Ukraine marks independence amid sadness and tension

KIEV: Ukraine on Wednesday marks 20 years since it split from the USSR with ceremonies shadowed by sadness over its unfulfilled potential and tensions after the arrest opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko.

The two decade anniversary of the declaration of independence by its parliament from the USSR on August 24, 1991 was to have been a glittering celebration for the strategic nation bordering four EU nations and Russia.

President Viktor Yanukovych is to take part in a ceremony dedicated to Ukraine's unity at the statue of Saint Volodymyr overlooking the Dnipro river while stars will perform on Independence Square, the hub of the 2004 Orange Revolution popular uprising.

But in a sign of the economically tough times, the authorities have scrapped a military parade that was to have marked the day to save over $20 million from the budget.

Meanwhile the proud expressions of national unity could be undermined by mass protests that have been called by supporters of Tymoshenko, the former prime minister whose arrest earlier this month caused international concern.

A protest movement called the "Committee for Resisting Dictatorship in Ukraine" has called for a protest march from the statue of Ukraine's national poet Taras Shevchenko down Kiev's main Kreshchatyk avenue.

"The Committee will gather together all patriots who want to celebrate this great event together with us," said Tymoshenko's right-hand-man Olexander Turchinov, saying the the action would start at 0800 GMT.

But it remains unclear if the opposition will be able to muster sufficient numbers to threaten to disrupt proceedings.

In a sign of the tensions, Ukraine's security service said Monday it had arrested three people on suspicion of plotting a nail bomb attack at the ceremonies.

However for many Ukrainians, their biggest concern is their own economic wellbeing 20 years after independence, rather than that of Tymoshenko who is distrusted by some as a political chameleon changing colour every few years.

According to a survey by the Kiev-based Razumkov centre, 61.7 percent of Ukrainians believe the situation in the country has deteriorated since 1991 and only 23.2 percent believe their families are better off.

Only 37.4 percent think that Ukraine is a truly independent state, although more than half would still vote in favour of independence if put to the people in a referendum.

Tymoshenko was one of the leaders of then iconic 2004 Orange Revolution popular uprising forced a the annulment fraudulent presidential elections that were initially awarded to the pro-Kremlin Yanukovych.

The re-run brought pro-Western leaders to power and created unprecedented hopes that Ukraine was heading for a prosperous future at the heart of Europe.

But with corruption still dire even by regional standards, the pro-Western leaders falling out and the economy struggling, the Orange dream rapidly evaporated.

Ironically, Yanukovych defeated Tymoshenko in 2010 presidential elections which were commended by the West as free and fair. The president has since sought to show he is serious about EU integration.

But Tymoshenko's supporters argue her ongoing trial on abuse of power charges and her arrest is part of a vendetta pursued by the Regions Party of Yanukovych against her faction.

As Tymoshenko languishes in jail, former prime minister Pavlo Lazarenko sits in a US prison serving a money laundering sentence and ex-president Leonid Kuchma investigated over the murder of journalist Georgy Gongadze in 2000.

Western hopes that Ukraine would be a bulwark against Russian influence evaporated amid a confused foreign policy that has swung from neutrality to vehemently pro-EU, to pro-Kremlin and back to neutrality within a decade.

No politician has managed to heal Ukraine's geographic divide which has left the Ukrainian-speaking, nationalist West with quite different ideas about the country's future than the Russian-speaking East where the Soviet Union is more fondly remembered.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011