Editor’s Note: This feature separates Ukraine’s friends from its enemies. The Order of Yaroslav the Wise has been given since 1995 for distinguished service to the nation. It is named after the Kyivan Rus leader from 1019-1054, when the medieval empire reached its zenith. The Order of Lenin was the highest decoration bestowed by the Soviet Union, whose demise Russian President Vladimir Putin mourns. It is named after Vladimir Lenin, whose corpse still rots on the Kremlin’s Red Square, more than 100 years after the October Revolution he led.
Friend — Marta Farion, president of the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation of America
Marta Farion is a long-time advocate of education reform in Ukraine. A high-quality education, according to her, is essential to boost innovations and ramp up Ukraine’s economic growth. As of today, Ukraine’s 140 universities — remnants of the Soviet legacy — lack funding and prestige, so many local students seek better opportunities abroad. Farion set a goal to change that.
In the U.S., she spearheads the Kyiv-Mohyla Foundation, a non-profit organization founded in 2002 to support the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, one of Ukraine’s most prominent universities. Farion helped the university to raise investment, fund student scholarships and organize exchange programs. She also co-founded the Electronic Library of Ukraine, a project that provides access to digital academic and research papers to Ukraine’s universities.
Farion has a broad vision of what must be done to make Ukraine’s universities internationally competitive. First, Ukraine needs a better law on higher education, which has been at the center of disputes between politicians in every government since Ukraine’s independence, she said.
Ukrainian universities also have to fight corruption: “It degrades the quality of education and certification of degrees,” Farion said. According to her, Ukraine’s universities suffer from abuses related to admissions, bribery, plagiarism, use of ghostwriting, and inadequate assessment of student achievements.
Many things have been done to improve Ukraine’s education, Farion said, but local reformers should continue moving forward. “A policy to revamp the educational system will be the basis for Ukraine’s renewal. It will drive competitiveness, create economic opportunities, and have a direct impact on slowing the exodus of young people abroad,” she said.
During his visit to Washington on Sept. 1, President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Farion the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. For her service to the nation, Farion is Ukraine’s friend of the week.
Foe — Lanny Davis, attorney for Ukrainian oligarch Dmytro Firtash
Throughout his career as a lobbyist and lawyer, Lanny J. Davis has built an impressive client list. He once helped defend President Bill Clinton from impeachment and represented the interests of Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen. Now he is part of a legal team representing Ukraine’s exiled oligarch Dmytro Firtash.
Firtash, sanctioned by Ukraine on July 18 for allegedly selling titanium that went to Russia’s defense industry, is fighting extradition to the U.S. on a 2014 criminal indictment alleging involvement in a bribery scheme.
In a Sept. 1, 2021, op-ed for Real Clear Defense, Davis denied all Firtash wrongdoing, including the current U.S. federal indictment for which Firtash has evaded extradition from Austria for seven years. He denied Firtash had any association with Russian mobster Semion Mogilevich, despite ex-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor’s assertion that Firtash confessed to those links, according to WikiLeaks documents made public in 2010. Davis also denied the U.S. Justice Department characterization of Firtash as an “upper-echelon” associate of Russian organized crime.
It was one denial after another in the op-ed, despite evidence to the contrary. It was almost as if Firtash was a victimized choir boy rather than a shady, Kremlin-connected businessman whose companies, according to state officials, currently have a debt of hundreds of millions of dollars for unpaid natural gas supplies.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion and every accused person is entitled to the best lawyers they can afford. Davis is an aggressive advocate for his client, as the Kyiv Post knows from experience. But his portrayal of Firtash as an “anti-corruption” democrat who stands for “a strong and independent Ukraine” is just so ridiculous, and so at odds with Firtash’s record, that Davis is Ukraine’s foe of the week.
