Viktor Yushchenko Makes Changes in the Ministries
// And in the regions
Personnel
Viktor Yushchenko, the president of Ukraine, visited Sumy Region yesterday on a one-day working visit, during which he introduced the new head of the local administration, Nikolai Lavrik. In making his first visit to the regions as head of state, Yushchenko tried to demonstrate the foundations of the central government's policy in the regions. This consists not only in satisfying the interests of the local political and business elites and encouraging those who helped the “oranges” win the election, but also in paving the way for reforms that would make democratic transformations in Ukraine irreversible.
The Police Must Not Serve Power
Before flying to Sumy, Yushchenko had time to hold another very important meeting for him and present one more staff member. On Monday morning, the president met with management personnel of Ukraine's Ministry of the Interior after introducing them to the new minister, Yury Lutsenko. In yesterday's address to the ministry's management, Yushchenko outlined his vision of how the operations of the Ukrainian police should change. In his words, the police must start “serving the law and human rights.” “Let me emphasize – they must not serve power or criminal groups, but the individual,” the new president of Ukraine declared. After noting that “there are tens of thousands of honest people [in the ministry] who came here in good conscience and not for bribes,” President Yushchenko expressed confidence that within a year a “police worthy of people's trust” would appear in the country. In order to speed up reform of the ministry, the president intends to hold another meeting with its management within ten days to discuss the strategy for the ministry's operations for 2005, and within two months, to sum up the first results of the reformed ministry's work. “I'm counting on minister Lutsenko and on you, colleagues,” Yushchenko concluded.
In turn, Lutsenko confirmed at yesterday's press conference that he intended to “purge the ranks of the Ministry of the Interior of dishonest employees and depoliticize and decriminalize the police within two months.” “If I detect quiet sabotage within police ranks of the reforms being undertaken, I will take harsh measures. It's all or nothing. I'll either do this or end my political career,” the minister declared. At the same time, he advised that, owing to his work in the cabinet of ministers, he had suspended his membership in the Socialist Party.
Another socialist minister, the new minister for agrarian policy, Aleksandr Baranovsky, also promised to fight corruption in the area just entrusted to him, in this case, in the agroindustrial complex. Baranovsky plans to start with a review of the procedure for allocating funds from the federal budget to support farmers under state programs.
After killing two birds with one stone by outlining the principles of the imminent reform of the Ministry of the Interior and the agricultural industry and showing generosity towards his socialist allies who last week made every effort to ensure they would not be forgotten when the portfolios were handed out, Yushchenko left for Sumy to his small homeland.
Are You Going to Steal?
In Sumy, President Yushchenko was again faced with solving a double problem. On the one hand, continuing to dispense debts to his political allies, and on the other hand, to explain once again the meaning of the impending reforms, this time at the regional level.
By appointing Nikolai Lavrik as head of Sumy Region, Yushchenko showed his respect for another political ally in the Orange Revolution, the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, of which Lavrik was vice president until recently (the union, represented by its leader, former prime minister Anatoly Kinakh, signed a cooperation agreement with Yushchenko even before the election runoff. Kinakh subsequently received the portfolio of first deputy prime minister in Yulia Timoshenko's new cabinet.).
Yesterday's introduction of the new governor of Sumy Region, who had previously headed one of the district centers here, was held in the spirit of the Orange Revolution. “'Are you going to steal?' I asked him during a conversation. He said no,” Yushchenko said, presenting Lavrik in a lively manner. Lavrik tried to continue the subject. “If you aren't going to steal and no one close to you is going to steal, it's better to say it to the TV cameras…” “Sumy will become one of Ukraine's leading regions,” the president said, helping his colleague during an awkward pause and bursting out laughing. Thus heartened by the president, Lavrik began speaking more confidently. “I will fulfill all the principles the revolution fought for without fail. I'm telling everyone here and you as president that I will not steal and will not let anyone else steal. Whoever takes a bribe will regret he was born! Anyone who gives bribes will lose his business!”
Donetsk Compromise
President Yushchenko's next working visit after returning to Kiev will be to Donetsk, where he will present Vadim Chuprun as the head of Donetsk Region. Chuprun was already governor of Donetsk Region, and until recently he worked as first deputy chairman of the company Naftogaz of Ukraine. In a recent interview with Ukrainskaya Pravda, the new regional leader admitted that although he was a Donetsk native, he was not acquainted with well-known oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, the secret boss of the region and sponsor of presidential candidate Viktor Yanukovich. Chuprun also admitted in the same interview that he knew Yanukovich, the ex-governor of Donetsk Region, very well and hoped that relations with him would “continue to be good”. The new Donetsk governor has so far not promised to fight corruption.
The appointment of Chuprun, who, unlike Lavrik was not a Yushchenko ally in the recent elections, is symbolic in its own way. Some observers may regard it as a demonstration of an acute personnel shortage, where the president was unwillingly forced to appoint “theirs” rather than “ours” as regional leaders. Nevertheless, the same logic that guides Yushchenko in his personnel policy in both the center and the regions is apparent in Chuprun's appointment. It seems the new president is attempting to satisfy various political forces in order to assure maximum support for himself in future. At the same time, in eastern Ukraine, which voted against him, he is apparently gambling on leaders who were not involved in the confrontation of the past months. It is noteworthy that during the recent elections, Chuprun neither openly supported nor opposed either Yushchenko or Yanukovich. Furthermore, he was not observed playing the eastern Ukrainian separatist card.
| Who Heads Ukraine's Regions |
| Region |
Regional head |
Year of birth |
Previous position |
| 1. Autonomous Republic of Crimea |
Vladimir Shklar* |
1960 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Center group) |
| 2. Vinnytsya Region |
Aleksandr Dombrovsky |
1962 |
Mayor of Vinnytsya |
| 3. Volyn Region |
Vladimir Bondar |
1968 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
| 4. Dnipropetrovsk Region |
Sergey Kasyanov |
1966 |
Supreme Rada deputy (People's Agrarian Party), member of the board of directors of Olvia Corporation |
| 5. Donetsk Region |
Vadim Chuprun |
1943 |
First deputy chairman of the board of Naftogaz of Ukraine |
| 6. Zhytomyr Region |
Pavel Zhebrivsky |
1962 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
| 7. Transcarpathia |
Viktor Baloga |
1963 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
| 8. Zaporizhzhya Region |
Yury Artemenko |
1963 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine), editor-in-chief of OOO Gazeta MIG, vice president of the Ukrainian Association of Editors of the Periodical Press |
| 9. Ivano-Frankivsk Region |
Roman Tkach |
1962 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
| 10. Kiev Region |
Evgeny Zhovtiak |
1961 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
| 11. Kirovohrad Region |
Eduard Zeinalov |
1962 |
Director of the gas station network RUR Group S.A. |
| 12. Luhansk Region |
Aleksey Danilov |
1962 |
Deputy director of the Institute of European Integration and Development |
13. Lviv Region |
Petr Oleinik |
1957 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
14. Mikolayiv Region |
Aleksandr Sadykov |
1964 |
Chairman of the board of directors of Unex Commercial Bank |
15. Odessa Region |
Vasily Tsushko |
1963 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Socialist Party) |
16. Poltava Region |
Stepan Bulba |
1950 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Socialist Party) |
17. Rivne Region |
Vasily Chervony |
1958 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine), commander the Ukrainian Volynska sich Cossacks |
18. Sumy Region |
Nikolai Lavrik |
1952 |
Vice president of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs |
19. Ternopil Region |
Ivan Stoiko |
1961 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
| 20. Kharkiv Region |
Arsen Avakov |
1964 |
President of AO Investor, president of Bazis Bank |
21. Kherson Region |
Boris Silenkov |
1960 |
Mayor of Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson Region |
22. Khmelnytskyv Region |
Vitaly Oluiko |
1961 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Popular Democratic Party), rector of the Khmelnytskyv Institute of Regional Administration and Law |
23. Cherkasy Region |
Aleksandr Cheverko |
1959 |
Headof the Cherkasy regional administration of the National Bank of Ukraine |
24. Chernivtsi Region |
Nikolai Tkach |
1945 |
Rector of Fedkovich National University of Chernivtsi |
| 25. Chernihiv Region |
Vladislav Atroshenko |
1968 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Our Ukraine) |
26. Kiev |
Aleksandr Omelchenko |
1938 |
Head of the Kiev city administration |
27.Sevastopol |
Sergey Ivanov |
1952 |
Supreme Rada deputy (Center group) |
* Appointed head of the government of Crimea. According to the constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the head of the republic is the president of the Supreme Rada of Crimea (since May 2000 – Boris Deich). |
Andrey Chernikov, Kiev; Sergey Strokan
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 08, 2005
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