Ukraine gets lift from Canada
Canada has joined its allies in dusting off a Cold War playbook to push back against Russian influence in Ukraine, but the advance of democratic ideals is fraught with contradictions and qualifications.
The Harper government is pouring millions of dollars into a series of democracy-promoting initiatives and programs intended to build a western-style bureaucracy, spending that’s over and above Canada’s recent commitment to training Ukrainian combat troops.
Ottawa’s contribution — more than $49 million — is an attempt to fight Kremlin influence with grassroots ideology rather than tanks, artillery and troops.
That money is in addition to $9.2 million invested through a partnership with Poland, announced with fanfare in April 2014, designed generally for East European countries.
Like the use of the Canadian embassy in Kyiv as a safe haven by opponents of former president Viktor Yanukovych, understanding the money trail is integral to the Harper government’s deepening involvement in the war-torn country. It has been the subject of months of research by The Canadian Press.
That special relationship with Ukraine should take a step forward Tuesday with a visit by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk to Ottawa, as he is expected to sign a free trade deal.
Centralized authority, corruption and cronyism are hallmarks of the political system in the former Soviet republic.
The Canadian Federation of Municipalities is leading one decentralization program meant to train municipal managers. Other organizations, such as the U.S.based International Republican Institute (IRI), Poland’s Solidarity Fund and the European Endowment for Democracy, are instructing Ukrainian political parties and civil society in political action and engagement.
There’s even $3 million set aside to train investigative journalists to uncover corruption — an extraor- dinary measure considering just weeks ago Ukraine’s parliament wanted to launch an investigation into a Russian-language newspaper and strip TV channel Inter of its broadcast licence for creating a “receptive setting” for aggression.
Meanwhile, a statement from Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s office says Yatsenyuk’s visit is an opportunity to reaffirm the close relationship between the two countries and they intend to “discuss ways to further broaden its scope.”
The previous time the two met was in Kyiv before the G-7 Summit in early June when Yatsenyuk asked Harper to press allies for lethal military aid so that Ukraine could turn the tide against Russian-backed separatists in the east.
His visit also comes ahead of an anticipated announcement that Ukraine will default on debts owed to private creditors.
Ukraine faces a different situation than Greece, which has been bailed out by public bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
Talks about restructuring the debt are underway, but the country faces a July 24 deadline to pay $120 million US to private bond holders, who are now being asked to accept half of what they are owed. The country’s parliament recently passed legislation that allows the government of President Petro Poroshenko to suspend payments to private foreign creditors while Ukraine’s debt is restructured.
If the creditors don’t agree, the government could simply default.
Right now, the country’s debt chews up about 95 per cent of its gross domestic product and many observers, including the IMF, say that is unsustainable.
Unlike Greece, Yatsenyuk has repeatedly signalled the Ukrai- nian government is committed to reform.
Defence Minister Jason Kenney, who visited Ukraine last month, said he remains optimistic that a default is not on the cards.
“We certainly hope that doesn’t happen,” Kenney said in Calgary. “We’ve assisted Ukraine in stabilizing their monetary situation through the International Monetary Fund. The most important thing for Ukraine is they get their economy growing and that’s why they need stability.
“In the short term, we hope they get through this — unlike Greece, Ukraine is actually making a very serious effort under the current government to bring in reforms. They’re paying a political price for that and they’re also contesting with a war inflicted on them by Russia so it’s a very challenging situation.”