Vitali Klitschko knows a tough fight when he sees one. The formidable 6-foot-7 former world heavyweight boxing champion went toe-to-toe with the best fighters in the world, winning more than 87 percent of his bouts by knockout.
But those fights had rules. What the boxer-turned political opposition leader is faced with now, he says, is a “dirty fight” with an opponent who has turned Ukraine into a kleptocracy, takes “absolute power” and makes the rules as he goes along.
The opponent he is speaking about is Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose choice to spurn an association deal with the European Union on Nov. 21 set off mass pro-European demonstrations here that have since morphed into a national anti-government protest movement bent on seeing him and his allies in government ousted.
“It’s very interesting to see the transformation,” Klitschko told the Kyiv Post in an interview on Feb. 11. “When you speak with an elderly lady she seems like a dandelion, but when you bring up the topic of the government now she turns into a lioness.”
Dubbed “Dr. Ironfist” for his powerful punch and the fact that he holds a Ph.D. in sports science, Klitschko, who heads the Ukrainian Democratic Alliance for Reform party – its acronym, UDAR, is the Ukrainian word for “punch” – has emerged as a leader of the protest movement, known as EuroMaidan.
He has addressed protesters, who at times have numbered in the hundreds of thousands, from the stage on Independence Square, the nerve center of the movement. He jumped on the front lines in late January, after violence erupted on Hrushevskoho Street in central Kyiv, where thousands of radicalized protesters hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at riot police. They, in turn, fired back with tear gas, rubber bullets and other ammunition.
At least four protesters died as a result of the Jan. 19-22 clashes, with hundreds more requiring medical treatment for minor and serious injuries.
The group was attempting to make its way to the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, on Jan. 19 after Yanukovych signed into law strict anti-protest legislation that his ruling Party of Regions had pushed through parliament with a simple hand vote on Jan. 16. Despite his attempts, Klitschko could not contain the angry mob, which doused him in fire retardant as he tried to calm them.
Throughout the nearly-three-month ordeal, Klitschko has stressed that EuroMaidan should remain a peaceful resistance movement, saying the war with the government should be waged in parliament rather than on the street.
But the rise of militant groups within the EuroMaidan movement, fed up with Yanukovych’s unwillingness to relinquish power and government’s ultimatum that protesters vacate state buildings that they occupy, could spark more violence and lead to further bloodshed, he said.
Speaking about the future of EuroMaidan and Ukraine, Klitschko was thoughtful and careful, taking his time to answer each question and often using boxing metaphors.
“I understand the wish of many to quickly gain a victory, to achieve a first- or second-round knockout, but this outcome doesn’t always happen,” Klitschko said. “The more radical groups… are pushing for rapid developments. Perhaps we were counting on a 12-round bout, but instead we end up in a marathon. In the current situation we must muster patience, strength and understand that before us stands a very significant opponent who doesn’t intend to surrender.”
Part of the reason for Yanukovych’s stubbornness, Klitshcko says, is due to the fact that the president “lives in a vacuum” and “has been given the wrong information.”
“‘I have the security service and they give me exact information,’ Klitschko said Yanukovych told him during a private meeting in late January at the president’s lavish Mezhyhiriya estate outside Kyiv. “But I told him, ‘We can’t say they are radicals when hundreds of thousands, millions of people are on the street.’”
While not a practiced politician, Klitschko’s popularity among protesters as well as the general public makes him a likely candidate for president. It has also made him a target.
Last year parliament pushed through a law banning those with foreign residency from running for public office. The move was aimed directly at Klitschko, who holds a German residency permit that he received while training and owning a registered business there.
He has also been the target of several smear campaigns aimed at tarnishing his image.
One other issue he could face, should he and other opposition members not come out on top of this political battle, is the possibility of his arrest and prosecution for his leading role in the protest movement.
The government has already investigated fellow opposition leader Arseniy Yatseniuk on similar charges. Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, leader of Yatseniuk’s Batkivshchyna Party, has been imprisoned since 2011 in a case widely seen as political persecution.
Klitschko has speculated that, following threats from Yanukovych to dissolve parliament and strip deputies of their legal immunity from prosecution, other opposition politicians could face criminal investigations.
“Taking into account that the judiciary isn’t independent, the absence of justice, and the judicial system only fulfilling a repressive function, nobody in Ukraine can have their future guaranteed, especially when they stand up to the system,” Klitschko said. “Concerning me, I don’t preclude such things happening to me.”
On the flipside, should he and EuroMaidan win and force Yanukovych’s resignation or snap presidential and parliamentary elections, he supports the idea of prosecuting the president for crimes perpetrated during his rule.
“Those people who broke the law must know they will be held accountable. This concerns also the president,” he said.
As for a solution to the political crisis, Klitschko said that Yanukovych holds the power to bring peace.
“I told the president many times and high-ranking representatives of his Party of Regions that… one person can solve this problem in Ukraine: President Yanukovych,” he explained. “He has control, he has a majority in parliament. He controls the whole system. He has absolute power and is ultimately responsible for what happens in our country.”
Kyiv Post editor Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected], and on Twitter at @ChristopherJM. Kyiv Post editor Mark Rachkevych contributed to this story.
