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What Happened to 'Unity, Consent and Revival?' The Donetsk Clan before and after the Ukrainian Presidential Elections

Kerstin Zimmer, Research Associate, Institute of Sociology, University of Marburg, Germany

Date & Time

Tuesday
Apr. 12, 2005
3:30pm – 5:30pm ET

Overview

At a recent Kennan Institute talk, Kerstin Zimmer, Research Associate, University of Marburg, Germany, discussed the political situation in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Zimmer argued that there is a powerful network of actors called the Donetsk clan that controls events in Donetsk. The Donetsk clan has changed in composition over the past decade, but maintained its highly influential position in Donetsk and in Ukraine as a whole. However, she contended, the clan is facing an uncertain future due to the defeat of its candidate, Viktor Yanukovych, in the 2004 presidential elections.

Donetsk is politically important in Ukraine, Zimmer said, because the region produces 20 percent of Ukraine's GNP and is home to 10 percent of its electorate. Russian language and culture are prominent in the region, but Zimmer argued that the most prominent feature of Donetsk is the distinct regional identity of its residents. This regional identity is strongly related to the region's Soviet heritage and its history as a center of mining and heavy industry.

According to Zimmer, the Donetsk clan arose in the early years of Ukraine's independence, in the power vacuum that was created when Moscow pulled out of the region and Kyiv had yet to assert control. The clan is composed of a complex network of actors, including members of the old nomenklatura, people who had become wealthy through trade, and criminal bosses. Membership in the clan, Zimmer explained, has not been stable—a number of members were killed by rival criminal groups, and some left Donetsk to take state office in Kyiv—but new members always stepped in to take the place of members who died or left the region.

Between 1994 and 2004, the Donetsk clan succeeded in capturing the region through marginalization and cooptation of competing forces, according to Zimmer. She noted that until 1998, the region remained politically divided, with approximately 35 percent of voters supporting the Communist Party. However, thanks to the clan's control of administrative resources and media, their supporters, organized into the Party of the Regions of Ukraine, became the largest block in the regional legislature. In the 2002 national parliamentary elections, the Party of Regions joined the pro-presidential block. Zimmer argued that the Donetsk clan held substantial political clout at the national level. In 1999, the region was granted two free economic zones, and Donetsk governor Viktor Yanukovych was appointed Prime Minister in 2002. In addition, members of the clan had privileged access to state resources being privatized.

Yankuovych was the party of power's presidential candidate in 2004, and, Zimmer argued, the government used control of the media, administrative resources, intimidation, and electoral fraud to ensure his victory. Although Yanukovych's declared victory in the November 2004 elections was accomplished by fraud, he did have supporters, particularly in Donetsk and neighboring regions. Zimmer noted that when the Orange Revolution began and people took to the streets in Kyiv and western Ukraine in support of Viktor Yushchenko, Donetsk responded with counter-protests, denouncements of the revolution, and threats of secession.

Zimmer explained that as the extent of Yushchenko's popular support became clear, Yanukovych's former allies in the Donetsk clan withdrew their backing and Yushchenko became president of Ukraine. Since taking office, Yushchenko and his advisers have demonstrated that they wish to pursue a policy of accommodation with Donetsk. Zimmer warned that a number of important challenges lay ahead in the aftermath of the Orange Revolution, including: reform of the unprofitable coal mining sector, management of the free economic zones, the new government's plans to review past privatizations and potentially seize assets from clan members, and the question of possible federalization of the Ukrainian state. The newly appointed governor of Donetsk, Vadim Chuprun, is not a member of the clan, and it remains to be seen what role the Donetsk clan will play in the 2006 parliamentary elections.

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Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more

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