To those who love it, Victor Pinchuk’s annual Yalta European Strategy conference is the “Ukrainian Davos,” a dynamic conference that brings together global intellectual leaders to strategize over Ukraine’s place in the world.
To those who hate it, it’s just another billionaire oligarch “vanity fair” of fat honorariums going to washed-up politicians or famous others who jet in for a big paycheck, say what they know about Ukraine (sometimes, it’s not much) and then jet out, having served as an accomplice to Pinchuk’s lifelong quest of improving his checkered reputation.
Whether loving it or hating it or in between, it’s fair to say that life is not going according to plan — either for Ukraine or for the 15th annual YES conference, now marking its 5th year in Kyiv and out of Yalta, since Russia’s military invasion and illegal occupation of the Crimean peninsula.
While Ukraine has made considerable progress in integrating more closely with the European Union, one of the goals of Pinchuk’s brainchild, membership in the EU or the NATO alliance is too far off to even discuss realistically in the coming decade.
For the time being, Ukraine has to be content with significant though limited victories, such as EU economic sanctions against Russia, visa-free travel for Ukrainians and a free trade agreement with the 28-nation bloc.
But as far as a platform for advancing Ukraine’s democratic reforms, YES is a bust to some of the leading corruption fighters in the nation.
Why boycott?
Among those boycotting the event is Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center in Kyiv.
“I think there is no big difference between whitewashing dirty money and whitewashing dirty reputations. While the forum might have a lot of brilliant speakers and host very needed discussions for the country, it is obvious for me that it is used also as key event for the personal positive PR of oligarch Victor Pinchuk,” Kaleniuk said. “I don’t believe that oligarchs can change themselves and thus can change bring real positive change in Ukraine.”
Alyona Getmanchuk, director of New Europe Center, is also boycotting.
“Despite all possible positive intentions, oligarchic interests do not always coincide with Ukrainian state interests,” Getmanchuk said.
“Also, I oppose the model worn Western opinion leaders and former high level politicians are promoting Ukraine on a basis of certain fees and lose their interest in Ukraine as soon as they are not paid for that. Ukraine and its people deserve to be supported without money. Finally, it would be fair for those Western politicians who take part in such oligarchic conferences to stop demanding de-oligarchization in Ukraine, because by their presence they legitimize to a certain extent the oligarchic system in Ukraine.”
Hanna Hopko, an independent member of Ukraine’s parliament who chairs the Verkhovna Rada’s Committee on Foreign Affairs, speaks with the Kyiv Post at her office on Sadova Street in Kyiv on Aug. 27. Hopko boycotts the Yalta European Strategy conference. (Volodymyr Petrov)
Hopko’s stance
One of the more ardent and influential critics is Hanna Hopko, the member of parliament who leads the foreign affairs committee.
In 2014, after the EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted President Victor Yanukovych, Hopko wrote a letter to YES chairman, ex-Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski, “criticizing he event harshly and refused to participate in this ’vanity fair.’ Then I was almost the only one, but in the following years, many people have joined boycotting all the oligarchic parties organized by Pinchuk, including this forum and his Davos Ukrainian Breakfast after his article about painful compromises for Ukraine published on the pages of one influential American media outlet.
“After all, this YES forum was and remains a platform designed, on one hand, to help the oligarch Pinchuk and the Kuchma family ’to clean up’ their image, and on the other to impose their own agenda, acting sort of on behalf of Ukraine and its civil society. It is imitation and manipulation, albeit expensive, and it’s attracting Western politicians or Hollywood stars for big money. It is unacceptable for me to cover this imitation with my participation at a time when Ukraine needs a real, honest talk on many important topics, such as real de-oligarchisation, media being free from the influence of their owners on the content and clear rule of law.
“I hope that sooner or later both the President and the government will hear my call and make efforts to create an alternative platform where important security, foreign policy and innovation issues will be discussed – those important for Ukraine, and not for oligarchs.
Pinchuk’s vision
The YES founder, Pinchuk, is one of Ukraine’s most controversial and richest figures. He grew fabulously wealthy under the decade-long rule of authoritarian President Leonid Kuchma, who created the oligarchy with cheap insider selloffs of some of Ukraine’s most valuable assets. Under Kuchma, corruption and human rights abuse flourished, and his son-in-law Pinchuk often served the role of defender and enforcer for the regime.
Since Kuchma left power in 2005, however, Pinchuk has given more of his wealth to philanthropic projects, including hundreds of scholarships for young leaders, and he relentlessly seeks to raise and improve Ukraine’s profile on the international stage.
Focus on future
This year’s event is grandiosely titled “The Future Generation of Everything” and runs from Sept. 13–15. The Kyiv Post has been a media partner since 2015 and will livestream the sessions on its website.
The forum says that more than 400 leading politicians, diplomats, businesspeople, civil activists and experts from 28 countries will take part in the conference. Speakers of the forum include leading decision-makers, futurologists, historians, politicians, investors, security and media experts.
Pinchuk, founder of YES, said that “the future is not kind with those who do not think about the future. Therefore, at our conference this year, our focus will be the future. To analyze the next generation of everything, as an opportunity and as a threat.”
Top speakers arrive
Among the luminaries are: ex-U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; ex-Russian presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak; ex-U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul; Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid; Google director of engineering Ray Kurzweil; former U. S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers; ex-Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko; and former U. S. Ambassador to Ukraine and Russia John F. Tefft, among many others.
Traditionally, Ukraine’s president and prime minister also speak on the opening day and this year is no exception, with Petro Poroshenko on the schedule for Sept. 14 and Volodymyr Groysman on Sept. 15. Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin is also on the agenda. Among the members of parliament who will attend are Sergii Leshchenko, Mustafa Nayyem and Svitlana Zalishchuk, all of the 135-member Bloc of Petro Poroshenko.
Leonid Kuchma, Ukraine’s president from 1994 to 2005, speaks during the 11th annual Yalta European Strategy conference on Sept. 12, 2015, in Kyiv. (Volodymyr Petrov)
There are also high-profile moderators, including Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN’s Global Public Square, and Stephen Sackur, host of BBC’s “Hard Talk” interview show. Both are veterans of the Pinchuk forum. Gillian Tett, U.S. managing editor of the Financial Times, will also moderate panels.
Among the board members of the event are ex-Polish President Alexander Kwasniewski and ex-Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt.
Fateful history
The event has courted whoever is in power at the given moment. One of the most momentous conferences took place in September 2013, two months before the EuroMaidan Revolution that ousted President Viktor Yanukovych on Feb. 22, 2014.
Momentously, at the time, Yanukovych told the conference that “Ukraine lies between two vast monsters — the European Union and Russia — and we feel this every day.” When asked whether he would sign the association and trade agreement at the upcoming November EU-Ukraine conference in Vilnius, Lithuania, he replied: “Absolutely. We have no reservations.”
Of course, Yanukovych reneged on this promise, igniting the revolution that brought his downfall and triggered Russia’s invasion of the Crimea and eastern Donbas, a war that Ukraine is still fighting today after the loss of more than 10,300 lives and 5 percent of its territory. Despite two revolutions in one decade, Ukraine has yet to dislodge the power of oligarchs — who control most of the media outlets in the nation — and who stifle a competitive economy or build a transparent rule-of-law and democratic society.
Presumably, “The Future Generation of Everything” at the 15th version of YES will include discussion about how to achieve these lofty aims for 42 million Ukrainians living in the nation.
