Vaclav Havel: Ukraine ‘a dictatorship in gloves’

Speaking with CNN about pro-democracy revolts in the Middle East and Northern Africa, Havel went on to point out that democracy is still fragile on the European Union’s eastern borders. He described Russia, Belarus and Ukraine as “dictatorships in gloves.”

“I think that the authoritarian elements that we can observe in Russia and in a much worse way in Belarus and now in a certain way in Ukraine are of a different nature than the pure totalitarian system as we remember it,” Havel said.

Havel added: “They are different because they are more sophisticated and are motivated by economic interests. It’s a dictatorship in gloves. But it is also necessary to come to terms with this. I would say it’s a typical post-communist phenomenon.”

Traditionally dressed women applaud former Czech President Vaclav Havel during Viktor Yushchenko’s inaugural ceremony in Ukraine’s parliament in Kyiv 23 January, 2005.Viktor Yushchenko was sworn in as the third president of post-Soviet Ukraine, capping months of political turmoil that saw the strategic nation turn away from traditional Russian influence and toward the West. AFP PHOTO POOL / SERGEI SUPINSKY

In 1989, Havel helped lead the successful “Velvet Revolution” against communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Later he became president of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic, from 1989-1992, and the Czech Republic from 1993-2003. In power, Havel laid the foundations for multiparty democracy and was a staunch proponent of NATO expansion into former Warsaw Pact countries.

Coming from an icon of the anti-communist movement, the words of Havel add to growing Western disenchantment with Viktor Yanukovych’s first year as Ukraine’s president. Since taking over on Feb. 25, 2010, Yanukovych has been accused of reversing democratic gains that Ukraine made following the 2004 Orange Revolution.

During Yanukovych’s first year in power, Ukraine was downgraded by U.S.-based Freedom House from being a “free” country to a “partly free” country. Ukraine last fell into this category before the 2004 Orange Revolution, which overturned a presidential election rigged for Yanukovych. The decade of rule by President Leonid Kuchma, from 1994-2005, was marked by authoritarianism.

Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliya Raskevich can be reached at [email protected]