The Ukrainian Weekly 2011-20

8/6/2019 The Ukrainian Weekly 2011-20

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Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association

$1/$2 in UkraineVol. LXXIX No. 20 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2011TheUkrainianWeekly

InsIde:

UCCA and UNIS organize Ukrainian Days in D.C. page 4. Poltavas Catholics face hurdles in building a church page 5. The art of gerdany on display in Philadelphia page 9

Regions deputies in D.C. to promote their agendaby Yaro Bihun

Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

WASHINGTON A delegation offive Party of Regions members of theUkrainian Parliament visited the U.S.capital on May 3-6 trying to convinceofficial and unofficial Washington ofthe righteousness of the policies pur-sued by President Viktor Yanukovychand their party.

The extent of the national deputiessuccess, if any, in their meetings with afew members of Congress and theirstaff, among them Rep. Marcy Kaptur,who co-chairs the CongressionalUkrainian Caucus, and think-tanks like the National Democratic Institute

could not be ascertained. They wereclosed and/or off the record.

The May 4 meeting with UkrainianAmericans at St. Andrew UkrainianOrthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring,Md., on the other hand, was open, andfrom the outset it was clear that there isa great divide between their partyspolitical and national goals and what

the majority of Ukrainian Americanswould like to see develop in their nativeland.

Vstyd i hanba (shame and dis-grace) was how the first discussantconcluded her remarks after the delega-tions initial presentation. She criticizedthe majority party for downgrading therole of the Ukrainian language, closing

Ukrainian schools, selling off its heri-tage and denigrating its historic patriot-ic organizations like the UkrainianInsurgent Army (UPA), the GaliciaDivision, Sichovi Striltsi and theiractivist members, which, she said,included her father and other relatives.

Leonid Kozhara, deputy chairman ofthe International Relations Committee,

who headed the delegation, explainedthat some of those stressful issues resultfrom Ukraines civil wars, and pointedout that Ukraine is a country of manynationalities and languages.

Olena Bondarenko, who serves onthe Freedom of Speech and Information

(Continued on page 5)

by Volodymyr Musyak


KYIV Clashes erupted in pockets ofLviv on May 9 when a few hundred pro-Russian provocateurs traveled fromOdesa and Crimea for the Victory Dayholiday to raise Soviet-era flags and holdmeetings to honor Red Army veterans.

More than 2,000 demonstrators, manyof them members of nationalist groups,fought furiously to prevent red flags from

being hoisted throughout the city.Authorities said they are prosecuting fiverioters out of about a dozen arrested, butwill consider more upon review. A provo-

PARSIPPANY, N.J. John Demjanjukwas found guilty on Thursday, May 12,of being an accessory to murder at theNazi death camp in Sobibor, Poland, afteran 18-month trial in Munich, Germany.

The Associated Press reported that hewas convicted on 28,060 counts of acces-sory to murder, one for each person whodied during the time he was ruled to havebeen a guard at the Sobibor camp inNazi-occupied Poland, and quoted thepresiding judge, Ralph Alt as saying thedefendant was part of the Nazis machin-ery of destruction.

In closing the trial, Judge Alt also said,The court is convinced that the defen-dant served as a guard at Sobibor from27 March 1943 to mid-September 1943.

The APs news story about the verdictpointed out: There was no evidence thatDemjanjuk committed a specific crime.

The prosecution was based on the theorythat if Demjanjuk was at the camp, hewas a participant in the killing the firsttime such a legal argument has beenmade in German courts.

Furthermore, as noted by TheGuardian (United Kingdom), no livingwitness could testify to having seenDemjanjuk at the concentration camp.

The court sentenced the former U.S.citizen to five years in prison, but orderedhim released pending an appeal, notingthat he did not pose a flight risk. It is notclear, however, where Mr. Demjanjuk, 91and in ill health, will go when he is freed.Nor is it clear whether he will be creditedfor time already served in prison.

Mr. Demjanjuks son, John Jr., told the

AP news service that his father wouldappeal. The Germans have built a houseof cards and it will not stand for long, hestated.

Clashes break out in Lviv

during Victory Day events

German court convicts Demjanjuk,sentences him to five years in prison


Soldiers in uniforms of the Great Patriotic War (as World War II was known inthe Soviet Union) near a Victory Day billboard featuring greetings fromPresident Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine. The soldiers were participating in aparade down the Khreschatyk, Kyivs main boulevard, on May 9. Celebrations of

Victory Day were held throughout Ukraine.

UNIAN/Oleg Petrasyuk

John Demjanjuk is just a scapegoat forthe Germans. He has to pay for all the mis-takes they made in the past, and thats not

justice, defense attorney Ulrich Buschsaid in a news video released by the AP.

The Telegraph (United Kingdom)reported:

The high-profile trial, seen as one ofthe last to involve an alleged Nazi warcriminal, has led to much soul-searchingon the subject of delayed justice.

And the fact that the accused was aUkrainian-born prisoner of war who nowfaces justice at the hands of the nationbehind the Holocaust has also raisedquestions.

He is in fact the first foreigner to bejudged in Germany for Nazi war crimes.

The Guardian quoted a Dutch Naziwar crimes expert, Prof. Christiaan Rter,as saying of Mr. Demjanjuk that he was

the littlest of the little fishes The news-paper added that he is the lowest rankingperson ever to be put on trial for warcrimes in Germany.

On May 9, as the trial was coming to anend, Agence France-Presse had reported:

Serge Klarsfeld, the French lawyerand Nazi hunter, expressed frustrationwith the trial, saying it failed to providenew details about the case and could notprove Demjanjuks direct participation inthe killings.

The witnesses are all dead and thereare no documents because he was only asmall fish, Klarsfeld told AFP. A guiltyverdict would open the door to accusa-tions of unfair justice, he added.

Bloomberg News interviewed Frank

Saliger, a professor of criminal law andphilosophy of law at Hamburgs Bucerius


cateur who fired a rubber bullet at anattacker was also arrested.

Opposition leaders accused the adminis-tration of President Viktor Yanukovych ofenabling radicals to provoke the residents ofLviv, who were terrorized by theCommunists for half a century. Politicalobservers concluded it was a provocationapproved by the Ukrainian governmentwith the Kremlins involvement.

This was part of a large script of man-aged chaos in Ukraine which has been

implemented for a long time, IhorMarkov, chair of the ethno-socialresearch department at the NationalAcademy of Sciences of Ukraine in Lviv,told the ZIK news service.

Evidence of cooperation between Kyivofficials and Moscow agents was ample.Among the organizations involved in themelee was the violent Rodina (Homeland)organization of Odesa, whose ties to Russiansecret services was confirmed by theUkrainian government several years back.

Instead of arresting them, local policeoffered protection to the provocateurs,who defied a decision by Lviv Oblastauthorities to celebrate Victory Day underthe Ukrainian state flag only, and a Lvivcourt ruling that banned any events and

activities on May 9 other than thoseapproved by the Lviv Oblast StateAdministration and Lviv City Council.

The arrival in Lviv of the radical orga-niza t ions Rodina and RusskoyeYedinstvo (Russian Unity) for a massmeeting with their red banners appearedto violate those decisions.


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No. 20THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 15, 20112

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Yanukovych on Victory Day

KYIV President Viktor Yanukovychemphasized, in his speech during celebra-tions dedicated to the 66th anniversary ofthe Soviet victory over Nazi Germany,that Victory Day is the most importantlandmark on the road to creating a newhumane peace, since just 66 years ago theconstruction of single democratic Europestarted, which Ukraine strives to jointoday. Speaking on Independence Squarein Kyiv on May 9, he said, Today, wecelebrate an outstanding event of our his-tory 66 years ago, the Ukrainian people,shoulder to shoulder with other peoplesof Europe and the world, defeated themost dangerous enemy of humanityNazism. He said that this victory is ourcommon holiday, uniting the people ofUkraine and all the peoples of the world.The ghost of death and slavery was con-traposed by the heroism and self-sacrificeof millions of people, their strivingtoward freedom, peace and happiness.

Thanks to the feat of our parents andgrandparents, the forces that were tryingto enslave and to annihilate entire peopleswere overcome, the president said.May 9 is a sacred date for all of us. It iswashed with the blood of heroes, martyrsand the righteous, the memory aboutthem will never be erased, he said. Mr.Yanukovych also stated that he would notallow speculation on the theme of trage-dies of the 20th century, in particular, thetheme of the Great Patriotic War. I amdeeply indignant at attempts of politicalspeculation on the tragedies of the 20thcentury. For the sake of cheap popularity,some public figures are trying to splitUkrainians again, he said. (Ukrinform)

Tymoshenko on red flags of May 9

KYIV The leader of the oppositionparty Batkivschyna, Yulia Tymoshenko,has said that the red flags to be posted onMay 9 to mark the Victory Day willimpose on citizens the feeling that thecontributions of Ukrainians to the out-come of World War II was minor.Speaking in Sumy on May 6, Ms.Tymoshenko said the adoption of the lawon displaying the victory flag on May 9 is

a continuation of the rhetoric that the warwas won by another country and that thiscould have been done without theUkrainians, as Russian Prime MinisterVl a d i m i r Pu t i n h a s s a i d . M s .Tymoshenko said that the red banner dur-

ing the war of 1941-1945 was really asymbol of unification of the whole coun-try in fighting the enemy. However,today it is a technology of separation, atechnology of supervision that seeks todivert attention from real social prob-lems: jobs, doing business, education andmedical care. (Ukrinform)

Huge victory banner in Mykolaiv

KYIV A huge red Soviet victorybanner more than 160 square meters insize was hoisted near the OlshanskyHeroes Memorial in Mykolaiv, it wasreported on May 6. It was delivered to thecity as part of the all-Ukrainian motorrally from Odesa to Kyiv, via Mykolaiv,Kherson, Sevastopol, Symferopol,

Zaporizhia and Dnipropetrovsk, whichwas conducted on May 5-9 under the aus-pices of the Coordinating Council ofYouth Organizat ions of Ukraine.Participating in the motor rally werevehicles of the Great Patriotic War.(Ukrinform)

Lviv to celebrate under state flag

LVIV The Lviv region will markVictory Day under the state flag ofUkraine, said Mykhailo Tsymbaliuk,chairman (governor) of the Lviv OblastState Administration. We will markVictory Day in the Lviv region undernational flags. We will not allow anymarches and provocations aimed atundermining stability or causing distur-

bance in Lviv and the region, Mr.Tsymbaliuk said. The committee incharge of organizing the 66th VictoryDay anniversary festivities held a meet-ing on May 4, the administration leadersaid. The meeting was attended by vet-erans of both the Soviet army and theUkrainian Insurgent Army, and weagreed to hold May 9 under Ukrainesnational flag, Mr. Tsymbaliuk reported.

NEWS ANALYSIS


by Alexa Chopivsky

RFE/RL

On April 20 the Kyiv Post reinstatedBrian Bonner. That was one small victoryfor freedom of the press in Ukraine. Manyother reporters in the country are still wait-ing for a break.

Five days earlier Mr. Bonner was firedfrom his job as the newspapers chief edi-tor after refusing to obey an order by itsowner to kill an interview with the ministerof agriculture.

Our reporters had not even returned tothe office after the interview before I start-ed getting calls from [management] sayingthe agriculture minister had complainedabout the aggressive style of the interview,the questions, raising big concerns aboutwhat kind of story is going to come out ofthis, said Mr. Bonner, who added that it

was the first time that owner MohammadZahoor had interfered in the papers edito-rial work since buying it two years ago.

When Mr. Bonner insisted on publish-ing the story, Mr. Zahoor, a British citizenand steel tycoon who made his fortune inUkraine, fired him. Mr. Zahoor said thatthe article didnt meet proper journalisticstandards, telling the Russian newspaperKommersant in an interview that the piecewas unprepared and flabby. Then the30-strong staff at the Kyiv Post walked offthe job.

The case triggered a storm of interna-tional attention, including articles in theFinancial Times and The Wall StreetJournal, as well as a U.S. Embassy state-ment. Visiting U.S. senators expressed

serious concern that Mr. Bonners firinghad undermined freedom of the press inUkraine. Press-freedom watchdogReporters Without Borders also issued astrongly worded note of concern.

The backlash bore fruit. Five days laterMr. Bonner went back to work, now as partof a four-member editorial board, and thePosts reporters went back on the job.

A trying environment

Alls well that ends well? Not quite. Mr.Bonner is the first to acknowledge that hisstory stands out in a country where mostreporters cant count on comparable atten-tion from the international press.

Over the past year, Ukraines ranking inseveral internationally recognized surveys

of measures of freedom has dropped mark-edly. In its 2011 report Freedom Housedowngraded Ukraine from free to partlyfree, citing a deterioration in press free-dom. Reporters Without Borders pointedto the slow and steady deterioration inpress freedom since Viktor Yanukovychselection as president in February.

The U.S. State Departments 2010Human Rights Report for Ukraine notedthat, while the countrys Constitution pro-claims freedom of the press, in practicegovernment pressure on the media intimi-dated journalists and media owners insome cases into practicing self-censor-ship.

Government officials say its all bunk.Presidential adviser Hanna Herman dis-missed the Freedom House ranking asbiased. Ruling Party of Regions lawmak-

One newspaper triumphs.Now what about the rest?


The USCAK calendar (May 8) had thewrong extension (.com) for the websiteof the Ukrainian Sports Federation of theUS.A. and Canada. The web addressshould read www.uscak.org.

Correction

er Vadim Kolesnichenko called the StateDepartments report absolutely false.

Mr. Bonner disagrees. For mostUkrainian journalists, he says, editorialinterference is a fact of life. In his casepowerful supporters enabled him to fightback. I hope other Ukrainian journaliststake heart, Mr. Bonner said. Yet he con-cedes that most Ukrainian reporters face anuphill battle. Im an American. I have acontract. I put in legal protections. MostUkrainian journalists dont have this.

Most of the media in Ukraine is domi-nated by oligarchs that are close to theadministration, said Roman Olearchyk, aKyiv Post editorial board member andFinancial Times stringer. Some are not,but journalists often are far too beholden tothe interests of their oligarch owners.

Political pressure

The Kyiv Post interview with AgricultureMinister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk allegedlytriggered controversy because of questionsput to Mr. Prysyazhnyuk about hisrumored ties to a powerful businessman,Yuriy Ivaniushchenko.

Critics allege that Mr. Ivaniushchenkocontrols a grain-trading company that issaid to have locked up the lions share ofgrain-export quotas established by the gov-ernment in the wake of a bad harvest lastyear. Mr. Ivaniushchenko, who hails fromthe hometown of President Yanukovychand claims to know him well, also happensto hold a seat in Parliament for the rulingParty of Regions.

In an interview, Mr. Ivaniushchenkodenied having interests in the company.

Minister Prysyazhnyuk has admitted toknowing the identity of the companysowner and promised to provide registrationdocuments disclosing the information. Hehas yet to deliver them, despite repeatedrequests by the Kyiv Post.

James Marson, a member of the KyivPost editorial board, says that while Mr.Bonners return to the paper is a victory forindependent journalism in Ukraine, theincident has served as a sobering reminderof the realities for Ukrainian journalists. IfMr. Zahoor did get the phone calls that heallegedly got [from the AgricultureMinistry], then it shows what a tough envi-ronment there currently is for media own-ers and journalists.

Ukraines window to the West

Mr. Marson adds that the Kyiv Postplays a unique role in the Ukrainian mediamarket because it is widely read by mem-bers of the expatriate community insideUkraine and many others internationallywho use it to follow affairs in the country.The Ukrainian leadership seems to carewhat the rest of the world thinks [aboutUkraine]. They know that if Ukraine startsto backslide on democracy, the West willgive it a harder time.

Yuriy Lukanov, chairman of the KyivIndependent Media Trade Union, agreesthat Western publications carry more influ-ence with government officials. When itcomes to the Western press, [the people inpower] are like attentive boys. They react

because they care about their reputation inthe West. Theyre not as interested in theirdomestic reputation.

According to Natalia Lygachova,director of the media-monitoring compa-ny Telekritika, The two main censorshipproblems in Ukraine today are [so-called] telephone censorship [or warningphone calls from high-placed officials]


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3THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 15, 2011No.20

and self-censorship. Managers and ownersknow there are certain themes the people inpower dont want to see covered.

The Kyiv Post was able to compromisebecause it plays a big role with the Westand because it separates the two functionsof the editorial side and the commercialside. That, she notes, is not a commonarrangement in Ukraine.

Standards kept, for now

Readers will now be waiting to see ifthe Kyiv Post is allowed to live up to its

high standards. On April 27, the papersjournalists and Mr. Zahoor announced thatthey had found a way to patch things up. A

joint statement described Mr. Zahoor as aconsistent supporter of editorial indepen-dence since he acquired the Kyiv Post twoyears ago in what is a very testing environ-ment for a media owner.

Mr. Zahoor also offered to sell the KyivPost to editorial staff for $1 if they canarrange financing by September 1 to coverthe newspapers $2.4 million in costs anddebts.

Mr. Olearchyk of the editorial board

(Continued from page 2)

One newspaper...

Helsinki Commission calls attentionto disturbing trends in media freedom

WASHINGTON In conjunctionwith World Press Freedom Day,marked annually on May 3, the leadersof the bicameral, bipartisan U.S.Commiss ion on Secur i ty andCooperation in Europe (U.S. HelsinkiCommission) called attention to dis-turbing trends affecting media freedomin count r i es be longing to the

Organizat ion for Securi ty andCooperation in Europe (OSCE).

As a case in point, Rep. ChristopherH. Smith cited repeated police raidstargeting Belarus beleaguered inde-pendent media and arrests of journal-ists.

I am deeply concerned by the pre-cipitous decline in press freedom in anumber of OSCE countries over thepast year, said Rep. Smith (R-N.J.),chairman of the Commission and aleading human rights lawmaker in theU.S. Congress. Independent mediacommitted to honest reporting areessential to any genuinely democraticsociety, he added.

We have always known that egre-

gious violations of freedom of thepress are commonplace in countrieswhere democracy is held in outrightcontempt. Yet over the past year wehave seen stepped-up attempts to muz-zle independent media and journalists,Rep. Smith noted.

I call upon the regime in Belarus toend its unrelenting campaign againstindependent media and individual jour-nalists, as well as to bring its policies,including those restricting access to theInternet, into line with its OSCE com-mitments, urged Rep. Smith, sponsorof the Belarus Democracy Act andrelated measures, including the BelarusDemocracy and Human Rights Act of2011, which seeks to support demo-cratic activists and break the informa-

tion blockade erected by the regime.The Helsinki Commissions co-

chairman, Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin(D-Md.) observed: Instead of promot-ing the freer and wider disseminationof information, numerous OSCE coun-tries are imposing myriad restrictionson independent media outlets, fre-quently targeting journalists responsi-

ble for exposing human rights abusesand corruption. I again urge participat-ing states to repeal criminal defamationstatutes, one device often used in anattempt to muzzle independent media.

Sen. Cardin decried the fact thatseemingly on a daily basis we receivereports documenting harassment ofindependent media and journalists by

the authorities in some participatingstates. From burdensome registrationrequirements or visits by the taxpolice, to the confiscation of entireprint runs or imposition of cripplingfines from criminal charges for defa-mation of individuals, institutions orthe state, free media face a multitudeof threats and challenges today.

In addition to pointing to Belarus,Rep. Smith also condemned thedeplorable situation in Turkmenistanand Uzbekistan, expressed concern atthe heightened repression of indepen-dent media in Azerbaijan and Turkey,as well as ongoing reprisals against

journalists in Russia and Kazakhstan.Additionally, Rep. Smith noted with

concern the backsliding on media free-doms in Ukraine.Chairman Smith and Co-Chairman

Cardin welcomed the important workof OSCE Representative on Freedomof the Media Dunja Mijatovic, whotestified at a Helsinki Commissionhearing, Threats to Free Media in theOSCE Region.

Both Rep. Smith and Sen. Cardinwelcomed the ini t iat ive of theLithuanian OSCE Chairmanship toconvene a conference, early nextmonth in Vilnius, on safety of journal-ists in the OSCE region. Dozens ofinvestigative journalists, includingAmerican Paul Klebnikov, have beenmurdered over the past decade in ahandful of OSCE countries, with few

of the perpetrators brought to justice.I commend Lithuanian Foreign

Minister Aubalis for taking the initia-tive to convene a conference on safetyof journalists, said Rep. Smith,because in several OSCE countries acareer in journalism is a high-risk pro-fession with some paying the ultimateprice for pursuit of the truth.

NEWS ANALYSIS: Kyiv insists on revision of gas contract with Russiaby Pavel Korduban

Eurasia Daily Monitor

Ukraine has launched talks to revise theJanuary 2009 gas contract with Russiaaccording to which the base price washiked from $179 to $450 per 1,000 cubicmeters of gas. Kyiv hopes the contract will

be revised by the end of the summer.Ukraines ruling Party of Regions cannotafford high domestic gas prices ahead ofthe October 2012 parliamentary electionsas its popularity is crumbling, hence therapid revision of the contract.

President Viktor Mr. Yanukovych isready to pay for Russian gas in rubles buthe is not willing to secure cheaper gas by

joining the Moscow-dominated CustomsUnion. Kyiv is also apparently trying toplay on differences between RussianPresident Dmitry Medvedev and PrimeMinister Vladimir Putin ahead of nextyears Russian presidential elections.

Ukrainian leaders told Mr. Putin on hisrecent visit to Kyiv that the gas contracthad to be revised. At the same time, Mr.

Putins invitation for Ukraine to join theCustoms Union of Russia, Belarus andKazakhstan was ignored (Eurasia DailyMonitor, April 22). Mr. Yanukovych con-firmed in an interview with The WallStreet Journal on April 26, that he pre-ferred a free trade deal, which Ukraine isnegotiating with the European Union, tothe Customs Union. Moreover, he dis-missed Mr. Putins comments that Ukrainewould earn an additional $6.5 billion to $9billion per annum if it joined the CustomsUnion as empty talk.

At the same time, Mr. Yanukovych saidit should be possible to pay for Russiangas in rubles if Russia applied a lowering

coefficient to the price of gas. He made itclear this was a concession offered toRussia (Interfax-Ukraine, April 21). Mr.Yanukovych spoke one day after Mr.Putins announcement to the RussianDuma that Ukraine wanted to pay for gasin rubles, rather than U.S. dollars as hasbeen the case thus far.

Ukrainian Prime Minister MykolaAzarov persuaded Mr. Putin to send hisdeputy Igor Sechin to Kyiv in order tocheck why the contracts did not suitUkraine, as Mr. Putin put it. Mr. Sechinarrived in Kyiv on April 19, but nothinghas been reported about the results of hismeeting with Ukrainian officials.Apparently there was no tangible result, asthe Russian prime minister had rejectedany revision of the contract ahead of Mr.Sechins trip, saying that the contract sim-ply had to be adhered to (NezavisimayaGazeta, April 20).

By contrast, some progress was report-edly achieved with President Medvedevsteam. According to the sources of theUkrainian weekly newspaper Zerkalo

Nedeli, during his visit to Kyiv on April26, Mr. Medvedev agreed to discuss thecontract formula that would base the pricefor Ukraine on international oil prices(Zerkalo Nedeli, April 27).

Such a formula, at a time when oil pricesare rising, is expected to cause the price forUkraine to jump from the current $293 per1,000 cubic meters of gas to as much as$340 by the end of 2011 even with thediscount which Ukraine secured last year inexchange for allowing the Russian BlackSea Fleet to stay in Sevastopol until 2042.

Following the agreement withMedvedev, talks to settle the gas price dis-pute were started on April 28, when

Ukraines Energy Minister Yurii Boikoarrived in Moscow to meet with GazpromCEO Aleksey Miller. The formal start ofthe talks, according to Zerkalo Nedelissources, means that if no compromise isreached by the end of May, Ukraine willbe entitled to dispute the 2009 contract ina Swedish court according to the con-

tracts provisions. In particular, the con-tract may be invalidated if it is proved thatit was concluded under pressure or as aresult of fraud (Zerkalo Nedeli, April 28).

Ukrainian prosecutors started preparingthe basis for litigation with Gazprom bycharging former Prime Minister YuliaTymoshenko with exceeding her authoritywhen she instructed the Naftohaz Ukrainynational oil and gas company to concludethe contract and by opening a criminalcase against the then CEO of Naftohaz,Oleg Dubyna (EDM, April 22).

Mr. Boiko said a new gas contractwould be concluded by the end of summer2011. He pledged to do his utmost toachieve this and confirmed that a lawsuitmight be an option, although he insisted

that an agreement should be reached with-out courts. He added that if either

Kazakhstan or Uzbekistan offered cheapergas Ukraine would buy it from them (InterTV, April 29).

It is not clear how this can be achievedgiven that it is currently impossible forUkraine to buy gas from Central Asia with-out Russian mediation. The Ukrainian bil-lionaire Dmytro Firtash, a long-term partner

of Gazprom, may be involved at somepoint. Mr. Firtashs Ostchem Group startedbuying gas from Central Asia for itsUkrainian chemical factories this past April.

On Ukraina TV on May 1, PrimeMinister Azarov insisted that Russia wouldhave to agree to revise gas prices. Again, hedid not specify how this may be achieved,saying only that expensive gas for Ukrainedid not correspond with the spirit of strate-gic partnership between the two nationsand that Mr. Boikos talks with Mr. Milleron April 28 were constructive. Like Mr.Boiko, Mr. Azarov said that a lawsuitagainst Russia would only be the last resort.

The article above is reprinted fromEurasia Daily Monitor with permission

fro m it s pu bl is he r, th e Ja me st ow nFoundation, www.jamestown.org.

comes to the owners defense. We thinkits undeserving that Mr. Zahoor got caughtup in this, as by and large he has been thebest of owners, investing heavily and notinterfering in editorial, he noted. Theroots of censorship in Ukraine stem fromthe nations dominant oligarchs and politi-cians, not Mr. Zahoor.

Kyiv Post readers can take heart from astatement Mr. Bonner issued on the day ofhis reinstatement: The message to thecommunity is: The Kyiv Post is back,stronger than ever, committed to the high-est standards of journalistic independenceand integrity.

That sounds promising. It remains to beseen, of course, what will happen the nexttime the Kyiv Post faces pressure from the

politically well-connected. The experiencesof many other journalists in Ukraine do notbode well.

Alexa Chopivsky is a journalist basedin Kyiv.

Copyr ight 2011, RFE/RL Inc .Reprinted with the permission of RadioFree Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201Connecticut Ave. NW, Washington DC20036; www.rferl.org. (See http://www.rferl.org/content/commentary_one_news-

pa pe r_ tr iu mp hs _i n_ uk ra in e_ wh at _about_others/16798137.html.)

Quotable notesNationalism is not chauvinism. Chauvinism is when you love only what isyours and hate anything that belongs to other people. To be a patriot means to

love your own nation and also respect others, other nationalities. Therefore, truepatriots who consider themselves nationalists are those who are able to love whatis theirs without hating what is other peoples, to defend their own rights withoutencroaching on the rights of others.

Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, former major archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, in an interview with the online publication Istorychna Pravda,as quoted by the Religious Information Service of Ukraine (May 9).


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Ukrainian American community promotes its interests in Washingtonby Michael Sawkiw Jr.

Ukrainian National Information Service

WASHINGTON Within the frame-work of programs to promote closer rela-tions between Ukrainian Americans andtheir members of Congress, the UkrainianCongress Committee of America

(UCCA) and its Washington bureau, theUkrainian National Information Service(UNIS), organized Ukrainian Days inWashington on April 6-7.

The intent of Ukrainian Days is to pro-mote the concerns of the UkrainianAmerican community, and to establishbetter contacts with its elected representa-tives in Washington.

Over a dozen community membersparticipated in the two-day advocacyevent, which began with a briefing ses-sion on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morn-ing, April 6.

Communities represented included thestates of New Jersey, New York,Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, Illinois,and California.

In his greeting to the participants ofUkrainian Days, UNIS Director MichaelSawkiw underscored that such events areessential for expanding the communitysinfluence on U.S. policy toward Ukraine.Now our community has a chance todevelop closer relations between the newcongressional leadership, as well as tocontinue advocating our concerns to theObama administration, he said.

Given the backsliding of democratictrends in Ukraine, it is incumbent uponthe United States to demonstrate supportfor the Ukrainian people and theirunequivocal choice in favor of democrat-ic institutions, Mr. Sawkiw added.

During the two-hour briefing session, arepresentative from the Central and EastEuropean Coalition (CEEC) also briefedparticipants about the need for closerrelationships among the various Centraland East European communities through-out the United States. Strength in diver-sity, said Alice Kipel of the CEEC,demonstrates our resolve to advocateissues of concern to many of our respec-tive communities.

The afternoon of April 6 was dedicatedto meetings with various congressionaloffices, among them those of Sen. JosephLieberman (I-Conn.); Rep, Mike Quigley(D-Ill.); Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.); Rep.Jim Himes (D-Conn.); Rep. PeterRoskam (R-Ill.); Rep. Janice Schakowsky(D-Ill.).

In a meeting with Rep. Himes, hisUkrainian American constituents briefed

the congressman on the issue of travel

Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois (center) with participants of the Ukrainian Days advocacy event in Washington.

UNIS

A group of Ukrainian Days participants in front of the U.S. Capitol.

Rep. Danny Davis of Illinois (second from right) meets with a group of UkrainianDays participants.

visas to the United States for Ukrainians,as well as the need for restructuring U.S.foreign assistance to Ukraine. The con-gressman also received information aboutthe Congressional Ukrainian Caucus andits membership.

Later that afternoon, Ariel Cohen,Ph.D., senior research fellow at theKathryn and Shelby Cullom DavisInstitute for International Studies at theHeritage Foundation, met with UkrainianDays participants during an eveningreception and provided his perspective onthe current situation in Ukraine. A briefquestion and answer session followed hispresentation. Questions related to theU.S.-Russia reset and its effects onUkraine were foremost on the minds ofthe participants.

On April 7, Rep. Quigley emphasizedhis support for developing closer rela-

tions with the people of Ukraine as hejoined participants of Ukrainian Days foran early morning breakfast in theMembers Dining Room.

Rep. Quigley commented that he isglad to see that Ukrainian Days in

Washington is becoming a tradition. Thecongressman mentioned that Ukrainianissues are extremely important and time-ly, and said he would gladly assist theUkrainian American community in ensur-ing U.S. maximum assistance and partici-pation in establishing and solidifyingUkrainian democracy.

Congressional staffers from Reps.Sander Levins (D-Mich.) and MarcyKapturs (D-Ohio) office also participat-ed in the breakfast.

Afterwards participants divided intogroups to once again tackle meetings atthe offices of the Senate ForeignRelations Committee. Rep. NydiaVelasquez (D-N.Y.); Sen. Barbara Boxer(D-Calif.), Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.);

Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.); Sen. RobertMenendez (D-N.J.) ; Sen. KirstenGillibrand (D-N.Y.); Sen. CharlesSchumer (D-N.Y.) ; Sen. FrankLautenberg (D-N.J.); and the HelsinkiCommission.

The highlight of the two-day advocacyevent was an opportunity to visit the U.S.Department of State and discuss U.S.-Ukraine issues with Larry Silverman,

director of the Ukraine, Belarus, andMoldova Desk. Mr. Silverman briefedthe participants about the current status ofU.S.-Ukraine relations, in particular theFebruary meetings of the U.S.-UkraineStrategic Partnership Commission, duringwhich discussions were held on topicssuch as energy, Chornobyl, civil libertiesviolations in Ukraine and security con-cerns.

Ukrainian Days participants ques-tioned the director about the upcomingChornobyl conference in Ukraine, foreignassistance programs designed to combatcorruption and the energy concerns ofUkraine.

At all of the meetings on Capitol Hillthe participants of Ukrainian Days pre-sented members of Congress with variouspolicy papers on issues of importance tothe Ukrainian American community.T o p i c s c o v e r e d i n c l u d e d : t h eU.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership, for-eign assistance to Ukraine, the UkrainianGenocide, civil liberties violations inUkraine, the Congressional UkrainianCaucus, and, the 25th anniversary ofChornobyl nuclear disaster.

As regards U.S. foreign assistance toUkraine, Tamara Olexy, president of theUkrainian Congress Committee ofAmerica (UCCA), pointed out that theU. S . Ag e n c y f o r I n t e r n a t i o n a lDevelopment (USAID) bypasses ethnic

organizations when considering grantapplications.

Our organizations have been involvedin Ukraine since the late 1980s and havea wide network of contacts, as well as adeep understanding of cooperating withUkrainian partners. Our community isvery upset that the money intended tohelp Ukraine is not used effectively whenthe opportunity to achieve better resultsat cheaper costs is readily available, stat-ed Mrs. Olexy.

Members of Congress said they wouldexamine this issue and assist UkrainianAmerican civic organizations, as well asother ethnic organizations, to receiveaccess to federal funding.

Understanding that not everyone was

able to attend Ukrainian Days inWashington, the UCCA encouragedUkrainian American community mem-bers to meet with their elected officials attheir district offices. Copies of the policypapers presented at Ukrainian Days canbe obtained at the UCCA National Officeand a t the Ukra in ian Nat iona lInformation Service, or on the UCCAswebsite at www.ucca.org.


5/24


by Yevhen Yankevych


POLTAVA The Poltava City Councilabstained on April 28 from approving theallocation of one acre of land to the localparish of the Ukrainian Catholic Churchto build its first church in the city.

It was the third time in the last sixyears that authorities denied the requestof the citys Ukrainian Catholics, whobelieve politicians capitulated to pressurefrom the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP) to pre-vent any Ukrainian Catholic church frombeing built in Poltava.

We decided that were Orthodox anddont need Catholicism, a City Councildeputy, who requested anonymity, toldThe Ukrainian Weekly. She represents theConscience of Ukraine (Sovist Ukrainy)party. The parishioners were hoping forthe land after two similar parcels weregranted to the UOC-MP in the last fiveyears.

The UOC-MP exerts a large influence

over Ukraines government organs, easilyobtaining approval for its own churchconstructions which observers saidoften violate land permits and buildingcodes while acting to prevent otherchurches from getting the same approval.

Poltava runs right along Ukraines civ-ilizational faultline, between eastern andsouthern Ukraine where residents tendto hold Russian values of orthodoxy andimperialism and central and westernUkraine, whose residents embraceEuropean values of rule of law and toler-ance.

In Poltavas case, local parishionersobtained more than 30 licenses and per-mits for the land from city bureaucrats.Finally Pastor Yurii Krolevskyi met with

City Council Chair (Mayor) OleksanderMamai on April 4, who assured him theland would be granted. Mr. Mamai is alsoa member of Conscience of Ukraineparty.

That promise was repeated a weeklater by City Council Secretary OksanaDerkach, a member of the Party ofRegions of Ukraine, which is hostile tothe Ukrainian Catholic Church.

Yet the deputies suddenly abstainedwhen the moment of truth arrived.

Holy Trinity Parish submitted its firstrequest to the City Council in the spring2005 after parishioners found a 2.5-acrevacant lot on the citys edge, which hadthe luxury of being near a bus station.

The second attempt came in February2007, when Ukrainophobe Andri iMatkovskyi served as mayor. Blueprints

called for not only a church, but also anorphanage, hospice, soup kitchen andcharity offices.

That plan was again rejected by thePoltava City Council, which claimed thatcurrent norms recommend locating amonastery complex in the [citys] subur-ban zone. Priests took this draft to theTernopil and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts,where two such complexes were built.

Meantime the pastor , the Rev.Krolevskyi, went back to the drawingboard, settling on a modest church thatrequired one acre of land. A draft wasprepared, which the Architectural-CityPlanning Council of Poltava approved inprinciple.

The parish raised $875 to prepare the

draft, a significant sum for a parish withonly about 90 members. That plan gained13 signatures from the mayoral staff, aswell as the approval of four City Councilcommissions.

Opposition surfaced even before thevote of the City Council, which decided toform new special commissions and hold apublic hearing on the church only afterHoly Trinity Parish had expended years ofeffort towards preparing the draft.

Parishioners met in early 2010 withCity Council Secretary OleksanderKozub, who already made up his mindthat under no circumstances would aUkrainian Catholic church be built on thesquare between Selianska and Velykastreets.

Instead he suggested a different parcel,on the outskirts of Poltava in the newlybuilt bedroom community of Yar, threekilometers (1.9 miles) from the nearestavailable public transportation.

When the parishioners pointed out thathe was practically confiscating a parcelthat had gained all the necessary approv-als, he reportedly threw the two parishrepresentatives including a priest outof the office.

By then, the City Council hired a poll-


Regions deputies...

Committee, noted that she grew up in aRussian-speaking family, learningUkrainian only later on in her life. She, asdid Mr. Kozhara, also noted that the pres-ident speaks only in Ukrainian in his offi-

Leonid Kozhara, the head of the Party of Regions parliamentary delegation visit-ing Washington, addresses a group of Ukrainian Americans during a discussionat St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Silver Spring, Md. Seated at thehead table are his colleagues (from left) Maksym Lutsky, Olena Bondarenko,

Oleksiy Plotnikov and Vitaliy Kaliuzhny.

Yaro Bihun

Father Yurii Krolevskyi, pastor of the Holy Trinity Parish of the UkrainianCatholic Church in Poltava, blesses his parishioners and their Easter baskets onApril 24. He has tried for six years to obtain land for his parish to build the citys

first Ukrainian Catholic church.

Courtesy of Father Yurii Krolevskyi

cial appearances. Some in the audiencethought otherwise.

The evening discussion at St .Andrews was being conducted in

Ukrainian.One quest ioner asked why the

Verkhovna Rada agreed to include theSoviet flag in commemorations celebrat-ing the victory over Nazi Germany. Mr.Kozhara explained that it was not the

Poltavas Ukrainian Catholics face multiple hurdles in building a church

official national flag of the Soviet Union,but the Soviet army unit flag that wasraised over the Reichstag on May 9, 1945.

One day before the delegations arrival

here, The Washington Post carried ananalytical arrticle about PresidentYanukovych and his policies, headlinedUkraines Putin, by Anders Aslund, asenior fellow at the Peterson Institute forInternational Economics. In it, Dr. Aslundnoted that one year after his election, Mr.Yanukovych appears to be following theprescription of his political model,Russias Vladimir Putin, by swiftly con-centrating power in his own hands andwealth among a small circle of associ-ates.

As a result, his partys popularity hasfallen by two-thirds to 14 percent and hispersonal approval rating to 17 percent. Alarge majority of Ukrainians, including inthe Russian-dominated east, believe their

country is going in the wrong direction,Dr. Aslund wrote.

Asked to comment on this article, Mr.Kozhara questioned Dr. Aslunds motiva-tion in writing this piece. In his words:He is being f inanced by YuliaTymoshenko the former prime minis-ter and Mr. Yanukovychs opponent in thepresidential election.

The national deputies Mr. Kozhara

and Ms. Bondarenko, for the most part also described the economic situation inUkraine and the need to undo what theydescribed as the economic mistakes and

corruption of the Yushchenko administra-tion. They said that Ukraine has thepotential, among other things, to becomethe largest trade transit country betweenEurope and Asia and should develop itsairports in Kyiv and elsewhere with thatin mind.

The other members of the Party ofRegions delegat ion were: Vital iyKaliuzhny (Finance and BankingCommittee), Maksym Lutsky (Scienceand Education Committee) and OleksiyPlotnikov (Economic Policy Committee).

Before coming to Washington, the del-egation spent two days in New York City,where they visited The UkrainianMuseum, had lunch at the Veselka restau-rant, met with former New York Mayor

Rudy Giuliani, as well as with someUkrainian Americans.

Mr. Kozhara stressed that the trip wasorganized and financed by the Party ofRegions. While in the United States, theira g e n d a wa s f a c i l i t a t e d b y t h eU.S.-Ukraine Foundation. The UkrainianAmerican Coordinating Council joined inorganizing the meeting with UkrainianAmericans at St. Andrew Cathedral.

ing firm to ask the residents of neighbor-ing streets whether they oppose having aUkrainian Catholic church as their neigh-bor, revealing that only 25 percent werein favor. It wasnt explained how the sur-vey was conducted and whether leadingquestions were posed.

The surveys results, as well as peti-tions signed against the construction,were triumphantly presented by opposingdeputies, including those of the seeming-ly pro-Western Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc,at the same session at which the vote to

grant land failed by abstention.Other forms of pressure also wereapplied against Poltavas UkrainianCatholics.

Beginning in 2007, Poltava business-men reported being visited numeroustimes by UOC-MP priests, who askedthem to lead employees in protestingagainst the churchs construction andorganizing collections of signatures, saidYevhen Khailov, a director of a nearbypoultry-processing plant.

Their main arguments were that theUkrainian Catholic Church is foreignto Poltava, is pseudo-Western and ishostile to Orthodoxy, he said.

In 2009, parishioners got the approvalof the administration of the citys artsgallery to display the embroidered iconsof the Rev. Dmytro Blazejowski (whodied in April of this year). Yet UOC-MPArchbishop Fi l ip of Pol tava andMyrhorod interfered, pressuring officialsto close the exhibit.

Only after turning to the Poltava Oblast

State Administration did the parish get thego-ahead to present the artwork, but onlyin a small hall in the oblast library.

Poltavas Ukrainian Catholics current-ly worship at a makeshift church locatedin a simple building on 43B Pushkin St.,comprising 25 square meters, which isnot enough space for the worshippers, theRev. Krolevskyi said.

We will keep praying and submit therequest once again, he stated, whenasked what he plans to do next.


6/24


The trap was set weeks ago. The only question was whether there were enoughfools who would fall into it. As it turns out, indeed there were.

In deciding to display Soviet flags throughout Ukraine on May 9 for the firsttime since Ukraine declared independence in 1991 the pro-Russian governmentof Ukraine was aiming to provoke its enemies, namely the residents of westernUkraine who suffered unspeakable horror at the hands of the Soviets.

A government should serve the interests of the people, which comes down toensuring peace and stability within society. But not in Ukraine, where the Party ofRegions thrives on inciting social tension, ethnic conflict and mayhem. Not inUkraine, where the Yanukovych administration is intent on distracting the massesfrom real problems, namely the highest inflation rates in Europe amidst the conti-nents lowest wages.

Fights over flags and symbols are easier to engineer and far more convenientthan, say, drafting a tax code that would enable a middle class to emerge. The Partyof Regions love for communism would be better proven by providing free educa-tion and medical care for Ukrainians. But that also wont happen under its watch.

In allowing the Lviv provocations, the Yanukovych administration wanted tohumiliate the citys residents, as well as incite them to violence so that the Russianmedia and Ukraines pro-Russian media would reinforce the message thatRussians and Ukrainians would be united, if not for the crazy Halychany.

The vast majority of Lvivs residents didnt fall into the trap, because they knowfrom a lifetime of experience how to deal with the Kremlins agents. They knowthe current government is packed with charlatans and opportunists who exploit sen-

sitive issues like religion, culture and history to manipulate the public for politicalgain, who preach the glories of the USSR in public, while expanding their oppres-sive oligarchies behind the scenes. Most Halychyny were wise enough to know thatcivil conflict serves only the Kremlins interests.

However, after the debacle of the presidency of Viktor Yushchenko, a new forceemerged on the Ukrainian political scene to capitalize on the disillusionment anddesperation harbored by many Halychany. They claim to be nationalists, but theymisrepresent the healthy form of nationalism that prior generations endorsed. Thebehavior of members of the Svoboda nationalist party is just as aggressive anddestructive as that of their enemies. A significant portion of its members are well-meaning but misguided patriots, of all ages and backgrounds, who think its timefor the eye-for-an-eye approach. Their approach proved to be disastrous on May9. Videos of rioting Halychany smashing bus windows and attacking peacefulRed Army sympathizers filled the evening news broadcasts of TV networks loyalto the Party of Regions, such as Inter and 1+1.

Even more eager to capitalize on the conflicts was the Russian media, whichscooped up the carnage with delight. Finally they had the video evidence to back upwhat their FSB handlers had maintained all along: that western Ukrainians are blood-

thirsty fascists. In attempting to rebuild its empire, the Kremlin needs scapegoats torally against. Its the Chechens in Russia. Its the Halychany in Ukraine, who, asalleged by Education Minister Dmytro Tabachnyk, have nothing in common withGreater Ukraine. The Kremlins strategy is to turn Halychyna into an isolated ghet-to, making sure its worldview and patriotism dont seep east of the Zbruch River.

Ukraine needs a political force that defends the individual and cultural rights ofethnically conscious Ukrainians, but in a way that promotes understanding amongall of Ukraines citizens instead of exacerbating conflict.

Svoboda demonstrates time and again that its not a party that will contribute toprogress in Ukraine. Its zealotry plays right into the hands of Ukraines enemies,lending credibility to the widely held suspicions that the party leadership is readingfrom a script written in the halls of the Kremlin and the HQ of the Party of Regions.

Scripted turmoil

The UkrainianWeekly

Three years ago, on May 19, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Courtrefused to hear an appeal of a 2005 deportation order for JohnDemjanjuk, a retired autoworker whom the U.S. governmenthas accused of complicity in Nazi war crimes since 1977. The

appeal, filed in April 2008, was rejected without comment.The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit had ruled on January 30, 2008, that a

U.S. immigration judge had the authority to order the deportation of Mr. Demjanjuk.In December 2005 the court ruled that Mr. Demjanjuk had concealed his service as aguard at the Sobibor, Majdanek and Flossenburg Nazi concentration camps. The Courtof Appeals heard arguments in the case on November 29, 2007.

Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy ruled in June 2005 that Mr. Demjanjukcould be deported from the United States to his native Ukraine, or to Germany orPoland if Ukraine refused to accept him.

Mr. Demjanjuk maintains that he is a victim of mistaken identity. He denies that heever served the Nazis, but admitted to giving false statements when entering theUnited States in order to escape repatriation to the Soviet Union. Mr. Demjanjuk alsomaintains he was a prisoner of war captured by the Germans, but denies that he ever

served the Nazis as a guard.A March 4, 1985, report by the Cleveland field office of the U.S. Federal Bureau of

Investigation that was kept secret for 25 years and was discovered by the AssociatedPress in April of this year noted that the Trawniki identification card used in Mr.Demjanjuks deportation trial was quite likely fabricated. The FBI recently declassi-fied report was the first known confirmation that American investigators had suchdoubts, although the Demjanjuk defense has repeatedly made such arguments.

Source: Supreme Court declines to hear last appeal by John Demjanjuk, TheUkrainian Weekly, May 25, 2008.

May

192008

Turning the pages back...

WINDOW ON EURASIA

by Paul Goble

Only weeks after Russias consul general

in Lviv called him the Moses of his peo-ple, Dmitry Sidor, an Uzhhorod priest loyalto Moscow who heads the Rusyn move-ment in Zakarpattia, declared that aftermany years of using only political tactics,the Rusyns are now prepared to defendtheir freedom with arms in their hands.

How seriously this threat should betaken is an open question. On the one hand,the Rusyns have made similar threatsbefore, most notably at the end of 2008.And on the other, an actual revolt asopposed to the threat of one would compli-cate Russian-Ukrainian relations and threat-en Moscows oil and gas exports to Europe,much of which flows via Zakarpattia.

But, however that may be, Father Sidorsremark, especially coming in the wake of

the comment by the Russian diplomat,seems intended both to remind theUkrainian authorities that the Rusyns havenot gone away and to send a message toKyiv that Moscow is paying attention tothat community and is prepared to exploitthat group if Ukraine does not bend toRussias will.

On January 6, Father Sidor said that theRusyns are accusing Kyiv of ethnocideand discrimination with obvious elementsof genocide because of Ukraines barbar-ic failure to recognize the Rusyns and itsban on Rusyn schools and the study of theRusyn language (vvnews.info/analytics/region/65736-Rusyny-zakarpatya-gotovy-k-voyne-s-ukrainoy.html).

If Ukraine and the new authorities willbe able to recognize the rights of Rusyns,

he continued, then we Rusyns are ready toremain a Ukrainian enclave, a UkrainianKaliningrad. But if Ukraine wont recog-nize our lawful status of autonomy, thenwe will peacefully divorce. Like the CzechRepublic from Slovakia.

That can take place peacefully, the priestsaid. But international law allows for asolution brought about by force. A peopleafter many years of seeking its rights, hesaid, has the right with arms in its hands todefend its freedom, just as the internation-al community recognized in the case of theCroatians.

Father Sidor says that we do not intendto fight and seek a diplomatic path becausewe believe in the reality of the achievementof our rights. At a minimum, 70 percent

of the residents of Zakarpattia are Rusyns,making them a titular nation numberingtoday approximately 800,000.

Two years ago, when he and the Rusynsmade similar declarations and asked thatMoscow recognize their independence, the

Ukrainian authorities opened a case againstFather Sidor for threatening the territorial

independence of the country. But since thattime, two things have changed.There is now a pro-Moscow government

in Kyiv, and last fall Russias consul gener-al in Lviv met with Father Sidor and com-pared him to Moses because, he said, theRusyn priest, who is affiliated with theUkrainian Orthodox Church MoscowPatriarchate, is leading his people out of thewilderness (ru.tsn.ua/ukrayina/genkonsul-rf-nazval-lidera-podkarpatskih-rusinov-novym-moiseem.html).

Almost exactly two years ago, theRusyns asked Moscow to recognize themas an independent country because Kyivwas ignoring their demands for autonomywithin Ukraine. That followed the SecondEuropean Congress of Rusyns in Mukachiv,which declared that the Rusyns would seek

independence on December 1, 2008, ifthey didnt get autonomy.

December 1 came and went, but onDecember 19, 2008, an international scien-tific practical conference on Genocide andCultural Ethnocide of the Rusyns ofCarpathian Rus (the End of the 19thCentury to the Beginning of the 21stCentury) assembled in Rostov-na-Donuand adopted a resolution on their cause.

Among the resolutions key points wasan insistence that alongside the Armenians,the Rusyns or Ruthenians, as they are alsoknown were the victims of the first geno-cide of the 20th century, one carried out bythe Austro-Hungarians. Today, the resolu-tion continued, Kyiv is extending thisthrough a policy of cultural ethnocide.

In addition, that document declared thatthe Ruthenians are recognized as a uniquepeople in all countries of the region exceptUkraine and that they enjoy the support ofinternational organizations like the UnitedNations, whose committee on the liquida-tion of racial discrimination in August 2006criticized Kyiv for not supporting them.

And it pointed out that the status of theRusyns in Zakarpattia has not yet beendefined Kyiv has not yet recognized the1946 treaty which incorporated them intothe Soviet Union and that the Ukrainiangovernment continues to ignore theDecember 1991 referendum in which theRusyns voted for autonomy as well as forUkrainian independence.

But perhaps most important, Rusyn lead-ers then and now noted that the lions

share of Russian gas on its way toEuropean markets f lows throughSubcarpathian Rus, twice more thanthrough the Baltic states [in 2008] andtwice more than through other neighboringcountries as well.

Encouraged by Moscow, Rusynsstep up drive for autonomy

Must readsThis week, we inaugurate a new fea-

ture intended to spotlight articlesworth reading in full. Below, our firstthree suggestions.

In Remembering the SovietResponse to Chornobyl, NationalReview Online, April 26, RobertMcConnell argues that, It would be aserious mistake not to appreciate thedifferences between the two events Fukushima and Chornobyl or to for-get the genuine evil revealed in theSoviet Unions response to Chornobyl.The distinctions matter. See http://www. n a t i o n a l r e v i e w. c o m / c o r -ner/265612/remembering-soviet-response-chornobyl-robert-mcconnell.

In Viktor Yanukovych, Splittist(February 7), on his blog UkrainesOrange Blues, Alexander J. Motylwrites about how Ukraines PresidentViktor Yanukovych who, in typicallysplittist fashion, preaches unity whilepromoting discord. See http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/new/blogs/

motyl/Viktor_Yanukovych_Splittist. In Naming the Crime, National

Review Online, March 18, AndrewStuttaford writes about two new booksby American historians that shed lighton the Soviet past and those who stillavoid its implications. See http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/262400/naming-crime-andrew-stuttaford?page=1.


7/24


One of the myths poisoning Ukrainianpolitics is the one where NikitaKhrushchev, on a whim, gave Crimea toSoviet Ukraine in 1954 to celebrate the300th anniversary of the PereyaslavAgreement. In his book, Ukraine NotRussia, Leonid Kuchma, Ukraines presi-dent from 1994 to 2005, effectivelydebunks that story.

In 1954 just two years after Stalinsdemise Khrushchev was the head of acollective leadership. A significant decisionlike the transfer of territory from one unionrepublic to another would have requiredcareful review and consensus. And indeed,the Soviet Presidium did pass an appropri-ate resolution.

As a practical matter, the transfer made

sense. Kyiv was and still is much closer toCrimea than Moscow. Moscow (no sur-prise) was not particularly responsive toCrimeas everyday economic and adminis-trative needs; the expectation was thatKyiv would be. As for the politics, it didntmatter to the empire or the residents ofCrimea that the peninsula had become partof Soviet Ukraine. Everyone knew thatMoscow was firmly in charge.

Today, of course, the politics matter agreat deal. Its no secret that manyRussians deeply regret the fall of theSoviet Union. For them, Crimea is both asymbol of their humiliation and a poten-tial weak point to attack Ukraines sover-eignty. The April 2011 issue of NationalGeographic examines these issues in

Crimea: A Jewel in Two Crowns.The author, Cathy Newman, describes

Crimea as a paradise lost, at least fromRussias perspective. Having spent a weekthere in 2006, I can confirm that it isindeed a paradise, albeit imperfect. Ienjoyed wonderful restaurants, visited his-toric sights, including Livadia Palacewhere the tsar spent his summers and theYalta Agreement was signed in 1945, andmarveled at the Crimean Mountains risingalmost from the sea floor to high above thebeaches below, even as I shook my head atthe appalling amounts of litter and trash.

I was in Crimea on a joint U.S.-Ukraineexpedition to explore the Black Sea, led byDr. Robert Ballard, the oceanographer bestknown for discovering the wreck of theTitanic, and Dr. Serhiy Voronov from theNational Academy of Sciences of Ukraine.

I worked mostly on shore but did get tospend two nights on board ship. I wasawakened the first night by urgent knock-ing and a call of Pane Andriyu. Wevefound something!

I hurried to the ships common room tothe big TV screen to see images of a ship-wreck which robotic cameras tethered tothe ships control room were scanning justa few hundred meters below. We soonlearned it was the Soviet destroyerDzherzhinsky, sunk by the Germans in1942 during the yearlong siege ofSevastopol. It was eerie, viewing what wasbasically a graveyard that had been hiddenfor more than 60 years.

Earlier, the expedition had discovered a

Byzantine shipwreck that had been plyingthe trade route between Chersonesos,located in present-day Sevastopol, toByzantium. That ship had been on the seabottom for more than 1,000 years. Theexpedition would later discover shipwrecksfrom the Crimean War (1853-1856), a shipthat went down in World War I and a heli-copter lost during the Cold War.

As the tangle of shipwrecks off-shore

shows, Crimea has a long and complexhistory. In fact, Neolithic Neanderthal andCro-Magnon remains from over 30,000years ago have been found there. Thoseserved as the basis for Jean M. Auels best-selling Earths Children series of novels.

Crimea entered recorded history in the5th century B.C., when Greek historianHerodotus visited Chersonesos, where theScythians traded grain, furs, honey andother products for gold, wine, olive oil andother luxury goods. The city thrived foranother 1,000 years. Its stunning ruins, fea-tured on the one-hryvnia note, are now anational preserve.

Tracing the history of Crimea, Ms.Newman notes that [it] has passed fromhand to hand, from Scythians to Greeks to

Romans, Goths, Huns, Mongols andTatars. In 1783, Russia under EmpressCatherine II annexed Crimea (in violationof a 1774 treaty guaranteeing Tatar inde-pendence) and maintained control thereuntil the collapse of the Soviet Union in1991. Now it belongs to Ukraine, but asthe author cautions: Crimean historywould suggest that it is folly to think thatpossession of any place, particularly para-dise, is anything other than a tenancy.

She describes the tragic fate of the Tatarpeoples who were deported en masse byStalin in World War II, tens of thousands ofwhom died in the process. Today, theirdescendents are returning. I stumbledacross a rally in Yalta where Tatars com-memorated the anniversary of the deporta-

tion, demanding it be designated a geno-cide and that their property be returned. Ialso spoke with ethnic Russians (those whowerent horrified to hear me speakingUkrainian) who believe Crimea shouldrevert to Moscow. Russia, of course, main-tains a significant presence in Crimea, par-ticularly in Sevastopol where their BlackSea fleet is anchored pursuant to a long-term lease with Ukraine. The taxi thattook me out to the U.S.-Ukraine expeditionsailed past the fleet: I saw a long row ofrusting ships sitting idle with no more thanhalf a dozen sailors dozing or tending afishing pole. On the streets of Sevastopol,on the other hand, I saw lots of Russianofficers with briefcases. There were alsoUkrainian naval personnel, but not asmany.

Theres no doubt that Crimea is dividedover its identity. In 1991 when more than90 percent of Ukrainians voted for inde-pendence, only 54 percent of Crimeansvoted that way. Ms. Newman cites a recentpoll where nearly a third of Crimeans sup-port a return to Russia. But, to put thatanother way, more than two-thirds want tostay with Ukraine.

As always, National Geographic fea-tures terrific photographs these are byGerd Ludwig. One of them showing aparade honoring Soviet military heroeswho defended Sevastopol in World War IIis worth a thousand words. An elderly manis out front with the obligatory uniform anddozens of Soviet-era medals. But his hatand tie clip? Those feature the Ukrainian

trident. Go figure.My favorite, though, is the guy with the

chest-full of hammer-and-sickle medals,but also the Order of Khmelnytsky issuedby independent Ukraine and a ChicagoWhite Sox baseball cap. Now thats prog-ress.

Crimean complexities

Andrew Fedynskys e-mail address [email protected].

PERSPECTIVES byAndrew Fedynsky

ESSAY

by Alexander Kuzma

In 1986, during the summer followingthe Chornobyl meltdown, I had the oppor-tunity to enjoy the stunning beauty ofAlaskas wilderness. It was two yearsbefore the Exxon-Valdez disaster. A sum-mer internship with a law firm inAnchorage gave me a weekend kayak tripon the crystalline waters of PrinceWilliam Sound.

After threading our way through milesof turquoise ice and mist-shrouded waterteeming with sea otters and arctic water-fowl, my friends and I camped on a gravelsandbar a mile from a spectacular glacier.We knew there was some risk of the gla-cier calving, melting a chunk of its iceface and plunging it into the sea, but wethought we were too far away to worry.

That night, we awoke to a dull roar and

the ground trembling beneath us. The gla-cier had calved, sending a wave of icewater rushing toward our campsite. A smalltsunami blasted through our tent, soakingour sleeping bags and leaving us freezingcold and shaken but otherwise unharmed.

It is hard to fathom what the people ofJapan have endured since March. Yet fol-lowing the news of the cataclysmic earth-quake and tsunami that devastated Japan,I was reminded of the raw terror of thatnight in Alaska and our close call with awave of much smaller proportions.

As if the earthquake and resulting tsu-nami were not already beyond humanendurance, we have also witnessed anoth-er major radiation disaster unfold. Wehave watched heart-rending scenes pain-

fully reminiscent of Chornobyl: heroicemergency workers scrambling to extin-guish fires and prevent further meltdowns;the evacuation of over 200,000 residents;mothers and small children undergoingtesting for radiation exposure; govern-ment officials limiting public information,ostensibly to prevent widespread panic.

There is a poignant kinship betweenUkrainians and the Japanese a kinshipre-intensified by the still unfoldingFukushima disaster. In 2003 I attended aconference in the Marshall Islands wheresurvivors of Hiroshima and the hydrogenbomb tests on Bikini Atoll shared theirexperiences with Ukrainian researchersstudying the consequences of theChornobyl disaster.

Nuclear experts have learned muchfrom Hiroshima and Chornobyl, but notenough. Reactors and containment build-ings have been reinforced. Safety systemshave been enhanced. Training of emergen-cy workers has improved.

Yet hubris remains. The Japaneseresponse to Fukushima was delayed asauthorities waited for the arrival ofAmerican remote control robots theyassumed they would never need. Thecooling systems at all four of theFukushima reactors failed in the wake ofthe earthquake and tsunami.

Nuclear energy remains an inherentlydangerous technology. A witches brew ofthe wrong circumstances a tsunami, anearthquake, a terrorist attack can lead tomeltdowns and explosions and disasters

can ensue.Certainly, the design of the Japanese

reactors was much better than the slipshodSoviet design for the Chornobyl nuclearpower plant that relied on an unstablegraphite core and never bothered with acontainment building. Chunks fromChornobyls core were found as far awayas the Rivne Oblast, more than 100 mileswest of Chornobyl, and the radioactive

plume reached Sweden approximatelythe distance from New York City to

Hudson Bay. The hydrogen explosion atChornobyl spewed more radiation than180 Hiroshima bombs.

Japanese nuclear authorities were quickto reassure their population that even inthe event of a major meltdown, most ofFukushimas radiation would drift out tosea.

However, we should never underesti-mate the enormous distances that radia-tion can travel. Chornobyl fallout contam-inated foodstuffs as far away as Irelandand Wales and parts of the FrenchPyrenees.

Nuclear promoters will be quick topoint out that the tsunami and the earth-quake took a far greater toll on the com-munities surrounding Sendai than anynuclear disaster. In terms of immediate,tangible consequences, they are right.

However, the Fukushima reactors werebuilt to withstand far greater earthquakesthan the San Onofre Nuclear Stationlocated near an active earthquake faultline between San Diego and Los Angeles.A tsunami there would not allow for sucha large margin of error.

The explosions and partial meltdownsat the Fukushima reactors raise otherquestions: Why are we still providingmassive subsidies for nuclear constructionat the expense of mass transit, conserva-tion programs, and decentralized sourcesof energy like wind and solar that wouldcreate far more jobs per dollar investedthan capital intensive nuclear projects?

For all their vaunted safety features, no

insurance company will insure commer-cial nuclear power plants, and under thePrice-Anderson Act, U.S. taxpayers, not anegligent utility, would be forced to coverthe costs of any disaster. Experts whostake their profits on accurate risk assess-ment have concluded that the nuclear riskis neither negligible nor worth theirinvestment.

This too should give us pause: TheJapanese government will have to spendhundreds of billions on the massive clean-up and reconstruction effort in Sendai andFukushima. At a time when we hear aconstant drumbeat from certain quarters toreduce taxes and the federal budget to abare minimum, who do we think will pro-vide disaster relief in the event of another

Katrina, or Gulf oil spill, a massive earth-quake or a Fukushima? Even 25 yearslater, the world continues to spend billionson Chornobyl relief.

Who will safeguard Americans fromother man-made disasters should theEnvironmental Protection Agency bestripped of its enforcement powers in thelatest budget-cutting frenzy of the newradicals in Congress? Ironically, thosewho demand deeper tax cuts and budgetreductions still expect lavish governmentsubsidies to oil, gas and nuclear indus-tries, and will be the first to demand fed-eral aid when disaster strikes.

Currently, America is in the thrall ofideologues that still fantasize about adwarfed federal government smallenough to drown in a bathtub.Fukushima and Chornobyl remind us:Beware what you wish for.

Alexander Kuzma is the former execu-tive director of the Children of Chornobyl

Relief and Development Fund. The viewsexpressed in this commentary are strictlyhis own and not necessarily the views ofany organization with which he is affiliat-ed.

25 years later, Japans tragedybrings back Chornobyls terror


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The art of gerdany: preserving old traditions and creating new onesby Petrusia Sawchak

JENKINTOWN, Pa. Throughout the years, Branch88 of the Ukrainian National Womens League ofAmerica (UNWLA), Philadelphia Regional Council, inconjunction with the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center(UHSC) at Manor College, has conducted workshops,seminars and held exhibits to preserve and promulgate

Ukrainian folk arts. This year was no exception.The exhibit Gerdany Ukrainian Beadwork was

held at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center(UECC) for three days, April 1-3.

The gerdany displayed came from various sources:some from Ukraine, featuring artists working on both tra-ditional and contemporary gerdany; some from theUHSC and private collections of the members ofUNWLA Branch 88; and others made by the ManorlyBead Club. Associated with the UHSC at Manor College,the Manorly Bead Club also provided much assistanceand guidance for the exhibit.

Six basic styles of gerdany were presented in theexhibit, ranging from long, thin beaded necklaces withmany variations, to beaded collars in different widths,which represent various regions of Ukraine. The magnifi-cent Lemko beaded collars called the krayka orkryza measured about five inches in width and werecharacterized by tricolored diamonds on a red back-ground.

The opening of the exhibit was held on Friday night,April 1, in the Dr. Alexander B. Chernyk Gallery at theUECC. The room was literally ablaze in vibrant colors:reds, oranges, greens, blues, blacks, whites, coppers andyellows in beautiful patterns and designs an aestheticdelight for the senses.

Many attended this exhibit, which was one of the firstto be exclusively held for the art of Gerdany held atUECC.

Ulana Prociuk, president of UNWLA Branch 88,opened the program by thanking all for their contribu-tions and assistance in making this exhibit possible. Shegave a brief overview of history of the gerdany, whichdate back to the 8th -10th centuries in Rus (Ukraine).

More information about the history of bead makingwas described in a brochure adapted from Baubles,Bangles and Beads by Tamara Stadnychenko

(September 1995, Our Life).Chrystyna Prokopovych, curator of the UHSC at

Manor College, thanked the major sponsors of theexhibit: MB Financial Bank, Ukrainian SelfrelianceFederal Credit Union (Philadelphia) and SelfrelianceUkrainian American Federal Credit Union (Newark), as

well as the Harman Importing Corp.The project was also supported by the Pennsylvania

Council on the Arts, a state agency, through its regionalarts funding partnership, Pennsylvania Partners in theArts (PPA). State government funding for the artsdepends upon an annual appropriation by theCommonwealth of Pennsylvania and support from theNational Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency. TheGreater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance administers PPAin this region.

Ms. Prokopovych also acknowledged the Sisters of St.Basil the Great for their support of Ukrainian culture andthe work at UHSC.

She added, The resurgence of interest in gerdany hadits roots right here at UECC when Lucia Hryciw with thehelp of her husband, Theodosij, started teaching work-shops to a few people. The workshops grew and expand-ed, and now there is a large group of people in thePhiladelphia area who are addicted to gerdany, as youcan see by the number of pieces on display here today.

An elegant wine and cheese reception followed theformal introductions. All were invited to attend

the seminars and workshops that continuedthe next day.

Workshops and seminar

On Saturday, students from the UkrainianHeritage School at the UECC were invitedto participate in workshops to acquaint

them with the art of making gerdany.After viewing the exhibit, the students

learned more about this craft and thehistory of its development. Many

were intrigued with the tech-niques and hoped to learn

more about them in thefuture.

Three well-knownauthorities on gerdany Lubow Wolynetz, OlgaKolodij and MariaRypan conducted

seminars in the English language on Saturday.Ms. Wolynetz, a professor of Ukrainian language and

literature, American Culture and Library Orientation at

St. Basil College Seminary in Stanford, Conn., is alsothe curator and librarian at the Ukrainian Museum andLibrary of Stanford and curator of the Folk ArtCollection at The Ukrainian Museum in New York City.

Ms. Wolynetz gave a very interesting historical per-spective about the background of bead making fromNeolithic times through the centuries in Ukraine andother parts of the world. The adornment of the body andclothing is inherent in all cultures throughout time. Sheexplained how beads worn as jewelry were initially con-sidered magical and were believed to contain healingpowers that also protected the wearer from evil spirits.Later, beads came to signify ethnic identity, social sta-tus, wealth and expressions of love. Most of the earlygerdany were round collars; long gerdany came aboutlater to suit modern dress.

There is evidence that the prototype of gerdanyappeared as early as the 10th century, but the first writ-

ten record of Ukrainian beadwork did not appear untilthe end of the 18th century. By the mid-19th century,seed beads were manufactured in Ukraine in gerdanyMs. Wolynetz noted.

Many designs used were similar to those in Ukrainianembroidery, such as geometric and floral motifs. Thecommunity judged gerdany by the techniques used,quality of workmanship, artistry of the piece, how itlaid, fell and hung on the neck, and the combination ofcolors and symbols. Young maidens in the villages wereexpected to make gerdany, and often wore them toattract possible suitors for marriage, according to folk-lore.

The second speaker was Ms. Kolodij, whose maininterest is the development of gerdany from traditionalto contemporary. She has received grants from thePennsylvania Council of the Arts, including a fellowshipgrant in 2005, and her works were recently exhibited atthe Ukrainian Museum in Cleveland. Her annual trips toUkraine include visits with master gerdany artists.

Ms. Kolodij explained that gerdany, as we knowthem, are a western Ukrainian item. Eastern Ukrainianwomen wore balamuty (beads made from mother-of-pearl), Venetian beads and coral stones.

She delivered a PowerPoint presentation givingexamples of gerdany from various regions in Ukraine:Borschiv (Ternopilska Oblast) liked the use of black,


Natalia Mykytiuch (left) and Irena Gramiak conducta gerdany workshop for the children from the

Ukrainian Heritage School.

Display of gerdany at the Ukrainian Educational and Cultural Center.

Examples of diverse gerdany.

Renya Cehelsky-Ciuk Petrusia Sawchak

Petrusia Sawchak

Renya Cehelsky-Ciuk


10/24


Montreal community marks anniversary of Chornobyl nuclear disasterby Bohdanna Klecor-Hawryluk

MONTREAL The Mont rea lUkrainian community joined Ukainiansworldwide in marking the 25th anniversa-ry of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster onTuesday, April 26. A commemorative ser-vice was held together with representativesof the Ukrainian Catholic and UkrainianOrthodox churches, followed by a solemnremembrance program held at theAssumption of the Blessed Virgin MaryParish in Rosemount.

The Ukrainian Canadian Congress,Montreal branch, marks Ukraines tragicnuclear disaster every year.

Participating in the service were theRevs. Oleh Korecky, Roman Lahola, IhorOshchipko and Nazar Yuriv from the

Ukrainian Catholic churches in Montrealand the Revs. Ihor Kutash, WolodymyrKouchnir from the Ukrainian Orthodox

churches. The church choir was led bychoir conductor Marika Czolij.The Rev. Korecky read the sermon

recalling the impact the Chornobyl disasterhad on the population and its long-termeffects on Ukraine and its people today.

The program consisted of the trio ofsingers Vera Turko-Kulycka, OksanaKotskovych and Roman Kostyk; poetryreadings by Sonia Kulyckya and IrenaPawliw; and a performance by bass bari-tone and bandurist Wolodymyr Mota.

Bohdanna Klecor-Hawryluk UCC cul-tural chairperson and coordinator of theevent, in her concluding remarks men-tioned that Evhen Czolij, president of

Ukrainian World Congress and formerpresident of UCC Montreal, spoke atUnited Nations in New York on a sessionon the 25th anniversary of Chornobyl andthat Pavlo Grod, president of UCCNational, sent a press release to all mediain Canada concerning this years com-memoration events. The president of UCCMontreal branch is Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova.

An article about the Chornobyl disasterappeared in the Aril 26 issue of Montreals

The Gazette and coverage was given on

CBC radio by host Loreen Pendera, whoconducted an interview with OlenaKulishova who was in Kyiv when theexplosion took place and is currently liv-ing in Montreal. Simon Kouklewsky, pro-ducer of Ukrainian Time communityradio, provided special coverage of theevent.

Symbolically, at the end of the program,individual white carnations were placed infront of the church altar, in remembranceof the many children affected by

Chornobyls radiation.

At the Chornobyl commemoration: (standing, from left) are: the Rev. OlehKorecky, UCC Cultural Chairperson Bohdanna Klecor-Hawryluk, choir conduc-tor Marika Czolij, UCC Montreal President Zorianna Hrycenko-Luhova and

(seated, front) bandurist Wolodymyr Mota.

Yurko Kulyckyj

Priests from the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox churches in the

Montreal area during the Chornobyl commemorative service.

Simon Kouklewsky


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The proposal to hold Victory Day underthe national flag was made by leaders ofthe Lviv Oblast department of the All-Ukrainian Veterans Union, the gover-nors spokesperson said. Ms. Tsymbaliukasked all political forces in the regionnot to escalate the situation around the

May 9 holiday and not to yield to anyspeculative statements. (Interfax-Ukraine)

Lviv nationalists clash with police

LVIV Ukrainian nationalists in Lvivclashed with police on May 9 during aceremony commemorating the victory ofthe Soviet Union over Nazi Germanyduring World War II. The incidentoccurred as about 100 people, amongthem World War II veterans, gathered fora ceremony at the Hill of Glory memorialin Lviv jointly with members of theRussian Unity and Motherland parties,who arrived in Lviv with a 30-meter-longSoviet victory flag. The coordinator ofthe event, Serhii Yukhin, told Interfax-

Ukraine that the banner bears the signa-tures of World War II veterans from allparts of Ukraine. When the banner wasbeing handed over to local war veterans,10 nationalists broke the police barricadeand ran to the scene of the ceremony.Police interfered, trying to keep them intheir place. Some activists of theSvoboda party offered fierce resistance topolice, shaking the fence put up aroundthe Hill of Glory memorial. Scuffleserupted with police. (Interfax-Ukraine)


NEWSBRIEFSRussian diplomats attacked in Lviv

LVIV A wreath that Russian ConsulGeneral in Lviv Oleg Astakhov was toplace at the Lviv military cemetery wasgrabbed and shredded to pieces as aRussian diplomatic delegation was onits way to the Hill of Glory memorialon May 9. The wreath I was to lay atthe Hill of Glory memorial at the mili-tary cemetery was torn to pieces, theconsul general said in an interview with

the magazine ZIK. Russia and thewhole of the sane world are celebratingVictory Day. All of these games on thisday are an insult to the memory ofthose buried here, who sacrificed theirlives to allow us to live in a normalsociety, he said. World War II veteransand activists of public organizationscomplained that assailants tore off theirorange-and-black memorial ribbons andinsulted them. Some women hid theirorange-and-black ribbons in their pock-ets and produced them again past apolice cordon at the Hill of Glorymemorial. Activists of the Svobodaorganization, who had gathered on theother side of the police cordon, chantedanti-Russian slogans. Despite a court

ban on mass rallies on Victory Day,large groups of opponents of theVictory Day celebrations and othergroups marching with red banners wereseen on the citys streets, a Channel 5correspondent reported. Clashes withpolice occurred at Victory Day venues.Channel 5 also aired footage of Svoboda activists clashes with oppo-nents, when a shot was fired at a nation-alist with a pneumatic pistol. (Interfax-Ukraine)

Lviv governor on May 9 clashes

KYIV Law enforcement authoritieshave to find out why a court decision ban-ning any events and activities on May 9other than those approved by the LvivOblast State Administration and Lviv CityCouncil were not enforced, said LvivOblast State Administration Chairman(Governor) Mykhailo Tsymbaliuk. He wascommenting on the violent clashes in Lvivbetween supporters of the nationalistic

Svoboda party and representatives theRodina and Russian Unity parties thatcame to the city with red flags. The officialthanked the people who took part in offi-cial events, the representatives of all veter-an organizations, who kept their word withrespect to activities under the official stateflag of Ukraine. Yesterday we remem-bered

The Ukrainian Weekly 2011-20

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