“I cannot and will not interfere with (the) work of Ukrainian courts,” President Viktor Yanukovych tweeted on Aug. 11, 2011, responding to a letter sent days earlier by former Czech President Vaclav Klaus after the arrest of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.
In Klaus’s letter, the ex-president expressed his concern that the case against her was politically motivated.
The tweet was the last of 1,224 sent from Yanukovych’s account to his mere 154 followers on the social media site. The presidential account fell silent after that, a move experts say is a bad idea.
“Today, e-diplomacy is growing on a huge scale and in many different areas, and the importance for diplomats to employ the tools of e-diplomacy is enormous,” began a recent commentary co-authored by Leonid Litra, a senior researcher at Kyiv’s Institute of World Policy, and Iuliia Kononenko, an analyst at the institute, published in the journal New Eastern Europe.
They continued: “Diplomats are able to spread information and receive feedback from both the public and the international community, strengthen connections with foreign partners, as well as make communication within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs easy, practical, rapid and cost-saving. All these features are applicable for Ukrainian diplomats, who are still lagging behind the leaders.”
The op-ed came on the heels of a policy brief the two jointly published earlier this year titled, “Twitter Diplomacy: How new technologies could enhance the position of Ukraine on the international arena.”
In it, Litra and Kononenko offer a glimpse into the current state of e-diplomacy in Ukraine, which according to them is lacking in the public engagement department.
One bright exception was former Minister of Foreign Affairs Kostyantyn Gryshchenko, who saw the benefits of social media in diplomacy, starting a Facebook account for his office back in 2010 and a Twitter account in 2011.
“I did not immediately realize the benefits of employing social media, but then I had gradually perceived its powerful potential,” he told an audience earlier this month at the Institute of International Relations in Kyiv National University. He preferred Twitter to Facebook, noting that being limited to 140 characters is best for him, given his lack of time.
Today, under Leonid Kozhara, the ministry has more than 3,000 followers on Facebook and continues to post information. However, Gryshchenko’s more personal touch is gone, along with the ministry’s Twitter page. In its place is a YouTube page, where videos of press conferences and briefings are posted.
Nevertheless, many Ukrainian officials are not utilizing social networks to help them communicate, promote transparency and perhaps build stronger relationships with constituents.
While some dismiss the idea of e-diplomacy, big names such as former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton laud its importance.
“Social media is a great tool,” Clinton told Congress in January. “And not to communicate with just leaders and officials, but really get down… into the grassroots.”
Clinton told the room that her department was using social media sites like Twitter to actively counter anti-American messages posted online by terrorists groups like al-Qaeda. Following in her footsteps is newly appointed Secretary of State John Kerry.
U.S. President Barack Obama is another avid social media user. His first presidential campaign broke new ground by using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and YouTube to promote, raise money and organize at the grassroots level.
As far as presidents go, Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan leader, was as prolific a tweeter as they come. He amassed more than four million followers in his time and even awarded a 19-year-old woman a new apartment when she became his three millionth follower.
“I still cling to Christ and trust my doctors and nurses. Ever onward to victory! We will live and overcome!” read the late president’s last tweet on Feb. 14.
Russian Prime Minister and former President Dmitry Medvedev, who actively tweets for himself from both his Russian and English accounts, used the network to converse with former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger about meeting to ski and to share photos of himself with Obama at an American burger joint.
Philipp Koker, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies at University College London, told the Kyiv Post that social media offers several advantages for politicians.
“Twitter presents another channel to bring their views across and establish ownership of certain issues, (such as economic or social policy),” he said. “Twitter also allows politicians to connect with voters who are not reached by traditional forms of campaigning… especially young people.”
At least a few of Ukraine’s politicians see the benefits of online interaction with constituents.
Viktor Chumak, an opposition member of parliament and former director of the Ukrainian Institute for Public Policy, is an active Facebook user, posting photos of parliament sessions and commission roundtable discussions, and often engages in online debates.
“With Facebook I get feedback (from constituents) very quickly,” Chumak told the Kyiv Post via Facebook. “I write myself, I read it myself.”
Another savvy social networker is Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes, who’s been using the popular photo-sharing service Instagram since last summer to post images of himself sitting in helicopter cockpits, dining with the country’s elite and working out shirtless at the gym, amassing some 3,499 followers in the process. He also joined Twitter on Feb. 20.
While Kernes didn’t respond to the Kyiv Post’s requests for comment via both the networks and email, he does respond frequently to comments and replies.
But there may be one big obstacle keeping Yanukovych from following the global trend. According to a recent blog post by Ukrainska Pravda investigative journalist Serhiy Leshchenko, the president doesn’t have a computer in his office, meaning no access to online news or email, and certainly not Twitter.
Kyiv Post staff writer Christopher J. Miller can be reached at [email protected].
