Alyona Vershinina, Echo Moskvi journalist from Russia, reflecting on being in Kyiv for an Okean Elzy concert today:
… one of the most famous songs of Okean Elzy at the moment is the song, Stina(‘The Wall’): “Where will we be, when their war ends? Will we have enough strength to make is so that the wall between us falls?” Once Vakarchuk wrote it about a relationship between lovers. Today these lines are about the East and West of Ukraine, about the relations between Russia and Ukraine. Patriotism and love for one’s neighbours is also a complex emotion, also an art, if you will. Will there be enough strength? Russia and Ukraine has less and less in common. Ukrainians don’t want to be similar to Russians, in which they see pro-Putin hurrah-patriots. And this is why Ukraine is Europe. Okean Elzy’s music in this regard does much more for the connection between the two peoples than all the bilateral diplomacy which has been exchanging Facebook posts, songs by embassies and statements of the Investigative Committee recently. Vakarchuk simply makes one fall in love with the Ukrainian language and Ukrainian music. Hippies won the war thanks to love and John Lennon’s rebellious songs. Maybe 40 years later we will be able to overcome the war between the nations through music… Let everything really be all right for everyone. And let the wall between the people, which is becoming stronger with each passing day, fall.
Novaya Gazeta Ukrainy is so far the only website that managed to get an interview from Viktor Yanukovych and only because the journalist he agreed to give an interview to was his old friend Olga Berezovskaya. He is currently staying in a sanitorium in Sochi. Let me remind you, that following Yanukovych fleeing Ukraine in February, documents in the river beside his palace were found that revealed the extent of his corruption and looting of public funds. There is no lack of evidence linking Yanukovych, and Tymoshenko, to decades of corrupt leadership that has left Ukraine in the economic, and social, crisis it is in now. Yet he continues to firstly, refuse his fault, and secondly, recognise the current Ukrainian government saying that he is ready to return to his 'rightful' position as the Ukrainian president at any time.
Now the new government is accusing you of looting the National Treasury. Is this true?
First, let us not call Poroshenko’s Kyiv junta the new government. The people that were unworthy of ruling Ukraine are in charge now. They are the people we kicked out of the Party of Regions for their incapability, they are those who did not know how to be efficient leaders, and instead of that stole state funds audaciously. Now they are calling themselves the Kamikaze Government, now they are saying we have to live in a new way. But wasn’t it them, long before I became President of Ukraine legally at fair elections, that led the country to such a state that we were unable to make it live normally in short terms? When I came to power in 2010 I honestly admitted that in order to return the country to economical flourishing a miracle should happen. But a miracle did not happen – and we rolled up our sleeves and set to work. They did not let us finish what we wanted to. We proposed a simple and comprehensive reform plan for the country. We stated our actions honestly and openly. Can we see the same in he new so-called government, de facto a junta? No. They don’t have a plan, nor the will to admit that they cannot do anything, that they are political losers and incapable managers. And you see for yourself, as to whether I stole billions. I am in a modest ward. I don’t live in a palace, I don’t go fishing by helicopter. If they want to prove with facts that I stole something from the treasury – let them go to court. I am ready for an honest court process and ready to be held responsible for my every action as head of state. But they have to be ready for responsible in the future as well. I know, they are still telling me, lamenting the scale the state budget is being looted now. The Ukrainians will yet see who is the thief and the liar.
Comments
Post a Comment