Blue &Yellow: Politics and Economics in Ukraine

When ten thousand protesters took to the streets in Moldova in the spring of 2009 to protest against their country’s Communist government, the action was dubbed the Twitter Revolution, because of the means by which the demonstrators had been brought together

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• Observers in the press are likely to make the assumption that Yanukovych is simply driving Ukraine toward convergence with the Russia model, to the great pleasure of his benefactors in the Kremlin.  I'm not so convinced....From Robert Amsterdam's blog. [RA]
• The first Russian who settled in Lviv, he writes, was Ivan Fedorov, the printer who arrived in 1572, but until 1939, there were very few ethnic Russians there. They consisted mostly of anti-Bolshevik White Army soldiers and their families, and they numbered at most in “the hundreds.”...Paul Globe [Window on Eurasia]
• Its members were hand-picked, its task momentous: to come up with a plan should a eurozone country enter a crisis and threaten the currency union.But it achieved, to a first approximation, exactly nothing, beyond simply keeping its own existence a secret....Felix Salmon on secret meetings. [Reuters]
• Many journalists and activists believe it suits the authorities for journalists to feel afraid. At Telekritika's headquarters in Kiev, Lesja Ganzha, who belongs to an anti-censorship movement, compared the current Ukrainian policy to that pursued by Russia in the early Putin years. "It's not just a comparable policy, it's exactly the same policy," she told me....Eastern Approaches. [The Economist]

"Last time I was asked the same questions that I had already answered. I don't see other reasons to summon me for questioning, apart from an attempt of political pressure and an attempt not to allow me to work in opposition," Turchynov said.

He also said that the Kyiv regional branch of the Batkivschyna Party was expected to hold a conference on Tuesday.

The former deputy prime minister discussing his second interrogation by the SBU over RusUkroEnergo and the gas seized by the government that was owned by the gas firm. Obviously the SBU doesn't see the event as a action taken for sake of Ukraine, as Tymoshenko has argued. Local elections are coming up in Ukraine, so I doubt that the SBU will slow down its investigation.

But Yanukovych may have more incentive than just such foreign criticism to boost press freedom. His popularity at home is plummeting, perhaps in part because of his heavy-handed approach to the media. A new poll by the Razumkov center says that in August, 22.5 percent of Ukrainians "completely support" Yanukovych, down from 40.9 percent in April. In February, he was elected with 49 percent of the popular vote.

From Radio Free Europe, the article is about press freedom in Ukraine under Yanukovych. However, I hadn't known about the decline in the president's ratings. His ratings could bounce back or stay weak, I'd like to see his ratings in December/January. The rest of the article summarizes recent events in Ukraine regarding media freedom.

The Bloc of Yulia Tymoshenko (BYT) suspects the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) was involved in making phone threats against Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the BYT faction in parliament, Serhiy Sobolev, said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine.

Among the documents impounded by SBU there are orders by the Soviet State Security, MGB, for 1945 and some documents from SBU archives in Lithuania.

Says Iryna Kalynets, a dissident and former inmate of the Lontsky St prison: “What is going on is an attempt to stall research work at the museum. It is a violation of the law and infringement on human rights.

Not sure why the SBU would seize historical documents, unless they were sending a message as well. The Yanukovych government continues to focus on the past. The former economic minister has been placed on the Interpol wanted list. Hard to tell if this is political prosecution and/or corruption.

The SBU chief is engaged in his professional activities which are in no way connected with the activities of mass media. I have no such information. As for his property, he transferred it under the management of his relatives. We have many officials, who came to work at different agencies, and who owned certain property, and transferred the management of this property in line with the law. This is happening not only in Ukraine but across the world," the president said when asked about Khoroshkovsky's ownership of a TV channel.

President Yanukovych defending his SBU chief, his denial perhaps a confirmation. 

"Our political force, as one of the most consistent opposition forces, starting from the presidential elections in 2010, is essentially being deprived, oblast by oblast, of the chance to participate in the elections. Yanukovych’s battle against democracy has reached new heights," Yulia Tymoshenko said today during a meeting with foreign diplomats in Ukraine. 

According to her, the Batkivshchyna Party has been excluded from the political process in four oblasts. "We won’t run if the situation doesn’t change in four oblasts: Kharkiv, Kyiv, Lviv and Luhansk oblasts." 

But Central Electoral Commission Secretary Iurie Ciocan announced on September 6 in the capital, Chisinau, that voter turnout was just 29.05 percent, more than 4 percentage points short of that goal. About 85 percent of those who voted backed direct elections, according to preliminary results.

How did this happen? Moldova heads back to the polls to elect another Parliament who will try to elect a president.  Looks like the Communists are going to get another chance to return to power. According to Reuters, the coalition will set the next election for November 21.

What happened next on that morning in early August is a matter of speculation. The one fact everyone agrees on is that Klymentyev vanished. His family reported him missing the next day and Kharkiv police opened a murder inquiry. His friends are convinced he is dead, though so far there is no body. On 17 August a boy discovered his mobile phone and keys in a small rubber boat floating in a rural reservoir.

The Guardian's article on the Vasyl Klymentyev whose been missing since August.  There is also a bit about Channel 5 and TVi, who have lost their licenses. RFE/RL has more information on the missing journalist, including one possible motive for his disappearance. 

On August 9, Klymentyev and Matviyenko took photographs of mansions belonging to regional Tax Chief Stanislav Denisyuk and three other local officials, including a former Ukrainian Security Service officer. They intended to use the pictures in an article to be published in the next issue of the paper. 

Matviyenko met Klymentyev on August 11 to discuss the article and the photos. Later the same day, Matviyenko says, he was not able to reach Klymentyev by phone.  

Meanwhile, the head of the opposition government, MP from the BYuT Sergei Sobolev said that the opposition to seek government report on negotiations on a joint venture with Gazprom and the preparation of a new gas agreement with Russia, as well as initiate the resignation of Energy Minister Yuriy Boiko.

According to BBC Ukraine, Naftogaz and Gazprom haven't abandoned the idea of merging.