To see the outlines of the future, they say, one should look back. At least - a decade. It was then, in early August of ninety-four, that Leonid Kuchma first visited Volyn in the rank of President of Ukraine. Many will recall his then promises of ardent love for Russia, which, it seems, the head of our state is now rushing to bring to life. And as for our region, it must be said that Leonid Danylovych turned out to be almost a clairvoyant regarding some problems. During the very first stop of the presidential motorcade after the meeting at the airfield, seeing people in uniform around the road behind almost every bush, he did not hide his surprise: "What is this, do only policemen live in Volyn?" Eight years will pass after this - and a policeman will run the executive power of the region. Perhaps he recalled the instructions of the former head of the Manevychi prison, which he expressed during a rally in the village of Yablunka: "And so - bolshoye spasibo to you. Davite, ponimayete, bezposhchadno." \nIn August of ninety-four, a meeting was held in the session hall of the Volyn Regional Council with the participation of the heads of ten regional councils. Before that, L. Kuchma promised the numerous crowd of picketers promised to the participants of the national liberation struggle "to help at the state level." The heads of the regional councils then addressed the President with a request to sign a decree on creating a strict vertical of power, and for themselves - the possibility of sitting in two chairs: in addition to leading the self-government bodies in the regions, also to head the administrations. And on the wave of confrontation between the President and the then Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz, these proposals, voiced by Anton Malynovsky and Mykola Horyn, the heads of the Zhytomyr and Lviv regional councils respectively, were not just relevant. So the newly elected head of state also said: "If the Verkhovna Rada continues to pass laws on terminating privatization, then not a single fool, even Russia, will come to us." And reflecting on external debts, he said that "Ukraine, by its indicators, should be declared bankrupt." \nThen in Volyn, after the drought, peat bogs were smoldering and shrubs and grasses were blazing. And in general in Ukraine, it seemed, a conflict between the head of the Verkhovna Rada and the head of state was about to flare up on such a boundary that it would be impossible to extinguish it. But, on the other hand, both were united by the desire to help Ukraine find itself in a single Eurasian space. Only toward the end of his presidency did Leonid Danylovych manage to fulfill this promise. However, at that time he was and was not President. After all, he was placed as head of state according to the results of the second round of voting in the early elections, and the Constitutional Court seemingly "did not notice" the first presidential term, allowing him to run again in 2004 (which L. Kuchma did not take advantage of). Then Borys Klimchuk, head of the Volyn Regional Council, said: "It is the President's first time in deep Polissia. But today our Volyn is a gateway to Europe." Now, however, these gates are already closed, the country, like the region, is outside a united Europe and, it seems, no longer has any chance of being there. \n