Perhaps the ambassador is unaware that the opposition is boycotting the Constitutional Assembly until Ukraine fulfills the January resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that calls for the release of Ukrainian political prisoners.

In the 2010 elections, Viktor Yanukovych never campaigned for a return to the 1996 constitution and, if he had, he might have not defeated Yulia Tymoshenko by a mere 3 percent. Constitutional changes were railroaded through in September 2010 by stuffing the Constitutional Court with judges who would agree to annul the 2004 constitutional reforms.

Therefore, why should the Ukrainian opposition or Council of Europe’s Venice Commission have any faith in the Constitutional Assembly?

Ambassador Yelisieiev also wrote: “The upcoming parliamentary elections will be a test of Ukraine’s commitment to democracy and ultimately of EU readiness to sign the association agreement. We will do all the best to ensure that elections are held in a free and democratic manner with maximum transparency. But we also expect the EU to keep their feet on the ground and play a fair game.”

Perhaps Yelisieiev is also unaware that if opposition leaders, such as Tymoshenko and Yuriy Lutsenko, and civil society activists, such as seven anti-tax code leaders, remain in jail the October elections cannot be recognized as having been held in a democratic manner by the OSCE, EU, Council of Europe, NATO, US and Canada. The “test of Ukraine’s commitment to democracy” is if it will permit opposition leaders to participate.

Yelisieiev and the Yanukovych administration do not understand the EU or the process of European integration. They believe Ukraine can adopt authoritarian domestic policies that are common throughout Eurasia and still sign an association agreement with the EU. Georgia and Moldova understand the link between upholding European values and European integration and will therefore sign their association agreements before Ukraine, even though they began negotiations two to three years later.

The EU has repeatedly stated the association agreement will remain frozen until Ukraine returns to a democratic path and European values and the ball is consequently in Kyiv’s court.

Yours sincerely,

Taras Kuzio Visiting senior fellow of the Slavic Research Center in Japan’s Hokkaido University