UKRAINE: YUSHCHENKO'S INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KIEV 003332

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR KDEM PHUM MARR UP
SUBJECT: UKRAINE: YUSHCHENKO'S INDEPENDENCE DAY SPEECH
REEMPHASIZES WESTERN ORIENTATION

REF: A. KIEV 3029

B. KIEV 3130

C. KIEV 3277

D. KIEV 553

E. KIEV 1773

Classified By: Charge a.i., for reasons 1.4(a,b,d).


1. (C) Summary. During subdued Independence Day celebrations
August 24, President Yushchenko stressed that the
western-focussed policies adopted after the Orange Revolution
(i.e., pursuing EU and NATO membership) would be continued by
Ukraine's new government led by Viktor Yanukovych that he
described as: "could be better -- and could be worse."
Yushchenko also struck a number of his traditional themes,
including the importance of judicial and law enforcement
reform, emphasis on Ukrainian as the sole state language, and
recognition of the 1932-33 Holodomor as genocide. At the
President's Independence Day reception later in the evening,
Minister of Justice and Our Ukraine (OU) insider Zvarych
informed Charge that Yushchenko and Yanukovych had signed an
agreement that Ukraine would pursue a Membership Action Plan
(MAP) with NATO, but that the agreement would not be made
public. Zvarych also suggested OU and Regions might merge
prior to the 2009 Presidential elections as a way of securing
Yushchenko's reelection.


2. (C) Comment: Yushchenko's speech seemed more somber and
less celebratory than his Independence Day address in 2005,
the first since the Orange Revolution and his inauguration.
While an OU insider, Zvarych's comments always need to be
taken with a grain of salt; he was dumped as Minister of
Justice in 2005 after it was revealed he had misrepresented
his educational background, inaccurately claiming to have
received a PhD from Columbia. We should not take Zvarych's
comments as definitive; as the GOU streams back into Kiev
from August vacations, we will seek clarification regarding
MAP. While Yushchenko mentioned his agreement with Yanukovych
on MAP to Ambassador August 4 (ref a),Yanukovych and
particularly his foreign policy adviser Orel have seemingly
adopted different stances since (refs b-c),and institutional
struggles over defining Ukraine's foreign policy will likely
play out in the coming months. End Summary and Comment.

Yushchenko strikes his main (western oriented) themes
-------------- --------------


3. (U) Ukraine's low-key 15th Independence Day celebrations
began with an hour-long prayer service at the 11th century
St. Sophia's Cathedral attended by the Yushchenko family, PM
Yanukovych, most ministers, former President Kuchma, and
former Rada Speaker Lytvyn (former PM Yuliya Tymoshenko was
notably absent). Following the service, the VIPs moved to
the square outside St. Sophia's for a modest military review
and Yushchenko,s speech, in which he reiterated Ukraine's
aspirations to join NATO and the EU and stated that these
goals would be achieved "with the will of the people."


4. (U) Yushchenko called on government officials at all
levels to be responsive to the people of Ukraine and to
remember that government service was a responsibility, not a
privileged position. Yushchenko also reminded the Prosecutor
General and the Minister of Interior of their responsibility
to bring corrupt officials to justice, as he pledged to
submit a package of draft legislation on judiciary and law
enforcement reform to the Rada in the near future (note: in
his February State of the Nation address, Yushchenko stated
this would be his top domestic priority for 2006, see ref d).


5. (SBU) Returning to other themes he has stressed since
becoming President, Yushchenko called on the Rada to enact a
resolution recognizing the Holodomor as genocide; the remark
received applause -- beyond polite, but not thunderous --
from the crowd. Yushchenko stated that Ukrainians wanted one
united Orthodox Church in Ukraine, a remark that also drew
applause.


6. (U) Yushchenko stressed the individual rights and
liberties of citizens, including the right of every citizen
to speak his or her native language (note: clearly referring
to Russian) without fear of persecution. However he
emphasized that there "will be no alternative to the
Ukrainian language as the language of official communication,
since this is the language of our freedom." (Note:
Yushchenko elaborated on the Ukrainian language theme August
27 in Lviv as part of celebrations marking the 150th
anniversary of the birth of noted Ukrainian writer Ivan
Franko. "Ukrainian is and will remain our sole national
language...the loss of language is the loss of the nation and
the loss of the foundation for national development.")


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7. (U) After the ceremony, most of the Diplomatic Corps in
attendance drove to the Russian Embassy to sign the
condolence book for the August 22 air crash in Donetsk which
killed 171 people. In recognition of the tragedy, Yushchenko
decreed that upbeat Independence Day public festivities and
the fireworks display planned for later on August 24 be
postponed until August 26.

Yush-Yanu agreement on MAP?
--------------


8. (C) At the President's Independence Day reception that
evening, Minister of Justice Roman Zvarych told Charge that
Yushchenko and Yanukovych had signed an agreement prior to
the August 4 formation of a Yanukovych-led government in
which Yanukovych agreed that Ukraine would pursue a NATO MAP
(note: see ref A for Yushchenko's first mention of the
agreement to Ambassador). Zvarych said the agreement would
not be made public.


9. (C) At some point before the November Riga Summit --
Zvarych said the timing had not been decided yet -- the
Yanukovych-led government would issue a "declaration" stating
Ukraine's interest in the "possibility" of pursuing
negotiations that will lead to MAP (note: Zvarych was very
careful in his word choice and said that it would not be a
request for MAP, but a "declaration" stating Ukraine's
interest.)


10. (C) Zvarych said that Yushchenko had asked him to
accompany Yanukovych to Brussels. While professing not to
know Yanukovych's intended talking lines for Brussels,
Zvarych speculated that Yushchenko might tell Yanukovych to
tell NATO's SecGen about the clause regarding MAP in the
secret agreement. Yanukovych was taking Yushchenko,s lead

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on foreign policy, he claimed.

Difficulties of being Orange under Yanu
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11. (C) On other issues, Zvarych echoed Interior Minister
Lutsenko by claiming that he had not wanted to be Minister of
Justice, but that Yushchenko told him to do it. His job was
to keep an eye on Yanukovych and his guys, "and they know
it." He had to be careful in what he said at Cabinet
meetings, he claimed, because all believed he was speaking
for the president. Zvarych said he was serving as the
coordinator of the eight "Orange" ministers in the Cabinet,
who were determined to see that the President's agenda was
carried out.


12. (C) Zvarych said that he had drafted the legislation
enacted by the Rada regarding constitutional reform; he
claimed that it pertained solely to local administrative
reform by providing a constitutional framework for local
administrative reform) and had no implication or link to the
shift in powers from the President to the PM (Comment:
Zvarych seems to be confusing the first half of
constitutional reform passed December 8, 2004, which did
govern the shift of certain powers from the President to the
Premier, and the second half, contained in draft Bill 3207,
which pertains to local administrative reform. Zvarych later
touched on the plans to reform local government that will
give local authorities the right to raise revenues
independent of the central government and local councils the
right to elect from their members executive committees that
will serve as the local executive bodies).


13. (C) Picking up on one of Yushchenko's themes of the day,
Zvarych laid out his plan for reform of the law enforcement
and judicial system: renovating dilapidated courtrooms;
reforming the Prosecutor General's office and placing it in
the Ministry of Justice; creating a National Bureau of
Investigation to fight corruption and major crimes and
placing it under the control of the Ministry of Justice; and
removing investigatory authority from the SBU and Customs
Service. (note: Zvarych inherited this plan from his
Ministerial predecessor Holovaty, Yushchenko's hand-picked
point man on judicial reform who will continue to lead the
so-called Holovaty Commission).

Yushchenko's future - as Regions' man?
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14. (C) Looking forward, Zvarych could "envisage" a merger or
union between Regions and Our Ukraine (OU) leading up to the
2009 Presidential elections. "Everything" OU did between now
and 2009 would be aimed at securing Yushchenko,s
re-election, he stated. When asked how this would affect
OU's base, Zvarych replied that Regions and OU have much in
common, especially economic policy (note: We first heard of

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the Yushchenko-Regions scenario from a deputy Regions' leader
in early May, see ref E. Yushchenko's deal with Yanukovych
has already split OU, with a minority ready to move into
opposition to the Yanukovych government. At least one OU
leader, Mykola Katerynchuk, has called on People's Union Our
Ukraine, Yushchenko's party, to expel any party members who
voted for Yanukovych as PM. A).


15. (U) Visit Embassy Kiev's classified website:
www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/kiev.
Gwaltney