President of Donetsk soccer club Miner and member of the Party of the Regions Rinat Ahmetov
Photo: Alexander Techinsky
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Who're You Calling a Figurehead?
// The price of the question
In the runup to the new political season in Ukraine, the Kiev weekly Korrespondent, which names the country's most influential citizens, placed Donetsk billionaire and president of the Shakhter soccer team Rinat Akhmetov in first place, ahead of President Viktor Yushchenko and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich. Of course, that could be a subjective decision by Ukrainian journalists. Now people are talking about a listing of the richest men of Eastern and Central Europe. That list was published by the Polish weekly Wprost and places Roman Abramovich, Oleg Deripaska and Mikhail Fridman in the top slots. Akhmetov ranked 11th, near Igor Kolomoisky, Viktor Pinchuk, Sergey Taruta and other lords of Ukraine. Looking at the placement of Russians and Ukrainians on the list, you get a better understanding of what was built in Ukraine in the time of Leonid Kuchma and how the Orange Maidan has changed things. The society built in Ukraine in 15 years of independence is the oligarchic capitalism personified by Viktor Yushchenko. In a country like that, the most influential person could only be a billionaire member of parliament. A society like that simply has to have an attractive show window for display on foreign markets. And that society has to have a strong manager, an executive – one that does not have billions of his own. The main battle is for the place of manager, and Viktor Yanukovich is ahead so far.
Judging by the moods of the competitors, the place of symbol of the nation is not of much interest. Ukraine has become a presidential-parliamentary republic, where they have already started talking about the next step – letting parliament elect the head of state, who has been deprived of a number of key powers. But even if that doesn't happen, the president of the country will always have less influence than the Chief Oligarch and Chief Manager. His role will inevitably grow when Igor Kolomoisky, worth $6 billion, tries to challenge Renat Akhmetov, worth $7 billion. Or if Viktor Pinchuk or Sergey Taruta, each worth $3 billion, begin to think of their own political possibilities. But in that case, the main interest of the oligarchs will be to win the place of Chief Manager for oneself or one's stand-in.
The main thing that has happened in Ukraine as a result of the presidential and parliamentary elections is the division of the functions of Chief Representative from the Chief Manager. That is how Viktor Yushchenko's Ukraine differs from that of Leonid Kuchma, who was manager of the country and symbol of its statehood at the same time. And that is how Ukraine differs from Russia. Who doubts that the Chief Manager of Russia is in the Kremlin? He is also the face of Russian statehood.
Things turned out differently in Ukraine. Now it is time to see if that new structure of authority will function in a former Soviet state and if it will do so effectively.
Vitaly Portnikov
All the Article in Russian as of Sep. 06, 2006
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