KIEV, Ukraine — Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. urged Ukrainian leaders on Tuesday to curb the power of the business
moguls dominating society and to fulfill the promise of the popular revolution
that pushed out a pro-Moscow government last year.
Addressing the Ukrainian Parliament, Mr. Biden sternly lectured
lawmakers to put aside their own self-interests and to transform this former
Soviet republic into a model of democratic change.
Citing the failure of the Orange Revolution of 2004 to
deliver enduring change, he urged Ukrainians not to let this opportunity slip
by as well.
“This is your moment,” he told them. “This is your responsibility. Each
of you — if you’ll forgive me for speaking to you this way in your body — each
of you has an obligation to seize the opportunity that the sacrifices made in
the Maidan, the sacrifices of the Heavenly Hundred. Each of you has an
obligation to answer the call of history and finally build a united, democratic
Ukrainian nation that can stand the test of time.”
By invoking
the memory of the roughly 100 protesters killed during protests in Maidan Square last
year, Mr. Biden hoped to infuse today’s legislative battles with the moral
imperative of the uprising, which led to a pro-Western government. Many in Ukraine worry
that the new leaders have become so paralyzed by their own power struggles that they will squander
the chance for change.
For Mr.
Biden, who has made it his mission to nurse Ukraine through
its transition, it was a classic performance from the lectern in the grand
chamber of Parliament, known here as the Rada. At times, he shouted at the
lawmakers, gesturing sharply. At other points, he practically whispered. At
still other moments, he wagged his finger.
Citing John
Adams, Thomas Paine, Edmund Burke and Daniel Webster, Mr. Biden talked about
the United States’ own struggles to build democracy. He also cited a quotation
from an American politician he did not identify: “In your heart, you know it’s
right,” he said. (The phrase is actually a variation of a slogan in an ad made
for the Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964.)
But it was
not clear whether Mr. Biden’s message really got through. Lawmakers, many
listening to an interpreter through earphones, sat silently during the long
lecture on corruption and applauded only when Mr. Biden assailed Russia for
its intervention in Ukraine. The one standing ovation they gave Mr. Biden came
when he said that Russia had infringed on Ukrainian sovereignty and that the
United States would never recognize the annexation of Crimea.
“Russia has
violated these ground rules and continues to violate them,” he said. “Today,
Russia’s occupying sovereign Ukrainian territory. Let me be crystal clear: The
United States does not, has not, never will recognize Russia’s attempt to annex
Crimea.”
He added
that he would tell the world about Nadiya V. Savchenko, the Ukrainian helicopter
pilot being held in Russia; her picture was displayed on a poster on the
lectern from which Mr. Biden spoke, with the slogan “Freedom for Nadiya
Savchenko.”
And the vice
president committed to keeping American sanctions on Russia until Moscow
complies with a cease-fire brokered in Minsk, Belarus.
“There can be no sanctions relief unless and until Moscow meets all, all of its
commitments under Minsk,” Mr. Biden said.
But his main
message to the Ukrainians was, in effect, to get their house in order. The day
before, he had suggested that many in Europe were waiting for Ukraine to fail
so that they would have an excuse not to continue confronting Russia.
With
Ukraine’s rapidly sinking economy, that time often seems close at hand.
The gross
domestic product per capita, a broad measure of Ukrainians’ well-being, will be
just $1,600 per person this year, down from $3,900 in 2013. That was the year
before the new government took power partly on the promise of bringing living
standards closer to those in Europe.
Over all,
Ukraine’s gross domestic product is projected to shrink by 15 percent this year
after falling 6.8 percent the year before, according to Standard & Poor’s,
the ratings agency. Much of the drop is attributable to a collapse in the value
of the national currency, the hryvnia, and to uncertainty created by the
conflict with Russia.
And Ukraine
remains one of the world’s most indebted countries, trailing only the
Seychelles, according to one estimate.
“It’s a
struggle to see who will invest in this economy, who will commit to put in
private capital,” Charles Robertson, the London-based chief economist of
Renaissance Capital, said in a telephone interview.
Mr. Biden
called for an overhaul of the office of prosecutor general, change in the
energy sector, transparency about official sources of income and other
measures.
“If you
fail, the experiment fails,” he said. “It’s no exaggeration to say the hopes of
freedom-loving people the world over are with you.”
But analysts
said it was doubtful that the Ukrainian government, no matter how well
intentioned, could stamp out corruption anytime soon.
“Ukraine has
a fundamental problem,” Mr. Robertson said. “You cannot put good people just on
the top, and hope their good policies permeate through the old apparatus that
has been there for something like a century. It’s not going to happen in a
year. It’s probably going to take a generation.”
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