You're reading: Journalists coddle in lame, tame interview at Mezhyhiria estate

President invites uninquisitive reporters to his luxury estate.

In an interview aired on June 28 on several leading Ukrainian television channels, President Viktor Yanukovych gave a tour of his notorious Mezhyhiria estate located north of Kyiv.

But he revealed only a tiny part of the 140-hectare, multi-million-dollar, luxury-filled compound which he first promised to show to inquiring journalists more than one year ago. He demonstrated a 1.7 hectare territory where he claims to reside, ignoring and not explaining who owns and what is located on the rest of the territory.

In yet another troubling sign of how servile some top media has become under Yanukovych’s leadership, four top television journalists – one from a popular print publication and another from a website – all handpicked for the interview by Yanukovych’s press service – failed, at least in portions of the interview aired, to ask about or request to see the rest of the compound..

Waterfall seen in Mezhyhiria estate on June, 24. (youtube.com)

These select journalists, including high profile television talk show stars Savik Shuster, Yevgeny Kiselyov and Oleksandr Tkachenko, were chosen instead of journalists who have, for more than a year, called upon Yanukovych to open doors to his guarded estate.

Journalists taking part came without camera crews, letting the Presidential Administration tape and edit the interview.

Conducted in Ukrainian and Russian languages, the interview started off with a tour of a 1.7 hectare portion of Mezhyhiria which, according to Yanukovych’s most recent tax declaration, belongs to him. Yanukovych, who claimed in prior years that he rented the property, appeared to admit to owning it now.

But controversy has long haunted him over the legality of a complicated scheme of transactions through which it was acquired, and where he got the money to develop it.

The house demonstrated by Yanukovych appeared to be expensively furnished. Just outside journalists were shown a newly-constructed swimming pool, sauna and wooded area where Yanukovych claimed to exercise. Journalists were also shown picturesque landscape that included an artificial waterfall.

A more formal sit-down interview later commenced under a rotunda that overlooked the pool area and a well-kept garden.

President Viktor Yanukovych’s pool is seen in the background by the rotunda where he gave an interview with journalists. (youtube.com)

During the interview, none of the journalists asked about the larger area of the Mezhyhiria territory. Via satellite photos it appears to be adjacent and part of the same integrated compound. Documents indicate that it is owned by a web of domestic and offshore companies that have been linked to Yanukovych’s family and close associates.

The broader territory includes a massive, multi-level log cabin and yacht club. Both are located along the so-called Kyiv Sea, a huge lake created by a damn that restricts flow of the Dnipro River further down to Kyiv.

Select journalists did not ask president obvious questions

According to reports by the respected Ukrainska Pravda website, the territory also includes an indoor tennis court which Yanukovych supposedly uses.

Construction of a golf course also appears to be underway, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Why didn’t the journalists at the interview – which started off with a tour of the president’s estate – ask the tough and obvious questions about the broader territory that have long been asked by investigative journalists?

Kiselyov told the Kyiv Post he does not remember whether journalists asked Yanukovych who the rest of Mezhyhiria belongs to. He explained: “I think that all Ukrainian journalists are divided into two parts: those worried about the problem of Mezhyhiria and those interested in actual politics.

I belong to the latter category. That’s why I didn’t remember it,” said Kiselyov. “Honestly, I do not care about it.”

Shuster told the Kyiv Post that the question of Mezhyhiria and its ownership was not raised at all. “It is not correct. The guy is inviting you to his place and you are spitting into his face. This is not how things are done,” he said.

Viktoria Siumar, head of the non-profit Institute for Mass Information in Ukraine, said the journalists invited appear to put aside the main credos of journalism – objectively informing the public and holding officials accountable – accepting instead “the rules of the game” set by the president.

Describing the group of journalists at the interview as professionals, Siumar said “they understand that the question of Mezhyhiria is not a question of the president’s private life, but a question of corruption, of interaction between the authorities and society when the authorities are closed.”

The whole situation “once again demonstrates” that many Ukrainian journalists are “not” fulfilling their much needed role as “the fourth branch of government and aren’t really seeking to be it,” Siumar said. Sadly, according to Siumar, most mass media outlets in Ukraine are not delivering high standards of journalism, nor is society demanding it.

What, where is Mezhyhiria?

Named after a 10th-century monastery that once stood on the site, Mezhyhiria is a 140-hectare former government estate located in the village of Novi Petrivtsi, just north of Kyiv, along the west bank of the Dnipro River in Vyshgorod District. Given that it’s just 22 kilometers from Ukraine’s capital, sitting on the river surrounded by tranquil forests, land here costs from $1,000 to $3,000 per 100 square meters.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuriy Onyshkiv can be reached at [email protected]