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Editor’s Note Contents
Ukraine needs welcoming borders 4 Challenges along the borders of
Europe's largest country
Every country needs secure borders and a strong but fair immigration system. That is espe-
cially true for a nation that is under attack, like Ukraine. Such strength and security can in- 8 Refugees face many barriers in
deed be found in manpower at the borders, concrete barriers and barbed wire along the Ukraine
frontiers, days-long long lines at checkpoints and extensive, intrusive background checks on
visitors. The United Kingdom and the United States have become pioneers of this so-called 11 Zelensky courts global Ukrainian
“hostile environment” approach, and it is not enviable position. diaspora

Ukraine, faced with Russian aggression and a complicated relationship with Europe, would 14 Legal Directory
be well within its rights to isolate itself. Populist promises to put “Ukraine first” would un-
doubtedly draw support. But, hopefully, Ukraine will choose another way. Refugees, im- 18 Welcome to the country, new
migrants, students and foreign workers can instead enrich and strengthen Ukrainian life. Ukrainians!
Foreign investors can boost the economy and bolster innovation. Visas, work permits and
residency rights should be seen through a lens of opportunity. Border regions should be 22 More foreign students pursue
conduits for commerce and culture, not crime. affordable, decent education in
Ukraine
Along 7,000 kilometers of border, Ukraine faces challenges, not least from Russia's attempts
to redraw the nation's boundaries by force in the south and east. From the European Union
25 Legal sector bids farewell to
side, smuggling, corruption and dilapidated infrastructure are longstanding problems. Inside
scholar, pioneer and teacher of
Ukraine, foreigners struggle to navigate the Byzantine bureaucracy of labor and residency;
refugees feel unwelcome. Ukraine's finest lawyers

But there are reasons for optimistism. Ukraine is investing more in border infrastructure.
Legal experts report improvements in the ease of gaining residency and work status here,
More foreigners are being given Ukrainian citizenship, especially those who have helped de-
fend the nation. And foreign students offer a welcome boost.

Hopefuly, Ukraine will buck the trend of closed borders and greater nationalism. It has much
to gain from greater internationalism and diversity.

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[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019 3

Cars wait in line on Aug. 30, 2018, at the
Kuchurhan-Pervomaisk joint control

Challenges along the

checkpoint on Ukraine's border, where both
Ukrainian and Moldovan border guards work
to prevent smuggling into Transnistria, the
self-proclaimed pro-Russian territory that is

borders of Europe’s
sandwiched between Moldova and Ukraine.
(Volodymyr Petrov)

largest country
U
By Natalia Datskevych, kraine is surrounded by seven coun-
Igor Kossov tries and is the largest nation on
datskevych@kyivpost.com
kossov@kyivpost.com the European continent. With al-
most 7,000 kilometers of borders in need
of protection, there is no shortage of
challenges.
Its frontiers stretch for 5,638 kilometers
on land and 1,355 kilometers along the Azov
and Black sea coastlines. Last year, 100.6 mil-
lion people crossed Ukrainian borders through
229 different checkpoints, according to Andriy
Demchenko, spokesperson at the State Border
Guard Service of Ukraine, or SBGS.
And the largest European country faces
plenty of threats at its borders too.
In the east and south, Russia’s war against
Ukraine — which has claimed more than
13,000 lives — remains a looming threat to the
nation’s territorial integrity and national se-
curity. On the western borders with European
Union countries, smuggling and dilapidated
infrastructure poses the biggest challenge.

4 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

Eastern borders and Crimea
Ukraine is one of a few countries that have had its internationally rec-
ognized borders changed by force since the Second World War, and it is
no coincidence that it also shares its longest border, of nearly 2,300
kilometers, with Russia, its only eastern neighbor.
Over the past five years of conflict, Ukraine lost control of 409 kilo-
meters of border in the east of the country, along with 35 kilometers
along the Azov Sea coast and 54,000 square kilometers of the maritime
economic zone around Crimea, according to Demchenko.
On the official border with Russia in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts,
land crossings were shut down by the Cabinet of Ministers in 2015.
Instead, Ukraine opened five temporary checkpoints along the 500 kilo-
meter line of contact with the occupied areas. Another checkpoint sits
in the frontline town of Zolote in Luhansk Oblast, but it is not in use be-
cause of the militant occupants’ lack of cooperation.
Crossing this line of contact can be deadly: “Step left, step right
and you can step on a mine or take a bullet from a sniper hiding near-
by,” Oleh Slobodyan, a former spokesperson at the SBGS, said of the
Stanytsia Luhanska checkpoint.
About 1.2 million people cross checkpoints along the occupied territo-
ry per month, according to Maria Alekseyenko, project manager at Right
to Protection, a United Nations High Commission for Refugees-supported
Ukrainian group that helps internally displaced persons in Ukraine.
Around 80 percent of them are the elderly, coming to the Ukrainian side to
get their pensions or buy goods which are in short supply in occupied areas.
The infrastructure at checkpoints, which is supervised by mili-
tary-civil administrations, only started to improve in 2017. In Donetsk
Oblast, local authorities allocated Hr 11 million, or $440,000, to reno-
vate four checkpoints.
The number of border crossings in 2018
millions of crossings, Belarus
percentage change
7.6
1%
21.7
Poland
6%
Slovakia 2.7
10%
8.5
2% 3.9
Hungary 4%
12
Romania 2%
Moldova
Last year more than 100 million
crossings of Ukrainian borders,
including through seaports, airports and temporary control
checkpoints with occupied by Russia Donbas region and Crimean Peninsula.
In 2018 Ukraine has exceeded the number the country had in 2013 for the first time.
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
“If there had previously been only a few wooden toilets, small cano-
pies and a bad road, especially in Mayorske, it became much better after
the reconstruction,” said Alekseyenko.
Checkpoints were also equipped with medical stations. But in the
first half of this year, 34 elderly people still died while crossing, mainly
from heart attacks.
“It can be said that they are victims of the war,” said Alekseyenko.
In Luhansk there is only one checkpoint that 10,000 people use
each day, most of whom are pensioners. Instead of receiving their pen-
sions as normal, they have to prove their IDP status every 60 days to
continue receiving money, according to Olena Grekova, head of the
Severodonetsk-based office of Right to Protection. Those who cannot
make it to the validation point receive nothing.
The impaired movement of goods is another painful question for lo-
cals. Since 2015, Ukraine has prohibited a variety of goods from crossing
the contact line. For example, unlike fruits and vegetables, berries are
not approved. In addition, the total weight of transported goods cannot
exceed 75 kilograms.
“It’s absurd! Once, my colleague bought a toy for her kid, who was
with the grandmother in Luhansk, and she couldn’t bring it across, since
it’s not on the list of allowed goods,” said Grekova.
Taking advantage of the situation, some locals started making brisk
business, charging elderly and infirm people for wheelchair transport
across checkpoints. The price for a one-way trip starts at Hr 50 and
could climb as high as Hr 300 to go across a bridge that had been de-
stroyed by militants.
Another challenge comes in the form of electronic passes required by
the Security Service of Ukraine, which must be obtained 10 days before
crossing the checkpoint.
Russia
11
7%
13.6
16%
Donbas
(part of Luhansk
and Donetsk Oblasts)
2.5
Occupied territories
Crimea
Source: State Border Guard
Service of Ukraine
5
The number of people crossing Ukrainian to check cars more carefully,” he said. “They create huge
lines, and the media on their side shows this picture.”
borders since 2013, including control
When Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2015 Ukraine
checkpoints with temporary occupied Crimea had to open three temporary checkpoints on the Crimean
and part of Luhansk and Donetsk since 2014 isthmus — Kalanchak, Chaplynka and Chongar.
millions However, unlike checkpoints in the Donbas, which are
supervised by military-civil administrations, the Ministry
99.3 100.6 of Infrastructure is in charge of all the border infrastruc-
97.3
89.2 ture along Crimea.
79.8 No funds from the Ukrainian budget were allocated to
74.5 make checkpoints more comfortable until 2018, when the
ministry was able to put Hr 99 million ($3.9 million) into
the checkpoint infrastructure, according to Iurii Lavreniuk,
Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine. This is
still not enough, since the checkpoints in Kalanchak and
Chongar alone cost Hr 170 million ($6.8 million)
Lavreniuk said that President Volodymyr Zelensky or-
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
dered the completion of regime zones at checkpoints, in-
After a 25 percent sharp decline in number of people crossed Ukrainian borders cluding buildings for state border guards, SBU and customs
in 2014 due to the war with Russia, it started to recover stably in 2015 reaching
officers and passport control zones by Nov. 15.
100.6 million people in 2018.
Roads are also planned to be widened from two lanes to
Source: State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
at least six and official bus stops will be installed — cur-
rently all passenger transport is illegal.
“But there are still not going to be monumental build-
“Very often people from the occupied territory ask trick- ings since we, of course, don’t recognize the occupation of
sters to fill out the data online for money since they might Crimea,” said Lavreniuk.
not have access to Internet, or they don’t know how to do
it,” said Grekova. Western borders
Those delivering
goods to the EU via The price for such a service on occupied territory can Ukraine’s busiest passenger traffic flows across borders
the borders with reach Hr 900, or $36. with European Union countries, mainly with Poland, shar-
Hungary, Slovakia As for Crimea, Russia has been trying to pass the penin- ing nearly 550 kilometers of border with Ukraine. In 2018,
and Poland, still
complain about sula off as a tourist destination while forging the peninsula 21.7 million people crossed these borders, according to the
difficulties in into a powerful military base, according to Slobodyan. SBGS.
crossing. Lengthy In the first eight months of 2019, 1.36 million people Long lines and slow passport control are big problems
inspection times
on both sides, as crossed the checkpoints in Crimea, 20,000 fewer than the for Ukrainians and foreigners in western Ukraine, according
well as EU quotas same period last year. However, the occupants are trying to to last year’s study by the NGO Europe Without Borders.
on the amount of create the appearance of massive tourist flows, according People can spend from five to eight hours or more while
trucks allowed to
cross each day, can to Demchenko. crossing the border with Poland.
result in bedlam at “To achieve this, they deliberately slow down movement, “When people were asked what was the longest time
the border. starting
sst
tart
tarti
tiing
g they spent while crossing the border, the answer was a day,
And we two and even three days,” said Pavlo Kravchuk, communi-
We have
have frozen cations manager at Europe Without Barriers.
sunflower oil for
snails for
Germany. The lines worsened significantly when Ukraine’s visa
France!
No more
trucks today!
free regime with most European countries came into effect
in June 2017.
Insufficient infrastructure is another problem along the
western borders. Very often, there is no place to dispose of
garbage. In addition, people complain about a lack of toi-
lets. Roads to the Western border are in poor condition.
Crossing the Hrushiv-Budomezh joint border checkpoint
is much faster than some of the others but many driv-
ers avoid it because the road on Ukraine’s side is in a terri-
ble state.
“People prefer to drive to a busier checkpoint and stay in
line for a longer time to save their car,” said Kravchuk.
On the border with Poland there are four joint border

6 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

crossing checkpoints. All are on the Polish side. Putting
similar checkpoints on the Ukrainian side could help devel-
op infrastructure around them, including hotels and shops.
But Schengen legislation prevents this from happening.
At the border with Moldova, the situation is different:
The Kuchurhan - Pervomaisk joint border crossing has
been located on Ukrainian territory since 2017. It became
the best option for Moldovan border guards to control
flows of people and goods into Transnistria, Russia's unrec-
ognized satellite state sandwiched between the countries.
Opening a joint border crossing checkpoint became an
effective tool to combat smuggling, which used to flourish
there, according to Slobodyan. Cigarettes and alcohol were
at the top of the list. The difference in the price of alco-
hol was 2.5–5 euros per liter, for cigarettes — five times per
pack: “There were so many cigarettes that border guards
estimated that if every resident of Moldova, including ba-
bies, would smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, there would
be enough cigarettes for 1,000 years,” said Slobodyan.
Now, border guards observe only isolated cases of much
smaller scale smuggling.
Smuggling still major challenge
Smuggling is a big problem. The Ukraine Economic
Outlook analytical group projects that $13.5 billion in
goods that violate customs regulations will flow into
Ukraine in 2019 and that value is rising each year. Billions
of dollars in goods and resources are flowing out of Ukraine
as well.
Ukraine’s criminal law has a narrow definition of smug-
gling restricted to weapons, explosives, dangerous materi-
als and some cultural items. The lion’s share of smuggling
falls under customs violations, penalized by fines.
Experts said outbound "customs violations" include al-
cohol, chemicals, natural resources such as amber and es-
pecially cigarettes. Cigarette smuggling alone led to Hr 5
billion in taxes not reaching state coffers in 2019, accord-
ing to Kantar.
Smugglers move all kinds of products into Ukraine via
false declarations, by going around customs checkpoints or
using a multitude of people carrying a limited amount of
goods. Another scheme involves declaring that goods will
pass through Ukraine but they will actually be sold here.
According to a Ukrainian Institute for the Future survey,
80 percent of respondents have smuggled goods and ap-
pliances in their homes. Many retail stores stock smuggled
products on their shelves. This allows Ukrainians to buy
goods cheaper but costs the state budget billions.
Amber mafias are an established presence in Ukraine,
moving amber through airports to China and the
Middle East and across the border to Poland. While not
categorized as smuggling, a great deal of timber ex-
ports are tied to corrupt schemes including unlawful
logging or leaving Ukraine as firewood and enter-
ing other countries as lumber, according to multiple
investigations.
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
For many local economies along the border, smuggling Iurii Lavreniuk,
accounts for up to half of people's income and goods on deputy minister
of infrastructure
store shelves, said Igar Tyshkevich, a policy expert with the of Ukraine, shows
Ukrainian Institute for the Future. Breaking them out of Kyiv Post on
this cycle is a prerequisite for any effort to fight smuggling. Sept.18 where the
reconstruction of
three checkpoints
Northern borders on the isthmus
Ukraine shares 1,084 kilometers of its northern borders of the Crimean
peninsula,
with Belarus. This border is a major tool in bilateral rela- occupied by Russia,
tions, but can also be fraught with difficulties. will take place this
Just recently, on Sept. 3 Belarusian President Alexander year. (Kostyantyn
Chernichkin)
Lukashenko during the International Conference on
Countering Terrorism in Minsk said that he closed the border
with Ukraine due to a significant increase in weapons flows.
According to Demchenko, Lukashenko’s statement was
misleading and exaggerated. For the first eight months of
2019, only 38 weapons were detected on the Belarusian
border — 20 units were coming to Ukraine, and only 18 to
Belarus. Only one unit was classified as a firearm; the rest
were non-firearms or dummy weapons: “Sometimes peo-
ple just forget to take it out of their car, or try to hide it, as
they think it’s their personal means of self-defense,” said
Demchenko.
The Belarusian side didn’t inform Ukraine about the de-
tails of any weapon or ammunition seizures.
“This is a purely political statement that points to a fur-
ther step towards integrating Belarus into a single legal
field with the Russian Federation,” said Slobodyan.
Russia and Belarus have common databases. All
Ukrainian citizens who show up in the Russian Federation’s
databases at the border with Belarus are visible to Russian
special services, Slobodyan says.
This how Pavlo Hryb, a Ukrainian political prisoner
was kidnapped by Russian security agents in Belarus and
charged with terrorism in Russia. Hryb has since been re-
leased as part of a prisoner exchange with Russia.
“Our northern border is a zone of influence for Russia
rather than the comfort zone we have at the border with
our European colleagues,” Slobodyan said.
7
 Ibrahim Balde

Refugees face many

(R) and Bafinga
Patience came
to Ukraine to
escape political
violence in their

barriers in Ukraine
home countries.
Yet without being
granted status or
identification, they
are not able to find

W
work to sustain
themselves. hen 16-year-old Ibrahim Balde came to
(Oleg Petrasiuk)
Ukraine, it was his only chance to escape per-
secution in Guinea, where he was jailed for
protesting the unavailability of school.
By Igor Kossov
kossov@kyivpost.com A contact in Kyiv that promised to help Balde took his
money and documents. Balde never saw this person again.
After sleeping on Kyiv streets for weeks, he linked up with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or
UNHCR, which helped find him a state shelter and attend a
local school. Now 18 and done with secondary school, Balde
speaks Russian and Ukrainian, wants to attend college, find
a job, and make himself a life here. But for now, he cannot.
The State Migration Service, which processes applica-
tions for asylum and residency, recently rejected Balde’s
application for refugee status. He is currently waiting to
file a court appeal with the aid of NGO lawyers. In the
meantime, with a ‘dovidka’ as his only document, he can-
not attend college, find a job or lawfully rent an apartment.
“I can’t rent an apartment, I can’t go to university,” said
Balde. “I can’t get a normal job. All jobs ask for an ID code
if you want to work officially.” The lack of ID also prevents
people from accessing some of the help they need when
they are the most vulnerable.
Many refugees who come to Ukraine will face a variety of
problems. The UNHCR estimates that there are around 6,500
asylum-seekers waiting on their application review by the
State Migration Service or courts. Only about 100 asylum seek-
ers will be given status each year. The rest will be left in limbo,
trying to exhaust every possible appeal or simply trying to stay
off the police’s radar to avoid arrest and eventual deportation.
There are two kinds of status — the internationally recog-
nized refugee status that enables a path towards citizenship

8 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

and the complementary protection status, which is much more limited in scope.
Most refugees who get some kind of status will receive the latter.
“Sometimes we consider that some that deserve refugee status are granted
a subsidiary status,” said Hugues Bissot, a senior protection officer at UNHCR.
“This is an issue — the (government) organs lack consistency on this. And this
has a direct impact on the lives of people.”
According to UNHCR and multiple NGO experts, the application process it-
self is fraught with difficulties. Qualified translators for some languages are
in short supply. The high personnel turnover at the State Migration Service
means case workers aren’t always the most experienced and up to date on
both Ukrainian and international law.
Some experts who work with refugees told the Kyiv Post that despite
Ukraine’s clear and progressive body of law on refugees, migration authori-
ties have an unofficial policy to turn away as many people as possible. There
are inconsistencies in whose documents will be accepted and whose rejected
based on seemingly arbitrary violations. Turning to the courts sometimes but
does not always provide another chance.
“Why does this same tendency, which contradicts the law, keep happening,
despite there being thousands of court decisions that say this is unlawful?”
said Dmytro Mazurok, a lawyer with the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection
Group, which works with threatened asylum seekers.
The State Migration Service did not respond to requests for comment via
phone and email.

Trouble applying
Multiple experts and organizations who work with refugees pointed out that
migration authorities often lack the capacity to handle the flow of refugees.
There is often not enough translators for certain languages. For some lan-
Georges Seurat
guage groups, the only people who can provide reasonable interpretation are
refugees’ friends and acquaintances.
“One problem is simply financing, the lack of financing for translators for LAW AS SCIENCE, CULTURE, ART
interviews and documents,” said Mazurok. “Often, people have to bring their
own friends or established refugees as translators but the service tries to fol- Spectral analysis
low the rules and only permits declared interpreters.”
However, the situation is improving, according to the refugee NGO Right
to Protection, which provides multiple services for refugees. “Recently, the
migration service started providing interpreters in a smooth manner,” said
Hanna Khitsevych, a coordinator with the NGO Right To Protection.
Volodymyr Kosanyak used to work as a trainer for the State Migration
Service. He quit in 2016, saying he had come to the job to help people but
was prevented from doing so. Despite having moved on, he still knows peo-
ple who work there. He said that very experienced employees are few in num-
ber and that salaries are not high. Right to Protection agreed, saying that the
high workload means that employees often “burn out” easily and don’t stay for
long.
Multiple experts told the Kyiv Post that if people don’t apply for refugee
status “immediately,” they may accrue fines they cannot afford. However, not
applying immediately is not always by choice. The deadlines aren’t always
consistent and some cities migration services offices have long lines and limit-
ed appointment slots.

Useless dovidka
Many asylum seekers arrive without any documents. Others may have docu-
ments, but while they are applying for status, they lack an official Ukrainian
ID. Instead, they receive a certificate, a “dovidka,” which can be shown to a po-
lice officer, but cannot be used for much else.

[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019 9

 These graphs
Years spent in Ukraine Refugees Status among
present data about
people of working 10+ years 15% 18% 2019 applicants
age (18 - 59) who
are registered with
the United Nations
7-9 years 15% 1,690
High Commissionf 4-6 years 17% persons Asylum
or Refugees as of 1-3 years 53% seekers
June 2019. 82%
Source: UNHCR
Balde, who finished secondary school in Kyiv and was with everything, from making appointments, to finding a
accepted into college here, said that he would not be able place to live.
to attend without an official ID code. Employment is also
a problem. Official employers ask for a tax ID. Not having An unofficial policy
one prevented him from taking a job as a consultant and “In Ukraine, we have a very interesting paradox,” said
translator at a business in Gulliver business center. There Mazurok. “We have a very good legal system — it’s humane
is a way around this — just have a high paying job — but it’s and it answers the demand of the convention on the status
not open to most refugees. of the refugee. We have functional government agencies…
“The requirements are totally unrealistic,” said Bissot. “A everything is set up to examine the applications for refugee
person has to earn ten times the minimum wage to receive status on time and in a qualified manner.”
a work permit.” “But for some reason this does not happen,” he said.
The UNHCR gave an example of a refugee from Chad, Other organizations agree, saying that migration em-
who was supposed to undergo eye surgery, where any de- ployees often have a security concern about refugees and
lay could lead to blindness. The UNHCR and its NGO part- don't want them staying in Ukraine. This especially affects
ner set up the operation and would provide the costs of refugees from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, among several
surgery. However, doctors refused to perform the operation other countries.
and withdrew the person from surgery. There are several ways that refugees can be denied. Their
Bafinga Patience came to Ukraine from Kinshasa, in documents are often called into question. In many cases,
the Democratic Republic of Congo. She had been arrest- the refugees can turn to local courts to try to overturn the
ed for political activism and jailed many times. To save migration services’ decisions. But, Bissot and Mazurok said,
her life, she escaped into Ukraine, where she found shel- in many cases, the application may be rejected again for a
ter first in a hotel and later in an apartment with the aid different reason.
of fellow refugees. Her number one priority is to try to get “When I was working in 2016, this kind of (unoffi-
enough money to get her young daughter out of the coun- cial policy) was there. Factually, everyone was turned
try. The daughter currently lives with Patience's mother, away,” said Kosanyak. “As far as I know, today, nothing has
and Patience had been told that men came looking for her changed.”
many times. But she cannot find a job with only a dovidka. Bissot said that he has seen some positive changes in
Bissot said that these conditions force people to work il- Odesa courts, which have been taking strides to force the
Ukraine sees legally or in the shadows. If they are caught, they are on migration service to review refugees’ documents once
asylum applicants
from a variety the hook for extra fines. more.
of countries. Natalia Gurzhiy, the head of Charitable Foundation Even worse, Mazurok said, is the ongoing cooperation
The largest Rokada said that people are most vulnerable when they between Ukrainian security services and their counterparts
demographic group
is single men and arrive to Ukraine. There are only three temporary hous- in other post-soviet countries. He gave the example of sev-
the majority of ing centers with several hundred total places, against a to- eral Georgian asylum seekers, who were allegedly abducted
asylum seekers tal annual applicant volume of about 1,500. Refugees with by the State Security Bureau, flown to Odesa on helicop-
and refugees are
hosted in Kyiv and a dovidka are not entitled to any kind of aid, nor are they ters, put on a boat and sent back. A court case filed by his
Chernihiv, Odesa able to earn money for themselves. organization went nowhere because all the relevant evi-
and Kharkiv. “Remember that they just got to the country. They don’t dence was marked a state secret.
Source: UNHCR
know the language, they don’t know the Fikret Huseynli, a journalist and critic of the Azerbaijani
Country of Origin rules, the culture, they need to adapt, to government, who is a Netherlands citizen, agrees. He said
integrate,” she said. “They went through he had once been detained in Ukraine at the request of the
Afghanistan 24%
some kind of traumatic events, they of- government of Azerbaijan and a representative from the
Syria 11%
ten have post-traumatic stress dis- Azerbaijan prosecutor’s office came to ask him to renounce
Bangladesh 10%
CIS States 9%
order… sometimes they experienced everything he had written, which he refused to do. He is
Russian Federation 8% torture. Here, instead of receiving gov- now back in the Netherlands.
Somalia 5% ernment aid, they get nothing.” “Ukraine is a difficult country for political refugees,” he
Pakistan 4% On the bright side, she said, many wrote in a message. “Ukraine is a beautiful country. The
Iraq 4% Ukrainians welcome the refugees with people and society are wonderful. But there are also prob-
Others 25% open arms. Neighbors often help them lems with the government.”

10 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
meets with members of the U.S. Ukrainian
diaspora on Sept. 23, 2019, in New York,

Zelensky courts
before speaking at the United Nations
General Assembly. (Ukrainian President’s
Office).

global Ukrainian
diaspora to return,
help rebuild nation
P
By Olekisy Sorokin resident Volodymyr Zelensky be-
Sorokin@kyivpost.com
gan his presidency with an important
message: Ukraine will support peo-
ple of Ukrainian heritage’s return to their
motherland.
“I appeal to all Ukrainians on the plan-
et: we really need you,” Zelensky said dur-
ing his inauguration on May 20, adding that
there are more than 20 million Ukrainians liv-
ing elsewhere.
However, Ukraine does not permit dual cit-
izenship. That means the president must
now create mechanisms to accommodate
foreign Ukrainians who want to work and
study in Ukraine while keeping their prima-
ry citizenship.

[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019 11

 In 2004, Ukraine took the citizenship to members of the Polish diaspora. So why can’t
first step toward accommo- Ukraine?
Ah! You-
dating foreign nationals with
must be here
for a new ties to Ukraine by creating Passport wars
permit? the Foreign Ukrainian card. The idea of granting citizenship to those of Ukrainian heri-
The card is issued by a spe- tage dates back to the days of Ukrainian independence.
cial commission to mem- After three major waves of emigration across the 18–19
bers of the Ukrainian diaspora centuries, an estimated 6 to 20 million people of Ukrainian
who can prove their Ukrainian ancestry are scattered around the globe.
heritage. During his inauguration speech, Zelensky promised to
The card gives them the right simplify the procedure to give out Ukrainian passports to
to work and study in Ukraine with- the diaspora.
out having to renounce their pri- “To all who are ready to build a strong and successful
mary citizenship. But it largely Ukraine, I will gladly grant Ukrainian citizenship,” Zelensky
swims under the radar, and said.
often Ukrainian state offi- Yet, the main concern of those obtaining Ukrainian citi-
cials have no clue that the zenship is that they forfeit their primary citizenship.
card exists. According to the constitution, Ukraine doesn’t recognize
And that’s a problem, accord- dual citizenship. If a Ukrainian national obtains a foreign
Despite modest ing to several experts. passport, he or she still is considered a Ukrainian citizen in
improvements, Ukraine must promote the Foreign Ukrainian card, Ukraine. However, if a foreigner wants to obtain a Ukrainian
many foreigners grant it more power and create an effective mechanism for passport, he must renounce his other citizenship.
in Ukraine are still
facing an uphill making the card appealing to members of the Ukrainian di- Members of the Ukrainian diaspora, mainly concentrated
battle to obtain aspora willing to work and do business in Ukraine. in North America and the European Union, won’t give up
their visa and This isn’t a new idea. Since 2007, Poland has creat- their citizenship rights in their home countries to become
documents.
ed a mechanism to extend many of the rights of Polish Ukrainian nationals.
Paul Grod, head of the Ukrainian World Congress, be-
lieves that Ukraine must introduce dual citizenship for
10 Countries with the largest ethnic Ukrainians abroad.
Ukrainian population “Ethnic Ukrainians, provided they meet reasonable cri-
teria for citizenship, should be eligible to acquire Ukrainian
citizenship without the need to renounce their current citi-
Russia 3,301,922 zenship,” says Grod.
However, Ukraine is hesitant to allow dual citizenship.
The government fears that more and more Ukrainians will
Canada* 1,359,655 be granted Russian citizenship, which will help Russia jus-
tify a further invasion of Ukrainian territory.
USA* 1,028,492 In March 2014, Russia used “protecting” its citizens as a
pretext for war against Ukraine.
On April 24 of this year, Russian president Vladimir
Poland 438,692
Putin simplified the procedure for obtaining Russian citi-
zenship for those living in occupied regions of Donbas. Two
Kazakhstan 356,063 months later, the simplification was expanded to all resi-
dents of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts.
Argentina* 305,000 The Ukrainian diaspora is Now Ukraine has gone on the offensive, promising
substantial, with more than Ukrainian citizenship to Russians facing politically mo-
20 million people of Ukrainian tivated persecution back home. They would need to re-
Germany* heritage living abroad. They face
262,027 nounce their primary citizenship.
challenges upon returning to their
homeland, however, and have However, an exclusion must be made for Ukrainians liv-
historically needed to acquire the ing in the West.
Moldova 245,741 same documentation and permits
as any other foreigners. “Some may want the full privileges and responsibilities
of citizenship, yet others may prefer a more robust status of
Italy* 236,420
Foreign Ukrainian which currently exists but has very little
value,” says Grod.
UN Population Division (2017);
Belarus 225,734 * National census (2017).

12 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

Foreign Ukrainian
For Ukrainians who were born outside Ukraine but want to
have the option of living and working in Ukraine, there is
an option that allows them to keep their initial citizenship.
Foreign Ukrainian status is issued to those able to prove
their Ukrainian ethnicity or that their ancestors lived on
the territory of present-day Ukraine.
On paper, the card grants an abundance of rights — the
right to study for free in Ukrainian universities, work in
Ukraine and obtain a long-term tourist visa, if needed.
A commission headed by Ukraine’s foreign minister
gathers four times a year to review applications.
However, as of 2018, only 10,322 people have received
the Foreign Ukrainian status.
Pavlo Kravchuk, an expert at Europe without Barriers,
a nonprofit studying migration, says that few in Ukraine
know that the Foreign Ukrainian card exists — and that in-
cludes government officials who, in theory, must provide
services to card holders.
“They ask: ‘What is it? What does it do?’” says Kravchuk.
The main problem is that, even though the card provides
many services, including the right to work and to study for
free, these rights exist only on paper.
“Those who obtained the card expected something, yet
they didn’t receive what they expected,” Kravchuk says.
The card also provides a 5-year tourist visa, but most
members of the Ukrainian diaspora already live in visa-free
countries. Thus, they can easily visit Ukraine for 90 days
every 180 days. The card also doesn’t simplify the process
of obtaining Ukrainian citizenship.
Polish example
In 2007, the Polish government introduced the Polish Card,
issued to citizens of the former Soviet Union who can prove
their Polish ancestry.
The card gives them the right to study
for free in Polish schools and univer-
sities, open businesses and work in
the country without a work permit. The Polish
Card!
The card also provides financial as-
sistance from the state to those in
need and simplifies the process of ob-
taining Polish citizenship.
The card has been crucial for boost-
ing Poland’s workforce. According to
Ukrinform news agency, over 200,000
people received the Polish Card in the first
10 years of its existence, among them over
105,000 Ukrainian nationals. Over 10,000
people apply for the card yearly.
Ukrainians and Belarusians are the pri-
mary recipients of the card, mostly young
people seeking the chance to work and
study in the European Union.
There is a clear advantage to receiving the
Polish Card, says Kravchuk.
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
Poland has higher wages and needs labor. The country is
also a member of the European Union, and Poland’s pass-
port has more power, allowing its holders to work and trav-
el to more places.
According to the World Bank, Poland and Ukraine have
among the lowest fertility rates in the world, yet Poland
has been able to maintain its population due to an influx
of migrants.
In contrast, Ukraine’s population declined from 53 mil-
lion to a mere 42 million since obtaining statehood.
In 2019, the Polish government opened the Polish Card
to members of the Polish diaspora worldwide.
Catching up
But change may be coming. After his election, Zelensky ex-
pressed his intention to make it easier for those who as-
sociate themselves with Ukraine to live and work in the
country. The success of the Polish Card can serve as an
example.
Ukraine can’t compete with Poland in terms of wages,
but the document can serve as a working mechanism for
those willing to do business in Ukraine.
The Foreign Ukrainian card gives almost the same rights
as its Polish counterpart, but has been neglected for years.
“First we have to inform the people,” says Kravchuk.
Those services written in the law must be delivered.
Government officials must know their responsibilities,
and potential recipients of these services must know their
rights.
The government should promote the card by increasing
its benefits — for example, fast-track citizenship, the right
to live in Ukraine without a visa, the right to open a busi-
ness, and access to bank loans and tax breaks.
However, many are hoping for Ukraine to introduce
dual citizenship, albeit with strict restrictions on who can
hold two passports. The Ukrainian World Congress wants
its members to be allowed a Ukrainian passport with vot-
ing rights and the option to service the country both in the
military and the government. But it’s president also sup-
ports the Foreign Ukrainian card.
“I believe that
both options
should be avail-
able to ethnic
Ukrainians,” he
says.
The so-called Polish Card is offered by
the country to people of Polish national
heritage who live abroad (diaspora) and
Foreign grants them the right to live, work and study
Ukrainian in Poland.
Card... Introduced in 2007, it has proven 20 times
more popular than a similar card issued by
Ukraine, called a Foreign Ukrainian Card.
The permit offered by Ukraine is considered
more difficult to obtain and does not offer a
pathway to eventual citizenship.
13
 ADVERTISEMENT

LEGAL SERVICES
Listing is arranged in alphabetical order

Phone number Top executives HQ Est. Main Specialization, services Major clients Languages

ADER HABER
7 Klovsky Uzviz, 14th floor, Kyiv 01021, Ukraine; office@aderhaber.com
www.aderhaber.com

Litigation & Dispute Resolution; Business Defence;
Bankruptcy & Financial Restructuring; Enforcement
Proceedings; Corporate Law and M&A; Real Estate
and Land; Banking & Finance; Antitrust & Competition;
Kyiv,
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Ukraine
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Aleksandr Peremezhko & Partners

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www.opp.com.ua

Litigation & Arbitration; Tax and Customs; Corporate Bershka Ukraine, Sharp Electronics Ukraine, Lego English, German,
Kyiv, and M&A; Competition and Anti-monopoly; Media and Ukraine, B&H, UFD, LeDoyen Studio, Ciklum Ukraine,
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Alekseev, Boyarchukov and partners

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www.abp.kiev.ua

Kyiv, Dispute resolution, Bankruptcy and Debt restructuring, JSB “Ukrgasbank”, Discovery Drilling Equipment, Ukrainian,
+38 044 235 88 77 Sergey Boyarchukov 2005
Ukraine Criminal law, White-collar Crime, Tax NOVUS, BEEF, ZINTECO, Investohills LLC English, Russian

Ante Law Firm

45A Nyzhnoyurkivska St., Kyiv 04080, Ukraine; office@antelaw.com.ua
www.antelaw.com.ua

Litigation; Corporate; White collar; Transport & Air France-KLM, Alitalia, Austrian, British Airways,
Andriy Guck,
Kyiv, Infrastructure; Aviation; Energy & Natural resources; Emirates, Ernest S.p.A., ydubai, Lufthansa, Qatar English, Russian,
+38 044 277 2300 Kateryna Ishchenko, 2015
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Roman Storonskiy
Antitrust & Competition Aventis Ukraine, Zdravo; XPH Ukraine; Dogusan

Asters
Leonardo Business Center, 19-21 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho St., Kyiv 01030, Ukraine; info@asterslaw.com
www.asterslaw.com

Oleksiy Didkovskiy,
Full-service law rm with ofces in Washington, D.C., EBRD, GE, IFC, L'Oreal, Monsanto, Teva, Salini English, Russian,
+38 044 230 6000 Serhii Sviriba, 1995
London, and Brussels Impregilo, Wizz Air Ukrainian
Armen Khachaturyan

Axon Partners
36E Yevhena Konovaltsia, Kyiv, 01133, Ukraine; poke_us@axon.partners
www.axon.partners

BlaBlaCar, TripMyDream, 908.vc, DOU, rabota.

Dima Gadomskyi, Kyiv, Lviv, Software development, Gaming, E-commerce, Fintech, ua, Hosting Ukraine, Myhelix, RadarTech, Poster, English,
38 044 578 2337 Oksana Kobzar, Kharkiv 2016 Agrotech, Legaltech, VC, IT integration, IT outsourcing, Vitagramma, Grupa Pracuj, Datas, Invisible, LikarniCOM, Ukrainian,
Yuriy Kornaga Ukraine Medtech, Telecom POA.Networks, Infobip, Preply, SeedStars, VGS Inc, Russian
Cryptagio, Beetroot

Baker McKenzie
Renaissance Business Center, 24 Bulvarno-Kudriavska St., Kyiv 01601, Ukraine; kyiv@bakermckenzie.com
www.bakermckenzie.com

Antitrust & Competition; Banking & Finance; Corporate; Arcelor Mittal, EastOne Group, Horizon Capital,
+380 44 590 0101 Serhiy Chorny, M&A; Securities; Dispute Resolution; Employment; IP; English, Russian,
1992 ING Bank Ukraine, Metinvest BV, RaiffeisenBank,
+380 44 590 0110 Serhiy Piontkovsky International Trade; Real Estate and Construction; Tax Ukrainian
and Customs; Energy & Infrastructure MasterCard, UkrSibbank BNP Paribas Group

14 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

 ADVERTISEMENT

Phone number Top executives HQ Est. Main Specialization, services Major clients Languages

B.C. Toms & Co

18/1 Prorizna St., Suite 1, Kyiv 01001, Ukraine; kyiv@bctoms.net
www.bctoms.net

Agricultural Investments; Oil Gas and Electricity; M&A;

+38 044 490 6000 Kyiv, Arbitration, Litigation and Dispute Resolution; Customs English, French,
Bate C. Toms 1991 WND
+38 044 278 1000 Ukraine and Tax; Administrative Law; Banking; Russian, Ukrainian
Finance & Capital Markets

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang

38 Volodymyrska St., 6th floor, Kyiv 01030, Ukraine; KyivOffice@cms-cmno.com
cms.law, cms-lawnow.com

Infrastructure; Corporate and M&A; Banking and Finance;

English, French,
Commercial; Tax&Customs; Competition; Dispute
London, German,
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UK Ukrainian,
Media and Communication; Agribusiness; Lifesciences/
Russian
Pharmaceuticals; Intellectual Property; Energy; Private Equity

CMS Reich-Rohrwig Hainz

19B Instytutska St., Kyiv 01021, Ukraine; kyiv@cms-rrh.com
cms.law, cms-lawnow.com

Agribusiness, Antitrust, Banking & Finance, Commercial,

Ukrainian,
Vienna, Compliance, Corporate/M&A, Dispute Resolution,
+38 044 500 1718 Johannes Trenkwalder 2006 WND Russian, English,
Austria Employment, Energy, Infrastructure, IP, Public
German
Procurement, Real Estate, Restructuring, Tax, TMT

Dentons (LLC Dentons Europe)

49A Volodymyrska St., Kyiv 01034, Ukraine; kyiv@dentons.com
www.dentons.com

Banking and nance; Corporate/M&A; Dispute Multinational corporations, commercial and investment
+38 044 494 4774 Global English, Russian,
Oleg Batyuk 1992 resolution; Investments; IP&T; Real estate and banks, energy companies, developers, hotel chains,
+38 044 494 1991 law rm Ukrainian
Construction; Restructuring; Tax investment funds, international organisations

EQUITY Law Firm

4 Rylskyi Lane, 01001, Kyiv, Ukraine; info@equity.law
equity.law

Azovmash corp., National Bank of Ukraine, AIS Group,

Litigation; White Collar Crimes; Restructuring &
Kyiv, UkrInBank, Ferrexpo AG, RwS Bank, Helen Marlen English, Russian,
+38 044 277 2222 Viktor Barsuk 2002 Bankruptcy; Banking and Finance; Real Estate;
Ukraine Group, NEST Corp, Crystal Bank, Vernum Bank, Ukrainian
Corporate and M&A; Tax; Intellectual property
Ukrainian Business Group, Arterium Corp and others.

Eterna Law
Gulliver Business Centre,1-A Sportivna sq, 32 floor, Kyiv, 01001; pr@eterna.law
eterna.law

Andrey Astapov,
Oleh Malskyy, Dispute resolution, corporate, M&A, tax, international
Oleh Beketov, Baxter, Bayer, Bioton, Bunge, CDMA, Huawei, China English, Russian,
nance, compliance, regulatory enforcement, IP,
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+38 044 490 7001 2002 insolvency, construction, real estate acquisitions,
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Maksym Uslystyi, oil and gas, infrastructure, public procurement,
Mechel, Metagenics, Nutricia, DTEK Latvian
Alexander Lugovskyi, Chinese Desk, Alternative Energy
Denis Kytsenko

EUCON Legal Group

5А Peremohy avenue, office 500, Kyiv, 01135, Ukraine; info@euconlaw.com
www.euconlaw.com

Yaroslav Romanchuk
– Managing partner,
Corporate and M&A, Tax Law, Transfer Pricing, Louis Dreyfus Commodities Ukraine; Zepter International
attorney at law, head of
+380 44 238 09 44 Kyiv, Criminal Law, Accounting and Tax, Labour & Migration Ukraine; Savik Shuster Studio; Ukrrichot PJSC; ТNK-BP Ukrainian, English,
Kyiv ofce; 2006
+48 22 658 10 25 Ukraine Law, Investments and Business Structuring, Dispute Commerce, LLC; Plastics-Ukraine, LLC; Kyivstar, JSC; Poland, Russian
Andrii Romanchuk –
Resolution, Agrarian, Compliance, Intellectual Property Consulate General of Poland in Lviv
Partner, head of Warsaw
ofce

[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019 15

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Phone number Top executives HQ Est. Main Specialization, services Major clients Languages

EXPATPRO Law Firm

18 Vasylia Lypkivskoho St., 3rd floor, Kyiv, 03035, Ukraine; office@expatpro.co
www.expatpro.co

Liubomyr Kuziutkin, Kyiv, Immigration law, Investment, Corporate and M&A, English, Russian,
+38 044 339 98 81 2016 WND
Vasyl Cherednichenko Ukraine Commercial/Business law, Real Estate, Family law Ukrainian

GOLAW
19B Instytutska St., office 29, Kyiv 01021, Ukraine; info@golaw.ua
www.golaw.ua

Tax; Antitrust and Competition; Banking and Finance;

Governmental Relations; Litigation and Dispute
Resolution; Business Protection; Сorporate Recovery
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16 Mykhailivska St., Floor 2-4, Kyiv 01001, Ukraine; office@gramatskiy.com
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City Capital Group, Seven Hills, Danfoss, De-vi, PlayTech,
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English, Italian,
Kyiv, Trade; Business Protection; Real Estate&Construction; SBTech, IT Enterprise, ULMA Ukraine, Celentano, Banka,
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Ukraine Agribusiness; IT; Litigation; Taxation; Business Jeltok, Promkabel, Larsen, Fornetti, Graal, All-Ukrainian
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INTEGRITES
1 Dobrovolchykh Batalioniv St., Kyiv 01015, Ukraine; info@integrites.com
https://www.integrites.com
Cross-border Litigation; International Arbitration;
Financial Institutions, Corporate Finance, Finance/
NBT AS, Longwing/Eurocape, Panasonic, Farmak, Gals
Projects; International Trade; Commercial Mediation;
Agro, Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), EBRD, English, German,
Domestic Litigation; Tax & Customs; Antitrust &
Kyiv, Scatec Solar, IFC, Wärtsilä, Ukrenergo, Euroammonia, French, Turkish,
+38 044 391 3853 Oleksiy Feliv 2005 Competition; Labour and Employment; Compliance;
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Jeantet
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Shipping and Maritime; Criminal Law & White-Collar
Odesa Fine Arts Museum, Palma Group, Baltic Control
Crime; Antitutrust and compliance
Ukraine

16 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

 ADVERTISEMENT

Phone number Top executives HQ Est. Main Specialization, services Major clients Languages

LCF Law Group

47 Volodymyrska St., office 3, Kyiv 01001, Ukraine; info@lcf.ua
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Anna Ogrenchuk
Ph.D., Managing
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Ph.D., Senior Partner, 2009 Law, Energy & Natural Resources, Transportation & Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill, MRIYA Agro Holding,
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Redcliffe Partners
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S&P Investment Risk Management Agency

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Mykhola Siutkin –
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Osadcha Nataliia — Kyiv, reputation protection, crisis management, arbitration, Ukrainian,
+380 44 383 0000 2007 WND
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[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019 17

18 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

Welcome to the
country, new
Ukrainians!
Dmytro Fomin, a Russian national who volunteered as a project
coordinator with the Medsanbat medical training program for
military doctors in Ukraine between 2015 and 2016, speaks to the
Kyiv Post on Sept. 4, 2019. He was given Ukrainian citizenship in
July 2018. (Oleg Petrasiuk)
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
By Natalia Datskevych
datskevych@kyivpost.com
W
hile many Ukrainians have
sought a life outside the coun-
try, there are plenty of foreign-
ers who would like to come here. But getting
Ukrainian citizenship is not so simple.
Without multiple legal justifications, one
can endlessly try to obtain citizenship and
still be refused, even after living in Ukraine
for 20 years.
“Everyone has forever complained about
bureaucracy when getting Ukrainian citizen-
ship,” said Vasyl Cherednichenko, an immi-
gration expert and partner at the ExpatPro
law firm.
“In the state migration services they often
refuse to accept documents using legal dif-
ficulties… not explaining how to fix it. They
only say ‘go and read the law,’” he said.
So when President Volodymyr Zelensky
stated during his inauguration speech on May
20 that he welcomes those who are ready to
build a strong and successful Ukraine and will
help them to obtain Ukrainian citizenship,
few expected that it would happen so fast.
It took only eight days after the inaugura-
tion for Zelensky to sign his first order on is-
suing Ukrainian citizenship to five important
foreigners in the country. Some of them had
been waiting for this decision for years.
With the same order, Zelensky also re-
stored the Ukrainian citizenship to ex-Geor-
gian President and former Odesa Oblast
Governor Mikheil Saakashvili, which he
received from former President Petro
Poroshenko in 2015 and lost two years later
due to a political confrontation.
“Zelensky called me at 7 a.m., woke me up
and said ‘I will restore your citizenship at 2
p.m.’ And he restored it exactly to the minute.
I’m not used to this in Ukraine, that is cool,”
Saakashvili said at the time.
During the summer, the government made
a few more moves toward its stated goal. In
early June, parliament simplified the proce-
dure for granting Ukrainian citizenship to for-
eigners who helped to defend the country’s
territorial integrity.
In August, Zelensky simplified the acqui-
sition of citizenship for those who fought for
Ukraine during the war and for Russians who
are regarded as friends to Ukraine or who
have been persecuted for political reasons.
Throughout the first half of 2019, Ukraine
granted citizenship to 656 people — 80
19
 percent were granted it from April to July, according to the
State Migration Service.
In 2018, for the whole year the number was 983.
“There are visible dynamics for the second quarter of
this year,” said Cherednichenko.
The Kyiv Post interviewed four new Ukrainians who are
widely seen as having gone above and beyond the call of
duty for the country or having contributed significant val-
ue to Ukraine, as was stipulated in the president’s order.
Medical volunteer
Born in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, Dmytro
Fomin, 47, a volunteer at the All-Ukrainian Council for
Reanimation and Emergency First Aid, received Ukrainian
citizenship by presidential decree on July 18, after three
years of waiting.
Fomin met with the Kyiv Post in the capital's main military
hospital, where in 2015 he was among those who were keen
to fill the huge gaps in Ukraine’s military medicine capacity.
As an educational program coordinator, he helped to organize
two to five days of intensive training courses on Emergency
First Aid called MedSanBat, where military doctors were
trained and equipped according to NATO standards.
“These walls saw a lot,” said Fomin, recalling how strong
It is not only resistance was in the very beginning from the management
people crossing of the hospital.
Ukrainain borders.
In total, during the program between 2014 and 2016
Smuggling is a
perennial problem around 5,000 of Ukraine’s military personnel and nearly
and costs the 500 military doctors were trained by NATO experts. In ad-
state a lot. Experts
dition, the Ukrainian army received medical equipment
say the value of
goods moving worth some $850,000.
into Ukraine via The team of around 20 people, including Fomin himself,
some form of
customs violation
also organized courses in the eastern Donbas region not
is projected to be far from the front line to give training in lifesaving medi-
$13.5 billion and is cal procedures.
growing every year.
Once during the training there, an elderly man crouched
down and started to cry, saying if he had known these
things, he would have been able to save his friend, a mo-
ment forever etched in Fomin’s memory.
A new shipment
of contraband Fomin,
from Ukraine has who
arrived!
spoke
to
20
the Kyiv Post in Ukrainian and not his native Russian, de-
cided to move to Ukraine a long time ago, right after the
Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution.
By that time, he already knew he did not want to live in
Russia after a series of horrifying tragedies, including the
Kursk submarine disaster in 2000 and the Nord-Ost ter-
rorist attack in Moscow two years later. The final straw for
Fomin was the terrorist attack against a school in Beslan,
North Ossetia in 2004, where 314 people died, including
186 kids, as the result of a Russian military counterattack.
“I realized that my life was worth nothing. I was look-
ing for a place to move, I liked it here and I decided that
Ukraine is the place for me to live,” he said.
When the war with Russia started in the east of Ukraine,
Fomin realized that he wanted to help somehow, but he
didn’t want to become a soldier.
“On the one hand, I understood that I wanted to help the
Ukrainian army. On the other hand, I wasn’t ready to kill
people,” said Fomin.
Thus, he volunteered for the MedSanBat for one year.
Currently, Fomin is engaged in a number of other so-
cial projects, including military ones, focused on training
Ukrainian cadets to enter military education programs in
NATO countries like the USA, U.K., France or Canada.
“They will study for 2–4 years depending on the coun-
try, and when they return to Ukraine they could implement
NATO educational principles here,” said Fomin.
This year, the most touching moment for Fomin was par-
ticipating in the 2019 March of the Defenders of Ukraine:
“It was amazing to hear gratitude from Ukrainians and
I had the feeling that all this wasn’t done in vain,” he said.
Protector of Ukrainians in Syria
Tamer Tounsi, 47, general honorary consul of Ukraine in
Syria, received his Ukrainian citizenship via the same order
that restored Saakashvili’s.
Tounsi is a vital link between Syria and Ukraine since the
Syrian embassy in Kyiv closed a year ago due to Syria's rec-
ognition of the annexed Crimean Peninsula as a legitimate
part of Russia.
However, thousands of Ukrainians remain in Syria, where
death is routine because of the country's ongoing civil war
and Russia's backing of dictator Bashar Assad. Many of
them ask Tounsi for help to return to their homeland.
“I’m protecting all Ukrainian citizens in Syria. I sent
more than 500 Ukrainian women back to Ukraine during
the war,” he said.
In July, Tounsi helped a woman with two children to
come back to Ukraine from a very dangerous area between
Syria and Turkey.
“With the help of the Red Cross I took this lady, sent her
from Aleppo to Damascus, from Damascus to Lebanon and
then I sent her back to her homeland,” he said.
Tounsi also helped to evacuate ten Ukrainian sail-
ors, who were got stranded in the Syrian port of Tartus
in August 2017 because the ship owner was under
#03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]
international sanctions. The sailors had to stay in the port
unpaid for almost five months.
Three and a half years ago, Tounsi sent a letter to
Poroshenko for the first time asking for Ukrainian
citizenship.
“He refused to sign it,” said Tounsi, although he already
had all possible medals from the Ukrainian government.
Now that Tounsi has finally received a Ukrainian pass-
port, he can benefit a great deal.
According to the annual Henley & Partners Passport Index
in 2019, the Ukrainian passport was ranked 44th best in the
world, having a visa-free regime with 126 countries, while
the Syrian passport was one of the weakest in the world, only
better than Iraq and Afghanistan.
“For me, it’s very good to get this passport to travel more
and also to feel free in my work as general honorary con-
sul in Syria,” said Tounsi, who also has textile businesses in
Ukraine, Poland, Syria and Lebanon.
Fighter on the frontline
Nugzar Kandelaki, 60, originally from Tbilisi, the capital of
Georgia, became a Ukrainian citizen this summer thanks to
the simplification of procedures that Zelensky ordered.
In 2015, Kandelaki left Georgia, where he had a wife,
three daughters and a son, to defend Ukraine. He wanted
to strike back against Russia for what the aggressor coun-
try did to Georgia during the 2008 conflict and subsequent
occupation.
“When I left Georgia, I said that I was going to do busi-
ness, but I knew that I was going to fight against Russia,”
said Kandelaki.
He joined Ukraine’s Azov Battalion as a volunteer and
fought for Ukraine for one year.
“In eastern Ukraine, I saw wounded young men. At the
age of 18, they were already disabled. It was so hard to see
boys at the age of my son in such conditions,” he said.
But due to health problems, the Georgian was not able to
continue fighting.
Kandelaki didn’t want to go back home until the war
with Russia was over. So his friends from the battalion ad-
vised him to settle in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk in west-
ern Ukraine, surrounded by the Carpathian Mountains.
In fact, Kandelaki liked the place so much that he decid-
ed to stay and even to start a small business.
“The Carpathians remind me very much of Georgia,
but you don’t have anything like Georgian wine,” said
Kandelaki with a little sadness in his voice.
Kandelaki started to produce and sell carbonated drinks
with natural ingredients — orange, raspberry, pear, pome-
granate, lemon, peach and strawberry.
Moreover, his small business became one of the key rea-
sons why Kandelaki desperately wanted Ukrainian cit-
izenship when he filed documents. Two months ago,
Andriy Biletsky, lawmaker and ex-commander of the Azov
Battalion, informed him that now is the right time to do it.
“It’s very hard to do business in Ukraine without being
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
citizen of the country. For example, I couldn’t send money
from my firm to another by myself. I had to ask a Ukrainian
citizen to do it,” he said.
Hockey player
Unlike the vast majority of foreigners struggling to get
Ukrainian citizenship, some can obtain a passport quite
easily, especially if they are athletes playing for an influen-
tial team.
Alexander Kostikov, 21, an ice hockey player with the
Donbass Hockey Club, also got his Ukrainian citizenship
on May 28. He was born in Moscow and used to play in the
Russian Junior Hockey League.
When Kostikov turned 19 in 2017, a friend asked the ath-
lete if he wanted to play for a Ukrainian club, located in the
city of Druzhkivka in Donetsk Oblast, some 670 kilometers
southeast from Kyiv.
“At first, I was a bit confused because of war. But I gath-
ered my thoughts and decided to go to Ukraine,” said
Kostikov.
Two year later, Kostikov is still happy about the choice
he made and enjoying playing for his club. He and his team
have become two-time champions in the Ukrainian Hockey
League.
Getting a Ukrainian passport was quite an easy process
for Kostikov since all the paperwork was handled by his
club, owned by Borys Kolesnikov, a former loyalist of fugi-
tive President Viktor Yanukovych.
While usually people usually wait for Ukrainian citizen-
ship for years, Kostikov got it in just one month. At the country's
The athlete said he does not know the status of his western borders,
observers and
Russian citizenship.
NGOs continue
“I honestly don’t know what to answer, because the club to see extensive
does everything. I personally don’t have such connections timber smuggling,
as trucks laden
with officials to do it,” he said.
with logs are
Kostikov told the Kyiv Post that his Ukrainian citizenship shipped into
has brought his sports career to the international level. Europe often
having been
“I got a chance to play for Ukraine’s national hockey
approved by
team. Why not use this chance?” he said. corrupt officials
in Ukraine
beforehand.
21
Centre for Language Development
teacher Anna Levchuk explains
Ukrainian grammar and vocabularly
to her students Buba, Deny, and Frizak
(Volodymyr Petrov).
Foreign students in
Ukraine attracted by
decent, affordable
education system
D
By Vyacheslav Hnatyuk
hnatyuk@kyivpost.com
ue to political and economic insta- studied here in 2018 and the number seems to
bility, as well as Russia's war in the be trending upwards.
country’s eastern Donbas region, The top countries sending students to
few students ventured to Ukraine between Ukraine are India (20 percent), Morocco
2014 and 2017. In 2014, little more than (10 percent), Azerbaijan (8 percent), and
63,000 foreign students came to Ukraine to Turkmenistan (7 percent), according to
study. data from the Ukrainian State Center for
But Ukrainian universities are slowly but International Education, part of the Ministry
steadily recovering their positions and gaining of Education of Ukraine.
in popularity with foreign students. By 2018, A foreign student in Ukraine is protected
international students and their parents ap- as much as any foreigner in Ukraine staying
peared to have somewhat recovered trust in on legal grounds, multiple experts special-
Ukraine and its universities. More than 75,500 izing in immigration law told the Kyiv Post.

22 #03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]

However, foreign students will not receive free medical
care in Ukraine and need to buy health insurance before
arrival.
Foreign students coming to Ukrainian universities
should firstly rely on trusted education agents in their
countries, advises Vasyl Cherednichenko, an immigra-
tion lawyer. They also need to be diligent in resolving
all visa-related issues and receiving legal status within
90 days of their arrival to Ukraine. “And, of course, they
ought to study well, because in case of dropping out, the
right of residence will be canceled. And you will have to
leave Ukraine within a week,” Cherednichenko warned.
Popular subjects, universities
Medicine is the most popular field of study among foreign
students here in Ukraine, with that subdivided into gen-
eral medicine, medical care, dentistry and pharmacy. All
these medical majors bring 45 percent of foreign students
to Ukraine.
Economic fields, including finance, business and man-
agement make up the second most attractive group of ma-
jors offered by universities in Ukraine to overseas students.
Construction and engineering stand out as the third most
popular areas of study.
International relations and law may look like niche sub-
jects, but they are the traditional majors for those who as-
pire to become future elites, or leaders of nations that send
their youths to Ukraine for studies. Plus, Ukrainian art
schools also attract students from abroad, with Ukraine be-
coming increasingly well-known for its history of fine and
performing arts.
As for the most popular universities, two leading institu-
tions are based in Kharkiv, a city with 1.4 million inhabit-
ants located 500 kilometers to the east of Kyiv. The Kharkiv
National Medical University and Karazin Kharkiv National
University lead the list, with each teaching about 4,400
foreign students. Odesa National Medical University and
Bogomolets National Medical University of Kyiv each teach
about 4,000 foreign students.
Only two non-medical schools make it to the top ten
of Ukraine’s most popular universities among foreigners.
Besides the above-mentioned Karazin Kharkiv National
University, there is also MAUP, or the Interregional
Academy of Personnel Management. MAUP, a private
university, teaches about 2,000 foreigners across its six
departments.
With the recent appointment of Oleksiy Honcharuk
as Ukraine’s prime minister, MAUP can boast of having
trained two consecutive prime ministers: Honcharuk, and
his predecessor, Volodymyr Groysman, who used to study
at the university’s Vinnytsia branch.
Kyiv Polytechnic
“Foreigners are choosing the most attractive countries for
their studies,” says former ambassador Volodymyr Koval,
who now works as chairman at the Center for International
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
Education at Kyiv Polytechnic University, also known as
KPI in Ukraine.
Koval continues and says that “traditionally we consider
the USA and (Western) Europe to be (top countries).” With
regret he adds that Ukraine and former Soviet Republics
are still not considered a priority destination for many for-
eign students.
‘We make no difference between Ukrainian
and foreign students and we set identical
requirements to them’
— Volodymyr Koval,
chairman at the Center for International
Education at Kyiv Polytechnic University
This year, KPI has enrolled 178 foreigners, compared
to 167 a year ago. The total foreign enrollment number at
the KPI as of Sept. 1 amounts to 404 students, with most
of them coming from Turkey (109 students), followed by
Ecuador (39), China (36), and Egypt (31).
Other countries have sent fewer students to KPI, from
1 to 23. There is one student each from France, Japan,
Norway and the U. S. Eight Russians are also enrolled at
KPI.
According to Koval, KPI provides world-class train-
ing in such fields as IT, cybersecurity and nuclear securi-
ty, attracting students from all over the world. Back in the
1980s, 1,000 foreigners per year studied at KPI, which now
bears the name of Igor Sikorsky — an alumnus and famous
helicopter designer.
Koval used to work as a professor at Lviv Polytechnic
University. While doing his postgraduate research he in-
terned twice at U.S. universities. In the 1990s Koval
switched to diplomacy and served as Ukraine’s ambassa-
The number of
dor to a number of Middle Eastern countries. Now he is in international
charge of boosting KPI’s international outreach. students coming to
“We make no distinction between Ukrainian and foreign Ukraine is steadily
recovering, and
students and we set identical requirements to them,” says universities are
Koval. However, foreign university students in Ukraine do already seeing the
pay higher fees, around double the typical price. And due to benefit as students
get access to
high requirements and difficult tests, ten percent of foreign affordable, quality
students fail to graduate. education.
The number of international students in Ukraine
(2011 – 2018)
23
Top 10 countries of origin of international
students in Ukraine
India 14,958
Morocco 7,390
Azerbaijan 6,228
Turkmenistan 5,033
Nigeria 3,552
Egypt 3,412
Many foreigners coming to study in Ukraine are
Turkey 3,254 medical students from India, but finance and
engineering are also gaining popularity with
China 2,721 international students.
Israel 2,460
Georgia 2,397
However, foreign students receive support throughout
their stay at the KPI. Koval explains that his center “pro-
vides a (foreign) student with absolutely everything nec-
essary for studying.” This includes immigration and visa
documentation, language and pre-university training in
specific subjects, excursions around Ukraine and team
building through sports and other activities.
Language, pre-university studies
Many young people who come to Ukraine are not ready to
join the student ranks. Some just want to learn Russian or
Ukrainian and get to know more about the culture. They
can improve their language and academic skills either at
universities or private language schools.
Most universities aiming to attract foreign students have
pre-university courses lasting for a year or so, just like KPI.
The Center for Language Development, or CLD, is a
private language school, which started in 2001 with a
specialization in teaching Russian and Ukrainian to for-
eigners. Nowadays, the school teaches foreign languages to
Ukrainians as well.
Oksana Guseynova, who manages the center, remembers
that back in 2001, Russian was more in demand and “our
first student was a guard of the French embassy.” The de-
mand for Ukrainian came a few years later and some of the
first students of Ukrainian were employees of the French
retailer Auchan.
In the early 2000s, Kyiv was predominantly a Russian-
speaking city and, having studied Ukrainian for a month,
the Auchan students told their teacher “we have studied
for a month, and when we go to a restaurant nobody an-
swers back in Ukrainian,” Guseynova remembers. So, they
needed to switch to Russian for practical purposes.
After a month of studying Ukrainian and then a month
of Russian studies, the French learners were perfect-
ly happy to discover the existence of ‘surzhyk’ (a Russian-
Ukrainian mixed language): “This is exactly what we need.
We are going to Bessarabsky market, speaking Russian-
Ukrainian, and this is how it works.”
This modest beginning grew into professional results.
24
Now Auchan employs French managers, who speak fluent
Ukrainian.
CLD boasts of competitive strength in teaching Russian
compared to its counterparts in Russia. The school teach-
es the Russian language online to Westerners, and has no-
ticed that Polish people are deciding to study Russian in
Kyiv.
“We are closer to Europe, we have more communica-
tion with Europe. And their way to us is shorter,” said
Guseynova.
Besides teaching commercial clients, the CLD also works
with refugees, whose language studies are financed by UN
projects in Ukraine. Deny Matundo says that he “stud-
ies Ukrainian, because he wants to study at a universi-
ty in Ukraine.” His friend Frizak, from Somalia, studies
Ukrainian “to understand people and to study in school.”
Deny and Frizak find Ukrainian grammar and vocabu-
lary difficult. Nevertheless, Deny “wants to speak Ukrainian
just like he speaks French.” And Frizak advises students
of Ukrainian to not be afraid — the process of learning the
language is not as daunting as it seems.
Other students suggest enjoying the tourist side of
Ukraine like the Black Sea coast in Kherson Oblast. The
students shared this advice with the Kyiv Post in fluent
Ukrainian.
Students “need to develop not only by the book, but
also socialize. They should know what is happening in the
country not only from the manual but through real sto-
ries,” said their language teacher, Anna Levchuk. She
encourages students to sing Ukrainian songs, watch mov-
ies, and learn more about the culture of their new home
country.
International trends
University education is a major branch of the economy for
countries receiving students, as well as good business for
the universities teaching them. Besides tuition, students
pay rent, buy food, purchase clothing and travel.
Young people enrich the cultural life of their host cities
too and eventually foreign students can act as an available
talent pool for the countries that have trained them.
Foreign graduates of German universities, for exam-
ple, enjoy a simplified procedure for obtaining a perma-
nent residency, a gateway to citizenship. If these graduates
find a full time job in their field within a year of gradua-
tion, they can stay. For foreign students in Ukraine, the
path to eventual citizenship is more complicated and
time-consuming.
U.S. universities, meanwhile, accepted 1.09 million for-
eign students in 2018, which roughly amounts to 5 percent
of the total university enrollment. Ukraine has some way
to go in achieving this level of popularity. But the potential
benefits could be huge: In 2017 alone, the U. S. Department
of Commerce reported that international students con-
tributed “$42.4 billion to the US economy through tuition,
room and board, and other expenses.”
#03/2019 [KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY]
Vasyl Kysil (1948-2019), a top professor
of international law at the Kyiv National
Taras Shevchenko University and a senior
partner at Vasil Kisil & Partners law firm.
(Yevgeniy Korol)
By Vyacheslav Hnatyuk
hnatyuk@kyivpost.com
[KYIV POST LEGAL QUARTERLY] #03/2019
Ukraine bids farewell
to legal giant — scholar,
pioneer and teacher of
Ukraine’s finest lawyers
V
asyl Kysil, law professor and found-
er of Ukraine’s top law firm, died on
Aug. 7 at age 70.
Students of the late professor know this
Latin saying by heart: “Jus est ars boni et ae-
qui,” meaning that the law is the art of good
and equitable deeds. Even the students, who
graduated from his courses more than 40 years
ago, still carry this maxim in their minds and
hearts. Moreover, they spread it.
Kysil had a big fear in life — failing his stu-
dents by transgressing his own high mor-
al standards, which he set for them during
lectures. Knowing this, he trod through life
with humility, and anybody talking to him
could notice it.
Kysil’s humility “was always filled with
strength and kindness. It never let you doubt
the scale of this person. It was the humili-
ty of a great and humane person with a strong
system of internal values,” remembers Oleg
Alyoshin, who was his student in the 1990s
and then became a partner at his law firm.
There was a special kind of chemistry be-
tween Kysil and his students, and that took
place from his first days as a lecturer: “I was
25

one of his first students, who started studies of inter-
Law professor
Vasyl Kysil speaks national private law. Respectively, I wrote all my course
at a round table and diploma papers on this topic,” remembers Andriy
discussion devoted
Vyshnevsky from the class of 1988.
to court reform in
Ukraine on Dec. Thousands of lawyers working all over the world will un-
11, 2014. Kysil derwrite these words of lifelong inspiration for law instilled
supported the idea
by Kysil. Former presidents Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine
of specilized courts,
including courts and Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia were students of Kysil.
specializing in Both wrote Facebook tributes upon his death.
economic disputes.
Besides as a teacher of law, Kysil was known for his legal
(UNIAN)
research and involvement in drafting progressive legislation,
especially the laws regulating international arbitration in
Ukraine and attracting foreign investments into the country.
The Ukrainian and the global business community
knows Kysil best for establishing his namesake firm Vasil
Kisil and Partners. The firm's transliteration is the Russian
one and dates from the firm's start in 1987, while he pre-
ferred the Ukrainian translitation of his name.
The firm advised the first-ever foreign investors — such
as McDonalds, and the U.S. pharmaceutical company
DuPont — arriving in Ukraine, and since then has assisted
businesses in numerous strategic projects.
Kysil mingled easily with his students, going above and
beyond in providing them with additional legal instruction.
It was during a coaching session in the late eighties that
a group of students challenged him to apply his and their
knowledge of international and national law in practice.
Back in Soviet times, advising foreigners coming to
Ukraine or Ukrainians trading with the world was a novel-
ty. Only select state-run institutions enjoyed some access
to this field.
Kysil accepted the challenge posed by his students, and
established a student cooperative with his best of class
back in 1987. The coop opened its doors as a legal practice
and clients came from Ukraine and all over the world.
Among the first clients of the firm was the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. After completion of the
26
assignment, the church paid the bill. The official name of
the church got lost in the banking documents due to cum-
bersome payment procedures. Only the words ‘Jesus Christ’
remained on the payment slip. The Ukrainian bank man-
ager told the firm’s accountant that Kysil had to be a great
lawyer indeed, if Jesus Christ was paying him.
In the budding years of free enterprise in Ukraine, Kysil
knew that parallel to the firm he was creating the legal
market in Ukraine. So, he would deliberately spin off his
most ambitious students and young interns into separate
firms. With benevolence and patience Kysil would provide
these firms with business know-how and help them grow.
Kysil prided himself on the role he played in establishing
the country’s legal market. And although a staunch sup-
porter of democratic development of Ukraine, Kysil was not
a revolutionary. In a 2012 interview he said of the fights
between members of parliament: “Better they do it inside
(parliament) than on the streets.”
Kysil acknowledged the role of Mikhail Gorbachev, the
last leader of the U.S.S.R., in democratizing Ukraine. Kysil
was also aware that the leaders bringing democracy to their
countries, usually suffered most in their careers.
Kysil chose to lead his firm in a democratic way. He
bravely delegated work to younger lawyers in order to let
them grow professionally and mature personally. Kysil was
the first Ukrainian lawyer to step down as his firm’s man-
aging partner, when the frim was hardly more than ten
years old.
“His leadership manifested itself in giving people a
chance, an opportunity. Afterwards you could succeed or
fail, but at the onset you always knew that he would sup-
port you,” Alyoshin remembers and adds: “He was an inspi-
rational leader.”
A book that Kysil found inside his parent’s home attic
was a formative and inspiring find for the young, aspiring
scholar. It was a treatise on the philosophy of law, which
had no cover. Upon reading the book after his army service,
Kysil decided to study law at Kyiv University and devote his
life to what in its essence is the art of justice and good and
equitable deeds.
Friends of Kysil remember that the man was passion-
ate about many things other than the law. An avid reader,
outstanding storyteller and regular theatregoer, Kysil was
happy to work from his corner office on the intersection
of Volodymyrska and Khmelnytskoho streets in Kyiv. The
National Opera House and the Lesya Ukrayinka drama the-
atre were within his easy reach.
Collecting paintings was another passion. Both his office
and home were decorated with outstanding pictures by na-
tional masters. Usually, Kysil would buy a painting before
the market realized its full artistic value.
Today, the Ukrainian flag still hangs from the balcony of
Kysil’s office. The distinctive yellow and blue flapping in
the wind, just the way the professor would have seen it as
he was returning to the office from his lectures.
Two daughters survive Vasyl Kysil as family members.
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