Keeping democracy alive in Ukraine

He was one of the leaders of Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution, and - by his own account - the first to "pitch a tent" in Kiev's central square in 2000 in opposition to the Soviet-era government.

But now as a system insider, Ukraine Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko is discovering firsthand the hard work of building a new democracy. In Washington recently to advance US-Ukraine cooperation on justice and international crime, the youthful Mr. Lutsenko says he's learned that creating a clean and fair national police force is one of the most important determinants in a young democracy's success.

And stepping back to view the press for glasnost in the Middle East, the appointee of Ukraine President Viktor Yuschenko has some sobering words for the Bush administration's democratization enthusiasts.

"I would not like to be the adviser to the US foreign policy on the Middle East," he says, "for one thing because I have enough to be preoccupied with in Ukraine." But he says any country must have the "spark" inside if freedom's fire is to catch and not burn out.

"The support from outside is important - we learned that in the cold days in the Maidan [Kiev's central square] in the revolution," Lutsenko says. "But to get nine people [out of 10] to join in democracy's success, you must first have the one of their own so they know they are not alone."

Ukraine's democratization, which became the focus of much of the world in late 2004 with the eventually successful election of the pro-democracy (and West-favored) Mr. Yuschenko, will command international attention again with its March 26 parliamentary elections.

Observers say the polls, which will pit Yuschenko's pro-reform, pro-Western forces against the establishment and Moscow-favoring forces of former prime minister Viktor Yanukovych, will help determine whether Ukraine remains on its pro-West path.

The year following Yuschenko's successful campaign - in which he was poisoned nearly to death, allegedly by pro-old-line forces - has been a rocky one for Ukraine and its democratization. In September the prime minister and key figure in the Orange Revolution, Yuliya Tymoshenko, was dismissed. Winter saw the battle with Russia over natural gas prices, and early this year the parliament gave the new prime minister a vote of no confidence, essentially sacking the government and prompting the March elections.

In a new report, Freedom House says the rough year has left Ukrainians ambiguous about democratization and disappointed in their new leadership. And although the pro-democracy organization now lists Ukraine as "free" in its annual survey of world freedom - it previously listed the former Soviet satellite as "partly free" - it also sounds alarms over the public's drift over the past year.

A recent survey of Ukrainians commissioned by Freedom House finds a high degree of pessimism about the country's politicians, with 2 of 3 saying the country is headed in the wrong direction, and little interest in or knowledge of new laws that will govern the March elections.

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