Out of jail and into parliament, former right-wing firebrand says he has not compromised his non-conformist ideals
t of the country’s political spectrum.
“My credo is non-conformism,” Shkil said. “I do not adapt; I do not like those who adapt; and I will never live by the rules imposed by the regime.”
One of the founding members of the radical nationalist Ukrainian National Assembly and its para-military wing Ukrainian National Self Defense (UNA-UNSO), Shkil took part in the 1992 conflict in Transdniester, where UNA-UNSO volunteers fought for the breakaway region against the Moldovan authorities.
Shkil became notorious after an anti-presidential demonstration turned violent on March 9, 2001. As the “principal organizer of mass disturbances,” Shkil was arrested with a group of his followers. He spent a year in jail, before he was released after being elected to parliament in the March 2002 elections.
At the same time, a split in the UNA-UNSO ranks contributed to an electoral fiasco for the party. After his release, however, Shkil was able to overcome the crisis and unite the party behind him.
Days of hope
Born in Lviv in 1963, Shkil studied in the pharmacological faculty of the city’s medical university during the 1980s.
Shkil’s political career began in 1988. This was a time of political ferment in Lviv, as veteran dissidents like Vyacheslav Chornovil and the brothers Mykhailo and Mykola Horyn gathered patriotic young people around them.
“There was an air of freedom and conspiracy all around, even though there were no places to hold meetings. The ‘conspirators’ gathered in flats, or simply in cafes,” Shkil recalled.
Shkil took a leading role the Union of Independent Ukrainian Youth, becoming deputy chairman in 1989. The organization’s headquarters were in the basement of Shkil’s house.
“When we gathered, we’d spend five minutes or so discussing current topics,” he said. “Then the rest of the time, we’d talk politics. We were burning with impatience. We thought then that Ukraine would certainly become independent and strong – if not in 1988, then the next year.”
Shkil combined political activity with journalism. In 1990, the first Ukrainian-language FM-radio station was launched in Lviv. Initially called Free Radio from Ukraine, it later changed its name to Luks. Shkil hosted a three-hour program three times a week.
“I presented my thoughts quite freely. There was no censorship, and the only restrictions I observed were ethical – and not just anyone’s code of ethics, but my own,” he said.
End of romanticism
Shkil first became visible among the leaders of the Ukrainian National Assembly in 1990, when he took charge of UNA’s Lviv Oblast organization.
At the time of the hardline Auguest coup in 1991, Shkil was involved in the creation of the Ukrainian National Self Defense (UNSO).
During the early 1990s, Shkil continued his education in the journalism faculty of Lviv’s Ivan Franko University, while editing various publications like Molody Natsionalist (Young Nationalist) and Holos Natsii (Voice of the Nation), and later hosting the Nashe Dilo (Our Cause) program for the Tabachuk-TV production studio.
Before long, however, Shkil was disillusioned with the limited form of independence Ukraine had achieved. He considers 1994 the watershed year.
“We gained independence, but we did not flourish,” Shkil recalled. “I understood that the period of romanticism was over.”
With many former street fighters and romantic nationalists ensconced behind desks, Shkil identified a new role for UNA-UNSO.
“This was a force that would bark at Ukraine and prevent it from dozing away everything it gained,” he said.
By 1996, Shkil had built a reputation as a charismatic proponent of the national idea, and he was invited to head the organization’s propaganda wing.
Analyst Kost Bondarenko, who heads the Expert political research agency, said that at this time Shkil modelled himself on Dmytro Dontsov, the principal ideologue of the extreme form of Ukrainian nationalism that was influential in the first half of the 20th century.
“He built a convincing discourse, and was able to spark a response among his supporters and draw them behind him,” Bondarenko recalled.
By the mid 1990s, though, the popularity of the far right had declined significantly. In 1994, three UNA-UNSO deputies were elected to parliament, but by 1997 the organization had lost its clout in national politics, and its activities were no longer being taken seriously. Shkil lays part of the blame for the situation on the organization’s then leader Dmytro Korchynsky, who is now a television pundit.
“Korchynsky was not a politician, but a showman,” Shkil said.
Discontent with Korchynsky’s leadership grew in the UNA-UNSO ranks, and in 1998 he was unseated. Shkil was entrusted to lead the process of rebuilding the organization.
“I was able to stimulate the resurgence of the more active elements, and in 1999 I was chosen to head the central leadership body,” he said.
Permanent revolutionary
After the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze in the fall of 2000 and the subsequent release of tapes appearing to implicate President Leonid Kuchma in the killing, the country entered a new period of revolutionary ideas and street protests.
Not surprisingly, Shkil was at the center of events. He joined other opposition leaders to organize the Ukraine Without Kuchma protests.
On March 9, UNA-UNSO members were at the forefront during violent clashes with militia near the Presidential Administration. Several days later, Shkil was arrested.
“I was amazed, of course, by the scale of arrests after the March 9 events, when more than 500 people were picked up. But I didn’t think they’d arrest me,” he recalled.
Shkil spent a year in pre-trial confinement. After the parliament elections in March 2002, Shkil learned in his cell about the disastrous showing of UNA – only 0.04 percent in the party-list vote.
“This was the most disgraceful result in the history of the organization,” Shkil said.
Shkil endured another blow during his time in jail. He was accused of working too closely with fellow opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, and in April 2002 a group of UNA-UNSO leaders, including Eduard Kovalenko and Mykola Karpov, expelled him from the organization.
On his release from the Lukyanivka jail, however, Shkil was able to regain control of the organization. Shkil convened an extraordinary congress, at which Kovalenko and Karpov were expelled and he was reinstated.
Now Shkil is the leader of the national public organization UNA-UNSO. In parliament, Skhil is a member of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc faction.
However, Shkil’s links with Tymoshenko continue to draw criticism from his former colleagues.
“If he had not joined up with Tymoshenko, he could have done a lot for UNA. He still has time to grasp that the bloc he’s in does not meet the demands of the national patriotic movement,” Kovalenko said.
Despite his work in parliament, Shkil denies he has become a conformist.
“Power does not tempt me. I link my political future not with the executive but with the legislature,” he said.
Shkil says he will be involved in the creation of a new political force.
“It’s time for the lone prophets to unite in a single political structure,” Shkil said.
Shkil described President Kuchma as “ballast that prevents the boat of Ukrainian statehood from floating.” However, he said that not even the prospect of a victory by Viktor Yushchenko, a popular former prime minister, in the 2004 presidential election would persuade him to moderate his radical views.
“We’ll look at the concrete steps taken by Yushchenko’s team,” he said. “If it is people with a negative image that are setting the climate, then we’ll fight them too.”
This article was first published in Russian in Korrespondent magazine on July 8 as part of its series devoted to the Top 100 most influential individuals in Ukraine.
