At Russia's Periphery ...
Lots of events took place at Russia's periphery recently that hid from the US mainstream media. In the Moldovan break-away (and de facto independent) region of Transdnistria, its pro-Russian and communist government seeks the adoption of Russia's tricolor flag as its own. Upon hearing the news, Russian diplomats were "in shock." On Friday, May 29, it became known that the flag initiative was endorsed a Transdnistrian parliamentary committee. According to the Head of the Committee Galina Antyufeeva, "we are still on course laid out in the 2006 referendum that called for unity with Russia, and our whole policy is based on that. We discussed the amendments to the law on state symbols of the Transdnistria Republic, which relate to the establishment of the national flag of Transnistria. We are planning on making it the exact copy of the Russian flag,"
And speaking of unity with Russia - it turns out that most Belorussians do not want to be in a unified state with the Russian Federation. According to the recent polling done by the Belorussian Institute of Strategic Studies, 54.8% of respondents are categorically against a joint Belarus and Russia state with a single currency, a single president and the parliament. Only 20.4% of people spoke in favor of such a union. It also turns out that there are more supporters of Belorussian accession to the European Union - 33.5% of respondents - than those who seek to join with Russia. The majority of Belarusians still expressed the hope that their republic would remain an independent state. Recently, Belorussian President Lukashenko lamented the lack of progress on such a unified state. Turns out, his dream may be even harder to implement if so many of his own people are set against it.
Pro-Russian sentiments can make one popular in states undergoing political turmoil. Viktor Yanukovich, former Ukrainian President and current head of the Regions Party of Ukraine, leads the list of his country's most trusted politicians. According to a survey conducted by the Center for Social Studies "Sofia," he has the trust of approximately 34.3% of those surveyed. Current Prime Minister (and until recently pro-Western hero of the "Orange Revolution") Yulia Tymoshenko has 29.3% of trust, while former heavyweight boxing champion and current politician Vitali Klitschko has 27.5% of such support. Current pro-Western President Viktor Yuschenko is disliked by more than 87.5% of the people. The survey was conducted nationwide, and revealed distrust of the people towards their government and lack of confidence in the Ukrainian economy.
The results should be surprising for those in the West who advocate for a closer US-Ukrainian relationship - pro-Russian Yanukovich was the catalyst for the famed 2004 "Orange Revolution" that brought to power the Orange coalition of Yuschenko-Timoshenko. His fortunes then ebbed and flowed - his Regions Party, which generally is more pro-Russian and is centered in Ukraine's industrial and populous eastern regions, then did generally well in elections, gathering the majority of parliamentary votes, but not enough to lead the government. Yanukovich then became Prime Minister in an uneasy coalition with rival Yuschenko, then again became political opponents. His party is projected to do well in the upcoming 2009 elections. If this poll is indeed accurate, then it speaks volumes about what the ordinary Ukrainians are thinking about their country's attempts to join the West politically and economically.
