Watch the video stream of Kleptoscope 11 ]]>In 2014, Ukraine was in the depths of a health crisis, with infectious diseases and disastrous levels of cardiovascular conditions contributing to low life expectancy and general misery. Officials and their allies in the pharmaceutical industry were embezzling much of the state medical budget, leaving scant resources for doctors’ salaries, medicines or vital equipment.
What has followed has been one of the most successful hands-on anti-corruption interventions in history. Three international bodies took over procurement, and succeeded in cutting prices by 40 percent. Hosted as usual by investigative journalist Oliver Bullough, the first kleptoscope of 2019 looks at how this happened, what obstacles it faced, and whether it could be a blueprint for cleaning up corrupt administrations in other countries.
Speakers
Henry Marsh is a brain surgeon, and an award-winning author, whose 2014 memoir Do No Harm was a bestseller. His work in Ukraine was the subject of a BBC documentary The English Surgeon in 2007.
Tania Korotchenko is in charge of Crown Agents’ procurement work in Ukraine, and has worked with the health ministry to significantly reduce the prices it pays for key medications.
Fergus Drake is Chief Executive at Crown Agents, a not-for-profit international development company. He has over two decades of experience delivering humanitarian and development programmes around the world. Previously, Fergus was Executive Director of Global Programmes at Save the Children, has experience at HM Treasury in the UK and embedded in the Government of Rwanda with Tony Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative.
]]>In 2016 a sociological survey on the war revealed a number of problems: Ukrainian legislation didn’t allow women to be assigned to combat positions, so they were enlisted as cooks, seamstresses, cleaners, accountants etc. while taking part in military combat operations as snipers, grenade launcher operators, reconnaissance soldiers, artillerists etc. This was done on semi-legal grounds. Thus, the majority of women who were at Donbas war were not enlisted officially and subsequently had no access to social or military benefits, military awards, social status, or career opportunities in the Armed Forces. The contribution of women to the defence of the country was and still is invisible to society. A powerful advocacy campaign for gender equality in the Armed Forces of Ukraine was initiated and thus the film was born.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsGnbaLQ82Y&t=3s
Run Time: 1 hr 29 mins
Chair
Lucy Ash is an awarding-winning broadcast journalist with more than 20 years’ experience as a BBC correspondent, presenter and senior producer. Her most recent work includes Ukraine’s Frontline Bakery, a radio documentary and film about a new bakery in the town of Marinka, in Eastern Ukraine which is bringing some comfort and sustenance to local people amidst the trauma of war. (Radio 4 , World Service and BBC World TV) and The Red and the White, a three part radio series on the Allied Intervention in North Russia at the end of WW1 and a half hour film (BBC World Service and BBC Russian)
Speakers
Maria Berlinska (producer) is a founder of the Ukrainian Centre for Aerial Reconnaissance in Kyiv and has been volunteering for the Ukrainian Army since the start of the conflict (both by flying drones at the frontline and training others to operate drones in Kyiv). In addition, Maria set up an Institute for Gender Programmes and initiated a sociological study about women who serve in the ongoing war (you can find their report here: http://www.uwf.org.ua/
Olesya Khromeychuk teaches Modern European History at King’s College London and researches the participation and representation of women in military formations during the Second World War and in the ongoing conflict in the Donbas region of Ukraine. She is the author of ‘Undetermined’ Ukrainians. Post-War Narratives of the Waffen SS ‘Galicia’ Division (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2013)
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In the frontline town of Marinka, a new bakery has opened which brings some comfort and sustenance to war-weary locals. The film follows the people who run the bakery and the customers, as they struggle to gain a sense of normality among the rumble of war.
Chair
Roland Oliphant is a Senior Foreign correspondent to the Telegraph and until recently covered Russia and the former Soviet Union from the Moscow bureau. He has reported on the Ukrainian revolution and civil war from Kiev, Crimea, and Eastern Ukraine.
Speakers
Albina Kovalyova (producer / director) – is an independent documentary producer/director, with extensive experience of covering the Ukrainian conflict from both sides of the line for major global television channels including NBC, Channel 4, BBC World and Al Jazeera. Her other documentary work includes films about the Belarus Free Theatre, Nenets Reindeer herders in Russia’s Arctic region, and Ukraine’s Aids Epidemic for the BBC, and an independent documentary about the Dau film set in Kharkiv. She is fully bilingual in Russian and English and has dual nationality.
Lucy Ash (presenter)– is an awarding-winning broadcast journalist with more than 20 years’ experience as a BBC correspondent, presenter and senior producer. Her most recent work includes: Ukraine’s Frontline Bakery (Radio 4, World Service and BBC World TV) a radio documentary and film about a new bakery in the town of Marinka, Eastern Ukraine, which is bringing some comfort and sustenance to the local people amidst the trauma of war; The Red and the White (BBC World Service, BBC Russian) a three part radio series on the Allied Intervention in North Russia at the end of WWI;Russia’s Exit Dilemma (Radio 3, World Service) in which Ash meets emigres, exiles and staunch remainers in London and Berlin, Moscow and St Petersburg to weigh up the prospects for the young and ambitious in today’s Russia. Other works by Lucy Ash includes Putin’s Park, Rebooting Rural Russia and Extreme Selfies – Russian Style, amongst many others. Ash’s freelance work outside of the BBC, includes the Guardian, The Times, and The Daily Telegraph. A half hour film When the West Invaded Russia, by Lucy Ash is due to be broadcast in March 2018.
Dr Anna Matveeva is a visiting research fellow at Kings College London. She is a member of the Russia and Eurasia Security research group. Her work specialises in conflict studies and developmental aspects of international peace building. The geographical remit of her interests covers conflicts in the Ukraine, the North and South Caucasus, and in Central Asia. Most recently, she has published a book, Through Times of Trouble: Conflict in Southeastern Ukraine Explained from Within (Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Politics) based on first hand accounts of participants themselves.
]]>The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with the filmmaker and other local and international journalists about the situation for freelance journalists in Ukraine and the work of Frontline Freelance Register.
Although Ukraine’s media environment has improved since a change in government in 2014, there remains several remaining challenges including undue political interference with content as well as violence, harassment, and other abuse of journalists. Local freelance journalists working without the backing of a media outlet face increased risks especially when working in conflict areas.
]]>A new ICRC, report called ‘I Saw My City Die’ found that between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The majority of these deaths have taken place in cities: Mosul, Aleppo and Taiz. Join our panel to discuss the emerging trend of War in Cities, with comparative studies of different cities and nations, over recent years.
“Over the past three years, our research shows that wars in cities accounted for a shocking 70% of all civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria”, said the ICRC’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Robert Mardini. “This illustrates just how deadly these battles have become. This is all the more alarming as offensives get underway in cities like Raqqa in Syria, or intensify in Mosul, Iraq. A new scale of urban suffering is emerging, where no one and nothing is spared by the violence.”
The conflicts in these countries have resulted in internal displacement and migration levels unprecedented since WWII. More than 17 million Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis have fled their homes. And these battles risk becoming even more protracted if real political solutions are not found soon. Wars in cities are so devastating because of the way in which they are being fought. Armed parties are failing to distinguish between military objectives and civilian infrastructure – or worse, they are using or directly targeting them.
Chair
Nawal Al-Maghafi is an award-winning film journalist specialising on the Middle East. She has worked for BBC Newsnight, BBC World, Middle East Eye and Reuters amongst others. She has reported extensively from Yemen, focusing on the humanitarian situation and the West’s involvement in the conflict. Al-Maghafi was nominated for a Frontline Club Award 2017 for her film covering the human cost of the war in Yemen.
Speakers
Pawel Krzysiek has been working in communications in Syria for much of the war for the ICRC, much of his work has been to cross the frontline of war zones, into besieged towns. He is a primary contributor to this report covering the section on Syria.
Joshua Baker is a documentary filmmaker and a journalist and a contributor to the ICRC Report focusing on the section of ‘Mosul’. Baker was on the frontline with Iraqi special forces as they pushed into civilian neighbourhoods during the battle for Mosul. He witnessed first-hand how civilians were being caught up in the fighting, particularly when a suicide bomb detonated right in front of him. He began his career in print working for The Times as Foreign News Night Editor. More recently Baker completed Africa’s Billion Pound Migrant Trail with Benjamin Zand for BBC. Earlier this year he was an Investigative Producer on two films for BBC Panorama following the terror attacks in Manchester and London, where he secured access to a friend of the Manchester bomber. His film The Battle For Mosul (US title Battle for Iraq) for PBS Frontline and The Guardian was shortlisted for best TV Documentary category at the One World Media Awards and listed for a Grierson Award.
Roland Oliphant is a Senior Foreign correspondent to the Telegraph and until recently covered Russia and the former Soviet Union from the Moscow bureau. He has reported on the Ukrainian revolution and civil war from Kiev, Crimea, and Eastern Ukraine.
Iona Craig is an independent Irish-British journalist. Her work currently focuses on Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula. Iona lived in Sana’a from 2010 to 2015 as The Times (of London) Yemen correspondent. She continues to travel back and forth from the country to report on the conflict and deteriorating humanitarian crisis. In June 2014 she won the UK’s most prestigious investigative journalism award, The Martha Gellhorn Prize. Her reporting on an American drone strike that hit a wedding convoy in Yemen was awarded the Frontline Club print award for 2014.
Albina Kovalyova is Television correspondent and producer covering Russia, Ukraine, CIS for FSN and Channel 4 News. Kovalyova has just returned from East Ukraine after doing a report on the impact of fighting on civilian life in front line towns in the country.
Photo Credits: ICRC
]]>The first event will feature three groundbreaking stories focusing on the former Soviet Union, exploring how Russian kleptocrats have used the services of the British capital to retain and launder their money; how London’s property market has become a piggy bank for the world’s corrupt elite; and how ex-Soviet businessmen have covertly funded MPs and parliamentary groups, gaining preferential treatment as a result.
Speakers:
Roman Borisovich is a former banker and a political activist and campaigner against corruption. After appearing in the documentary From Russia With Cash he set up ClampK.org, and is the architect of the hugely successful Kleptocracy Tours.
Chido Dunn is a Senior Campaigner in Governments and Corruption at Global Witness. She works on their investigation into whether the UK is providing safe haven for corrupt individuals and their assets – with a primary focus on luxury property.
Oliver Bullough is an award-winning journalist and the author of two books about Russian history and politics, The Last Man in Russia and Let Our Fame be Great. He is also an expert guide for the Kleptocracy Tours initiative, which exposes money laundering via property in London.
]]>Ukrainian Sheriffs follows Viktor and Volodya, two men who have been appointed local sheriffs by the mayor in the isolated town of Stara Zburyevka, Ukraine. While dealing with petty crimes such as stolen ducks and drunken neighbours, the news about the war slowly creeps in on them through their televisions and pressure to join the army. Meanwhile, the tragicomic situations dealt with by the inexperienced ‘sheriffs’ have their roots in the prevalent unemployment, poverty and illiteracy in the region.
The filmmakers follow the adventures of Viktor and Volodya with a keen eye for the comical side of everyday situations. Driving in their yellow Lada flying its own little Ukrainian flag, they travel from incident to incident – calming an angry neighbour, investigating the discovery of a body, struggling to unfold a stroller and attempting to re-integrate the community’s freeloaders. The seasons pass until political developments reach the village by way of the TV screen, sowing separatist discord. Around the time of the celebrations for the country’s 70th Independence Day, the men of the village are drafted into the army.
Ukrainian Sheriffs offers a lighthearted yet telling look beyond the war and inside everyday life in small town Ukraine.
Ukrainian Sheriffs received the 2015 IDFA (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) Special Jury Award.
Directed by: Roman Bondarchuk
Country: Ukraine/Latvia/Germany
Year: 2015
Runtime: 85′
“A case study of how an idea written on paper sacks in the midst of the gulag archipelago could one day be pronounced as a national idea by the heirs of the NKVD.”
– Charles Clover, Black Wind, White Snow: The Rise of Russia’s New Nationalism
Charles Clover, the Financial Times’ former Moscow bureau chief, began the debate at the Frontline Club on Thursday 28 April by defining the idea of Eurasianism as, “essentially an artificial nationalism created in the 1920s by Russian exiles to rationalise and justify, in theoretical terms, an empire where Russia forms the core of a unique non-western civilisation.”
It was not until the collapse of the Soviet Union that these ideas were re-discovered and re-appropriated by “regime dead-enders who wanted to see a continuation of the soviet empire but on other terms,” through a different idea that would justify it.
Driven by the rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin and propagated by the media, “this is not an ethnic nationalism,” said Clover, but rather a “civilisational nationalism” with Russia at its centre.
While not a new idea, Eurasianism as part of official discourse only appeared very recently, said writer and broadcaster Mary Dejevsky.
Eurasianism was an attempt to bring some sort of concord between the pro-western and Slavophil strands of thinking that had dominated Russian society since the turn of the 20th century, “at a time when Russia was looking for an identity for itself… especially in terms seeking a definition of nationhood,” said Dejevsky.
“The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 left Russia with a huge identity crisis that took a long time to enter official consciousness, but that has really started to crystallise in the last two or three years.”
Rodric Braithwaite, British ambassador to Russia from 1988 to 1992, said that Eurasianism is merely the “current phase of something that has gone on a very long time in Russian history.
“With a humiliating collapse, questions of identity – who we are, what we are – become vital and people produce fake answers which can then be exploited by politicians.”
Russian history, said Braithwaite, is a succession of humiliations and “the Slavophil-Eurasian idea is partly a compensatory device for the various disasters that have happened” – and a way of rationalising that with the idea of Russia as a great nation.
Clover said he would group this philosophy of Eurasianism with Russia’s changing relationship to the West as part of a multi-national nationalism designed to accomplish certain strategic objectives.
BOOK LAUNCH: @charles_clover 'Black Wind, White Snow', 27 April @YaleBooks https://t.co/kmdYY1B8GO pic.twitter.com/dJ4KSWF1iX
— Pushkin House (@Pushkin_House) April 17, 2016
At the same time confronted by a more nationalistic opposition during Putin’s third term, the Kremlin decided to equate this sense of national humiliation with the idea of a foreign conspiracy and promote a Eurasianism that “would ensure the integrity of a multi-national state and possibly expand it” said Clover.
Gabriel Gatehouse, chair of the debate and BBC Newsnight foreign correspondent, asked the panel to comment on the observation that a lot of the current official Russian discourse seems to be aimed at trying to return to a bi-polar world, reminiscent of Cold War divides.
For Dejevsky, many Russians are not looking to resurrect the old Cold War order, “but rather a multi-polar world where a smaller Russia co-exists but has an equal voice with other powers in the world.”
“There is a resort to Eurasianism, whether organised or simply as a concept, when Russia feels that is has been cold shouldered, especially by Europe, and is looking to a certain identity which has some justification, some basis, in a Russia that belongs to both Europe and Asia,” she said.
In this context, said Clover, the question of whether Putin himself believes in the idea of Eurasianism is almost irrelevant.
“We assume that Putin is a pragmatist at heart and only really cares about power. That has always and will always be true, but the context of his pragmatism has changed utterly over ten years.”
In the past, pragmatism was paying lip-service to nationalism, said Clover, but now national interests are denominated in completely different ways in terms of territory, making it pragmatic for Putin to seize Crimea and put troops into eastern Ukraine.
“The entire context of being Putin has changed. The playing field in Russia is now a totally nationalist one. So as a skilful, powerful politician, the way he plays politics has changed and as a pragmatist he must now be a nationalist.”
]]>Oleg’s Choice gives a unique and personal perspective to the conflict in the Ukraine. Since the summer of 2014, thousands of young Russians poured into the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Driven by propaganda on Russian television, they believed they were fulfilling their patriotic duty.
Amongst the first wave of volunteers was Oleg and Max. Oleg was appointed battalion commander, while Max became a soldier. But their illusions were shattered on the night of June 3rd 2015, when a battle went horribly wrong. Oleg ended up leading many of his men to their death.
While Oleg and Max continue to fight, they discuss their motivations and share their own perspective on the conflict. Oleg’s Choice serves as a uniquely personal testimony of one side of the war rarely seen in the western media.
Directed by: Elena Volochine and James Keogh
Produced by: Little Big Story Films
Runtime: 74′
Year: 2016
UPDATE: Unfortunately, on account of legal challenges directed at the Frontline Club, this event will no longer include a screening of Bloody Money as originally advertised. The event will still be going ahead minus the screening – and promises to be a fascinating discussion on the wider issue of corruption in Ukraine, featured three key experts in this field.
This decision has been taken on receipt of a legal challenge waged by Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP on behalf of former Ukrainian Minister of Ecology Mykola Zlochevskyi, who features prominently in the film. As a small charitable organisation we do not have the resources to enter into a legal battle of this sort.
Please contact the office at events@www.beta.frontlineclub.com if you require further information.
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with presenter and journalist Oliver Bullough; executive director of Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Centre, Daria Kaleniuk; and Shauna Leven, Global Witness’ Campaigns Director on corruption.
In 2014, Western countries made Ukrainians a promise. They pledged to find the money stolen by Ukraine’s deposed president, as well as by his friends and relatives, and to return it. Ukraine was in desperate need of funds, as it sought to repel a Russian invasion, to maintain basic services, to pay its foreign debt, and to end – once and for all – its crippling epidemic of corruption. Two years on, it’s time to ask how that is going.
Bloody Money tells two stories. One is of a Ukrainian oligarch’s bank account – and the $23 million it contained. In unprecedented detail, it reveals where the money came from, how it was laundered, and what happened when a British judge ruled on its provenance. The other story is that of a Ukrainian mother, and her battle to find medicines for her haemophiliac daughter, in a country where healthcare is just one more opportunity for corrupt officials to make money.
Bloody Money reveals how kleptocrats use shell companies to obscure the origins of their stolen money, and how Western enablers – lawyers, accountants, and more – assist them in doing so. It also shows how Ukrainian officials continue to run corrupt schemes, despite 2014’s revolution, and how that is sabotaging the country’s reform efforts.
Directed by award-winning director Havana Marking and presented by award-winning investigative reporter Oliver Bullough, Bloody Money is produced in collaboration with Sundance and Vice News, as part of the prize awarded to Global Witness when it won the 2014 TED Prize.
Director: Havana Marking
Producer: Oliver Bullough
Presenter: Oliver Bullough
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 38′
Roast Beef Productions