Q&A
Eugene Rumer
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Source: Getty
Commentary
Missing in Kyiv: A Big Tent
With all eyes on the simmering crisis in Crimea, the new provisional Ukrainian government in Kyiv is sending few, if any signs that it is seeking reconciliation.
By Eugene Rumer
Published on Feb 27, 2014
With all eyes on the simmering crisis in Crimea, the new provisional Ukrainian government in Kyiv is sending few, if any signs that it is seeking reconciliation. Perhaps, a rumored visit by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov and acting Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh might help calm the situation there, but the composition of the new government approved earlier today by the Rada is bound to raise questions about the new Kyiv team's interest in bringing all factions and parties together. Perhaps, most notable is the absence of Vitaliy Klichko's UDAR: the party is not in represented in the cabinet. It has issued a statement of support for the new government, but has not explained why it is not in it. Perhaps, Klichko does not want to be associated with the difficult and almost certainly unpopular decisions the new government will have to make?—Not clear at this point.
Yulia Tymoshenko's and Arseniy Yatsenyuk's Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) is well represented in the new cabinet with Yatsenyuk as the Prime Minister, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko, Minister of the Interior Arsen Avakov, and several others perhaps not formally affiliated with the party but previously associated with Tymoshenko during her time as Prime Minister.
Perhaps, the most questions about the new government's direction will be raised by several key appointments of ultra-nationalist Svoboda (Freedom) and Pravyi Sektor (Right Sector) members to leading roles in the Defense Ministry, National Defense and Security Council, and the Prosecutor General's office. Tenyukh is a member of Freedom. While a former Fatherland deputy and leader of the Maidan self-defense force Andriy Parubiy is the new head of the National Defense and Security Council, the leader of the far-right Right Sector Dmytro Yarosh was offered the post of his deputy. The newly-created lustration commission presumably to be tasked with investigating collaborators with the old regime and security services, will be headed by Maidan activist and reporter Yegor Sobolev.So far, this does not look like a team that is likely to bring everyone under one big tent.
About the Author
Eugene Rumer
Director and Senior Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Program
Rumer, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the U.S. National Intelligence Council, is a senior fellow and the director of Carnegie’s Russia and Eurasia Program.
- Russia Will Be More Dangerous After the War with Ukraine
- Belligerent and Beleaguered: Russia After the War with UkrainePaper
Eugene Rumer
Recent Work
Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.
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