Ukraine 2 years after Orange Revolution

Fire of Liberty

Here's a good article by Howard LaFranchi in yesterday's Christian Science Monitor that gives a pretty good update on Ukraine's continued march towards democracy which was started during the Orange Revolution some two years ago. One individual that seems to be getting a hang on the transition is Ukraine's Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko. Take a look:

But he agrees that the public must be engaged, and says the best way he can help to encourage that as interior minister is by reforming the national police. "People are feeling more like they are safe at home and on the street, but they also feel they can... come to us and report problems or suggest things, so that means there is more trust."

Ukraine's first civilian interior minister, Lutsenko rattles off statistics to demonstrate how crime is down over the last year - and to underscore his drive to rid the national police of corruption. He has fired 2,500 police, while 1,200 ministry officials are facing criminal charges - ranging from bribery to fraud and kidnapping. The state has been losing billions of dollars a year to corruption, he says.

"I think we are succeeding in building a new image for the national police," he says. Yet a concern for image does not prompt him to shy away when asked about human trafficking, an issue that rates high with US officials and rights groups dealing with Ukraine. "We know there have been and are a great number of Ukrainian women and even children sold into sexual slavery," Lutsenko says.

But recent revelations of a case where police officers joined with criminal organizations to sell children from small border towns is prompting Ukrainians to act on the issue, as is a new ministry office focused on human trafficking, created last year at the US ambassador's recommendation.

Lutsenko says one key to addressing that problem will be getting tighter control of Ukraine's borders, something that requires cooperation from neighbors. To that end, he's hoping for a "trilateral" meeting in May of Ukraine, Russia, and the US.

While I'm no political expert, I have a strong feeling that Lutsenko's "Rudy Giuliani" stance and results with regards to crime and corruption will take him very far in Ukrainian politics.