Interviews with Viktor Yushchenko

At the time, the strategy of the Ukrainian political leadership was in dividing all the national movements and patriotic movements, so the parliament would become multilayered and represent not one, not two, not three, but at least five movements. And I remember that during the period when I became a prime minister, [1999 – 2001] I had support of 11 factions in the parliament. 11 factions! Naturally, there were hard negotiations, because that involved quite a number of sensitive issues and ideological issues.

In other words, the parliament was such a complex political structure, which the political leadership of Ukraine, first of all, needed, as I understand, as an easier way to be able to oppose its political opponents inside and outside the parliament. Due to that, when I had an opportunity to form the first national coalition of democratic forces in the parliament, the coalition had 3 key things: If we want to be strong, then we have to become consolidated and we need to find a unified vision. Perhaps that was the most important thing, because that was something different from the policy, which had been pursued at the time.

Second thing: We are talking about the conflicting states of mind in our movement, but what we should discuss is the development of our nation and state. We speak of Ukraine, which did not exist on a map of Europe for the last 350 years. Because of that, the moment of the emergence of our nation and state was extremely important. It was a key idea, which had united all the political forces. And the third thing: That is its democratic character.

We proceeded from the point, that only by the means of democracy we can build the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. All other political regimes can lead only to a colonial version of Ukraine’s development. Because of that, the word democracy, or freedom, was our keystone word, because our only chance to establish ourselves as a state in the democratic world lies in that word – and that was my strong conviction. I cannot say that the idea was easily or simply accepted by Ukrainian public. Moreover, I would say, for a certain part of our society – I cannot say that it was its largest part – but for a certain part of our society, democracy was perceived as a weakness.

For instance, there were notions that, for example, an authoritarian regime may have given better answers to the challenges which existed in our political life at the time. We had to persuade, we had to argue that democracy has all the instruments and tools to give the right answer to any existing challenges and problems in Ukrainian society. Finally, I would like to say, because we discuss the current time, what I am sure about: In Ukraine democracy occupies its rightful place – and they will not take it away. I am certain that it is the values that have won over millions of people, and these millions of people, these millions of Ukrainians will not give those values away.

Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a Ukrainian economist and politician. He served as President of Ukraine from 2005 to 2010. Yushchenko was born in 1954 in Khoruzhivka, Ukraine. Both his parents were teachers.

Educated as an economist, Yushchenko worked in banking and finance for much of his career. After Ukrainian independence was restored in 1991, he became chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine from 1993 to 1999. President Leonid Kuchma appointed Yushchenko prime minister. Yushchenko served in that post from 1999 to 2001. Freedom House and other watchdog groups noted a marked deterioration in civil liberties and human rights under President Kuchma, including restrictions on the media, government efforts to undermine the political opposition, political violence and even murder.

Yushchenko became active in electoral politics, winning a seat in Ukraine’s parliament in 2002. That same year, he became leader of the Our Ukraine political coalition, the leading bloc of the democratic opposition to Kuchma.

In 2004, Yushchenko launched his campaign for president, quickly becoming the leading opposition candidate. Yushchenko faced formidable odds, with little access to the media. In September 2004, Yushchenko became seriously ill with what was later diagnosed as dioxin poisoning. Though gravely wounded, Yushchenko continued his political campaign. In the October 31, 2004 first round of elections, he narrowly edged Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. Since neither Yanukovych nor Yushchenko won 50 percent of the vote, they met in a runoff election on November 21. Irregularities and fraud were widespread and the government proclaimed Yanukovych the winner. Public outrage led to the nonviolent demonstrations and protests of the Orange Revolution. After several weeks of protests, the government acceded to demands for a new round of elections. On December 26, 2004, Viktor Yushchenko defeated Viktor Yanukovych to become president of Ukraine.

As president, Yushchenko sought to improve Ukraine’s economy and democratic institutions. He worked to strengthen ties with the European Union and NATO. Throughout his presidency, Yushchenko was challenged by political infighting and fractious coalition governments. He unsuccessfully sought reelection in 2010, but lost to his 2004 rival, Viktor Yanukovych.

Since completing his term, Viktor Yushchenko has remained active in public affairs and politics. He currently serves as the founder and head of the Viktor Yushchenko Institute in Kyiv.

http://yushchenkoinstitute.org/en/