Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko (left) and Anatoly Matvienko, the new prime minister of Crimea.
Photo:
|
 |
A ROK Hangs over Crimea's Leaders
// Russian Community goes over to the opposition
Power Struggle
The Russian Community of Crimea (ROK) announced yesterday that it was joining the opposition to the present leadership the Supreme Rada and the Council of Ministers of Crimea. The reason for the move was the recent appointment of Anatoly Matvienko as chairman of the Council of Ministers of Crimea, which ROK believes was an infringement of the authority of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, observers think that ROK's resentment was mainly caused by the dismissal of the heads of district administrations who sympathized with the organization.
The Russian Community of Crimea was founded on October 24, 1993, as a republican social organization for the protection of Crimean Russians. The Community publishes several newspapers in Simferopol, Saki, and Evpatoria. ROK cooperates with the Moscow – Crimea Foundation and the Moscow City Foundation for the Support of School Textbook Publishing. In 2002, ROK numbered 50 deputies of all levels and the heads of several city and rural districts. Many of the deputies later ended their activities in ROK or stopped advertising it out of consideration for the new political realities. As a result, today, ROK is officially represented by only three deputies in the Crimean parliament.
“The decision to appoint Anatoly Matvienko as head of the government of Crimea at a session of the Supreme Soviet of Crimea was made on the basis of two documents, the so-called agreements signed earlier by the president of Ukraine, which was direct evidence of Kiev's overt disregard of the authority of the Republic of Crimea stated in the constitutions of Ukraine and Crimea,” ROK Chairman Sergey Tsekov said yesterday.
Former prime minister [Sergey] Kunitsyn was also not very popular with ROK, which characterized him as a “political moneylender selling out the interests of the overwhelming majority of Crimeans. “ “However, in the situation that arose after the leaders of the so-called Orange Revolution came to power in Ukraine, the intentions of the new Ukrainian leadership to appoint one of their people as head of the government of Crimea at any cost was interpreted by ROK's leadership as actions directed against the authority of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,” Tsekov alleged.
However, observers believe that the reason for ROK's opposition lies elsewhere. Until yesterday, ROK's ideas were shared by some heads of district administrations of Crimea, who were simultaneously deputies of the peninsula's parliament. However, when Matvienko became prime minister of Crimea, President Viktor Yushchenko dismissed the entire complement of district leaders at Matvienko's suggestion. Moreover, during voting on April 20, Matvienko's candidacy did not pass the first attempt, and the Kievans held private talks with opposing deputies, promising to let the district leaders keep their jobs in return for their loyalty. The persuasion had an effect, but after the prime minister's confirmation, the president of Ukraine issued a decree dated the previous day firing them all.
Experts think that ROK's position will not be a big problem for the new prime minister. Matvienko can rely on other Russian structures. Despite ROK's declaration that it is the “main bearer and actual public spokesman on the peninsula for the idea of integrating all Slavic states and the fundamental and consistent protector of the rights of the Republic of Crimea's Russian population, there are several dozen other organizations that have assumed the same functions. Among them are the Slavic Party, the Congress of the Russian Community of Crimea (KROK), the Fatherland movement, and the Crimean branch of the Russian Bloc party. Another movement, the Fatherland Congress of Russians and Russian Communities headed by Boris Zazhigaev, not only does not oppose Matvienko, but is also in political alliance with him. Fatherland and the Sobor Party headed by Matvienko have been part of the Yulia Timoshenko bloc since 2002.
Lack of unity is the main problem in the Russia movement of Crimea. Besides dozens of organization with the accent on Russian names, other parties close to them also operate in Crimea, including the Soyuz Party, the Communist Party, and Natalia Vitrenko's Progressive Socialist Party. They are all clustered on one electoral field, which statistics show is gradually converging. In this connection, before each election, they form into opposing blocs and subject their associates to scathing criticism. In the opinion of most experts, the Russian idea in Crimea is thereby discredited by its own leaders, of which there are more than 20 on the peninsula.
Aleksey Prikhodko, Simferopol
All the Article in Russian as of Apr. 27, 2005
|
|
|
