You're reading: Tigipko: Radicalization of society impedes Ukrainian unity

Ukrainian parliament deputy, Strong Ukraine party leader Sergiy Tigipko has called for keeping radicalized forces which hamper the achievement of national unity off political activity.

“It is time to keep off radicals: nowadays radicals are worse than
any aggressor; they break our unity and do not let us unite the country.
And a divided country is a weak country. It will be strong when every
citizen feels oneself comfortable,” Tigipko said in an interview with
Interfax-Ukraine.

He said the country’s unity would be a token of the political resolution of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“First and foremost, we will achieve the unity only when we recognize
our diversity. We will never be fully united without this recognition
and it will be very easy to drive a wedge between people – our country
is too large and our historical formation has proceeded in completely
different ways,” Tigipko opined.

The Ukrainian diversity should be recognized with institutional
transformations, among them a regional reform, which can be held without
an adjustment of the constitution, he said.

Besides, the Strong Ukraine leader deems necessary the soonest
completion of a tax reform, which the government is just about to start
although “the same [measure] was suggested six months ago.”

Tigipko also called for social and cultural de-centralization. “No
one should tell a region which language to speak and which monuments to
erect or to dismantle. No one should hinder a region making good money
from paying extra to their teachers and doctors,” he suggested.