Western Ukrainians debunk fears of national split

LVIV - People who came to the hilltop church of St. Mikolaj, in Staryj Sambir, near the Polish-Ukrainian border, on Sunday (23 February) to bury Bohdan Solchanyk heard an appeal for national unity from the pulpit.

The crowd of 1,500 or so chanted “Hero! Hero!” as it carried the body of the 29-year-old academic, who was shot in Kiev last week, in an open casket through a horde of blue and gold Ukrainian flags and hand-embroidered Ukrainian Orthodox Church banners.

But it fell silent as it entered St. Mikolaj’s, where Solchanyk’s embalmed face, with its short beard, recalled the icons on the walls.

The local priest, Father Myhailo, said in his homily that the "Maidan," the Ukrainian uprising, is an event of European significance: “People came from all over Ukraine, but also from France, from Germany, from Poland, from Belgium, to stand up for human dignity."

He urged people not to “sell” their vote in the new elections in May.

He ended by calling on “all Ukrainians to come together to hold hands in a living chain, from Lviv to Donetsk, from Sevastopol to Kiev, and from Ivano-Frankivsk to Lutsk, so that no enemy can ever divide our country in two.”

The homily could have been different.

Solchanyk is believed to have been shot by a sniper who came from Russophone and Russian Orthodox east Ukraine.

Viktor Yanukovych, the country’s ex-president, himself from the eastern city of Donetsk, brought police units from the east to Kiev because they were more willing to use violence against protesters, most of whom came from the west.

Ukraine’s divisions have also been a big topic in Ukrainian state and Russian propaganda.

Time and again, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov has warned the Maidan will cause a civil war that will break the country in two.

Yanukovych, who is believed to be hiding in eastern Ukraine, said again on Saturday: “I will do everything to protect my country from breakup, to stop bloodshed.”

The warnings, which conjure up memories of the Balkan wars, are being taken seriously by EU countries.

On Sunday, the German foreign ministry said Chancellor Angela Merkel i phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin i to tell him “the territorial integrity of Ukraine must be preserved.”

One EU foreign minister, speaking off the record, told EUobserver the Union had wanted Yanukovych to sign an EU association and free trade treaty last year “because he is from the east.”

“It would have been better than if it is signed by a western Ukrainian politician, because it would show that eastern Ukraine also supports Euro-integration. It would have been better for the unity of the country,” the minister said.

But for many Ukrainians, the only risk of civil conflict is if Yanukovych or Putin orchestrate one from above.

Oleksandr Sushko, an analyst at the Institute for Euro-Atlantic Co-operation, a think tank in Kiev, told EUobserver: “There is turbulence and there are differences between the regions but not to that extent. In sociological terms, there is absolutely no grounds for a split.”

“The only region where the idea of secession is more or less popular is Crimea, because it’s the only region where ethnic Russians are in the majority,” he added.

“But even here the risk is fully connected to the potential behaviour of major political groups.”

Ordinary Ukrainians in the west agree.

Svitlana, 23, a civil society activist in Lviv, western Ukraine, said that for the past five years she and her mother have invited young people from eastern cities to spend Christmas with families in Lviv.

She acknowledged that there are barriers.

“They feel like they are coming to a foreign country. Some of them are scared to speak Russian on the street in case they get a bad reaction,” she noted.

But she added: “They quickly realise that none of this is true. They go back home with a totally different attitude.”

Igor, 51, a truck driver from Lviv who has criss-crossed Ukraine, said eastern Ukrainians do not swallow everything they see on TV.

He told this website Russian media have made much of Stepan Bandera, a World War II-era western Ukrainian nationalist, who is associated with the black and red flag used by some Maidan militants.

“They keep telling them [eastern Ukrainians] that if the Maidan has its way, then ‘Banderists’ from the west will come and steal their lands. But nobody believes this rubbish,” he said.

Meanwhile, Father Myhailo’s appeal was echoed in Kiev over the weekend, when members of Ukraine’s interim government pledged in parliament to serve “all Ukrainians.”

For his part, Zinowiy, who attended the St. Mikolaj mass, has more reason than many to feel bitter about the east.

The 58-year-old construction site manager is a close friend of Solchanyk’s father. He remembers the dead man as a schoolboy, and described him as “the light” of Staryj Sambor because of his academic career, which saw him leave the village to teach modern history at Lviv university and to win a grant to study in Poland.

Zinowiy told EUobserver that Solchanyk died so that all Ukrainians can have a better life.

He described eastern Ukrainians as “an educated people.”

“They know what it means to become part of Russia. Millions of them have been to Russia, but millions of them have also been to Poland, or Germany. They can see that Europe is not paradise. But they see that people have much easier lives in Europe, that they have many more opportunities,” he noted.

“Ukraine will not be split,” he said.