From exile in Czech Republic, Danylyshyn launches group, may seek seat in parliament

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Bohdan Danylyshyn is out of Ukraine, but not out of Ukrainian politics.

In January, the former economy minister in ex-Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s government won political asylum in the Czech Republic after prosecutors in Kyiv accused him of misspending almost $2 million in government money.

On May 12 in Prague, Danylyshyn held court with journalists to announce the establishment of Ukrainian European Perspective, a non-profit organization with the ambitious goal of turning Ukraine into a genuinely European and democratic country.

He also told Channel 5 that he may run for a seat in Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, during elections in 2012. Danylyshyn said his new non-governmental organization will call attention to the problems under President Viktor Yanukovych and lobby in European Union capitals.

His office in the Czech capital is Politickych Veznu 19, a street named in honor of political prisoners.

Exiles and dissidents from other countries often become governments-in-exile that support opposition groups back home, media and influential public figures.

However, Danylyshyn appears to have a long way to go. He is, for now, the only major Ukrainian politician in exile.

The only Yanukovych political critic residing abroad and visting Danylyshyn in Prague was Mykhaylo Pozhyvanov, former head of the State Reserve Committee in the Tymoshenko government.

He resides in Austria. Danylyshyn chose his words carefully.

“It’s unnecessary to criticize the government. They are discrediting themselves while they make their own glaring mistakes,” he said.

“Our main task is to make Ukraine feel not like an outcast in Europe, but as an equal, reliable partner, which has the ability and capacity for full-fledged integration with the European community in all spheres of life,” Danylyshyn added. Danylyshyn did not reveal his financial backers.

“We’ll have individual membership, corporate membership. We are ready to discuss cooperation with any organization from Ukraine and outside Ukraine, EU institutions that deal with NGOs,” he said.

Vasyl Danyliv, chairman of Danyliv Capital and Ukrenergy Holding, said he is backing the project. Under the Tymoshenko government, he controlled a share of energy exports from Ukraine to Europe.

Danyliv said his aims are altruistic.
“I am doing this purely because it’s good for Ukraine,” Danyliv said.

Danylyshyn’s asylum case was a heavy blow to the Yanukovych administration’s image internationally. The Czech Republic’s decision to grant Danylyshyn asylum gave credence to allegations that law enforcement loyal to Yanukovych was engaged in politically motivated prosecutions and persecutions.

Since Yanukovych narrowly beat Tymoshenko in a February 2010 presidential runoff vote, his administration has launched dozens of investigations into former officials in her 2007-2010 government. A handful of her allies have been in pre-trial detention for months.

Yanukovych’s administration has repeatedly denied allegations of political persecution. One Yanukovych supporter, Party of Regions lawmaker Vadym Kolesnichenko, went so far as to claim that Danylyshyn was granted asylum as a result of corrupt ties between Tymoshenko and European authorities.

Ukrainian journalists who traveled to Prague at Danylyshyn’s expense got invited to speak with the Security Services of Ukraine upon their return.

The security agency, known as the SBU, also held a news conference announcing that two Czech “spies” would be expelled from Ukraine.

The reaction of the Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg was swift: “I suspect that here we should talk not about spying but about payback for granting political asylum to Danylyshyn.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denies this.

As for Danylyshyn, he says his NGO will keep him busy and closer to Ukraine while living abroad. “My soul has been and remains with Ukraine,” Danylyshyn said.

Olena Tregub is a freelance journalist of Kyiv Post.