Ukraine's leading English-language newspaper since 1995

The two-page photo spread from Yalta in this week’s ‘Sobitiya’ magazine was nauseating enough.

nauseating enough. The saccharine images in this sister publication of Victor Pinchuk’s Fakty newspaper group show Pinchuk cutting an oversized cake with his wife, Olena Franchuk; of Franchuk sitting with her father, the foul-mouthed former president, Leonid Kuchma; of Franchuk being chatted up by U.S. Ambassador William Taylor.

More disturbing about the Livadia gathering are the destructive fantasies of these reputed leaders. Regrettably, their delusions are infecting more people, in Ukraine and abroad. The ostensible aim of Pinchuk’s 5th annual Yalta European Summit (YES) is to bring Ukraine closer to joining the European Union by inviting foreign dignitaries to mix with hundreds of flown-in journalists and other guests. Sadly, many of the journalists — still lacking professionalism and respectable expense accounts — allow themselves to be wined and dined at the host’s expense.

It’s not going to work, guys. Do you want to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union? Then stop pretending that Ukraine is a normal democracy. Start solving all Ukraine’s great unsolved crimes.

Were the events exposed on the Melnychenko tapes true? Who poisoned Yushchenko? Who ordered Gongadze’s murder? Give us a full accounting of how the greasy oligarchs acquired their wealth in the slimy privatizations. We don’t have space to air the whole dirty laundry list. We’re not talking about historical irrelevancies. We’re talking about skeletons in the closet and corpses in the basement that will haunt this nation until they are exhumed and exposed.

There’s no use in looking to members of the entrenched elite to lead Ukraine closer to European integration. Businessman Pinchuk is not going to push for any investigation that cuts close to home, especially of father-in-law Kuchma.

Ukraine’s power structure is like a bad restaurant whose owners refuse to get a new chef or change the menu. Same old faces, same old garbage. Those in power want us to forget about the sins of the 1990s and sleepwalk through the rest of this decade.

Too many of us are obliging, buying into the storyline of powerbrokers in a no-holds-barred war with each other. While many conflicts are real, when it comes to extracting justice from the top, they all seem to play rehearsed roles in a fake wrestling match designed to make sure no one gets hurt.

So what’s the answer?

For journalists and foreigners, if you do attend, pay your own way. And start asking harder questions, rather than being razzled and dazzled by the wine and jazz.

For weary Ukrainians, stop nursing wounds over the failed promises of the four-year-old Orange Revolution. Checking out of politics is never a good idea. The nation isn’t the Hotel California. Too much is at stake.

It’s time for Ukrainians to search for and find leaders who keep promises.