You're reading: Ukraine’s leaders show new defiance to West

Under pressure internationally for curtailing democracy and imprisoning political opponents, President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration this week adopted an even more strongly defiant tone.

The words and actions signal more clearly that the Party of Regions-led government is not going to heed demands for the release of imprisoned ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other opposition leaders.

Speaking on Oct. 3 at a gathering with foreign ambassadors, Yanukovych reaffirmed commitment to European integration, but warned that Ukraine under his rule would not give in to demands from Brussels, Washington or anyone else.

“Putting pressure of any kind on Ukraine is unacceptable,” Yanukovych said amid repeated calls for more than a year by European and U.S. officials to free Tymoshenko and other jailed opposition politicians ahead of an Oct. 28 parliamentary election.

That same day, Deputy General Prosecutor Rinat Kuzmin wrote an open letter to the U.S. Congress, blasting a Senate resolution that urges the U.S. State Department to consider sanctions against Ukrainian leaders if Tymoshenko and other political prisoners are not freed.

In the letter, Kuzmin denied that Tymoshenko is a political prisoner and said that he has evidence she may be guilty of the 1996 murder of a Donetsk lawmaker and three other people. The prosecutor complained that U.S. authorities have stymied his investigation.

Yet in recent days, the Cabinet of Ministers appointed by Yanukovych submitted a draft law that, if passed by parliament, appears designed to keep Tymoshenko – imprisoned since last year – behind bars, perhaps for the duration of her current seven-year sentence.

The legislation would grant amnesty, releasing 1,500 non-violent convicts from prison. While it does not mention Tymoshenko and jailed ally, former Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko by name, it proposes banning amnesty for government officials that are jailed on abuse of office charges.

The government has done just about the opposite of what the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recommends. It made a statement, calling on nations to reassess cases of alleged political prisoners by applying five criteria, including whether a person is detained in a discriminatory manner or whether the proceedings are unfair and connected to the political motives of the authorities.

On Sept. 22, the U.S. Senate unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Ukraine to release Tymoshenko and other political prisoners. The resolution also encouraged the U.S. State Department to introduce sanctions such as visa restrictions against Ukrainian officials involved in criminal prosecutions that the West considers to be politically motivated.

Assistant U.S. Secretary for Public Affairs Mike Hammer reinforced the message on Oct. 4 by saying that the U.S. priorities in Ukraine remain the same: free and fair parliamentary elections and the release of Tymoshenko, according to an Interfax Ukraine report.

Ukrainian officials have so far displayed no signs of listening. They dismissed the non-binding U.S. Senate resolution as having no consequence. They even questioned the propriety of its approval. “It’s difficult to seriously take into account the document approved last night according to a procedure, which with all the diplomatic restraint can be called questionable – at the very least,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

U.S. Senator Richard Durbin, co-author of the resolution, disagreed. The Illionis Democrat said the resolution was adopted by an open vote in the Senate. “This is a standard procedure used for the consideration of the issues on which there is a coordinated, unambiguous view of the majority. All the rules and procedures in this case were observed,” Durbin said in his statement.

Kuzmin told Congress, however, that Tymoshenko’s allies “misled the Senate, giving specially-selected, one-sided information, which was based on the emotions, not facts. The second party was deprived of the opportunity to give their arguments. Not having accurate and reliable information is difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood.”

Kuzmin offered to correct the mistake by appearing in Congress, presenting documents and telling the news media “the truth.”

He went on to describe the pending criminal case against Tymoshenko, suggesting that she was guilty of murder of four people, including member of parliament Yevhen Shcherban, a leading businessman from Donetsk, in November 1996.

In his letter, Kuzmin said he requested the help of the U.S. State Department to interrogate former Prime Minister Pavlo Lazarenko, who allegedly expressed his willingness to testify in the case. “However, we have not received a response,” Kuzmin said in his letter.

Lazarenko is scheduled to be released from a federal prison in California later this year, after serving 14 years in prison or under house arrest for money laundering. The charges for which he was convicted stem from his corruption-filled tenure as Ukraine’s prime minister from 1996-97.

Kuzmin’s indignant letter said he was appealing as “a citizen of Ukraine, a doctor of law, professor [of] the National Academy of Public Prosecutor of Ukraine, Deputy Prosecutor General of Ukraine, a father of two children [and a] Christian.”

Tymoshenko’s allies rebuffed his statement, saying Kuzmin is unprofessional. Hryhoriy Nemyria, a former deputy prime minister and Tymoshenko’s close ally, said Kuzmin acts as prosecutor, judge and jury.

“A prosecutor bears a responsibility to do justice, even to the person being prosecuted.  It is the height of irresponsibility, and cynicism, to go around the world condemning a person when you are in such a role,” Nemyria said.

Kyiv Post editor Katya Gorchinskaya can be reached at [email protected].