Ukraine revolution ousted pro-Russia government, but ‘cancer of corruption’ remains

[Valin]

Washington Times:

Olga Rudenko

December 20, 2015

 

KIEV, Ukraine — As the country prepares to mark — “celebrate” seems much too strong a word — the second anniversary of its democratic revolution, many Ukrainians say they feel the country took a wrong turn after the dramatic, bloody uprising that ousted their pro-Russian government.

 

It was two years ago that the first protests in the heart of Kiev set into motion the events that would drive Moscow-backed President Viktor Yanukovych from power and into exile in February 2014. But the activists who watched the government’s security forces kill more than 100 pro-Western protesters who camped out in the Ukrainian capital’s central Maidan Nezalezhnosti, or Independence Square, now accuse their ostensibly democratic leaders of corruption and failing to honor the sacrifices of the slain.

 

“The people have paid a high price to change the system,” said Yaroslav Hrynyshyn, a protester wounded in the revolution. “But the system didn’t change, and it’s a crime of today’s rulers.”

 

The dissatisfaction reveals the deep political divides that still plague Ukraine, a country dealing with the aftershocks from an abrupt regime change, the struggle to find a capable generation of leaders, and economic stagnation. That’s not even taking into account the upheavals brought on by Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the stalemated civil war with Russian-backed separatists in the country’s eastern half.

 

(Snip)