Ukraine

Introduction:

Ukraine is the second largest state in Europe after Russia, and is surrounded by Russia, Poland, Belarus, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Moldova, and the Black Sea. Being located here has put her in a strategic position geographically, which has been demonstrated over the years by repeat invasions and occupations of foreign troops and governments. It’s taken a strong people to be able to weather these events, and Ukraine is finally starting to get her feet under her again. She has, for 12 years now, maintained her independence and own democratic government. However, Ukraine still has many obstacles to overcome before she can consider herself a truly free state.

Centripetal Forces:

Despite centrifugal forces in Ukraine, she has many factors working to hold her together. Probably the most significant centripetal force is the people themselves. It has been through their rich history, hard work, and determination that this state has survived through so many hardships. The many ethnic groups1 within Ukraine have “largely been free of ethnic conflicts which have dogged some other former Soviet republics” (“Country Profile: Ukraine” p.1). This has allowed for major cooperative organizations among the people to establish and fight for what they want and need. Ukraine also has “well-developed and colorful folklore [. . .] [that] has helped [. . .] retain a cultural distinctiveness in the face of strong assimilatory pressures from neighboring lands” (“Ukraine” p.23). They have been able to maintain their traditional dances, folksongs, and art, which all have helped to tie the people together.

Religion has played an important part in Ukrainian culture, as well. During Soviet rule, the state imposed severe restrictions on religious activity, forcing those who still dared to practice to do so secretly. They also banned many churches and persecuted religious leaders. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was a resurgence of religion. “Sixty-seven percent [of the Ukrainian population] adheres to Eastern Orthodoxy in alliance with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church or the Ukrainian Autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Church” (“Ukraine” p.14). Other religions within the state are Ukrainian Catholic (Uniate), Protestant, Jewish, and two other branches of the Ukrainian Orthodox: Moscow Patriarchate and Kiev Patriarchate.

The Ukrainian people have often come together to demonstrate their goals. On January 21, 1990 “The Human Wave” was created to help spur a new drive for Ukraine’s independence. The original plan was to form a human chain that would link Lviv and Kiev. People would stand ten meters apart and hold a ribbon between them, but over 300,000 demonstrators turned out. The plan was revised, and people then stood arm in arm, three and four rows deep. The chain was long enough that it looped from Lviv to Ivano-Frankovsk. This demonstration sparked people’s desire for independence and by September the Ukrainian flag could be seen displayed everywhere in the streets of Western Ukraine.

More recently the people have been banding together in protests in an attempt to force their current president, Leonid Kuchma to resign. In February of 2001, President Kuchma was accused of being involved in the disappearance, and subsequent murder, of journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Opposition demonstrations were held in which protesters called for President Kuchma’s impeachment. Kuchma denied the allegations. A little over a year later in September of 2002, “opposition staged protests demanding [the] resignation of President Kuchma whom they accuse of corruption and misrule” (“Timeline: Ukraine”). And a little less than a year after this protest, in March of 2003 “tens of thousands of people join Kiev demonstrations demanding that Kuchma resign” (“Timeline: Ukraine”). So far the President has denied any accusations brought against him and has refused to relinquish his office. But the determination of the people is to be regarded with admiration.

Ukraine’s first directly elected president was Leonid Kravchuk, who came into office in 1991. This is the same year that Ukraine declared her independence and also became a founding member of the CIS. In 1994, Leonid Kuchma succeeded Kravchuk as President of Ukraine. It was a peaceful and smooth transition of power from one leader to the next. “[. . .] In June of 1996, [. . .] the legislature adopted a new constitution that stipulated a democratic form of government” (“Ukraine p.55”). A new form of currency, the hryvnia, was also adopted at this time.

The government is composed of executive, legislative, and judiciary branches, and makes use of local governments. The executive branch consists of a president who is elected by majority vote and serves for a term of five years and no more than two consecutive terms. There is also a prime minister, whom the president appoints, and a Cabinet of Ministers, whom the president appoints with the advice of the prime minister. These decisions are subject to approval by the legislature.

“The legislature [. . .] consists of a single chamber of 450 deputies elected for four-year terms. [. . .] Among its prerogatives the legislature has the right to change the constitution, pass laws, confirm the budget, and impeach the president” (“Ukraine p.57”).

The judiciary branch contains the Constitutional Court (the highest court), which is charged with interpreting the constitution. The Supreme Court is the highest court in which non-constitutional issues are settled. There is a Supreme Judiciary Council which deals with the removal of judges and also makes suggestions for judiciary appointments.

President Kuchma has begun to make great reforms, such as in the economy and international relations. He has won Russia’s support, and has met several times with Russia’s President Putin to discuss aspects of the two states’ relationship. As of February 2001, the two presidents “have signed a deal re-linking their countries electricity grids, [. . .] which could bring Ukraine lower energy costs” (“Kuchma Wins Russia’s Support” p.1). Putin has also stated “Regardless of the complex political situation, we will work with the President elected by the Ukrainian people” (qtd. in “Kuchma Wins Russia’s Support” p.4). Though the current president of Ukraine may be in disfavor with his own people, he is still, for the most part, attempting to maintain good relationships with other countries and push forward with reforms to hopefully improve Ukraine’s sad economy.

In May of 2002, Ukraine formally bid for NATO membership. The bid was welcomed by NATO Secretary-General George Robertson, but further improvements in the economy, military, and political areas were needed before acceptance would be considered. Ukraine is currently a member of the UN, Council of Europe, and the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Centrifugal Forces:

Ukraine has been known as the “breadbasket of Europe,” with her fertile lands and large amounts of natural resources. This has proven to be too much of a temptation for surrounding states, and for almost all of Ukraine’s history, she has had foreign troops coming and going, claiming her land as their own, with only brief interludes of independence. This pattern can be traced back to the time of the Mongols. Their invasion was subsequently followed by “the Lithuanians from the North, the Ottoman Turks from the South, the Russians from the East, Austria-Hungary from the Southwest and Poland from the North” (Kaczmar p.2). The Lithuanians respected the Ukrainians’ rights, and there was a prosperous time. However, in 1569, Poland and Lithuania joined in a commonwealth. In 1772, Austria then seized the southern part of Poland and named it Galicia. “Later still, life became very oppressive for the Ukrainian farmers under the Polish kings (on the left side) and Communists/Stalin (on the right side)” (Kaczmar p.3).

Following the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, the Central Rada was created in Kiev, and Ukraine declared independence in 1918. This lasted almost two years, until the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic was established in 1921. Ukraine was once again under Soviet rule. Following the attempted coup in Moscow, and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, there was a 90% vote in a nationwide referendum in December and Ukraine once again declared her independence. She has now been free from foreign rule for 12 years.

During the periods of Soviet and German occupation, Ukraine experienced man-made famines, as well as persecution, and two episodes of scorched earth policy. The first famine was in 1932, when Stalin was in power in the Soviet Empire. Stalin wanted to “Russify” the Ukrainian people. “When they resisted his ‘collectivization,’ his soldiers confiscated every bit of food out Ukraine [and] killed all the wild birds in the forest so the Ukrainians couldn’t eat them, creating the worst famine in the world” (Kaczmar p.19). Many even turned to cannibalism because there was so little food. During the seven years directly following W.W.I, according to the Soviet Census figures, Ukraine suffered a loss of about 7,465,000 people. Then, during Stalin’s retreat out of Ukraine during the second world war in 1941, he practiced a scorched earth policy, burning and pillaging everything. He wished to wipe out as many Ukrainians as he could in the hopes that he would then be able to settle his people there. Also in W.W.II, Hitler created his own version (though less severe) of a man-made famine in Ukraine. His goals were to create Lebensraum, “living room” for his people. Ukraine had at first welcomed Hitler’s troops, thinking that nothing could be worse than what they had suffered under Stalin’s control. They soon discovered that they were very wrong. In his efforts to make Lebensraum, Hitler had his armies “burn villages, leaving Ukrainians homeless in the freezing winter, intentionally starve Ukrainian cities [and] prisoners of concentration camps, [and by] hanging corpses from balconies to terrorize the remaining into submission” (Kaczmar p.26). When Hitler retreated out of Ukraine, around 1944, he had his own scorched earth policy. It is estimated that 6 million homes were destroyed and 25 million people were left homeless.

Another tragic event that occurred in Ukraine while under Soviet rule, was the Chernobyl accident. Chernobyl was a major nuclear power facility located about 65 miles north of Kiev, until a reactor in it melted down in 1986. The government did not communicate this disaster to the public very efficiently, if at all. But with the mass amount of people (about 400,000) who had to permanently relocate, it was hard to keep it quiet for long. About 2 1/2 million people had to be hospitalized due to radiation exposure, and the incidences of thyroid cancer (especially in children) have risen drastically since the meltdown. Fallout was experienced around the world, but the majority landed on the countries to the northwest of Ukraine, particularly on Belarus (about 2/3 fell here). Huge efforts were made to contain the mishap, but 8% of Ukraine was still contaminated. This is by far the worst nuclear accident to have ever occurred with possibly greater than 4,500 deaths. The cost of the accident has been about $350 billion.

Two other problems happened in Ukraine under Soviet rule, the first of which was the exile of intellectuals, poets, scholars, teachers, scientists and priests to Siberia. The country was left very unstable from the lack of strong, young leaders. Those who were left behind were either the very old or the very young. The children were schooled under the Russian Communist system, and Ukrainian books, as well as the language itself, were outlawed. It was not until 1988 when a few remaining (or returning) intellectuals and writers set up the Ukrainian People’s Movement for Restructuring (Rukh) in an attempt to help bring the country back together.

The second issue is environmental. The Soviets industrialized Ukraine without paying any heed to what they were doing to the surrounding ecology. Some of the devastating effects were air pollution around major industrial centers (such as Zaporizhzhya, Luhans’k, and Donets’ka), deforestation, and “pollutants [. . .] [which] contaminated soil in the south and drinking water throughout the country” (“Ukraine” p.8). Not to mention the radiation contamination caused by Chernobyl.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine tasted freedom for the first time in a long time. However, with this new independence also came a large amount of problems. The first has to do with markets -- “Ukraine’s industrial sector has been cut off from its traditional markets, and supplies from former republics are no longer easily accessible” (“Ukraine” p.47). This means that Ukraine was forced to find new places to import and export goods; markets that did not necessarily want the struggling country’s products because of the goods’ lack of quality and economic competitiveness. The loss of Soviet support also meant a large increase in energy prices. Lacking funds to import the amount of energy needed, the country has had to greatly limit its consumption of oil and natural gas, which composed 90% and 80% of Ukraine’s energy resource needs, respectively.

To compound problems, Ukraine experienced critical hyperinflation in 1993, with rates as high as 4,753% annually. But with a strict monetary policy introduced in 1994 by newly elected President Kuchma, inflation was significantly reduced in 1995 and 1996.

Ukraine’s transition to a market-based economy has been extremely difficult. The quality of living has significantly decreased since the gain of independence. Many people have been locked in a desperate struggle to make ends meet, needing to spend most of their income on food, and relying on small garden plots to supplement what they can’t afford. Families are continually getting smaller, while divorce rates are high. Alcoholism and smoking are also widespread. “Consumer goods are now more available than in the Soviet period, but few people can afford them” (“Ukraine” p.18). Unemployment and “hidden employment” (keeping people on payrolls even though they have not been paid) are rising steadily. As of November 2001, the official unemployment rate was 3.6%, though there are large numbers of unregistered or underemployed workers.

To simply make enough money to survive, people have turned to mining illegally. “Debt-ridden and plagued by high accident rates, official mines cannot pay out wages and many have been hit by strikes [. . .]” (“Ukraine Miners Break Law to Survive” p.2). So miners have decided to help themselves as much as they can by mining in old and disused shafts, or scraping coal from the surface of the ground. Coal gotten from these illegal pits is cheaper than from official mines, so people are quick to buy it. Miners are also paid cash directly for their efforts and are able to take home at least a little bit of money at the end of the day.

Making quick money is not limited to the ambitions of illegal miners. Many people have also turned to stealing any metal they can get their hands on and selling it for scrap and profit. “With the average monthly wage well below $100, a few pounds of copper from a stolen phone cable [. . .] can bring more cash than a hard day’s work. The residents of some apartment blocks have been reduced to organizing night shifts to guard their building’s power lines [. . .]” (“Ukraine’s Metal Wars” p.7). These metal thieves are so desperate that many risk their lives to get their hands on any bit of metal, and there have been casualties. Until authorities decide to deal completely with this problem, “[. . .] a wooden sewer grating will last longer in Ukraine than a cast-iron model” (“Ukraine’s Metal Wars” p.27).

Other problems Ukraine has faced have been more political than economic, and have affected the people’s view of government and the people themselves, though not as severely as the economic crisis. These problems are related to several scandals involving current President Leonid Kuchma. It seems the least of these is the supposed corruption within the presidency and administration. More at the front of people’s minds is the alleged presidential involvement in the murder of Georgiy Gongadze which has prompted a public outcry for the president to resign.

On September 16, 2000, investigative journalist Georgiy Gongadze went missing while working on attacking “what he saw as an incompetent and corrupt administration” (“The Journalist Who Changed Ukraine” p.2). Later that year, on November 2, a headless and acid-laced body was found. The corpse was determined to be that of Gongadze, which was later confirmed on January 10, 2001. November 28, 2000, saw the emergence of tapes that supposedly implicated President Kuchma in the murder of the reporter. It was not long before people were demonstrating and demanding that the president resign from office. Though Kuchma admits that the voice on the tape is his, he claims the tapes have been altered and denies any allegations that he was involved in the slaying. Nevertheless, the Ukrainian people have had authenticity tests performed on the tapes by a former U.S. FBI expert, who states the tapes have not been altered in any way. On February 10, 2001, Kuchma fired his head bodyguard and security chief, Mykola Melnychenko. Protesters have continued to demand the president’s resignation, but he refuses, saying he has “been elected by the people, and would not accept anyone using force to demand a change of power” (“Ukraine President Defies Call to Resign” p.2).

The most recent allegation against President Kuchma does not have to do with journalists, but with the supposed sale of a radar to Iraq, which he denies. There have been released more secret tape recordings on which Kuchma apparently green-lights the sale of a radar to Saddam Hussein. This radar was suspected of having the capability to detect stealth aircraft. The undetermined sale of this equipment to Iraq damaged Ukraine’s relationship with the U.S., the latter suspending millions of dollars of aid to the former. But upon further investigation, it has been determined that the “Kolchuga” radar would not detect these aircraft, that it used a passive system and would only spot a target’s emissions. “This would make it far less capable against stealth or radar-evading technology because by definition these plane have little or no active emissions. [. . .] The row over Kolchuga is symptomatic of wider problems between the Ukraine and the U.S.” (Marcus p.8).

The final straw that is acting as a centrifugal force within Ukraine is related to her demographics. Male and female life expectancies are only about 61 years and 72 years, respectively. Only 16.8% of the population are between the ages of 0 and 14 years. The percentage of people between the ages of 15 and 64 is 68.7%. And those over 65 is 14.5%. This means that there will be very few people to support an aging population. Net migration is -0.42 migrants/1,000 people, and birth rate is 21.14 deaths/1,000 live births. These trends are also indicated by the population growth rate for Ukraine, which is -0.72%.

Analysis:

It would appear that there is quite an imbalance between the centrifugal and centripetal forces within Ukraine. From looking at current events there seems to be a definite leaning toward the country coming apart. However, one must consider not the number of forces pulling each way, but the power with which they are standing. There are more circumstances picking away at the country, but with less force than those fewer things which are pulling her together. It is a delicate balance between the two. The government is faltering, but the people are staying strong. Ukrainians know of their rough history and of the current problems they face and seem to be determined to improve things. They want a better standard of living, economic improvements, and a president who is not associated with any scandals. The people will look to the past and their own heritage for strength, and overcome any current and future issues they may be facing or might face. It is by their resolve, and their force as a people that they will conquer their misfortunes and achieve success.

In the future, Ukraine will most likely pull herself together, stand up and be a proud and strong country. With presidential changes soon to come, she will be able to elect a leader more suited to her tastes, and find a path that will lead to a better life. She will eventually push the balance of centrifugal and centripetal powers in the direction of least destruction. It will no longer be a precarious balancing act between the two, but a stable reality for the better, with fewer problems and greater achievements. The people will be able to look back and know that it was together that they were able to suffer through tragic times and finally come out on top.

Summary:

Despite past and current hardships, Ukraine has made a place for herself in the modern world. She has finally been able to declare and maintain her independence for twelve years now, and as far as one can tell, she will continue in this way. Her economy has failed, but is now on the slow climb to improvement as reforms are instituted. International relationships may be stumbling, but hopefully with proper administration they will soon be on the road to recovery. All in all, Ukraine is on the right track, she simply needs a bit more time and support to be able to reach her final destination.

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