Ukraine's Reform Euphoria Falters

KIEV, Ukraine -- One cold day this fall, Inna Grigoryeva stepped out in her orange scarf, hoping it would add a bit of cheer to a gray day, and says she was overwhelmed by the smiles and affectionate looks from passersby.


A year after Ukraine's color-coded Orange Revolution, the excitement and ideals that brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators to the capital's main square are already the stuff of orange-tinged nostalgia. Reality has taken on a darker hue, muddied by unfulfilled promises and fallible heroes.

"The fairy tale written on Independence Square now calls to mind a murder mystery. Only the victim isn't a person, but hope," said Andriy Yusov, a leading member of Pora, the youth group that was one of the driving forces in the protests.

As Ukraine prepares for Tuesday's anniversary, the revolution's leaders are divided against one another in a welter of allegations of corruption and influence-peddling. Those who hoped for a clean break from Russia and acceptance in the West feel let down, while in the Russian-speaking east of the country, many feel their country has been hijacked.

The magic may have faded, and the media may speculate that the anniversary celebrations will be less exuberant than might be expected, but Grigoryeva, a newspaper journalist, says the reactions to her scarf tell her that orange is still a potent symbol and that enough unity and goodwill is left to ensure that come Tuesday, "all of Kiev will be orange."

With opinion polls showing a majority thinks the country is headed in the wrong direction, there's a natural inclination to fall back on the heady days of last November.

"For maybe the first time, the whole world learned where Ukraine was--and not because of Chernobyl or some other catastrophe but because of the revolution ... it defined us," said Petro Poroshenko, a tycoon whose television station broke through the government's media blackout to show the nation of 47 million what was unfolding in Kiev.

The Orange Revolution began hours after the polls closed on the Nov. 21 presidential election. As the Central Election Commission began churning out fraudulent vote counts in favor of Russia's man, Viktor Yanukovych, reformist candidate Viktor Yushchenko summoned his own partisans to Independence Square.

They poured in, pitching hundreds of tents, setting up outdoor kitchens and vowing to stay until justice prevailed. Disciplined, cheerful, even picking up their cigarette butts, they demanded freedom and democracy. After 70 years as a Soviet republic, and 15 more feeling the rigors of the free market, many simply wanted Ukraine to be a normal European country.

"Yu-shchen-ko!" they chanted through the night. Sometimes it was more rock concert than revolution.

Riot police stood ready. Outgoing President Leonid Kuchma went on television and called for an end to "this so-called revolution." European envoys scrambled to mediate. Politicians in the Russian-speaking provinces talked secession.

Twelve days later, the Supreme Court declared the vote count fraudulent and ordered the election rerun.

On Dec. 26, Yushchenko won the rerun.

But the goodwill didn't last.

The revolutionaries were a mismatched group of reformers, socialists and populists united only by their hatred of Kuchma's corrupt regime. They inherited a nation divided between the pro-Russia east and the nationalist west.

Initially, the new government plunged into action by increasing pensions and salaries, sacking 18,000 bureaucrats and summoning former officials for questioning.

One of the most contentious issues was the murky privatization deals during the Kuchma era. Yulia Tymoshenko, the Yushchenko ally who had become prime minister, wanted hundreds of these deals revoked; Yushchenko resisted.

The Tymoshenko government's heavy hand spooked investors. Ukraine's economic growth slid below 4 percent.

In September, Yushchenko fired Tymoshenko.

Meanwhile, Ukrainians complain that the revolution has failed to deliver on promises to improve living standards and restore trust in government, and that it has been tarnished by corruption allegations and backroom political deals.

Source: AP