards Ukraine’s liberation. Work in this direction is being done all the time. The bets in this political game are very high, both for the country, Yulia and Yanukovich. We still have time before the Vilnius summit of the Eastern partnership to achieve the right decision.

- Why was it necessary to send you to prison? They had to release you eventually. What has influenced the president’s decision? Have there been behind-the-curtains agreements with foreign institutions?

- My conviction had multiple meanings. The main ones were to take revenge upon the “orange” Maidan, to eliminate the opponent that could not be bribed or intimidated. And the main thing was to try to create the atmosphere of the Great Fear in the country.

Fortunately, the Ukrainian society has survived this attack. As soon as it became obvious that it is impossible to intimidate everyone, the powers had to step back a little bit. As for now, I am their only concession to the pressure from outside in Europe, and inside the country. If the pressure grows, democracy will see more victories.

As for the terms of the release, there are no behind-the-curtains agreements. I remain an active politician and I am doing everything I can to replace the acting regime.

- Does the Ukrainian opposition use the experience of other nations, for example, Belarus?

- In the modern world, nobody can live on an isolated farm keeping to their own customs. Of course, the democratic Ukraine is using experience of other more and less successful forms of struggle with dictatorship, including the Belarusian experience.

- The Belarusian dictatorship is more than 18 years old. Do you admit that, by using basically universal mechanisms of power seizure and retention, Yanukovich will repeat Lukashenka’s experience?

- I don’t believe that the powers in Ukraine have so much time left to rule. They remind me of an ostrich whose brain is smaller than eyeballs and beak.

And vice versa, I believe that there are enough Ukrainians with a clear mind and feeling of personal and national dignity. I am convinced that the country that had Maidan-2004, cannot be anything but democratic.

- During Yanukovich’s rule, there have been several time that could make Ukrainians go to the streets: the new Taxation Code, sentences of Lutsenko and Tymoshenko, the parallel sessions of deputies who adopt their “laws”. Why don’t people demonstrate? And in general, how do you evaluate the protest potential of your people?

- The Ukrainians don’t go to the streets because they don’t see a clear plan of change for the country, and let me emphasize, not only the change of the president’s name, but the system change. 2005-2009 have taught them that it is not enough to elect a good politician; they need to check if this politician has a plan and a team to fulfill it. As soon as such a plan of the new country is written (I call it the Third Republic of Ukraine), as soon as the opposition suggests a presidential candidate and a team to work this plan, the process of national movement will be the key factor of the Ukrainian politics. And this is what I am working at today.

- The Belarusians took part in the “orange” revolution and counted on the support of the democratic Ukraine. Instead, the cooperation of the new Ukrainian powers with Lukashenka has intensified. Nevertheless, none of the old Belarusian-Ukrainian problems has been solved. If you get to rule, will the same situation repeat, or will you change anything?

- My closest friend who shares my ideas is Roman Bezsmiertny. It should be enough to say that democratic Belarus is what we are hoping to see.

- Don’t you think that the key to the solution of the problems in our region is the collapse of Lukashenka’s dictatorship?

- I don’t particularly like “keys to all problems”. Simple answers to complicated questions are a drug for the mind. I believe that it is more correct to apply the old Polish principle “For your and our freedom!”. I wish you luck, and let’s compete what country gets clean from the past sooner.