Ukrainians had hoped that signing an association agreement with the European Union last fall would soon lead to visa-free travel in the 28-nation bloc of democracies. But now the visa winds are blowing the other way. Westerners and opposition politicians fear that President Viktor Yanukovych wants to reimpose a visa regime for Westerners, a requirement that was dropped in 2005.
The reimposition of visas was hinted at by pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, a former presidential chief of staff. Serhiy Leshchenko, a deputy chief editor of the Ukrainska Pravda news site, wrote on Jan. 10 that Medvedchuk also favors creating legislative obstacles for nongovernmental organizations sponsored from abroad, just as his friend Russian President Vladimir Putin has done in his country.
Medvedchuk, an outspoken critic of the EU who led a successful campaign to get Ukraine not to sign the association agreement with the EU last fall, wrote on his Facebook page on Dec. 18: “The European lawmakers, senators, European officials are coming to Ukraine. It looks like EuroMaidan was created for development of Eurotourism. Maybe it makes sense to impose visa regime just like the one that exists for the Ukrainians traveling to Europe?”
Ukraine lifted the visas for Westerners in 2005 on stays of up to 90 days to encourage easier travel and promote tourism.
Yevhen Perebyinis, a spokesman of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied on Jan. 13 that the government has any plans to reimpose the requirement.
But the opposition is not so sure and accuses Yanukovych of wanting to isolate Ukraine from the Western world.
“The regime of Viktor Yanukovych that in fact reversed Ukraine’s political direction from the European Union to the (Russian-led) Customs Union is, of course, dreaming to isolate Ukraine. And in within the framework of this isolation, they have plans to renew the visa regime with the Western world and, of course, ban the activity of nongovernmental organizations,” Arseniy Yatseniuk, leader of the largest opposition faction — the Batkivshchyna Party — told the Kyiv Post in parliament.
“These plans became real in neighboring country but they will not be able to be implemented in Ukraine,” Yatseniuk said.
But Volodymyr Makeyenko of the pro-presidential Party of Regions, like the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied that such plans are being made, even though he expressed disappointment that America and the EU still impose somewhat expensive and strict visa requirements on Ukrainians for travel.
“Before the Vilnius summit, I was meeting very serious diplomats, deputy ministers of foreign affairs of European countries, and I was telling them – make a nice step, announce visa-free regime for Ukraine. They just only smiled,” Makeyenko said.
Prime Minister Mykola Azarov called Ukraine’s decision to lift the visas for Western countries in 2005, with the expectation of a reciprocal step, naïve. “The authorities should never make unilateral concessions, especially when nobody asked about that,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
