'You have to go to the electors with an open soul, clean hands...'
Yuri Kostenko is the antithesis of half a dozen leftists lining up for presidency in Ukraine. Kostenko, 48, is one of the few presidential challengers whose past record is not tainted by membership in the Communist Party.
Since 1989, he’s been active in Rukh, the party that offers practically the only counterbalance to the country’s massive left-wing force. Rukh was widely credited for pushing the Ukrainian government toward independence in 1991 and has since sought to distance the country further from its former Soviet allies.
From 1992 to 1998 Kostenko was Minister for the Environment and Nuclear Safety where he introduced legislation requiring compulsory reporting to the media of malfunctions that occur at any of the country’s five nuclear power plants.
Kostenko was actively involved in the breakup of the Rukh party in February this year. He describes the fractured Rukh party, which he heads, as the political force that doesn’t want to serve the power but wants to be the power itself.
‘Kostenko … wants to steer Ukraine toward an unequivocally pro-Western, pro-democratic and pro-market reform course,’ reads the English-language bulletin compiled by his party. ‘He is also enthusiastically pro-NATO and views closer political, economic and military ties to the West as Ukraine’s best guarantee of prosperity and independence.’
His informal manner of communicating with voters impresses audiences used to seeing presidential candidates speak in public behind a cloak of dark-suited bodyguards. However, Kostenko’s short exposure has brought him little popularity. Opinion polls do not even rank him among the top seven presidential hopefuls in this year’s presidential race, and with time winding down before the election most view his chances of winning as slim.
Q: Why are you running for president?
A: I am running to make sure that Ukraine has a future. The policy we are witnessing in Ukraine today didn’t give it a chance to become a democratic, wealthy European state. A state in the center of Europe, which has a status of a developing country doesn’t suit me. This is why I am running.
As for our chances, only the Lord knows how realistic our chances are, and nobody else.
Q: What percentage of votes do you think you’ll be able to receive? A: In the first or second round?
Q: First one, of course.
A: Between 10 and 20.
Q: If you fail to win the election this time, what position in government would you like to get, and what would you like to gain from this election?
A: Personally, I don’t want to gain anything from this campaign. Just like I never wanted to be a parliament deputy for personal benefit, and the way I live now can be a good confirmation of this. As to the benefit of the party and democracy, my campaign will be very good, regardless of the outcome of the election, because everything possible has been done to destroy this democracy before the presidential election. Pretending that our president is a democrat and we are facing a threat to democracy, effectively democracy itself is being destroyed. The events in the People’s Rukh of Ukraine are a good example of it.
Do you think the other part of Rukh, which has the official status, has a political future? No, it doesn’t. And those in power do their best to discredit that part of Rukh through its cooperation with the power. And this part of Rukh they are trying to destroy. That’s why our participation in this race is not just Kostenko’s or Rukh’s participation, but effectively a reconstitution of a smashed democracy on the eve of the presidential election.
The main outcome of it will be the formation of a right-of-center party – first, there’ll be a coalition, and then a party – which will have a single party list before the next parliamentary election. It will have political weight and political prospects.
So, when they say I’m not going to win the election, I say, yes I will, in any circumstances, because democracy will win.
Q: What makes you think that other parties will united with either branch of Rukh? There is at least one right-of-center political party that benefits from Rukh being broken, from chaos in national democratic movement and from Rukh candidates losing the elections, it’s Reforms and Order. They collect pieces of parties and the electorate.
A: I completely disagree with this, because everything has its end. The policy of Reforms and Order is a Trojan horse in the right-wing movement, just like [Natalia] Vitrenko in the left-wing movement. But you can’t make politics out of lies forever. There’ll be time when people’s eyes will open, and they will see what kind of policy it was, and what it was for, and I don’t think this party will get political support from the electors. You have to go to the electors with an open soul, clean hands, and clean thoughts – then they will support such a party. But when a party changes every day, it will never work.
We will be the center to form a powerful democratic right-wing force because we do not engage in political prostitution.
Q: How does their political prostitution show?
A: They’re using the break-up of People’s Rukh for taking over their lower party structures. They’re not building their party, ideology and history, but are trying to create their own political welfare on the basis of somebody’s misfortune. This is what I call political prostitution.
Q: Let’s talk about your union with Ukrainian Social Democrat Vasyl Onopenko. He’s not the kind of person who can lead masses, he doesn’t have a good reputation in political circles either. He changed four parties in the last four years, and nobody can say for sure what kind of political views he holds. So, why did you make an alliance with this person?
A: We united not just with a person, but with a certain ideology. The People’s Rukh of Ukraine had a strong national idea, but lacked a strong social policy, which social democracy brings in. A union of a national idea and a social policy will cause a very positive new effect. I think this kind of party – if it’s created – will have big prospects.
As for Vasyl Onopenko: I know him as an honest and decent person. There aren’t many such people in politics. As for his changing political parties: He was creating them, but somebody else would take them away. Those in power would, because he wanted to be in opposition ever since his resignation [as Justice minister in 1994].
Of course, before the parliamentary election, when a bloc was created where first-class stars were collected in his party [Social Democratic Party of Ukraine (united)], of course he lost a lot as a politician.
Q: Social Democracy is not a right-wing movement. So, how can you form a right-of-center alliance with a leftist party?
A: Currently, there is no clear distinction as to who takes what kind of niche. Some people call themselves leftists, and then form blocs with the ultra-right. Some people have been communists all their lives, but now they say they’re democrats, even among presidential candidates.
The Ukrainian political society is only just now forming and structuring, and every party is trying to preserve its part of the electorate. The umbrella of Ukrainian Social Democracy gathers, on one hand, the patriotic electorate, and on the other hand, those who want to have a strong social policy.
The People’s Rukh of Ukraine has always stood for a national democratic idea and effective economy, which would bring an effective social policy. But it happened in a society where Rukh is perceived strictly as a nationalistic party, without this social ingredient. This union brings political dividends to both parties, although losses also are expected. But formation of a clear right-wing party is the main task for Ukrainian democracy now. And its future ideology depends on those who join up with the movement.
Q: Which one of you will withdraw from the race, you or Onopenko?
A: It’s too early to talk about it. It will happen in the end of September.
Q: What are you going to do with your party? Are you going to register a new Rukh, or Rukh-1?
A: This issue is currently under debate. I personally think that a union, or coalition, is needed, and to think of a name for this coalition. Only this way would we have a future and be powerful.
Q: Who are your potential partners in this union?
A: Apart from Onopenko we are negotiating with Anatoly Matvientko [ex-People’s Democratic Party], part of the Democratic Party, with part of the Republican Christian Party – all the pieces of the parties that have split up, and we’ll see what comes out of it. The main thing is to preserve the nucleus: the People’s Rukh of Ukraine, its local structure and its electorate.
Q: Obviously, you’re placing your bets on the next parliamentary election. How many seats do you think you can get then?
A: We want to present one single party list from democratic forces to the electors, or a maximum of two, and win a majority in parliament.
Q: Do you plan to take part in the next presidential election?
A: The party will do, for sure. But me personally – I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. I can say one thing for sure: I’m not going to leave big politics.
