"How about we trick them with a convict?" Vladimir Vyatrovich on the "hotel of a thousand stars," a different Yushchenko, and the Orange Revolution.

About Yushchenko

Greatness is seen from a distance. It pained me deeply that a person who genuinely did so much to draw the attention of Ukrainians to the importance of national identity, history, and language was so disregarded. He was viewed as some sort of freak, a person occupied with trivial matters. It was said that while important issues needed addressing, he was busy with his pots and bees.

This was a subject of mockery — Ukrainian culture, national identity, "Oh look at this weirdo, thinks it's normal to take pictures in some straw hat and show off another embroidered shirt he found," "He could be collecting Mercedes, but instead he's running after embroidered shirts, ha ha." In the early 2000s, this became a laughing stock in political circles and among journalists.

This caricatured image, which was certainly shaped by Russian propaganda, has now crumbled, partly because there are fewer avenues for that propaganda to influence Ukraine. It seems we are gradually coming to understand the significance of his role in shaping modern Ukraine.

Now that we recognize how important these embroidered shirts, pots, and so on are — that they form the basis of our deep culture, and signify how different we are from Russians — we are finally beginning to appreciate who Viktor Yushchenko is and was. I believe he is now acquiring a somewhat more revered status as one of the founding fathers of the nation.

This does not mean he should be idealized or that his mistakes should be overlooked. Naturally, like any politician, he made some right decisions and some wrong ones. But now, in wartime, we comprehend how much he contributed then, which laid the foundation for what has become a pillar for us as we resist this genocidal war of Russia.

About the forebodings before the Orange Revolution

There were forebodings that the government led by Leonid Kuchma was not going to concede. There was speculation that Kuchma might run for a third term, or that there would be changes to the Constitution, or he might appoint a successor. It was thought that the candidate from Kuchma might be the politician and businessman Tigipko. He was relatively reasonable, pro-Russian, yet still likable to many.

The government opted for the second scenario but used its most brutal version. I believe there was also a Russian script involved — let’s humor them by putting a convict as president, that would be amusing. And when the government, I think with the Kremlin's involvement, chose Viktor Yanukovych as their candidate, it became clear they were not going to back down.

About preparing for protests

I was 27, already a candidate of historical sciences and one of the older members in our circle. At that time, I was a sufficiently mature public activist with experience in protest activities, such as “Ukraine Without Kuchma” in 2000 and “For the Truth” from 2000 to 2001.

Back then, I traveled from Lviv to Kyiv for these protests. We demanded the government tell the truth about the murder of journalist Gongadze. Tapes had been released indicating that President Kuchma had essentially ordered the journalist's assassination. He was later found decapitated, which undoubtedly shocked a significant part of society. We rose up in protest, but it ended in failure.

The protesters' attempt to storm the Presidential Administration on March 9, 2001, ended with a violent dispersal, followed by the detention of many people. We managed to pull some people out, but essentially, the wave of protests died down. It was then that we realized we needed to prepare much more thoroughly for future protests.

In 2004, presidential elections were scheduled, and in 2003, we decided that the circles that had some connections since 2001 — Kyiv, Lviv, and other regions — should strengthen contacts with others to create an organizational structure. Thus, in late 2003, the “Pora!” civic campaign was born, initially preparing to organize protest actions. Because, of course, the government would not concede, there would be falsifications, and we needed to be ready to take people to the streets.

We effectively had a year of preparation, which involved traveling across the country and meeting different people. Young people, mostly students (this was the core of our organization), gathered and discussed what had gone wrong and what we should do next.

“Our revolution will be fun and bold”

By spring 2004, we had cells and links practically in all regions of Ukraine, including Donbas and Crimea. We decided it was time to start.

We had a slogan that our revolution would be fun and bold. And we indeed organized amusing and satirical actions. One of the most successful was called “Striped Voyage”. The essence was that we wore striped convict hats that we made from ordinary sheets and handed out flyers supposedly supporting Yanukovych: “Everyone for the convict!”, “We will live like in the zone!”, and so on.

This shocked people. The police, when they realized what was happening, understood it was something against the presidential candidate, then Prime Minister, and began to press us. But this only added to our drive, significance, and resonance.

We had a well-developed system, let's say, of alerts. So when someone was detained. Back then, mobile phones were still rare, and we took advantage of an offer from mobile operators where the first 5 seconds of a call were free. We had just enough time to say: “Cops have taken someone at such-and-such precinct, everyone gather!” And everyone gathered.

We had good contacts with deputies. At that time, deputies were untouchable, so the police were a bit afraid of them. Deputies would burst into precincts, pull us out by the scruff, and free us. And this all gained momentum. Initially, it was very fun and bold. But by the fall of 2004, the fun diminished because around September we learned that the civic campaign “Pora!” had been declared a terrorist organization.

We were already considered terrorists. Serious repressions began, and it even escalated to the point where our activists were arrested. One of them, Sasha Lomaка (currently acting mayor of Chernihiv), was arrested on the pretext that they supposedly found TNT in his oven, which he was preparing for some terrorist act. He faced 10 years in prison. If the Orange Revolution had not occurred, he would probably have only been released in 2014.

About the “hotel of a thousand stars”

The Orange Revolution lasted about 35-40 days. It sounds funny now, but at that time it felt long. In fact, we did not anticipate it would last that long. We thought that after the first week of protests, which were consistently growing, the government would crumble and be frightened. Therefore, we were very outraged, surprised, and disappointed when Yushchenko's headquarters began negotiations with the authorities.

We were young and uncompromising. We believed that “be realists, demand the impossible, no negotiations.” That we should immediately declare Viktor Andreevich the President of Ukraine, and let whatever happens, happen.

I now understand that the processes that were occurring, particularly the negotiations with Kuchma, who, thank God, got scared and decided not to listen to Yanukovych and not to use force, were all necessary. But on the other hand, our desperate radicalism was needed. Politicians could refer to us: “We are making such serious demands in these negotiations because you see, those radicals may do who knows what, we have no influence over them.” That was the driving force behind the process.

We called the tents in Maidan the “hotel of a thousand stars.” It was indeed great, but there was snow, winter, illnesses, and flu. Vaccines were brought to us, and we were getting vaccinations there. By the way, when we realized this was going to last, we began asking Kyiv residents to take someone to their apartments. We witnessed an unprecedented generosity and openness, as people would just come and hand over keys. They said the address was on a tag, on a keychain, and when you move out, just leave the keys under the mat.

About the methods of struggle

I remember when the revolution actually began, I participated in meetings of Viktor Yushchenko's headquarters, and later in the evening we would gather with activists from the “Pora!” civic campaign and plan what to do the next day.

What did we do? Initially, we disrupted the educational process. It was a pleasant procedure when we would burst into classrooms shouting “Revolution, everyone to strike, to Maidan!”. Then funny things happened, like when students would be locked in, and they would call us in the evening: “Good day, from such-and-such university, please come so we can be released to Maidan