No.

52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

^^^:. Ukraine in 1994: a year of changes

or Ukraine, 1994 was a year of changes, as this vast, potentially rich and prosperous country of nearly 53 million located in the heart of Europe elected a new president, struggled to elect a new Parliament, and finally began to contend with its biggest dilemmas: a rusting nuclear arsenal, a stagnant economy, a restive autonomous republic in the south and an aggres sive, imperialistic "big brother" to the north. After waffling on such issues as the future of its nuclear weapons and a collapsing economy, Ukraine began making significant progress in these areas in 1994 after Leonid Kuchma assumed office as Ukraine's second president on July 10. "The first government was more interested in politics than policy," says one Western analyst based in Kyyiv. Mr. Kravchuk talked about the challenge of construct ing a state and reforming the economy, but did not quite understand that after three years of a decaying national economy, only market reforms and hope for a better life could guarantee Ukraine's independence. To give credit where it is rightfully due, the govern ment of Leonid Kravchuk put Ukraine on the map. independent Ukraine was recognized by over 150 states, but members of the nuclear club worried what would happen if things got out of control in this, the third largest nuclear power in the world. Pressure was put on Ukraine to give up its nuclear arse nal, but its Parliament would not accede to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty without security assurances, a sticking point under negotiation throughout 1994. The year began with U.S. President Bill Clinton visit ing Ukraine for three hours with a stopover at Boryspil Airport on January 12. it was to be an act of good will and, more importantly, a stimulus for Ukraine to give up its nuclear arsenal. President Kravchuk joined Presidents Clinton and Boris Yeltsin on January 14 in Moscow and signed an agreement committing Ukraine to eliminate its 176 intercontinental ballistic missiles and some 1,240 nuclear warheads tar geted at the U.S. and transfer them to Russia in return for guarantees that included economic support and inte gration into a European security network. "Should Ukraine's Parliament fully ratify START and join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a multilateral agreement on security guarantees would be signed between the United States, Great Britain and Russia," said a Foreign Ministry spokesperson soon after the meeting of Presidents Kravchuk, Yeltsin and Clinton in Moscow. The Ukrainian Parliament agreed to review the issue of START 1, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which it had passed with 13 conditions in November 1993. Parliament lifted those conditions on February 3, approving a disarmament package that did not include accession to the NPT. The legislative branch underscored that START approval was not to be considered an end in itself, but a process toward increasing Ukraine's security. The issue would come up again and again in Parliament during 1994. On November 16, the Ukrainian Parliament finally acceded to the NPT by a vote of 301-8, but sought more security guarantees from the nuclear club of nations. The newly elected president of Ukraine played a weighty role in getting his nation's Supreme Council to ratify the long-stalled NPT on the eve of his visit to the United States. A former rocket scientist and director of the world's largest nuclear missile factory, Pivdenmash, Mr. Kuchma was persuasive in arguing that Ukraine should become a non-nuclear state. "Ukraine has no choice today on whether it should be nuclear or non-nuclear. That choice has been made," he said, explaining that Ukraine had pledged disarmament and non-proliferation in 1990, when it proclaimed itself a non-nuclear state. "Further delays in reaching a deci sion, in my opinion, would lead to a situation where the

world community stops taking us seriously because we do not know how to keep and execute our obligations," he said. The security issue was finally resolved late in the year when President Kuchma traveled to Budapest for a CSCE summit on December 5. "it's hard to overesti mate the importance of the event that has just taken place," said President Kuchma in Budapest after signing the NPT and receiving security assurances from the United States, Russia and Great Britain. The French and Chinese governments gave Ukraine the same assur ances: to respect the territorial integrity and indepen dence of Ukraine, reaffirm their obligation to refrain from the use or threat of use of force against Ukraine, except in self-defense. The memorandum presented to President Kuchma also stated that the nuclear powers will refrain from economic coercion and, in the case.of aggression toward Ukraine, the nuclear states will seek immediate action via the United Nations Security Council. They pledged also not to use nuclear weapons against any non-nuclear state party to the NPT treaty. Throughout 1994, the West had courted Ukraine, promising economic aid if it gave up its nukes. U . S . Defense Secretary W i l l i a m Perry visited Ukraine for the first time on March 23, promising Si00 million for continued denuclearization, military conver sion and housing for soldiers. During this historic visit to Ukraine, he viewed Pervomaiske, Ukraine's nuclear weapons site, where he was awed by about 100 missiles with almost 800 warheads targeted at the U.S. Mr. Perry also confirmed that Ukraine was indeed keeping its pledge to remove its warheads to Russia,. Another offer made by the United States was a place for Ukraine in the newly created NATO security network, the Parternship for Peace. Ukraine joined the PFP on February 8, in Brussels, becoming the first member of the Commonwealth of independent States to do so; it was the sixth Eastern bloc state to join after Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania. Foreign Minister Anatoliy Zlenko signed the document formalizing membership, calling it a "reasonable and pragmatic alternative to par tial and selective NATO enlargement." "We strongly appreciate the open nature of the program and the absence of any intentions to draw new dividing lines in Europe," he said. "By providing for specific and practical cooperation between NATO and Ukrainian forces, this partnership can foster an integration of a broader Europe and increase the security of all nations," said President Clinton when he proposed the program, adding that membership in this program is the first step for any country that aspires to full NATO membership. But it wasn't only NATO that interested Ukraine, as Kyyiv set its sites on integration into the European Community and such organizations as the Council of Europe, the European Union, and sought a more formi

dable role in the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations, in the latter part of the year, as Ukraine began taking serious steps toward reform, it gained the attention of the international Monetary Fund and the World Bank, two institutions that will play a crucial role in Ukraine in 1995, if indeed reforms do take off. The European Union expressed a desire for closer ties with Ukraine on February 7, as it aimed to finalize an agreement on partnership and cooperation with Ukraine. The accord was finally signed by President Kravchuk in Luxembourg on June 14. The aim of the document is to lay the groundwork for a widening freetrade zone in Europe, after an EU evaluation on the progress of reforms in 1998. But, the EU's first real gesture of support came late in the year, on December 5 in Brussels, with a loan of 3108 million to pave the way for an international rescue plan to help Ukraine with its balance of payments in the fourth quarter of 1994. in keeping with the January Tripartite Agreement, the U.S. government attempted to spur economic recov ery in Ukraine, presenting a program specifically geared to establishing an enterprise fund for Ukraine to stimu late U.S. business investment and aid privatization on May 5. Nicholas Burns of the U.S. National Security Council headed the delegation that included representa tives from the Treasury Department, the Agency for international Development (USA1D) and the Overseas Private investment Corp. (). Economic reform in Ukraine was stagnant during the first half of the year, and it did not seem there would be any change when President Kravchuk appointed vitaliy Masol as prime minister. The Parliament approved the nomination on June 16, just 10 days before presidential elections. Mr. Masol, 66, a former Communist, had held the position of prime minister prior to Ukraine's indepen dence, but was ousted by student strikes and large-scale protests in October 1990. Although many interpreted the Masol appointment as a way for Mr. Kravchuk to get Communist backing in the upcoming elections, few were fooled by his declara tion: "in order to get the government moving, 1 believe he is the only real choice." Parliamentary elections had been held a year earlier than originally scheduled, in the hope that a new legisla ture would speed up the pace of reform in Ukraine. Although the outgoing Parliament boasted quite a record of activities, passing 402 laws and 128 resolu tions in three years, it failed to adopt seven successive economic reform packages presented by the govern ments of Prime Ministers vitold Fokin and Kuchma in 1991-1993. Many democrats had hoped that a new Parliament would be more pro-reform, but the partial Parliament convened on May 11 with 338 deputies seemed more

Author, author
The articles in this special year-end issue of The Ukrainian Weekly were written by: The Ukrainian Weekly staff, Roma Hadzewycz, Marta Kolomayets, Khristina Lew, Roman Woronowycz, Andrij Wynnyckyj and ika Koznarska Casanova; and our colleagues, Christopher Guly and Eugene iwanciw.

Marta Kolomayets

August 2: vice-President Gore speaks upon arrival at Kyyiv's Boryspil Airport.

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

polarized. A complicated election law as well as voter burn-out some went to vote nine times made it cumbersome to elect people's deputies. T h e eastern r e g i o n s elected a majority of Communists, Socialists and Agrarians, while the west ern lands put democrats from myriad parties into office. Although there were 15 parties represented in the parlia mentary elections held in spring, many of the candidates ran as independents. Once elected, the deputies formed nine factions, including the Communist, Socialist, Agrarian, Yednist, inter-Regional Bloc, Center, Reform, National Rukh and Statehood (Derzhavnist). The largest faction was the Communist bloc, followed by the Agrarians, thus the left continued to hold the most power in the new Parliament. Nonetheless, the irre versible political restructuring of Ukrainian society had begun. it came as no surprise that Oleksander Moroz was elected Parliament chairman on May 18; the head of the Socialist Party won handily over vasyl Durdynets, gar nering 171 votes. (He needed 170 to win the position.) Left forces also c a p t u r e d key p o s i t i o n s in the Parliament, chairing such influential committees as for eign relations (Communist Boris Oliynyk) and defense (Socialist volodymyr Mukhin). Once elected, Mr. Moroz vowed to began the process of conciliation. "The one word by which 1 explain my feelings is responsibility. hope that we will be able to work to resolve the critical issues that have put this country in the dire situation it is in," he said. But, with Mr. Moroz at the helm, the leftist bloc in Parliament continued to postpone discussing issues to energize the economy. The left wing managed to put a freeze on privatiza tion before the Parliament adjourned for the summer holidays, and that moratorium was not lifted until early December. Privatization vouchers were delivered to Ukraine on December 2, and Ukraine's citizens will begin investing their privatization certificates in state enterprises in early 1995. Democrats did have one significant victory on November 10, when the powerful Communist Party of Ukraine, registered as a new political organization in October, 1993, claimed that it was the successor of the CPU, the Communist Party of Ukraine which was banned during the coup of August 1991. The new CPU wanted to inherit the property and funds of the first CPU, but the democrats managed to ban the first CPU, putting the issue to rest once and for all. The victory did not come easily, as the issue was reviewed twice in Parliament with the democrats charging violations in voting procedures. The election of Leonid Kuchma Leonid Kuchma was elected Ukraine's second presi dent on Sunday, July 10, beginning a new era for better or worse in Ukraine, it was a close race between Mr. Kravchuk and Mr. Kuchma, defined by a stark regional divide: the industrialized east pulled for closer ties with Russia, while the nationalistic west pushed for independent Ukraine's acceptance into the European community. Democrats worried that Mr. Kuchma would seek closer ties to Russia. Although he said he wanted to build a strong, independent Ukraine, the more national istic population in the western and central regions of Ukraine feared that once an economic union was signed with Ukraine's northern neighbor, a political union, once again putting Ukraine under Moscow's watchful eye, could not be far behind. "As president of Ukraine, 1 will always work in the interests of Ukraine as a whole, not in the interests of separate regions," said the president-elect, just one day after his victory. "The first thing 1 want is national reconciliation. What has been done during this presidential marathon is a crime. To say there is confrontation between the west and east is a political game." Mr. Kuchma began his presidency by showing that he was serious about economic reform. Just days after he assumed the country's top post, he met with Michel Camdessus, managing director of the international Monetary Fund, who hailed the election of Mr. Kuchma and said: "We now have a clear window of opportunity for action." The 1MF director said that during the next two months the fund would work with Ukrainian govern ment officials to help them deal with such problems as the inflation rate, stabilization of the economy and liber alization of prices, in return for unifying the exchange rate, lifting export restrictions and raising energy prices, the 1MF gave Ukraine a S365 million portion of a promised S730 million ''systematic transformation facil ity" loan. Ukraine still is waiting for a "standby arrange ment," which imposes stricter conditions but would give Ukraine another Si billion in exchange for the full free ing of prices and a reduction of the budget deficit to 5 percent of the GDP or less. (Currently the deficit is about 20 percent.) it was not only the 1MF that wanted to help with eco nomic reform, the G-7 (U.S., Great Britain, France, Germany, italy, Canada and Japan) leaders meeting in Naples on July 8-, offered Ukraine an aid package of S4.2 billion, including monies to shut down Chornobyl and provide the young country with the opportunity to qualify for large loans from the 1MF and the World Bank. Promoted by President Clinton, the package awarded to Ukraine was conditioned on the implemen tation of comprehensive economic reforms. By late October, President Kuchma had secured a Si.2 billion package in assistance from the G-7 coun tries during a special economic conference held in Winnipeg. Another S2.2 billion could be forthcoming in the new year, as the world's leading economic powers help move Ukraine from a centrally planned economy to a market-driven capitalist system. Part of the success Mr. Kuchma has enjoyed in getting Western aid for the beleaguered Ukrainian econo my was due to the fact that he is a stubborn and prag matic leader who presented a program of radical reform to the Parliament and had it approved. He won the support of a number of Western leaders, among them U.S. Yice President Al Gore, who arrived in Kyyiv on August 2, soon after Mr. Kuchma's elec tion. Although his visit to Ukraine was only six hours long, it was enough time to reaffirm America's commit ment to Ukraine and extend an invitation from President Clinton for Mr. Kuchma to visit Washington in late November. "There is a new intensity being brought to the mutual effort to improve the bilateral relationship between the two countries. A strong and prosperous and independent Ukraine is a stabilizing force for peace in Central Europe and throughout the entire region," said Mr. Gore. vice President Gore's visit to Ukraine was followed a week later by a high-level U.S. delegation. The group, headed by Assistant Secretary of State James Collins and Assistant Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, spent two days, August 10-11, outlining concrete programs for secu rity and economic cooperation between the countries. in order to reaffirm A m e r i c a ' s c o m m i t m e n t to U k r a i n e ' s independence, the American-Ukrainian Advisory Committee met in Kyyiv on September 24. The c o m m i t t e e , w h i c h b o a s t s such m e m b e r s as Zbigniew Brzezinski, Henry Kissinger and George Soros on the A m e r i c a n side and Deputy Foreign Minster Boris Tarasiuk, Deputy Prime Minister viktor Pynzenyk, Economics Minister Roman Shpek and eco nomics adviser volodymyr Lanovy on the Ukrainian team, issued a communique that praised President Kuchma's "courageous decision to take charge of eco nomic policy." A major step toward these long-delayed reforms came on October 19. After nearly nine hours of debate, a vote of 231-54 cleared the way for free market reforms previously blocked by Communist lawmakers, and allowed Ukraine to free prices, reduce state subsi dies, overhaul the tax system and push ahead with pri vatization, including private land ownership. " T h e r e is no going back to the Soviet U n i o n , " President Kuchma warned Parliament members, in an hour long speech, he told lawmakers that Ukraine "is on the verge of catastrophe," and there is no option other than his proposed program. Marking his first 100 days in office, he said on October 31: "1 will be uncompromising on two issues with the Parliament: 1 will not back down from the radi cal reform program and 1 will insist on strong executive powers." Mr. Kuchma said that Ukraine would suffer through its last, most difficult testing period and then promised that it would emerge as a country "worthy of our laborloving people, our grand past, our children and our grandchildren." With inflation running over 70 percent in November, the karbovanets trading at 130,000 to the dollar (it should be noted that the official bank rate of exchange and the street market rate were merging as the year ended), unemployment up and industrial production down, the citizens of Ukraine wished that the testing period was nearing a close. Currently, the average monthly wage is between S10 and S15; few people who work at state enterprises can afford to put meat, at S2.50 a kilo, on the dinner table. in order to move forward with economic reform, President Kuchma has placed heavy emphasis on stronger executive powers, issuing a draft law on divi sion of powers, delineating the responsibilities of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of govern ment, as well as local government, in effect, he has drafted a Small Constitution for Ukraine. Before it becomes legally binding, the document has to be approved by the Parliament. This will be a major issue in 1995, for it is unlikely the Parliament will allow the president to be so powerful that he rules essentially by decree. Mr. Kuchma is determined, however, to have a new Constitution adopted, if not by the Parliament, then by referendum. A Constitutional Committee, with repre sentatives from the Parliament and the president, was established on November 10 to move this process along. in the realm of e c o n o m i c policy, Mr. Kuchma appointed viktor Pynzenyk, who served as the deputy prime minister under Mr. Kuchma's prime ministership in 1992-1993, as first deputy prime minister in charge of economic reform. Gennadiy Udovenko, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the days of the Ukrainian SSR and as Ukraine's ambassador to Poland during the first years of Ukraine's independence, was named as Ukraine's foreign minister on August 25 and confirmed by the Parliament when it resumed its sessions on September 15. A senior statesman, he replaced Anatoliy Zlenko, who was transferred to New York, where he assumed the post of ambassador to the United Nations. Dr. Yuriy Shcherbak was appointed ambassador to the United States on October 21, after serving two and a half years as Ukraine's ambassador to lsraei. He left for Washington just weeks before President Kuchma's state visit to the White House. President Kuchma also appointed Ukraine's first civil ian to the post of defense minister, valeriy Shmarov, who had served as Ukraine's deputy prime minister in charge of the military industrial complex and defense conver sion, was approved by the Parliament in October. Mr. Kuchma also decided to seriously tackle the prob lem of corruption on a large scale; he appointed Yevhen Marchuk, who had been the former minister of Ukraine's Security Service (the renamed KGB), as deputy prime minister in charge of fighting crime and corruption. Recognizing the escalating problem of corruption on high levels and the increasing crime rate, the Ukrainian Ministry of internal Affairs addressed these issues, as well as drug trafficking, during a weeklong international conference in midAugust. Among the first alleged criminals involved in gov ernment corruption is Mr. Kuchma's successor as prime minister in 1993, Yukhym Zviahilsky, who is accused of e m b e z z l i n g S25 m i l l i o n in state funds. Mr. Zviahilsky, currently in lsraei for medical treatment, was stripped of his legal immunity by the Parliament on November 15. The Ukrainian government is beginning to crack down on other officials; an investigation of O l e k s a n d e r T k a c h e n k o , the d e p u t y c h a i r m a n of Parliament, is currently in progress. Deputy Prime Minister Marchuk was busy also with the issue of the Crimea and the Black Sea Fleet in the second half of 1994. The trouble on Ukraine's restive peninsula began in January, when Yuriy Meshkov was elected president of the Crimea. He began his tenure by calling a referendum on the Crimea's independence dur ing elections to the national Parliament on March 27. Although the Ukrainian government labeled the referen dum unconstitutional and President Kravchuk issued a decree on March 15, Mr. Meshkov continued to take steps to get closer to Russia, including decreeing that the peninsula's clocks run on Moscow time. Although Mr. Meshkov began what seemed to be a successful campaign for secession from Ukraine, he started losing ground as Russian senior officials refused to meet with him when he traveled to Moscow in February. And the world community was on the side of Ukraine, as at least eight countries sent messages of support to Ukraine, suggesting that the Crimean issue is an internal problem for Ukraine to resolve. By late May, Mr. Meshkov and the Crimean Parliament were working to adopt a Constitution that the Crimea, an autonomous republic of Ukraine, had original ly approved in May 1992, but which had been suspended by order of the Ukrainian parliament four months later. This charter would allow Crimea to form its own military forces, and to deal with Ukraine on the basis of treaties, as well as introduce Russian as the state language.

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

1994: THE YEAR 1N REY1EW

With this began a game of one-upmanship, as the Crimea passed its own laws and Kyyiv kept demanding that these laws comply with Ukrainian legislation. Although the Ukrainian Parliament ordered the Crimean lawmakers to retract the new Constitution within a 10-day period, all they were able to get from the renegade peninsula's officials was a statement acknowledging that the republic is "a part of Ukraine," and that "sections of their, Constitution do not corre spond to Ukrainian law." On June 30, the Crimean Parliament passed a resolu tion nullifying laws and resolutions passed by the Ukrainian Parliament; it demanded that the Ukrainian Ministry of internal Affairs stop interfering in the busi ness of the Crimea and threatened to hold a referendum to define the republic's status. During national presidential elections, the voters of the peninsula came out to cast their ballots for Leonid Kuchma, who received 89.7 percent of the Crimean vote, primarily because they were convinced he would promote closer ties to Russia. Talks continued between Crimean and Ukrainian deputies throughout the summer, but on August 30, a newspaper reported that President Meshkov planned to issue a decree suspending the Parliament, effective September 5. The decree was to bestow on President Meshkov all legislative and executive powers of the republic's government and be tested in a referendum. However, by September 7, the Crimean Parliament resumed its session and by a wide majority passed a bill designed to curtail President Meshkov's powers; later, working from the Procurator General's office, the Parliament declared his decree unconstitutional. By mid-September, the Parliament in the Crimea passed a law reorganizing the Crimean government. Crimean Deputy Prime Minister Yevgeniy Saburov resigned on September 16, and by the end of the month the Crimean Parliament voted to remove President Meshkov's powers as head of state. Deputy Prime Minister Marchuk, as well as members of Ukraine's Parliament, spent a good deal of time in the Crimea in the fall, as they negotiated with authori ties to bring Crimean legislation into line with Ukraine's and to mediate between the peninsula's two feuding powers, President Meshkov and the Crimean Parliament chaired by Sergei Tsekov. President Kuchma refused to take sides in the politi cal dispute and urged both branches to reach a "civi lized solution." The issue seemed to simmer down when Anatoliy Franchuk, Mr. Kuchma's daughter's father-inlaw was appointed prime minister of the Crimean republic on October 3. As The Economist wrote in November, "Nepotism-conscious Ukrainians assume this means the Crimean problem is as good as solved." A cholera epidemic that had plagued the peninsula and some southern cities of Ukraine during the autumn months was curbed by November, but not before it claimed 20 lives and infected over 800 people. The Ukrainian government allocated over S650,000 to stop the spread of the epidemic. Government officials blamed it on contaminated drinking water and deterio rating water systems. Deputies of the Sevastopil City Council voted on August 23 to give the city "Russian status," however, the Ukrainian Parliament on September 15 voted 303-5 to cancel the City Council's decision declaring Sevastopil Russian territory. The Sevastopil Council's claim was not supported by the Russian Parliament. This was not the first time the issue of Sevastopil had been raised since the disintegration of the Soviet Union, in December 1992, the Russian Parliament laid claims to the city, the home port of the Black Sea Fleet, how ever, since that time, the new Parliament in Russia has not touched the issue. Negotiations between Russia and Ukraine on the division of the Black Sea Fleet have included this sensi tive topic, with the Russian side claiming Sevastopil as the base of the Russian navy. The Black Sea Fleet negotiating teams, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Marchuk on the Ukrainian side and Special Envoy Yuri Dubinin from Russia, contin ued round upon round of talks, usually talking in cir cles. Fleet talks were cut short on a number of occasions throughout the year, ending in stalemates. The latest round, held in mid-December in Kyyiv, also collapsed. The Crimean Parliament voted unanimously on December 13 to appeal to the Russian and Ukrainian lead ers to keep the Black Sea Fleet as a single entity, an oper ational unit to serve the interests of the Commonwealth of independent States. it now seems that the Black Sea Fleet negotiations will have to start all over again, and it is unlikely that Presidents Kuchma and Yeltsin will meet for a summit and sign a charter on Ukrainian-Russian relations until this issue is resolved. Meetings between Messrs. Kuchma and Yeltsin have been delayed at least three times, with the latest scheduled for early 1995 in Kyyiv. Russia has continued to show its imperialistic fangs, as it has insisted on being mediator in the West's dealings with former Soviet states. This was evident when Russia's Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev made a surprise appearance before world financial officials in Winnipeg in late October to press Russia's case for a role in Ukraine's economic reforms. Again, at the CSCE meeting in Budapest, the Russian delegation demanded that Ukraine submit yet another qualifying diplomatic note on its non-nuclear status before agreeing to give Ukraine the security assurances it had been promised. Although Ukraine has yet to enter any partnerships with Russia, it became an associate member of the OS economic union on April 15, which gives it representa tion in all structures of the C1S Economic Union, but limits its role within the body to specific agreements. On October 21, the leaders of 12 former Soviet republics formed the interstate Economic Committee, forging closer economic ties between the countries of the former Soviet Union. "There are two paths we can follow," President Kuchma told reporters in Moscow in late October. "We can continue doing what we have done until now that is nothing, or we can take the radical path. That's a long-term program, but i'm counting on the sound minds of all the countries of the OS, in forming one economic space." As the year drew to a close, the OS summit sched uled for Alma-Ata had been postponed until February. And with war raging in Grozny, it was unlikely that OS issues would be a priority in the near future. Earlier this year, The Economist wrote that change is inevitable in Ukraine but it might not be for the better, indeed, President Kuchma has warned that things will get worse before they get better for Ukraine's citizens. But, as Ukraine did discover in 1994, the one thing more destabi lizing than radical reform is too little reform. "Ukraine could be the economic success story of 1995," says John Mroz, director of the institute for East-West Studies in New York. Ukraine now has a leader committed to reforms, who has been able to woo the Western financial community and win pledges of assistance, if he can persuade the Ukrainian Parliament to see things his way and keep his northern neighbor Russia at an arm's length from Ukraine's domestic affairs, 1995 may just be the year of Ukraine.

Leonid Kuchma Ukrainian Parliament, who formed the Moscow-cen tered Republican Party of the Crimea, were the front runners, with Mr. Grach the overwhelming favorite. Mr. Meshkov upset all predictions by taking 38.5 percent of the vote, more than doubling the tally for Mr. Bagrov, his closest competitor, who received 17.5 per cent. Because no one candidate garnered the 50 percent voter approval necessary, a run-off was scheduled for two weeks later between the top two finishers. However, it soon became apparent that Mr. Bagrov was not actively campaigning. On January 18, he had stated he was thinking about withdrawing from the race. His caution was not surprising given the violence that surrounded the candidates during the campaign. A day after his statement, his economic aide, iskander Mametov, a member of Parliament and a Crimean Tatar, was shot and killed while driving to meet Mr. Bagrov. in December 1993, an attempt had been made to blow up Mr. Mametov's home. Other violent incidents included a December 1993 beating of Mr. Meshkov, in which the assailants left him for dead; the killing of the head of a small pro-Russian faction of Crimean Tatars, Yuriy Osmanov, which was followed by a retribution bombing of the building of the radical and pro-Ukrainian Crimean Tatar Mejlis; and the suspicious death of Ukrainian parliamentarian Yakiv Apter, the head of the political party Union in Support of the Crimean Republic, in a car accident. Most of the problems in the Crimea can be traced to its push towards Moscow, in this peninsula the effort was not entirely unforeseeable, as about 70 percent of the population is Russian, many pensioners who retired comfortably to their Black Sea dachas, only to see the declining economy destroy their savings. Mr. Meshkov had called for closer ties to Russia, especially economic, a return to the ruble zone and the introduction of Russian as the official language. Many in Kyyiv thought he was a surrogate of Moscow in the Crimea, planted to set reunification in motion. Of the six candidates, only Mr. Bagrov favored maintaining close ties with Kyyiv. in the run-off, the 48-year-old Mr. Meshkov destroyed Mr. Bagrov at the polls, 73 percent to 23 percent. He quickly pointed out that he had never called for closer ties to Russia. He said, "1 am for a free Crimea, it needs economic independence." He then officially called for an all-Crimean referendum on independence, which he proposed should be held in conjunction with elections to the Ukrainian Parliament scheduled for March. He had ini tially proposed the idea the night before the elections in a surprise appearance on Crimean . Mr. Meshkov enumerated four points of his agenda after his victory: renew economic associations with Moscow; re-establish agricultural and heavy industry trade with Russia; redevelop tourism. He called estab lishing a ruble zone a secondary issue. The Crimean Tatars reacted strongly. The leader of the Crimean Tatar Meijlis, Mustafa Jemilev, called Mr, Meshkov's victory "the beginning of the Crimean Tatar tragedy." He accijsefi Mr. Meshkov of stuffing ballots, but election observers from the West among them repre

Elections... elections... and more elections

erhaps 1994 will be remembered as the year Ukraine gave up its nukes, or the year in which Ukraine was finally accepted by the West as a major player on the international scene. However, the reality of Ukraine 1994 was elections... elections... and more elections 6 bazil lion rounds were held before we lost count. The electorate in some districts of Kyyiv went to the polls eight times without successfully electing a deputy, voter turn-out diminished with each subsequent round. By November, 10 percent of the 450 seats still were not filled and vast amounts of money already had been spent. Foreseeing little benefit in continuing the impo tent process, the Ukrainian Parliament decided too much is too much and suspended any further balloting. it was a year in which three major elections were held in this fledgling country of 52.6 million people, each one going more than one round: two rounds before a Ukrainian president was elected; two rounds before a president of Ukraine's autonomous Republic of the Crimea gathered a majority of votes; and, of course, eight rounds and counting before a full Parliament is seated. Crimea: elections amid violence and conflict

The first to exercise their franchise were the Crimeans. The autonomous republic, which was increasingly working according to its own agenda, scheduled elections to the republic's presidency for January 16. Mykola Bagrov, president of the Crimean Parliament; Leonid Grach, first secretary of the Crimean Parliament; and Yuriy Meshkov, a member of the

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

sentatives from NATO, the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe and the National Democratic institute called them "generally open and democratic." The idea for the referendum quickly received a failing grade in Kyyiv. After several consultations between Ukraine's President Leonid Kravchuk and Mr. Meshkov, the president on March 15 annulled the referendum, call ing the action unconstitutional. Undaunted, Mr. Meshkov turned the plebiscite into an opinion poll and put forth two questions regarding a move toward further autonomy: retainment of the right to make agreements with Ukraine via treaty; adoption of dual citizenship with Russia, onto a separate ballot. Both issues passed handily on March 27, supported by some 70 to 90 per cent of the electorate (Ukraine cited lower figures than did the Crimea), and would be the seed for a showdown between Symferopil and Kyyiv at the end of May that would leave the two on the brink of armed conflict. The endless elections to Parliament The conventional wisdom regarding elections to Ukraine's Parliament was that more than one round would be needed to elect a full body of 450 deputies. Most foresaw a second round; maybe one more complete iteration of two rounds with new candidates, if those in the initial run-off did not receive the needed votes. No one thought that at year's end 10 percent (45 seats) of Parliament's deputies would still remain unelected. The problem became the election law itself, which was roundly criticized by most Western experts, it was vehe mently defended by the head of Ukraine's Central Electoral Commission, ivan Yemets, until it became clear that the electoral process had gone into an infinite loop. Only then did he admit that something was amiss. What was wrong was a law that delineated that at least 50 per cent of those eligible would have to vote in any given dis trict before a victor could emerge. The winner would be the person to receive a majority of the votes cast, but not less than a total of 25 percent from all eligible voters. Only 300 signatures were required for a candidate's name to appear on a ballot, so everybody and their sisterin-law' s aunt entered to run in the free-for-all called Ukraine's first democratic parliamentary elections. For example, in one Kyyiv electoral district 27 candidates were on the ballot, a rather drastic change from a Communistera ballot that usually gave the voter a choice of one. The large number of candidates, in effect, fragmented the elec torate and made it almost impossible for any one candidate to get the votes needed to win. At the deadline, 5,802 can didates were registered for the 450 parliamentary seats. Another part of the problem was that, although the top two vote-getters were allowed to go head to head in a second round when needed, if neither one again received sufficient votes, both were disqualified from running in any further run-offs. Many of the most qualified became disqualified after the second round because voter turnout was less than 50 percent. This left voters discouraged and unwilling to cast any further ballots in future rounds. As the March 27 election date drew near, members of the Ukrainian diaspora began to appear in Kyyiv orga nizing programs to bring out the youth vote, which

many considered the key to victory by the reformers and democrats. Two major actions took place. First, a project called Youth Alternative, sponsored by a S57,000 grant from the Ukrainian National Association (UNA) and organized by Freedom House, established a network of students from several Ukrainian student organizations and tasked them with organizing and promoting voter turnout by the youth throughout Ukraine. One leader of Youth Alternative, Luba Shara, put it this way: "People should not be apa thetic." She said that if students do not vote they have no right to complain about the system later. "We cannot let the old-timers tell us how to live," she said. The effort also included appealing to the youth through the music medium they are most comfortable with. So several successful rock concerts emphasizing the need to vote and starring some of Ukraine's most renowned rock bands were held in several cities, includ ing Kyyiv and Kharkiv. The Election Preparedness Civic Education Program, sponsored by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA), also jumped into the get-out-the youth-vote effort. They organized two hugely success ful rock concerts in Kyyiv and Donetske, and developed a pre-election television ad campaign. A press center called Elections '94 was established in the Ukrainian Home on the Khreshchatyk on February 9. Supported by money from the UCCA and UACC, the center was run by members of the Ukrainian and Western press and was the subject of some controversy. The week prior to the election, observers from the West began to descend on Kyyiv in preparation for assignments throughout Ukraine. More than 500 observers from 53 countries gathered. The list of observers ranged from NATO, United Nations and CSCE representatives to members from the UACC and the UCCA. Their mission, as they saw it, was to pas sively observe how elections were run, to look for fla grant violations of democratic election norms and gath er data, which they hoped would be used by the Ukrainian government in fine-tuning its roughly cut electoral process. Problems developed from the outset. Two days before the election the Central Electoral Commission had not yet released the complete list of candidates, which brought complaints from Alfred DeZayas, repre sentative for United Nations Secretary General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and head of the U.N. observer delega tion. Marta Baziuk, of the National Democratic institute (ND1), said the CEC had resisted ND1 requests for information and clarification of issues. "They just seem above it all," she said. At a briefing for the foreign press by Elections '94, its director, Roman Zvarych, warned, "They (CEC) have called us illegitimate. You understand that this makes us bastards." But in the end the monitor's fears proved unfounded. They were given open access to almost all areas and called the elections "open and democratic," although most cited flaws in the election process and infractions of common Western voting procedures considered cus

tomary in this country. For example, Lord Finsberg, leader of the Council of Europe monitors, observed more than one voter entering the voting booth. Also, it was not unusual to see one voter carrying several indi vidual's passports and voting for them. Lord Finsberg said he would mention the problem in his report. What was most surprising was that 75 percent of Ukraine's eligible voters turned out. Many experts had feared that voter apathy would result in a very weak turnout, throwing the whole process into turmoil. However, even with three-quarters of the electorate voting, only 49 of the 450 seats were filled, due to the aforemen tioned large numbers of candidates on the various ballots. The initial run-off proved more successful in getting candidates elected. After the second round 338 deputies had been elected as strong voter turnout continued to surprise experts, important also was that more than 300 elected deputies allowed for a quorum and for the new Parliament to be seated. The Communist Party of Ukraine took the most seats with 83. Together with the Socialist Party and the Agrarians, they would form the largest bloc with 118 votes. Rukh picked up only 20 seats and was generally considered the loser, independents took 170 seats and were in a position to form the strongest bloc in the Parliament. New elections with new candidates were scheduled for July 10 to fill the 112 still-vacant seats. The follow ing rounds produced only 67 more deputies before vot ing was suspended. Kyyiv, which had the lowest voter turnout throughout the election, was left with only seven of its 23 seats filled. Kuchma and Kravchuk battle for the presidency The presidential election was scheduled for June 10, a date that President Leonid Kravchuk had chosen to placate striking Donetske miners. However, on February 19 Mr. Kravchuk dropped a bombshell when he announced that he would not run in re-elections. Speaking with reporters from Der Spiegel and Radio Liberty, he said he felt he should refrain from running and maintain diligence over government as the change in power occurs. Specifically, he said there was insuffi cient time between the presidential elections and ones for Parliament for the legislative body to get settled. "This could lead to a power vacuum," said the presi dent. "if the president also dedicates himself to re-elec tion, the executive organs could collapse and adminis trative bodies disintegrate." Many believed he was positioning himself to cancel the elections, which he was not too keen on holding if only because his popularity was hitting bottom. But with 338 deputies already elected, his claims of a power vacuum were losing validity. The Parliament, quickly having elected a speaker and confirmed a prime minister, voted on June 2 to hold elections, despite President Kravchuk's calls to delay the vote for national security reasons. The next day the president again suffered a setback when the Parliament voted to hold elections to oblast and regional councils that would replace local presiden tial representatives.

Marta Kolomayets

Roman Woronowycz

Leonid Kravchuk

Yuriy Meshkov

Mustafa Jemilev

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

Getting one's name on the presidential ballot was a two-stage process. First, a person had to be put forth by a political party of at least 1,000 members or a voter's initiative group, which could be anything from a work er's collective to a group of people united for a candi date, and then registered with the CEC. in addition, the voter's initiative was required to submit at least 500 sig natures with the registration. The second step required obtaining the signatures of 100,000 registered voters with at least 1,500 of them being collected in each of 300 of the 450 electoral districts. Seven candidates ful filled the requirements. They were: President Kravchuk; former Chairman of Parliament, 1 van Pliushch; newly elected Chairman of Parliament Oleksander Moroz; Leonid Kuchma, head of the inter-Regional Bloc of Reforms; volodymyr Lanovy, director of the Center for Market Reforms; Petro Talanchuk, minister of education; and valeriy Babych, president of the Ukrainian Financial Group. Mr. Kravchuk maintained that he would not run and that the elections were no better than a glorified referen dum on the presidency. Then suddenly on April 29, he did an about-face and declared his intention to run. "Leonid Kravchuk's consent to be a candidate indicates that he is not afraid of the elections," said his domestic policy aide, Mykola Mykhalchenko. Other politicians had also suggested that perhaps early summer was not the best time to hold elections, so soon after elections to Parliament. They included Rukh leader vyacheslav Chornovil and a leader of the Ukrainian Republican Party, Levko Lukianenko. A week before elections, the two Leonids, Kuchma and Kravchuk, were the clear favorites, close enough that experts predicted that a run-off would be required. They were right as President Kravchuk captured 37.72 percent of the vote and Leonid Kuchma was supported by 31.27 percent of the populace. Heavy turnout was reported with 68 percent of those eligible exercising their franchise. After them came Oleksander Moroz at 13 percent and volodymyr Lanovy with 9 percent. Because neither of the front-runners garnered the 50 percent needed for victory, the second round was sched uled for July 10. Mr. Kuchma, the 55-year-old industri alist from Dnipropetrovske, once head of the world's largest missile factory, Pivdenmash, outdistanced Ukraine's first president, Mr. Kravchuk, 52 percent to 45 percent with more than 71 percent of those eligible voting. Election monitors again called the elections rela tively free and fair. Mr. Kuchma ran on a platform of closer economic ties with Moscow, introduction of Russian as an official language and the need for implementing market reforms in Ukraine. With their vote the population told Mr. Kravchuk that his paralysis as to where to go with the failing economic situation would no longer be tolerated. But like a phoenix he rose from the ashes. On September 25, he won a seat to Parliament from the Terebovlia district of Ternopil, garnering 87 percent of the vote as elections continued to try to fill the empty seats in Parliament. ^^^ -w - v ^ ^

in the United States: "Year of Ukraine"

both meetings, community leaders expressed their con cern about a U.S. foreign policy that seemed to focus almost solely on Russia while the administration contin ually reassured the community that Ukraine was impor tant to the U.S. Throughout the year, numerous follow-up meetings between the community leadership and administration officials, including National Security Advisor Anthony Lake, National Security Council (NSC) directors Nick Burns and Rose Gottemoeller, and Ambassador at Large for the New independent States (N1S) James Collins took place. The meetings served as a forum for adminis tration officials to brief the community on the status of relations between the United States and Ukraine, and for the community to voice its concerns about the direc tionof U.S. policy. On February 10, the community leadership also met with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R. Ky.), the ranking minority member of the Senate Appropriations' Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, to discuss its concerns, in 1993, Sen. McConnell became a leading spokesman for increased foreign assistance for Ukraine. On a regular basis, the Washington offices of the Ukrainian National Association (UNA) and the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) met with both administration officials and members of Congress and their staff regarding aspects of the bilater al relationship that was developing between Ukraine and the United States. Sen. Mitch McConnell Ukraine emerged as a major focus of Congressional debate and activity throughout the year. Numerous con with all the Democrats voting against, the House con gressional hearings on the N1S focused on issues per ferees voted not to accept the Senate provision. The taining to Ukraine. Early in the year, Ambassador conference did, however, agree to urge, but not manStrobe Talbott testified before the Senate date, Si50 million of assistance to Ukraine, a compro Appropriations' Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, mise similar to one in 1993. the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Senate While the level of U.S. foreign assistance to Ukraine Foreign Relations Committee. Later, Ambassador was an issue throughout the year, so was the method of Collins testified before the Senate Appropriations' delivery of that assistance. Many Ukrainian American Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, the House community organizations found the foreign assistance Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe and the grant process complicated and insurmountable. Most Middle East, and the Senate Foreign Relations that succeeded to overcome the complexity of the appli Committee, in April, UNA Washington Office Director cation process were disappointed that their proposals Eugene iwanciw testified before the House were turned down. Many organizations also learned that Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Relations. they could not apply to work solely in Ukraine; they had in May, the Commission on Security and to work in other nations as well. At the same time, com Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), known as the Helsinki plaints started to reach the community that Ukrainians Commission, held two hearings; one focusing on participating in U.S. Agency for international Ukraine and the other on Russia. Adrian Karatnycky, Development (USA1D) programs were forced to use executive director of Freedom House, and irina isakova, Russian rather than Ukrainian in the training programs. a visiting fellow at the Brookings institute and the head in February, The Wall Street Journal ran a two-part of the Department of U.S. Policy in European Post- series on U.S. foreign assistance to Poland and Russia. Soviet Studies, institute of the U.S.A. and Canada in The articles were a major indictment of U.S. foreign Moscow, participated in the CSCE briefing on Ukraine. assistance. Many of the issues raised in the articles were Ambassador Collins, Paul Goble, senior associate of the similar to complaints being received from Kyyiv, i.e. Carnegie Endowment for international Peace, and most of the assistance went to U.S. consultants who Ronald Sumy, professor of history at the University of expended the resources on travel, high salaries, and lux Michigan, testified at the May 24 hearing on Russia, urious accommodations with little benefit provided to which also addressed Ukrainian issues. the recipient nation. Another frequently heard complaint The various hearings demonstrated both a gradual was that assistance programs were not geared to the needs of Ukraine or other specific countries but were change in administration policy toward Ukraine and dis agreement among experts about the relationship the designed and implemented on a regional basis, i.e., all 12 countries within the MS. These programs were often United States should pursue with both Russia and Ukraine. Many members of Congress and outside run out of Moscow and utilized only the Russian lan experts remained critical of the Clinton administration's guage. U.S. policy toward Ukraine was not considered only "Russia-first" policy. Nowhere were the differences between the adminis on a bilateral basis. Often, the "Ukrainian issue" arose tration and Congress more evident than in the foreign in a broader context, increasing concern about an aid appropriations process. On June 23, the Senate expanding Russian "sphere of influence," became both erhaps 1994 can best be described as a year of a focus of debate in Washington and the news media rapid change: change in the relationship of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee adopted a foreign assistance bill which earmarked, from the S900 million and a congressional issue. United States and Ukraine and in the relationship N1S account, Si50 million for Ukraine, in introducing The Central and East European Coalition, an ad hoc of each government to its citizens. this amendment, Sen. McConnell said, "1 am moving to committee of 16 national organizations representing 12 Early in the year, vice-President Al Gore proclaimed earmark funds for Ukraine once again, because 1 believe Central and East-European ethnic groups including the 1994 as the "Year of Ukraine." This slogan was reiterat the administration will only provide assistance if they UNA and the UCCA, began playing a greater role in ed numerous times by the Clinton administration, are directed to do so." He heavily criticized the adminis Washington. At the end of 1993, the coalition initiated a including by the president himself. While the meaning tration for providing so little assistance to Ukraine, grass-roots campaign against U.S. acceptance of a with which the slogan was proclaimed only served to claiming that for "1991, 1992 and 1993, Ukraine has Russian "sphere of influence," which it dubbed "Yalta disappoint the leadership of Ukraine, in many ways actually seen a little over S40 million" as contrasted to ." Throughout the year, the coalition met with various 1994 was the "Year of Ukraine." Policies of and events the administration plans to "spend Si.6 billion in policy-makers, including Senate Foreign Relations in Ukraine played a major role in shaping U.S. and Russia" in 1994. Committee Chairman Claiborne Pell (D-R.L), Sen. John international policy. On July 15, the Senate passed the Foreign Assistance Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. McConnell, Rep. Richard Durbin Whether relations between the Clinton administration Act for fiscal year 1995 with the Ukrainian earmark in (D-11L), and NSC officials Mr. Burns and Ambassador and the UkrainianAmerican community have improved place. Since the House failed to earmark aid to Ukraine, Richard Shifter. during the course of the year is subject to debate, but the item became a contentious issue when the HouseMembers of the coalition turned down an invitation to during 1994 they did establish a more open channel of Senate Conference Committee met on July 28 to resolve the White House to welcome Russian President Boris communications. the differences between their respective bills. House Yeltsin and. instead, held a press conference, aired on C On January 6, after a major foreign policy speech in j Foreign Operations' Chairman David Obey (D-Wisc.) SPAN, calling attention to Russia's aggression against Milwaukee, vice-President Gore met with a delegation j and the administration lobbied strongly against the pro- its neighbors and U.S. failure to oppose those policies. of Ukrainian Americans. This was followed by a vision, while Sens. McConnell, Frank Lautenberg (D During its press conference, coalition members accused February 10 White House meeting between the leader- N.J.), Phil Gramm (R-Texas), and Rep. Bob Livingston Russia of using "peacekeeping" as a cover for expan ship of the community and President Bill Clinton, in (R-La.) argued for the earmark, in a party line vote, 1 sionism and noted that some foreign policy experts

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

111
claimed that the United States traded Georgia for Haiti, i.e. the U.S. did not oppose Russian "peacekeeping in Georgia" so that Russia would not oppose a U.S. inva sion of Haiti. The coalition also initiated another grassroots campaign aimed at members of Congress regarding Russia's foreign policy. Working as a team, the member-organizations of the coalition supported the earmark of foreign assistance to Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia; the expansion of NATO to Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia; the cutoff of aid to Russia if Russian troops were not withdrawn from the Baltic states by August 31, and 28 specific recommendations for reform of foreign assis tance. The effectiveness of the coalition was first felt on March 24 when Sen. McConnell added an amendment on U.S. policy towards Russian acts of aggression to the Congressional Budget Resolution of 1994. A similar amendment by Sen. McConnell, enacted as part of the Foreign Assistance Authorization Act, required the administration to report to Congress on Russian aggres sion against its neighbors. Senate passage of earmarked assistance to Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia and numerous provisions on the expansion of NATO were also initia tives of the coalition. The NATO,provisions were authored by Sens. McConnell, Hank Brown (R-Colo.), Paul Simon (D-lll.) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md). During this period, a number of articles began appearing in newspapers and journals calling attention to Russia's claims of a "sphere of influence." in an August 8 op-ed in The Washington Post, columnist Lally Weymouth discussed the Senate initiatives and the Clinton administration's opposition to all of them. She wrote that "the message that tRep. DavidJ Obey and company twho actively promoted the administra tion' s position! sent to Moscow was that Washington is pursuing a Russia-first policy." She went on to quote UNA Washington Director iwanciw as saying: "if were sitting in Ukraine, 1 would conclude that the U.S. isn't a very good ally and that Russia does not keep its commitments - and Fd have second thoughts about getting rid of my nuclear weapons. To Moscow, the mes sage is, 'Whatever you want you will get.' " During congressional consideration of the Foreign Assistance Act, the coalition was also successful in enacting three of its recommendations for reform of USA1D. The amendments included a requirement that 50 percent of the funding be for country specific programs, a report on "steps being taken to include individ uals and organizations with language of regional exper tise in the provision of assistance," and a report to the Appropriations Committee on "each grant and contract." Later in the year, the administration proposed legisla tion that would overhaul U.S. foreign assistance and USA1D. While congressional committees began to review the proposals, time simply ran out. On December 12, Sen. McConnell, in a surprise move, announced plans to introduce legislation in January that would reor ganize U.S. foreign assistance, abolish USA1D, earmark assistance for Ukraine, and condition assistance to Russia based on its treatment of its neighbors. The number of official Ukrainian delegations visiting Washington in 1994 was unprecedented. The year began with a January 23 visit by a 15-member econom ics delegation headed by Economics Minister Roman Shpek. The delegation met with U.S. officials from the Departments of State, Commerce, Agriculture and Defense, the National Security Council, the Exportimport (Ex-lm) Bank, as well as with international organizations such as the World Bank and the international Monetary Fund. The meetings launched an almost yearlong effort to secure economic loans and credits for Ukraine, which came to fruition only near the end of the year. in February, the American-Ukrainiain Advisory Committee, organized by Dr; Zbigniew Brzezinski, held its first meeting in Washington. Ukrainians attending the meeting included Anton Buteiko, advisor to the President of Ukraine; Yolodymyr Hryniov, people's deputy, Parliament of Ukraine; Kostiantyn Morozov, former minister of defense of Ukraine; Dmytro Pavlychko, chairman, Permanent Committee on Foreign Affairs, Parliament of Ukraine; victor Pynzenyk, peo ple's deputy, Parliament of Ukraine, former deputy prime minister for economic reform; volodymyr Sumin, chairman, Council of Entrepreneurs of Ukraine; and Borys Tarasyuk, deputy minister of foreign affairs. U.S. members of the Advisory Committee include: Counselor Brzezinski; Dwayne Andreas, chairman and chief executive officer, Archer Daniels Midland Co.; Frank Carlucci, former secretary of defense; Malcolm S. Forbes Jr., editor-in-chief, Forbes magazine; Gen. John R. Galvin (U.S. Army-Ret.), former supreme allied commander, Europe; Michael H. Jordan, chairman and chief executive officer, Westinghouse Electric Corp.; Henry Kissinger, CS1S counselor and former secretary of state; George Soros, Soros Fund Management. On March 3, President Leonid Kravchuk visited Washington for the third time (his second visit as presi dent). The highlight of the visit was a commitment by the United States to give greater economic assistance to Ukraine in light of the signing of the Trilateral Agreement on Nuclear Arms in January and the ratifica tion of START 1 by the Ukrainian Parliament. Leonid Kuchma made his second visit to Washington, albeit as a private citizen, in April. This was followed by a May visit by Deputy Prime Minister of Military and Defense valeriy Shmarov, a June visit by Defense Minister vitaliy Radetsky, and an October visit by Chairman of the Parliament Oleksander Moroz. Mr. Shmarov made a return visit in November as defense minister, in each of these visits, as well as with visits by lower-ranking officials, the Ukrainians met with key administration and Congressional leaders to discuss subjects ranging from economic relations to space cooperation. The parade of visitors culminated with the state visit of President Kuchma in November. Washington's relations with Kyyiv throughout the year were also the product of events taking place within both countries and around the world. Clearly, Ukraine's ratification of START early in the year and the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in November had major implications for the developing relationship. However, the political crisis in Ukraine in early 1994, which was resolved by parliamentary and presidential elections, also played a key role in the developing partnership. The elec tion of former Communists to the new Parliament created concern among many Washington policy-makers. That was followed by the election of Mr. Kuchma as presi dent. While the Clinton administration was, at first, cool to the new president, relations warmed quickly. On the other side of the Atlantic, the United States went through a major political revolution on November 8 with the Republican takeover of both houses of Congress, a serious political setback for President Clinton. While the broader implications of this election are still being analyzed, it spells mixed blessings for Ukraine. While many Republican members of Congress, who have been supportive of Ukraine, are now in leadership positions, the elected-Republican majority has vowed to cut the federal budget, which could have adverse implications on foreign assistance, in other words, while Ukraine will probably be receiv ing an increased share of the foreign assistance pie, the pie may be much smaller. On April 30, President Clinton signed into law the Foreign Assistance Authorization Act, which brought to a close the long-running debate on the future of Radio Free Europe7Radio Liberty (RFE7RL). The law contains the U.S. international Broadcasting Act, which estab lishes within the U.S. information Agency a nine-mem ber Broadcasting Board of Governors "to direct and supervise" all U.S. non-military foreign broadcasting services, including voice of America (vOA), Worldnet, RFE7RL Radio Cuba, Tv Cuba, and Radio Free Asia, which is established by the act. While supporters of RFE7RL viewed this as a victory, concern about the future of all foreign broadcasting became an issue later in the year with major budget cutbacks for both vOA and RFE7RL. The Foreign Assistance Authorization Act also extended for two years the "Lautenberg Amendment," which provides for the granting of refugee status to 1,000 Ukrainian Catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox annually. At about the same time, the U.S. government announced that citizens of Ukraine would be eligible to apply for the Diversity immigrant visa Lottery for 1994. Under this program 55,000 permanent resident visas will be allotted through a worldwide lottery. in September, the Ukrainian American community, once again, celebrated the anniversary of Ukrainian independence in Congress with a reception organized by the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council (UACC) and the UCCA. Members of Congress, staff and Embassy officials participated in the celebration. On September 12, Ukraine's first ambassador to the United States, Oleh Bilorus, bid good-bye and departed Washington for home. On October 21, President Kuchma announced that Yuriy Shcherbak, former min ister of the environment and ambassador to israel, would serve as the second ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S. Ambassador Shcherbak arrived in Washington just prior to President Kuchma's state visit. As the year was winding down, the Department of State launched a reorganization effort which would divide the European Bureau into smaller components. Under the plan, Russia, Ukraine and the other former republics of the Soviet Union would be in a separate Eurasia Bureau. Key Members of Parliament including the incoming Chairman of the House international Relations Committee Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.) and Sen. Hank Brown, spurred by protests from the UNA and UCCA Washington offices, put a hold on the reor ganization, which will remain unresolved until 1995. The year in Washington closed out with the December 12 celebration of the 45th anniversary of the Ukrainian Language Service of the voice of America. The current chief of the Ukrainian Branch, Wolodymyr Bilajiw, recounted the history of the service, the impor tant role it played in providing timely and accurate information to Ukraine during the Soviet period, and the changing role that vOA plays in an independent Ukraine.

Ukraine's presidents in the United States

uring 1994 the Clinton administration shifted from its earlier policy of alienating a nuclear Ukraine to the United States playing broker to the Tripartite Agreement of January 14 between Ukraine, Russia and the U.S., cajoling Ukraine along the path of economic reform with the promise of expanded U.S. assistance, and hosting Ukraine's two presidents to official Washington visits. With Ukraine committed to disarming its nuclear arse nal, President Leonid Kravchuk, prior to his departure to Washington for a March 3-5 official working visit to reap the rewards, told a press conference, "This visit will become the turning point in relations between the United States and Ukraine." President Kravchuk, independent Ukraine's first leader, is the former Communist Party ide ologue turned nationalist whose administration had focused largely on establishing a Ukrainian identity inde pendent of the Soviet Union. On March 4 U.S. President Bill Clinton announced at a joint press conference at the White House that the United States would expand its assistance package to Ukraine to S700 million through 1995. Half of the S700 million was Nunn-Lugar funds allocated for dismantling Ukraine's nuclear weapons, Si75 million of which was promised to Ukraine in May 1993. in a Joint Statement on the Development of U.S. Ukrainian Friendship and Cooperation signed by Presidents Kravchuk and Clinton, the United States affirmed the importance of Ukraine's "sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity" and stated that it and "other nations are prepared to extend, in the form of a multilateral document, security assurances to Ukraine once the START 1 Treaty enters into force and Ukraine becomes a non-nuclear-weapon state party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty." it was Ukraine's no-nonsense second president, Leonid Kuchma, however, who pushed ratification of the NPT through the Ukrainian Parliament and received the promised security assurances from the United States, Russia and Great Britain on December 5. During President Kravchuk's official working visit, the seed for Ukraine's economic reform was planted by the Clinton administration. The United States extended Generalized System of Preference (GSP) status to Ukraine, which provided the former Soviet republic with duty-free access into the U.S. market for 4,400 products, and supported Ukraine's interest in applying for GATT membership. The two countries agreed to establish a special Bilateral Commission on Trade and investment to expand commercial relations, co-chaired by Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and Foreign Economic Relations Minister Serhiy Osyka, which held its inau gural meeting during the November 21-23 official state visit of President Kuchma. Presidents Kravchuk and Clinton signed an Avoidance of Double Taxation Treaty and a Bilateral investment Treaty, which provides comprehensive pro tection for investors in Ukraine, but stipulated that the agreements needed to be accompanied by administra tive, tax, regulatory and legislative changes in Ukraine to improve the over-all climate for investment and to

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

1994: THE YEAR 1N REY1EW

provide the necessary security and stability that investors seek. in addition, the U.S.'s expanded economic assistance to Ukraine of S350 million, double the amount promised in January by President Clinton in Kyyiv, hinged on Ukraine proceeding with its reform process and stipulated that full disbursement of assistance was contingent on Ukraine taking concrete steps toward eco nomic reform. A Joint Statement on Economic and Commercial Cooperation signed by Presidents Kravchuk and Clinton specifically addressed this issue and noted that "The United States and Ukraine acknowledge, however, that before the full potential of their trade and economic cooperation can be realized, Ukraine must intensify adoption of a free-market system, including such ele ments as a dynamic private sector, the freeing of prices, and a fully convertible currency." Much of the assistance the U.S. committed to Ukraine was not disbursed following the March meet ing, as President Kravchuk was unable to push through economic reform. The United States also stated that it was "prepared to exercise leadership within the G-7 to mobilize addition al, multilateral assistance to support a comprehensive reform program." The pledge bore fruit. The United States was instrumental in mobilizing a G-7 assistance package in Naples in July, an 1MF recov ery plan released in Madrid in September, and another G-7 assistance plan pledged in Winnipeg in October. The U.S. also negotiated a debt deferral program between Russia and Ukraine, and a rescheduled pay ment plan between Ukraine and Turkmenistan. "We have emerged on a new and very clear path. Relations between Ukraine and the United States are now those of two friendly countries with similar strate gic concerns," said President Kravchuk of his official working visit. Mr. Kravchuk also said the process of denucleariza tion will help facilitate the process of economic transformation. "When we eliminate all the nuclear weapons in Ukraine, we will be getting rid of financial obliga tions associated with them, and will open the doors for Western reform programs to come to Ukraine. But would like to state that the process of nuclear disarma ment in Ukraine is not directly linked with economic reforms in Ukraine. We have always treated this prob lem in relation to security guarantees, so when we talk about linkage, we mean the probable consequences of the processes," he explained. When President Kuchma arrived in Washington for his November 21-23 official state visit, he came armed with Parliament's accession to the NPT and a radical economic reform program for Ukraine. "We have observed what influence the United States has on other countries' relations with Ukraine, and this has been both positive and negative," President Kuchma told a press conference prior to his departure. President Clinton repeatedly praised Mr. Kuchma during the pre-Thanksgiving summit for resolving Ukraine's nuclear future and reforming its stagnant economy, in light of Ukraine's accession to the NPT, President Clinton announced at a joint press confer ence at the Old E x e c u t i v e Office B u i l d i n g on November 22 that the United States, Russia and Great Britain would provide Ukraine with security assur ances on December 5 and that the U.S. will expand military relations and increase aerospace cooperation with Ukraine. The United States expanded aid to Ukraine for a sec ond time in 1994 by S200 million during President Kuchma's visit. While half of the assistance is targeted for technical and economic support, the other half com prised balance-of-payment support intended to help Ukraine cover its external financing requirements over the next several months as it implements international Monetary Fund and World Bank reforms. No other newly independent state has been accorded balance-ofpayment support from the United States. A Charter for American-Ukrainian Partnership, Friendship and Cooperation, signed by Presidents Kuchma and Clinton on November 22, reiterated U.S. support for the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine and Ukraine's commitment to democracy and market reform, in it, the United States emphasized its willingness to provide financial and political support for Ukrainian reforms, both bilaterally and through interna tional financial institutions. Economic relations between Ukraine and the United States were further e x p a n d e d during President K u c h m a ' s state visit, with the signing of a Joint

Khristina Lew

November 22: President Bill Clinton greets President Leonid Kuchma on the South Lawn of the White House. Statement on Expansion of Trade and investment by Foreign Economic Relations Minister Osyka and Commerce Secretary Brown. The statement acknowl edged that the U.S. recognizes Ukraine as an economy in transition to a market system, and notes that the U.S. Export-import Bank has proposed a Project incentive Agreement to facilitate EXlM's support for projects in Ukraine. in addition, the Overseas Private investment Corp. () and Ukraine signed three protocols for financ ing and insurance guarantees totaling S39.6 million. The Ukrainian Parliament's accession to the NPT opened the door to expanded Ukrainian-U.S military cooperation. On November 22, Presidents Kuchma and Clinton signed a Bilateral Civil Space Agreement, the first ever agreement on space cooperation between the two countries. President Clinton announced that his administration was committed to expanding Ukrainian cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and that the U.S. would make funds available to Ukraine under the Warsaw initiative to support Ukraine's participation in the Partnership for Peace program, in addition, Ukraine and the United States are scheduled to participate in over 35 cooperative military programs in 1995. "Taking into account the role and place of the United States in world affairs, we can underscore that the level of relations we have reached with the U.S. is in the national interest of Ukraine, and this favorable relationship helps Ukraine strengthen its security and interna tional authority," said Mr. Kuchma of his state visit. What distinguished President Kuchma's state visit to the United States from President Kravchuk's official w o r k i n g visit was the official reception from Washington. The state visit accorded President Kuchma a 21-gun salute at an official state arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House and a state dinner at the White House attended by the likes of singer Michael Bolton, and actors Jack Palance and Kathleen Turner. President Kravchuk official working visit allowed for a 19-gun salute at a full honors arrival ceremony at the Pentagon and dinner at the State Department hosted by vice-President Al Gore and his wife, Tipper. Both presidents met with President Clinton, vicePresident Gore, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and Secretary of Defense William Perry, as well as leading figures at the U.S. Treasury, the 1MF and the World Bank. Both met with President Ruth Harkin and addressed representatives of major corporations inter ested in the U k r a i n i a n m a r k e t , breakfasted with Zbigniew Brzezinski, national security advisor to for mer President Jimmy Carter; and met with members of Congress. Both presidents were hosted to receptions at Ukraine's Embassy to the United States, laid wreaths at the Tomb of the Unknowns and bouquets at the grave of President John F. Kennedy at Arlington National Cemetery, and visited the Taras Shevchenko monument downtown. During the November summit, President Kuchma, who had traveled to the United States as a people's deputy in April to, among other things, meet v i c e President Gore, visited the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. There, he presented Miles Lerman, chairman of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council, with a list of Ukrainians who saved Jews during the second world war and a container of earth from the site of Babyn Yar, where thousands of Jews, Ukrainians and others were massacred by the Nazis. Mr. Kuchma was joined by Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bieich, chief rabbi of Ukraine, and iosef Zissels, president of the Association of Jewish Organizations and Communities of Ukraine, for a tour of the museum. President Kuchma also addressed the Center for Strategic and international Studies and the National Press Club, met with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin and visited the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. During the New York leg of the U.S. visit, President Kravchuk officially opened U k r a i n e ' s Consulate General in New York on March 5. "The fact that a Consulate General of Ukraine opened in the largest American city shows that our country is beginning to take on a key role in international relations," President Kravchuk said at the dedication ceremony. He was honored at a reception at the United Nations; attended by 650 Ukrainian Americans and foreign diplomats, and attended a dinner at The Plaza with busi nesspersons interested in the Ukrainian market. During his visit to New York, President Kuchma addressed a special plenary meeting of the 49th Session of the U.N. General Assembly on November 21. There he underscored that, while Ukraine had fulfilled its commitment to denuclearize and accede to the NPT, the West had not provided aid as had been promised. Prior to his address, President Kuchma met with U . S . Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright and U.N. Secretary General Boutros-Ghali. He was honored by the Ukrainian American commu nity at a dinner attended by close to 1,000 at the Marriott Marquis, and visited with Ukrainian American Church leaders and p a r i s h i o n e r s at St. v i a d i m i r Ukrainian Orthodox Church and St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church. Both presidents met with representatives of the Ukrainian American, Jewish and business communities while in New York. During both visits, all three presidents Clinton, Kravchuk and Kuchma had an opportunity to visit with Ukraine's darling, Olympic gold medalist Oksana Baiul, who was a member of President Kravchuk's March delegation to the U.S. and a guest at President Kuchma's November state dinner.

, ^ T H E

UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 2

52

Canada: Ukrainian issues come to the fore

uring 1994 Canada got its second ambassador from Ukraine, hosted the first state visit by a Ukrainian president and saw its government decide not to resolve the long-standing redress issue over the War World internment of Ukrainian Canadians. The newly established Toronto-based international Center for Democracy and State Development of Ukraine began work on assisting Ukraine with "the promotion and implementation of democracy and marketoriented reform." Similarly, the Canadian Association for the Development of Ukraine (CADU), which replaced the Canadian Friends of Rukh last year, announced plans to assist parties committed to democ racy during Ukraine's March parliamentary elections. 9 Ukraine's second ambassador to Canada, viktor Batyuk, presented his credentials to Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn in Ottawa on February 10. e A week later Canada's ambassador to Ukraine, Francois Mathys, told a Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) meeting in Winnipeg that Ukrainians are not well acquainted with the democratic process, and that there is a self-serving explosive element in Ukraine's power structure. Mr. Mathys urged the UCC to get involved in democratic reforms in Ukraine, but to tread carefully. 9 T h e C A D U opened an office in Toronto in February and outlined a three-part media strategy to produce democracy-friendly commercials for Ukrainian television during the spring election campaign, and to fund a Ukrainian crew to cover the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway. 9 On March 15, UCC president Oleh Romaniw present ed a 21-page brief to Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Andre Ouellet, suggesting a closer relationship be reestab lished between the two countries. Among the recommen dations: to unequivocally recognize Ukraine's geographic borders, to press NATO and the United States to guaran tee Ukraine's security, and to amend the immigration Act to create "An East EuropeanTFormer Soviet Union Family Reunion Program." 9 A 13-member Canadian team of electoral observers monitored the March 27 elections in Ukraine. Canada gave Ukraine a S2.5-million boost to help with the vote, the largest contribution of any country. 9 Andre Ouellet visited Kyyiv from March 31 to April 1, becoming the first senior member of Prime Minister Jean Chretien's Cabinet to visit Ukraine. Mr. Ouellet signed a Joint Declaration on Special Partnership between Canada and Ukraine and initialed a friendship accord between the two countries. Canada's foreign affairs minister also announced a S.15 million nuclear-dismantling package and a Si 1.8 million techni cal and humanitarian aid package to Ukraine, including S5 million to clean up the Dnipro River and S6.5 million for humanitarian assistance and medical training. 9 The Canada-Ukraine Chamber of Commerce and the Ukrainian Chamber of C o m m e r c e signed an Agreement on Trade and Commerce on March 31. 9 Friction continued over the name-change between the Toronto-chapter of the Canadian Friends of Rukh, who refused to acknowledge the name-change last April, and CADU in early April. CADU president volodymyr Pedenko said his group cannot support one Ukrainian political party and revealed that CADU chapter members have legal rights to the name, "Canadian Friends of Rukh." 9 The Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary Friendship G r o u p , consisting of 42 Canadian m e m b e r s of Parliament and the Senate, was formed in Ottawa in June. Walt Lastewka, Liberal MP for St. Catharines, Ontario, is elected its first president. 9 The Canadian government announced a S2 million, two-year expansion program of the Chornobyl Children's Project to provide specialty training in obstetrics, gynecol ogy and neonatology, beyond pediatrics. 9 Canada convinced its G-7 partners to establish a S200 million (U.S.) fund to help Ukraine ensure the safety of its nuclear reactors and became the host of a Conference on Partnership for Economic Transformation in Ukraine to be held in Winnipeg in late October. 9 Andre Ouellet launched the S2.5 million Canada Ukraine Partners Program in August, which is to be administered by the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC). Two months later, former Canadian diplomat My kola Switucha was named program manager for the program's Ottawa office. 9 Less than two years after occupying a controversial two-story office building in downtown Ottawa, the

Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa announced that it had bought another. The Si.8 million complex, once occupied by the national New Democratic Party and purchased by the UCC, will serve as the mission's main building: the other will handle consular matters exclusively. 9 Oseredok, considered one of the world's largest Ukrainian libraries and archives, announced a S10 million tri-phase construction and expansion project in Winnipeg in September. 9 Saskatoon's Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Basil Filevich ordained ivan Nahachewsky, a married man to the priesthood in October. Despite concerns by the vatican, the Rev. Nahachewsky became the 12th Canadian non-celi bate to become a priest in the church. 9 The UCC launched the Canada-Ukraine Foundation in Winnipeg on October 26. The philanthropic and humanitarian volunteer organization still needs approval by both the Canadian and Ukrainian governments. Ukrainian Canadians joined the anti-"60 Minutes" bandwagon in early November, following the October broadcast of the controversial "The Ugly Face of Freedom" program. Ukrainian World Congress president Dr. Dmytro Cipywnyk accused the American network of promoting "hatemongers' anti-Ukrainian agenda." Meanwhile UCC president Oleh Romaniw issued a November 2 news release calling on "everyone who believes in fair, accurate and responsible reporting to protest the biased, inaccurate and blatantly racist report."

Canada welcomes President Kuchma

eonid Danylovych K u c h m a ' s state visit to Canada, the first by a Ukrainian president, highlighted the 1994 calendar year. President Kuchma, his wife, Liudmyla, and a delega tion of 63 spent five days in Canada in late October; it was his first official trip outside Ukraine since his elec toral victory in July. The 56-year-old president was greeted on October 23 by Governor General Ray Hnatyshyn, a Ukrainian Canadian. A state banquet was held for Ukraine's first couple later that evening at Mr. Hnatyshyn's official residence, Rideau Hall. The next day, President Kuchma met with Prime Minister Jean Chretien, and the two signed a Friendship and Cooperation Agreement. At a joint news confer ence, Mr. Chretien said he hoped that after Canada helps Ukraine's economy to grow, Ukrainians "will buy more goods and services from us." President Kuchma also met privately with Speaker of the Senate Romeo LeBlanc, who will become Canada's next governor general in February, succeeding Mr. Hnatyshyn. in a separate signing ceremony between Ukraine's Foreign Minister Gennadiy Udovenko and Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Andre Ouellet, the Canadian

government allocated a further S23.8 million in techni cal assistance to Ukraine in the areas of private sector and policy development, security and nuclear safety, nuclear fuel management and land registration and man agement. Mr. Ouellet also unveiled another Si3.5 million (S10 million U.S.) in direct balance of payments assistance to Ukraine; S20 million was also added to Ukraine's line of credit. Other Canadian-Ukrainian accords signed that day included: a Foreign investment Protection Agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding on the Canadian Cooperation Program, an Economic Cooperation Agreement, a Military Cooperation Agreement and M e m o r a n d u m of U n d e r s t a n d i n g on Military Cooperation, and a Double Taxation Agreement. On October 2 5 , President Kuchma traveled to Toronto, where he met with Ontario Premier Bob Rae and attended a Ukraine-Canada business symposium. The former Ukrainian prime minister then flew on to Edmonton, where, amid meetings with provincial gov ernment officials and m e m b e r s of the Alberta Ukrainian-Canadian community, President Kuchma was wooed by hundreds of schoolchildren who sang for him (in Ukrainian) in Edmonton's City Hall. Before heading for Winnipeg on October 26, the president stopped briefly in Saskatoon, where he met with another prominent U k r a i n i a n - C a n a d i a n , Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow. Later that day, Mr. Kuchma arrived in Winnipeg, on the eve of the spe cial G-7 Conference on Economic Transformation in Ukraine. That evening, he was the guest of honor at a community banquet attended by over 800 people. Senior federal government Cabinet Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced the creation of a bilateral national e m p l o y m e n t service with Ukraine, along with a Canadian research and training reform program. The next day, President Kuchma opened the G-7 meeting at the Hotel Fort Garry, where 80 senior offi cials from 14 delegations had gathered. Mr. Kuchma outlined his c o m m i t m e n t to economic reform in Ukraine: by cutting Ukraine's budget by 15 percent of the country's gross domestic product, increasing interest rates, setting inflation targets to lower the rate from this year's 842 percent to 210 percent next year, increasing the price of goods, water and electricity, introducing the long-awaited hryvnia and privatizing 6,000 govern ment-owned facilities, in turn, the G-7 group offered Ukraine Si.2 billion in assistance. However, the Ukrainian president's Winnipeg visit was upstaged by an unexpected appearance by Russia's Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, who encouraged G-7 delegates to help Ukraine pay off its S363.3 million debt to Russia. A few hours later, while Mr. Kuchma was visiting a rural Manitoba dairy farm, 600 First Nations demonstrators protested in the hotel lobby, demanding that the Canadian government and its G-7 partners first address native poverty in Canada before offering finan cial aid to other countries like Ukraine.

jChris Guly

Governor General Ramon Hnatyshyn welcomes President Leonid Kuchma to Canada.

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

11

: THE YEAR 1N REY1EW

Canada says "no" to redress request

fter a decade of trying, advocates seeking some form of compensation or recognition of First World War internment of Ukrainian Canadians from the Canadian government were finally given a response. No. However, that could spell a truce between the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA) and the Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC), who remained at loggerheads over who should represent the case before Prime Minister Jean Chretien's government. Following is a chronology of developments concern ing the redress issue. 9 Early in 1994, Mary Manko Haskett, 85, honorary chairwoman of the National Redress Council of the UCCLA and a survivor of the Spirit Lake, Quebec, internment camp, issued a plea through The Weekly for a resolution of the claim, in the January 30 edition, Mrs. Haskett prophetically wrote: "The officials who think they can deal with this issue by ignoring me will proba bly outlive me. But they won't outlive my testament." 9 Montreal filmmaker Yurij Luhovy's controversial film on internment operations, "Freedom Had a Price," premiered on May 27 in Toronto. 9 A memorial plaque was unveiled at the first intern ment camp site at Fort Henry, near Kingston, Ontario, by the UCCLA on August 4, coinciding with the anniversary of the start of the first world war and the start of internment operations in Canada. 9 On October 1 an official parliamentary delegation, representing all five Canadian federal parties, addressed a group of Ukrainian Canadian redress activists in Banff, Alberta, near the Castle Mountain internment operation. The politicians outlined how their parties view Canadian compensation. - A joint UCCLA-UCC brief was drafted following the meeting and submitted to Parks Canada and the Banff National Parks administration, it requested the Canadian government to preserve the Castle Mountain site and build a historical monument there. 9 in October, UCC representative Bohdan Kordan left the redress negotiations in disgust because of the turf war between the UCC and the UCCLA over who represents Ukrainians regarding the issue. 9 A month later, the UCCLA issued a 15-point internment-compensation claim to Canadian members of Parliament and senators, calling for a national educa

Yurij Luhovy's documentary on videotape. tion campaign, the placement of historical markers at 26 internment camp sites and the construction of a national memorial in Ottawa. 9 The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Englishlanguage television network (-) acceded to com munity pressure in November and announced that it will broadcast Mr. Luhovy's embattled internment documen tary, "Freedom Had a Price."^However, the network, which once questioned the program's objectivity and suitability for broadcast, stops short of choosing an air date. 9 On December 14, Canada's Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Sheila Finestone tells Ukrainian Canadians, along with five other Canadian ethnic groups, that the Canadian government will not recog nize S400 million in redress claims for historic indigni ties. instead, Secretary Finestone announces the cre ation of a S24 million Canadian Race Relations Foundation to be based in Toronto. would receive two new auxiliary bishops, also named at the February conclave. These are the Rev. Julian Gbur and the Rev. vasyl (ihor) Medvit. Bishop Gbur was given the titular See of Bareta, and Bishop Medvit was given the titular See of Adriane. However, little was disclosed about the Synod; issues such as the current territory of the Church and its patri archal status were discussed, as well as the 50th anniversary of the death of Servant of God Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky, and preparations for the 1996 cele brations of the 400th anniversary of the Treaty of Brest and the 350th anniversary of the Union of Uzhhorod. in an interview with The W e e k l y , Cardinal Lubachivsky also mentioned that the beatification of Metropolitan Andrey was reviewed, along with various liturgical and administrative decisions, among them, the situation of the Eparchy of Toronto. The Ukrainian hierarch said the Roman Apostolic See has a great interest in the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church and that the Church is continually gaining a greater u n d e r s t a n d i n g in R o m e . M e t r o p o l i t a n volodymyr Sterniuk, who served the Underground Church in Ukraine when it was banned for more than 40 years, disagreed; he expressed concern that Rome is try ing to Latinize in Ukraine. "The vatican sent five Polish bishops of the Latin rite to Ukraine. The priests they brought with them began conducting liturgies in the Latin rite in Ukrainian, in order to lure the faithful. They turn people's heads this way, because there was never any basis for this here in Ukraine. Throughout Ukraine, the entire religious rite has always been Eastern. We adhere to it, our Orthodox brethren adhere to it. "The vatican's main imposition on us is the appoint ment of bishops for our Church who are not nominated by our Synod," said the 87-year-old Galician hierarch, who visited Toronto in June.

Our Churches: woes of the faithful

lthough Ukrainian civic and government leaders complained that Ukraine's citizens were plagued not only by economic woes, but also by spiritual and cultural collapse in 1994, little was done to alleviate the situation. One of President Kuchma's first moves in office was to create on July 22 a new department in the Cabinet of Ministers, the Ministry of Nationalities issues, immigration and Cults, and to appoint Mykola Shulha minister. The new Cabinet post eliminated the Council of Religious Affairs, but did little to create a much-needed infrastructure for religious life in Ukraine. For example, despite the fact that over 20,000 Ukrainian Greek-Catholics live in Kyyiv, they continue to worship in two small chapels in the capital city. Although they broke ground in the summer of 1993 for a church, no work has been done to build a new house of worship because of problems with the city adminis tration. The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Lviv in September opened the doors of its Theological Seminary, which had been closed down in 1946 after the Soviet regime banned the Church. The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, which boasts 3.000 parishes in Ukraine, held a synod of bishops on February 20-27 in Lviv under the guidance of Cardinal Myroslav ivan Lubachivsky and appointed three new bishops, including Bishop Julian voronovsky as ordi nary of the recently created Eparchy of Sambir Drohobych. That announcement came on April 7 and he was installed on April 17. On May 4 the Archeparchy of Lviv announced that it

in the Toronto Eparchy, many of the problems of 1993 continued in 1994, as 12 priests from the eparchy filed a S l . l million (Canadian) libel and slander suit against Bishop Roman Danylak on December 14, 1993. included in the suit were two editors of the Catholic New Times and its publisher; the newspaper had car ried a series of articles on the ongoing feud between the backers of B i s h o p i s i d o r e B o r e c k y and B i s h o p Danylak. in the offending article, headlined "Ukrainian Catholics, 1 am known for my strong love of all things Ukrainian," Bishop Danylak denounced certain priests as incompetent in financial affairs and inadequately "theologically, religiously and spiritually trained." However, on February 6, the Catholic New Times issued an apology to the 12 clergymen of the Toronto Eparchy, in hopes that the move would satisfy the plaintiffs. The Rev. Myroslaw Tataryn, one of the plaintiffs, called the wording of the apology "excellent," and said that the action against the bi-weekly paper would be dropped. Although some observers in the Toronto Eparchy predicted that Bishop Borecky, who had steadfastly refused to resign as Toronto's first Ukrainian Catholic bishop since the v a t i c a n appointment of Bishop Danylak, would step down in May, as the year drew to a close, Bishop Borecky still was an active hierarch in the Toronto Eparchy. Rumors of his resignation surfaced after he was visit ed by both a representative of Archbishop Carlo Curs, apostolic pro-nuncio to Canada, and a canon lawyer from St. Paul University in Ottawa. Bishop Borecky, who met with Pope John Paul 11 at the vatican in March, said that nothing about the prob lems of the Toronto Eparchy had been discussed during their meeting. Also, in 1994, the laity of the Ukrainian Catholic Church decided to take matters of their Church into their own hands, citing a growing anxiety over many concerns, including ecclesial, administrative and apos tolic issues that are felt in the diaspora. The future direction of the Church, relations with the vatican and the steep drop in membership were among the issues mentioned in a document published in The Weekly on March 13, on the eve of the anniversary of the Treaty of Brest. The dramatic decline in Church membership in the U.S. may leave Ukrainian Catholic parishes in American decimated within the next 40 years. The Laity C o u n c i l , an advisory body to the Patriarchal Society, held a conference on November 1113 at Manor Junior College in Jenkintown, Pa. The aim of the conference was to begin revitalizing the Ukrainian Catholic Church from the grassroots level; it was the outcome of the North American Declaration of Ukrainian Catholic Concern, supported by a cross-sec tion of laity. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyyiv Patriarchate, headed by Patriarch v o l o d y m y r and based at St. volodymyr Sobor in Kyyiv, has about 2,000 parishes in Ukraine today, it experienced its own problems at the beginning of the year, as five bishops broke with the Church on December 29, 1993, to join the Moscow Patriarchate, claiming that the UOC-KP had no basis in canon law. However, on December 5 of this year, the Supreme Council of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kyyiv Patriarchate called on the citizens of Ukraine for a unifi cation of Ukraine's Orthodox Churches. A council statement addressed to Orthodox believers emphasized that "Ukraine desperately needs unity of the Churches now," and the state needs "a united National Orthodox Church, without any conditions or reserva tions. Since there are no disputes of a dogmatic nature between Orthodox believers in Ukraine, they must shed all the political considerations that disunite them," said the document. The UOC-KP hierarchs have addressed the Ukrainian president, Parliament, the government and local authori ties, asking for assistance in uniting the Orthodox in Ukraine. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church-KP held two synods in 1994, on July 7 and on November 29-30, and the Church consecrated six new bishops. The Church has 21 eparchies, 14 monasteries and four seminaries. The largest Orthodox Church in Ukraine is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church under the M o s c o w Patriarchate, which is based in the Monastery of the Caves in Kyyiv and headed by Metropolitan volodymyr Sabadan. it numbers 6,000 parishes.

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THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

1994: THE YEAR 1N REY1EW

Ukrainian diaspora: news worldwide

he Ukrainian World Congress (UWC), formerly the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, held the initial meeting of its new presidium in Toronto January 2122. Chaired by UWC President Dr. Dmytro wnyk, the meeting was held to map out a new direction for the organi zation. A chief concern that was addressed was to review past fiscal problems. Member-organizations have decided to supply the central body a skeletal budget after past fiscal irregularities. The Presidium also evaluated its role in coor dinating aid to Ukraine and decided to establish accountabil ity procedures to assure the money is spent efficiently. The organization decided not to sanction the actions of the newly formed international Committee for Democracy and State Development in Ukraine (1CDSD). it explained that the 1CDSD should work through the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Other news in the diaspora included the following. -The first preparatory meeting of the 1995 World Conference on Women was held March 2-18 at the United Nations and attended by 1,000 individuals. Notably, several Ukrainians took leadership roles at the meeting. Olga Stawnychy, a member of the New York Task Force of the Committee on the Status of Women, had an opportunity to address the body. She expressed a concern that East European women should be included at the conference. She said that these women need moral and financial assistance during the critical time of transition. She emphasized that the voices of these women must be heard. She said that it is important to speak with them and not for them. Helen Prociuk, NGO representative to the United Nations from the World Movement of Mothers and a member of the Women's Movement on Sustainable Development and Environmental Crisis, was able to convince the caucus to include in its agenda the prob lem of nuclear and radioactive waste. Ms. Prociuk and Ms. Stawnychy prepared a statement on behalf of both their organizations regarding this topic. 9 The first-ever Congress of Nationalities of Russia took place on April 29 in Moscow. The 6 million Ukrainians living in Russia were represented by the umbrella Organization of Ukrainians of Russia (OUR). Besides Ukrainians, among the 15 ethnic minorities that sent representatives were Georgians, Armenians, Jews, Greeks, Azeris, Kazakhs, Koreans and Turks. The one-day affair agreed to work to develop a con sultative assembly of nationalities in the Russian Parliament to support ethnic culture and education. The OUR, which is registered with the Russian gov ernment, has a quite aggressive agenda which includes: sustaining the national rebirth of Ukrainians in Russia; working for democratic values and democratic reforms; supporting reconciliation in Ukrainian-Russian rela tions; and cooperating with other ethnic unions. 9 The Ukrainian World Congress held a European Regional Conference in Warsaw, Poland, on June 1819. Thirty-five delegates attended the gathering, led by W C U P r e s i d e n t D m y t r o C i p y w n y k and General Secretary Yaroslaw Sokolyk. The main reason for the conference was to discuss the activities and problems of the Ukrainian community in Europe and to agree on cooperation in administering aid to Ukraine. Each delegation presented a detailed account of it activities. Delegations from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formally applied for membership. 9 An Australian member of Parliament of Ukrainian heritage was assassinated on September 5 in the country's first-ever politically motivated killing. John Newman (Naumenko) was gunned down outside his home in a drive-by shooting as his wife looked on. They had just returned from a meeting of the Labor Party, of which he was a member. Mr. Newman had recently received death threats linked to his role as a crusader for the rights of Asian minorities in Cabramatta, the area he represented. More than 2,000 people turned out on September 9 for the slain leader's state funeral, among them Prime Minister Paul Keating. 9 The 12th Conference of Ukrainian Plast Organizations was held in East Hanover, N.J., on October 8-10. Delegates came from Austria, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, Poland, Ukraine, the United States and Latvia. Argentina and Slovakia were represented by local Plast members. The newly elected Supreme Plast Bulava is headed by Dr. Yuriy Slusarczuk, while the Supreme Plast Council is chaired by Dr. Orest Hawryluk.

Yaroslav Kulynych

The UNA 5 s centennial concert in Carnegie Hall.

The UNA moves into its second century

he Ukrainian National Association began the year by proclaiming that it would be dedicated to the anniversary of the founding of this fraternal organization 100 years ago on February 22, 1894, in Shamokin, Pa. "With reverence for the past, with a vision for the future," was the adopted motto for the centennial celebration, which the Supreme Executive Committee urged all members, branches and districts to mark with appropriate activities. Among the first anniversary celebrations of the year was The Ukrainian Weekly's special issue dedicated to the centenary, published with the date of February 20. The issue contained a special 12-page pull-out section that offered a decade-by-decade look, via photographs and texts, at "The Ukrainian National Association's First Century" and offered other items of historical interest about this unique Ukrainian institution. Other centennial publications included the UNA Almanac for 1994 and a special issue of Svoboda. A history of the UNA written by Dr. Myron B. Kuropas on the occasion of the 100th anniversary was completed and was being readied for publication, though not by the University of Toronto Press as originally envisioned. Centennial festivities got into full swing as the UNA sponsored a gala concert at Carnegie Hall on Saturday, February 19. The event was highlighted by the world premiere of the specially commissioned work by Kyyiv

composer ivan Karabyts titled " Jubilee Cantata." The piece for choir, soprano, bass, piano, cello and percus sion, had lyrics by Ukrainian author Mykola Rudenko. Performers at the concert were the Dumka Chorus of New York, the Ukrainian National Choir, Metropolitan Opera bass Paul Plishka, New York City Opera soprano O k s a n a K r o v y t s k a , pianist M y k o l a Suk, cellist v o l o d y m y r Panteleyev and the Leontovych String Quartet. Pianist Genya Paley and percussionist Michael Sgourous were accompanists. Among the many promi nent guests in attendance were Ukraine's ambassador to the United States, Oleh Bilorus, and Pavlo Movchan, president of the Prosvita Ukrainian Language Society. The next day, the UNA hosted a centennial reception at its Home Office in Jersey City, N.J., for its employ ees, Supreme Assembly members and specially invited guests. Also present were several representatives of the Ukrainian government: Ambassador Bilorus, New York Consul General viktor Kryzhanivsky; Acting Chief of the U.N. Mission v o l o d y m y r Khandogy; Georgiy Cherniavsky, presidential adviser on protocol; and Serhiy Buriak, consultant to the president of Ukraine. Centennial celebrations continued throughout the year, with events held from Chicago to Miami, from Philadelphia to Detroit, from Cleveland to New York and elsewhere. Quadrennial convention Also at the beginning of 1994, the UNA announced that its 33rd regular convention would be held in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh Hilton and Towers Hotel on May 6-. At the quadrennial conclave, the 242 delegates

Marta Kolomayets

Members of the UNA General Assembly are sworn in at the convention.

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

13

representing 247 UNA branches throughout the United States and Canada re-elected Ulana Diachuk as president, approved changes to the UNA By-Laws and adopted a series of resolutions aimed at directing the UNA's activity at the beginning of the second century of its existence. Also re-elected as executive officers were vice President Nestor Olesnycky and Treasurer Alexander Blahitka. New faces on the executive committee are vice-Presidentess Anya Dydyk-Petrenko, Director for Canada Peter Savaryn and Secretary Martha Lysko. The retirement of Supreme Secretary Walter Sochan after 45 years of dedicated service to the UNA was met with regret on the part of the delegates, who offered him a five-minute standing ovation in recognition of his work. But perhaps the biggest news was the amount of young blood and new ideas injected into the 14-member board of advisors, as seven new advisors were elected. Among them were two new advisors who had followed in the footsteps of their families: Stefko Kuropas and Taras Szmagala Jr. For the record, eight of the 25 mem bers of the newly elected General Assembly are under age 50. in fact, if the significant growth in size of the Youth Caucus at the convention is any indication, there is no dearth of youth willing and able to become active in this oldest and largest Ukrainian organization in the world. Perhaps that is why this caucus sought the cre ation of a standing committee on youth, a suggestion that the convention delegates approved. The passing of the baton, so to speak, to the younger generation was noted by President Diachuk in her acceptance speech: "My thanks go out to those delegates who correctly understood that the future of this organization lies to a great extent in their hands and cast their vote in favor of candidates from the younger gen eration, who indicated their willingness to work in the General Assembly for the benefit and the growth of the UNA. We have great hope in their contributions." Out with "supremes" Other hot news was deletion of the term "supreme" from the UNA lexicon. No more supreme president, no more supreme auditors, or supreme advisors. The Supreme Assembly is now the General Assembly. New provisions in the By-Laws also provided for expansion of UNA activity beyond the United States and Canada, and recognized that the UNA now has two official pub lications (no longer referred to in the By-Laws as "organs"), that is the Ukrainian-language daily newspa per Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, which is pub lished in the English language. Another amendment provides for elimination of the post of vice-presidentess, creating instead the position of second vice-president; the current position of vicepresident will be called first vice-president. These two changes, however, will not become effective until the next elections at the 1998 convention. At the next convention, incidentally, there are sure to be even more amendments to the UNA By-Laws as, due to time constraints, all the proposals for changes sub mitted by the By-Laws Committee could not be acted upon at the 1994 convention. The convention delegates approved a 1994 budget that foresees income of S16.2 million and expenses of Si 1.8 million. They also approved various expenditures for the UNA's subsidiary operations, including the Svoboda Press, Soyuzivka, the UNA Washington Office and the Canadian Office, as well as an allocation of S50,000 that went toward supporting numerous organi zations and projects in the Ukrainian diaspora. Of special interest to delegates was the fate of Svoboda, as there was fear that the oldest continually published Ukrainian daily in the world would succumb to the high costs of printing and postage. There had been various proposals, including those presented by the UNA's supreme treasurer and supreme president, that the frequency of Svoboda's publication be limited. Delegates would have none of that, however, and they voted to increase the prices of subscriptions to the daily, as well as for The Ukrainian Weekly and the Ukrainianlanguage children's magazine published by the UNA, veselka. There were other controversial issues raised at the convention, including: questions regarding the role, effi cacy and cost of the UNA's insurance sales department; allegations of executive officers' "stonewalling" of supreme auditors' requests for information; and discus sion over whether the fraternal aspect of the organiza tion had been neglected. Resolutions adopted by delegates called for a market ing strategy for UNA publications, a special conference to examine the d e m o g r a p h i c s of the U k r a i n i a n

American community, better relations and increased cooperation between branch secretaries and the insur ance sales force, further development of the UNA Fund for the Rebirth of Ukraine, and activation of the already chartered Ukrainian National Foundation that was to oversee projects aimed at helping Ukraine; expansion of the Kyyiv Press Bureau and the opening of a press bureau in Toronto; and convening the next UNA con vention in Canada to underscore the importance of the Ukrainian community in that country and the UNA's commitment to expanding its activities there. A traveling photo exhibit dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the UNA was unveiled at the UNA Convention. A companion catalogue to that exhibit was printed at year's end. Other convention events dedicated to the centennial were the convention banquet at which Dr. Myron B. Kuropas delivered the keynote address, reflecting on 100 years of UNA history, and the concert on the Pittsburgh University Campus dubbed the "Festival of Ukrainian Songs and Dances." The newly elected General Assembly officially took the helm on July 1. Supreme Secretary Sochan was given a retirement luncheon at the Home Office, at which he was bid a fond farewell by his co-workers and colleagues at the UNA, Svoboda, The Ukrainian Weekly and the Svoboda Press. Also around that time, The Weekly noted the passing of "supremeness" as the new officers were president, vice-president, auditor, advisor, etc., sans "supreme." The first m e e t i n g of the new U N A E x e c u t i v e Committee was held August 5. Notable decisions included the creation, in accordance with convention resolutions, of both a Youth Committee (a standing committee) and a special committee charged with erect ing a monument to the late Patriarch Mstyslav 1 of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church on the grounds of Soyuzivka. The first review of UNA opera tions and those of its subsidiaries was conducted by the new Auditing Committee on November 14-16. Myriad projects Among the many projects sponsored by the UNA during 1994 was "Youth Alternative," a get-out-the vote initiative targeted at the young adults of Ukraine before the March 27 parliamentary elections. The brainchild of Freedom House, the project was financed by a UNA grant of S57,000. in April, the UNA held a workshop for volunteer instructors who would be participating in the annual "Teaching English in Ukraine" program, a joint project of the UNA and the Prosvita Society and the brainchild of Prof. Zirka voronka. During the summer months, for the fourth straight year in a row, some 100 instructors traveled to various regions of Ukraine. Some of them got together at Soyuzivka in September for a weekend reunion to discuss their experiences, share teaching tips and offer suggestions on how to make the program even better in the years to come. The UNA's Scholarship Committee met at the Home Office on June 24 and approved the allocation of S98,900 in scholarships to 225 UNA members who are undergradu ate students enrolled in colleges and universities throughout the United States and Canada. Other members beneflt ed from their membership when the organization paid out a dividend of S1 million at the beginning of the year. On August 20, the UNA headquarters hosted a confer ence focusing on United States foreign assistance to Ukraine, its purpose: to share information gathered by the UNA Washington Office on assistance to Ukraine and how such funds are disbursed, as well as tips on how Ukrainian American organizations that sponsor projects aimed at helping Ukraine can apply for government grants for their endeavors. The principal speaker was Eugene iwanciw, director of the Washington Office and a UNA advisor. There was other UNA news as well. Lada Jawny was selected as Miss Soyuzivka 1995 dur ing the annual ceremonies held in August in conjunction with Ukrainian independence Day observances at the upstate New York resort. She became Soyuzivka's 39th "Miss." Atanas Slusarczuk, 86, was named the U N A ' s Fraternalist of the Year and later was chosen for the same distinction by the National Fraternal Congress of America. He was honored at the NFCA convention in Scottsdale, Ariz., in September, receiving an award and a S500 check for his favorite charity, which he promptly transferred to the UNA Fund for the Rebirth of Ukraine. During 1994, the UNA mourned the passing of many of its members, among them Stefania Halychyn, 81, wife of former longtime Supreme President Dmytro Halychyn (1950-1961).

Scholarship: Ukraine is ignored no longer

hile 1993 was a period of an explosion in Ukrainian scholarship, this year witnessed a consolidation of its standing in the world, in the past, the sheer intellectual weight of individual luminaries such as Harvard's Omeljan Pritsak and Columbia University's George Shevelov dictated that Ukraine, although on the back burner, could not be ignored entirely, increasingly, the country's enduring presence on the geopolitical map has forced academic institutions to pay greater attention to matters concern ing Ukraine and Ukrainians. This has given voices such as those of Harvard's Prof. Roman Szporluk greater res onance in government and academic circles. in Ukraine, freedom had an ugly economic face, and this was felt in terms of sharp reductions in faculty, the closure or crippling of many research institutes, and c o n t r a c t i o n of r e s e a r c h and p u b l i s h i n g b u d g e t s . Meanwhile, the necessary streamlining of the bloated academic administrative apparat was stifled by politics and inertia. This was particularly apparent at Kyyiv State University and Ukraine's Academy of Sciences. However, renewed academic freedom can galvanize scholars as money only wishes it could. With borders now fully open and the society professing to be democratic, the primary brakes were now gone. The Kyyiv-Mohyla Academy, led by its able and charismatic former rector and new president, viacheslav Brioukhovetsky, posi tioned itself as the prime beneficiary of these changes. in North America, the world's nascent interest in Ukraine was capitalized upon because the legacy of Ukrainian scholarly excellence had generated Ukrainian institutions at schools that mattered, in 1994, Harvard's Ukrainian Research institute, the University of Albertabased Canadian institute of Ukrainian Studies, and Columbia's Harriman institute played a major role in the arduous task of reorienting the academic world to confront post-Soviet reality. Resurfacing in New York A Ukrainian studies program " r e a p p e a r e d " at Columbia University's Harriman institute to serve as a center of Ukrainian academic gravity in the New York area, thanks to the efforts of associate director Prof. Alexander Motyl and Prof. Mark von Hagen (who was nominated for the directorship in early December), as well as support from various endowments and the community. in March, at a gala held by the Friends of Columbia University Ukrainian Studies (FOCUUS), a shot was fired across the bow of those who persist in hanging on to the past instead of re-examining it. The keynote speaker was the author of the landmark study of the famine of 1932-1933, "The Harvest of Sorrow," former Columbia fellow Robert Conquest. He assured the gathering that those who would deny the reality of the famine are now within the same "mule-headed minority" that refuse to acknowledge the Holocaust. FOCUUS also flexed its economic muscle, proudly announcing continued gener ous support from Canadian patron Peter Jacyk (who has contributed 375,000 to the program), and generating a five-figure purse during the course of the evening. The program served up a compelling array of cours es, conferences and lectures delivered by visiting schol ars and officials from the U.S. and around the world. The latter included World Bank economist Francoise Le Gall; visiting German scholar Marion Recktenwald; Canada's assistant deputy minister for Europe, David Wright; New York psychiatrist Dr. Jurij Savyckyj; and R. Nicholas Burns of the Clinton administration's National Security Council. in addition to the teaching done by Profs, von Hagen and Motyl, courses introduced by the program included an examination of 20th century Ukrainian poetry, pre sented with typical iconoclastic flair by Dr. Yuriy Tarnavsky, a member of the New York Group of poets. An offering on Ukrainian history was taught by Lviv University's Dr. Yaroslav Hrytsak. in mid-year, it was announced that the New York Group's manuscripts, correspondence and other materi al will form a separate collection at Columbia's presti gious Bakhmeteff Archive. in May, the Harriman institute, together with HUR1 and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences, hon ored one of the diaspora's most erudite scholars, the lin guist and literary critic Prof. George Shevelov, with a conference dedicated to his work. The institute co-spon

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THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1994

No. 52

1994: THE YEAR 1N REY1EW

sored a cycle of conferences on the Black Sea region and world in a completely new light." the Crimea, held over the course of the year in Turkey, On November 30, Francois Mathys, Canada's ambas Ukraine and the U.S. in November, it hosted a scholarly sador to Ukraine, sent a letter concerning the Encyclopedia conclave addressing the study of "Peoples, Nations and to the ClUS in which he stated: "1 am immensely grateful identities: The Russian-Ukrainian Encounter, 1800- to the competent and knowledgeable team of scholars who 1917." it was the second in a series of conferences cover have contributed to produce a truly indispensable learning ing relations between the two nations from the 16th cen tool about Ukraine." tury to the present, which, many participants claimed, Another monumental ClUS project is gathering momen will do much to direct the field in a healthier direction. tum. The ClUS's Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research is producing an English translation of Harvard Mykhailo Hrushevsky's 10-volume "istoria Ukrainy-Rusy" America's leading academic institution was the site (History of Ukraine-Rus'). in a report to the Canadian of a similar re-orientative conference addressing Foundation for Ukrainian Studies (which agreed to con"Ukraine: Current Trends, Future Perspectives." From tribute S50,000 to the effort, and which assisted in the pro July 31 to August 5, five days of intensive seminars and duction of the EU), the center's director, Dr. Frank Sysyn, discussions addressing issues in domestic politics, soci said thefirstvolume will appear in print in late 1995. The Jacyk Center also began its series of Ukrainianety and culture, law and economics, foreign affairs and international security issues, were attended by a raft of language translations of historical works by Western scholars with the publication of the late Dr. ivan U.S. government officials. in May, Harvard hosted a 11.S, Department of Defense- Lysiak-Rudnytsky's "Historical Essays." in September, ClUS announced the establishment of a sponsored conference on Ukrainian military history, orga nized by HUR1 Associate Director Dr. Lubomyr Hajda and new program in Ukrainian religious history, occasioned in intern U.S. Army Capt. Bohdan Pyskir. Participants includ part by the decision of Prof. Bohdan Bociurkiw to donate ed, from Ukraine, former Defense Minister Kostiantyn his extensive library and archive to the institute. Morozov; Lt. Gen. ivan Olenovych, deputy superintendent The University of Kyyiv-Mohyla Academy of the army's Military Academy; Col. Yuriy Levchenko, in the rarefied and virtually cashless air of Ukrainian chief of the Ministry of Defense Foreign Directorate; and academia, one institution was able to make its mark as a Washington Embassy Military Attache Dior Smeshko. Adding weight to the proceedings from the U.S. side vibrant center for teaching and scholarship. After a were former NATO general staff member Maj. Gen. three-year struggle, the University of Kyyiv-Mohyla Nicholas Krawciw, James Brusstar of the U.S. institute Academy established itself as "the most prestigious of National Strategic Studies, representatives of the institution of higher learning in Ukraine," as its newly State Department and members of the military-industri elected president, viacheslav Brioukhovetsky, wrote in a commentary for The Weekly. al think-tank, the Rand Corp. Dr. Brioukhovetsky visited the U.S. and Canada in From June 27 to August 19, HUR1 conducted its 24th annual Summer institute with a wide-ranging program November along with rector Serhiy ivaniuk to sign a of instruction by Harvard's world-class faculty and vis number of agreements with local universities, and pre sent grant applications to major foundations. Mr. iting professors. Mr. Morozov returned to Cambridge in September to ivaniuk, the UKMA's first dean and founder of its Faculty of the Humanities, was appointed rector in spend a year as a senior scholar at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, to maintain con- August, after Dr. Brioukhovetsky was elected to the tact with leading U.S. scholars and government officials, newly created position of president. in 1994, the UKMA had a fiercely contested enroll and deepen his knowledge of Ukrainian history. Mr. Morozov founded the Center for Research on Problems of ment of 628 students, drawn from all oblasts of Ukraine and the Crimea, as well as from Canada, the U.S., Ukrainian Statehood in Kyyiv just prior to his departure. Germany, Poland, Japan, China, Finland and italy. They The Canadian institute of Ukrainian Studies were taught by just under 150 members of a faculty On July 1, Dr. Zenon Kohut became the new director which, by years end, included former President Leonid of the ClUS, after serving as acting director from Kravchuk (an early supporter of the academy). Over the January 1, 1993. Prof. David Marples, a frequent con past two years, over 60 visiting professors and instruc tributor to The Weekly, replaced Dr. Kohut as director tors from around the world had lectured there. Supported by the international Friends of the UKMA, of the Stasiuk Program on Contemporary Ukraine. in a Weekly interview, Dr. Kohut outlined the insti the university established the best computer classrooms tute's activities and his plans for the future of the ClUS's in the country, an extensive library, a foreign language offices in Edmonton, Toronto and Kyyiv. He also dis lab, physics and geology laboratories and a modern cussed ClUS's participation in the Ukrainian community's print shop. Of all the universities in Ukraine, the effective rebuff of an attempt by Ralph K^m'sProgressiv^r UKMA is the only one where lectures ate conducted Conservative government to eliminate bilingual Ukrainian- exclusively in Ukrainian, except for those by visiting English instruction in Alberta, in this western Canadian scholars who provide instruction in English. According to Dr. ivaniuk, who visited The Weekly province, voter discontent over a mounting deficit was used to excuse a wholesale assault on the province's health offices, the UKMA intends to establish a working internet and educational systems. Fiscal slashing led to the closure hub for Ukraine, and is gathering funds for this capitalof whole departments at the ClUS's parent University of intensive project. The UKMA's other major projects Alberta, but in light of ClUS's excellence, the cut it faced include a Museum of the Diaspora and the restoration of the church and the residence of Halashka Hulevych, 16th was limited tofivepercent of its budget. Despite this harsh environment, Dr. Kohut reported century buildings where the academy is located. full-steam cooperation with scholars from Ukraine, an Other doings in Ukraine ongoing strong commitment to the Ukrainian Language in late May, the "Kyyiv 94-lnternational Education Education Center (headed by Marusia Petryshyn) and its NOvA program, as well as to the Ukrainian Canadian Fair" was conducted in the Ukrainian capital at the ini studies program, headed by Dr. Frances Swyripa. The tiative of the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. Journal of Ukrainian Studies published volume 17, and information Agency and various congressional leaders. Roman Senkus of the Toronto ClUS Publication Office The conference was organized by Dr. Edward Lozansky, president of American international University in reassumed the editorship and sent volume 18 to press. New titles issued by ClUS Press, directed by Prof. Moscow, with Petro Talanchuk, Ukraine's minister of Maxim Tarnawsky, included studies of German- education, delivering the welcoming address. On October 17-24, the Lviv Polytechnic, Ukraine's old Ukrainian relations, the philosopher Hryhoriy Skovoroda, and Ukrainians of the Eastern Diaspora. ClUS initiated its est, marked its 150th anniversary together with a number joint project in Russian-Ukrainian relations by co-spon of diasporan alumni. Rector Yevhen Rudavsky greeted the soring conferences at the University of Cologne in June celebrants and presided over a program that focused on the school's past successes and its needs and vision for the and Columbia University in November. Dr. Kohut mentioned that excellent sales of the five- future. Considered commercially successful, the teaching volume Encyclopedia of Ukraine (EU), completed in and research facility is pursuing contracts worth Si million 1993 after an intensive 17-year effort, buoyed the ClUS withfirmsfrom Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Canada. financially. The Weekly carried a story about the June 2 The Sheptytsky institute and Sheptytskiana official presentation of the reference work by its editorin-chief, Prof. Danylo Struk, in Kyyiv before a gather in the year of the 50th anniversary of Metropolitan ing of Ukraine's academic heavyweights in government Andrey Sheptytsky's death, it wasfittingthat the theologi and scholarly institutions. Minister of Culture ivan cal institute in Ottawa bearing his name made great strides. The Sheptytsky institute of Eastern Christian Studies Dzyuba said the EU gave scholars and politicians alike "the possibility to present the image of Ukraine to the is an academic unit of St. Paul University's Faculty of Theology. Effective January 1, the Rev. Peter Galadza was appointed to a tenure-track position as the first fulltime professor of Byzantine liturgy. From June 18 to July 16, the institute held its seventh annual summer session on Eastern Christian studies at Mount Tabor Monaster in California. This session was unique because for the first time it included students from Ukraine. The three all work at the Lviv-based institute of Church History, founded by the Sheptytsky institute's Prof. Borys Gudziak as one of the units of a revitalized Lviv Theological Academy, over which Metropolitans Sheptytsky and Josyf Slipyj presided. On September 22, St. Paul University's Chancellor Marcel Gervais, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Ottawa, formally launched a degree program in Eastern Christian studies. The program and the attendant Chair of Eastern Christian Theology was made possible by a Si million (Canadian) endowment established by Peter and Doris Kule of Edmonton. As a result, St. Paul's became thefirstuni versity in the Western hemisphere to offer Eastern Christian studies from the undergraduate to doctoral levels. Simultaneously, the Sheptytsky institute's director since 1989, the Rev. Dr. Andriy Chirovsky, was installed as the first Peter and Doris Kule Professor of Eastern Christian Theology and Spirituality. Metropolitan Andrey was also the subject of a number of scholarly conferences, including a single-day com memorative event devoted to the great humanitarian and ecumenist held by the Shevchenko Scientific Society in New York on November 5. Among the participants were Kurt Lewin, the son of Lviv Chief Rabbi itzhak Lewin, who survived the Holocaust because Sheptytsky hid him in the library of the Lviv Theological Academy (his father was killed before his eyes). Mr. Lewin's book, "A Journey through illusions," was published this year by Fithian Press in Santa Barbara, Calif. Other highlights of diasporan academia Although the announcement was made late in the year, it will certainly prove to be one of its more significant events. On October 28, Yale University President Richard C. Levin announced that the Chopivsky Family Foundation had made a Si million (U.S.) fund to support the study of Ukraine. The foundation is headed by United Psychiatric Group founder and chairman Dr. George Chopivsky (Yale class 1969), also known for his support of the UKMA. The new fund will be used to purchase books for Yale-wide use and to provide scholarships and grants for tuition, travel and other expenses of students and scholars, it will be adminis tered by the Yale Center for international and Area Studies. m in April, organizers, participants and supporters of the Ukrainian Student Association in the U.S.A. (USA7USA) held their inaugural meeting at Columbia University to discuss the recruitment of students from Ukraine, the provision of educational studies in the U.S., and the difficulties in managing exchanges. 9 On June 9, during the Congress of Canadian Learned Societies in Calgary, Alberta, the ecumenical Canadian Association of Eastern Christian Studies was formed to address issues the many aspects of Eastern Christianity, whether Orthodox, Eastern Catholic (Uniate) or Oriental Orthodox. Fifteen scholars from various religious backgrounds from universities across Canada attended the inaugural organizational meeting. Dr. Andrii Krawchuk of the Sheptytsky institute was elected secretaryAreasurer and announced that its first conference will be held in June 1995. 9 in August, the School of Area Studies at the U.S. State Department Foreign Service institute established a Ukrainian area studies program geared for the training foreign service officers who would serve in Ukraine. The program was organized and will be conducted by Roman Popadiuk, who served as the first U.S. ambas sador to Ukraine from 1992 to 1993. 9 The 13th annual summer conference on Ukrainian subjects was held at the University of illinois at Champaign-Urbana, on two main themes: "Censorship in Ukraine and Ukrainian Publications," coordinated by Prof. Bohdan Rubchak of the host institution, and "Ukraine in Transition, 1990-1994," coordinated by Prof. Taras Hunczak of Rutgers University. - The October 30 issue of The Weekly carried an announcement that the Kyyiv-based Pylyp Orlyk institute was awarded a Si00,000 grant from the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington. The grant allows the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, a non-profit organi zation promoting democracy and free market economics in Ukraine, to continue its policy of providing national policy-makers in the country with accurate and timely information from the West, opportunities fpr education and research materials on policy issues.
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No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

15

The cultural scene: a diverse season

T
9

he year witnessed yet another notable and diverse cultural season, enriched by the visits of prominent artists and performers from Ukraine. Ukrainian musicians and Ukrainian music continued to be heard in recitals and leading concert halls, with new accomplished performers appearing on the scene. But perhaps most noteworthy this year was the screening and staging of Ukrainian film and theater. Among the highlights were the following. Film

Montreal filmmaker Yurij Luhovy's feature documen taries were both the object of acclaim and controversy. Mr. Luhovy (who garnered awards for his 1983 film on the Stalin-led Ukrainian famine, "Harvest of Despair" ), was named best editor at the Atlantic Film Festival for his internationally acclaimed 1992 film on the Mohawk uprising at Oka, Quebec, "Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance." His latest National Film Board documentary "Freedom had a Price," which deals with Canada's internment operation (1914-1920) of Ukrainian immigrants as "enemy aliens" during World War 1, received an honorable mention at the 42nd Columbus international Film and video Festival in Ohio in October. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp., despite manifest public support of televising the documen tary, had initially refused to show the film. After months of stalling and excuses the CBC will finally air the program on both its main network and on its 24-hour Newsworld cable channel, with broadcast dates yet to be confirmed. 9 While in New York early in the year in connection with the screening of his critically acclaimed film "Famine 3 3 " at the Film Forum theater, Kyyiv-based film director Oles Yanchuk announced that his next pro ject, titled "Atentat," will focus on the Ukrainian insurgent Army (UPA) and post-war emigration of Ukrainians to Western Europe. 9 "An American Portrait of Ukraine," an exhibit by the award-winning photojournalist Wilton S. Tifft, a man who hopes to change the West's perception of Ukraine through his photographs, was held in Kyyiv in October under the auspices of the United States Embassy after having traveled throughout Ukraine for more than a year, with shows in vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Zaporizhzhia, Zhytomyr and Kharkiv. The exhibit, comprising some 200 prints out of the 42,000 photos taken over a three-year period since Ukraine's indepen dence in 1991, was conceived by Mr. Tifft as part of his intent "... to give an insight into a country and its peo ple, a culture with a rich heritage that has been scattered and distorted among the pages of revisionist history but now is being collected once again to be placed in its rightful perspective." 9 The documentary film "1 Bude Novyi Den," (And a New Day Will Come), produced by Bohdan Diatsenko at the K y y i v n a u k f i l m Studio of the N a t i o n a l C i n e m a t e q u e of U k r a i n e , p r e m i e r e d before a Filmmakers' and Critics Union audience in Kyyiv in April. The film provides a comprehensive and balanced survey of Ukrainian-Jewish relations through history. 9 The film "Night of Questions," by Kyyiv film director and screenplay writer Tetyana Mahar, with an international cast featuring ivar K a l n y n s k , H l a h o l y e v a and Luba D e m c h u k , p r e m i e r e d at W a s h i n g t o n ' s Kennedy Center in May and was screened in various Ukrainian communities. 9 "Journey into Dusk" a filmMdeo montage written and directed by Yuri Myskiw, with photography by Oleh Fedak, which depicts the last days of a fictional, modern poet, premiered in Chicago on October 29 at the Ukrainian institute of Modern Art. The film, which incorporates the poetry of the New York Group, starred Andre Maria Liatyshevsky and Zoriana Hrabova, with a special appearance by Lidia Krushelnytsky. 9 "Dora was Dysfunctional," a short comedy film by Ukrainian American director Andrea Odezynska, starring Joan Giammarco and John Glover, was screened at New, York University Tisch School of the Arts on December 17. Theater This year witnessed the creation of The Cultural Fund of The Washington Group, under the direction of Laryssa Lapychak Chopivsky, with the aim of bringing Ukrainian arts and literature into the cultural mainstream, its inaugural event, featuring the Les Kurbas Young Theater of Lviv in the performance of the poetry of Bohdan ihor Antonych, was held June 5, under the
9

patronage of the Embassy of Ukraine. e The Les Kurbas Young Theater, under the direction of its founder volodymyr Kuchinsky, was in New York for the American debut of "Yarn's Forest Song," direct ed by Tkacz and in collaboration with the Kurbas Young Theater. The play, based on Lesia Ukrainka's "Lisova Pisnia," was staged at La MaMa E.T.C., June 10-26. The group went on to stage excerpts from its repertoire, Hryhoriy Skovoroda's "The Grateful E r o d y " and v o l o d y m y r v y n n y c h e n k o ' s "Between Two P o w e r s , " in performances for the U k r a i n i a n c o m m u n i t y in New York, C h i c a g o , Philadelphia, Hunter, N.Y., and Cambridge, Mass. Theater members are Oleh Drach, Tetiana Kaspruk, Mr. Kuchinsky, Natalka Polovynka and Andrei vodichev. 9 The outstanding performance of the season was the appearance of Bohdan Stupka, leading stage and film actor of Ukraine, along with his son, Ostap Stupka, in The lvan Franko State Drama Theater of Kyyiv produc tion of "Notes of a Madman." An adaptation of Gogol's "The Diary of a Madman," under the direction of Wasyl Sechin and Yulian Panich, the work was first presented abroad at the Edinburgh international Theater Festival, August 14-September 3. The play opened in New York at La MaMa E.T.C. on November 25 and went on tour of major Ukrainian communities through December 18. 9 The Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater of Odessa under the direction of its artistic director, ihor Ravitsky, staged the North American premiere of "Marilyn Mudrow," at the Prairie Theatre Exchange of Winnipeg, November 3-December 5. The contemporary play, with screenplay by Nikolai Koljada, offers a glimpse of the ugly reality of life in the Soviet Union just before its disintegration. 9 Kyyiv artists Svitlana vatamaniuk of the Molodizhnyi Teater, soprano Nadia Petrenko-Matviychuk, and pianist Svitlana Hlukh presented 'The Poetry of Lesia Ukrainka in Song and Recitation." The performance, a dramatization of the love life of the poetess, was held at the Ukrainian institute of America in New York on November 5 and was staged in various venues of the Ukrainian community in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Music Canadian jazz pianist John Stetch, who has become increasingly involved in the New York jazz scene, com pleted a cross-Canada tour with his quartet launching his second C D , "Carpathian B l u e s . " Released in February, the disc has received very favorable reviews in the leading Canadian press. 9 Among the handful of prominent women in choral and symphonic conducting, Marika Kuzma, director, since 1990, of the University Chorus at the University of California at Berkeley, has consistently captured the attention of music critics and the respect of composers
9

Mykola Ko!essa on the West Coast. Under Dr. Kuzma's direction, the UC has enjoyed stellar reviews from Bay Area music critics for its eclectic and challenging repertoire. 9 A jubilee concert honoring Mykola Kolessa, the dis tinguished and influential Ukrainian composer, conductor and pedagogue, was held at Carnegie's Weili Recital Hall in New York on October 9. With the maestro pre sent, a select group of performers, including pianist Maria Krushelnytska, soprano Oksana Krovytska, violin ist Bohdan Kaskiv, cellist Kharytyna Kolessa and violist Halyna Kolessa, offered highlights from Mr. Kolessa's body of chamber music. The jubilee celebrations of the maestro's 90th birthday, which commenced in his native Lviv in December 1993, continued with subsequent concerts in Philadelphia at the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center on October 11 and in Toronto at the Glenn Gould Studio on October 16. 9 Three singers from Ukraine appeared in principal roles in the New York City Opera production of Borodin's "Prince igor," which opened on September 10, and were heard in other NYCO ventures through the season. Soprano Oksana Krovytska of Lviv appeared in the role of Yaroslavna, tenor v i a d i m i r Grishko of Kyyiv sang the role of viadimir igorevich, and bass

Ostap Stupka (left) as the guard, Bohdan Stupka as Popryshchin.

16

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

1994: THE YEAR 1N REY1EW

Sergey Zadvorny of Dnipropetrovske, made his debut as Khan Konchak. The three artists were featured promi iientiy in a September 17 photo and story in The New York Times. e At the Met, bass Sergei Koptchak, a native of the eth oicaily Ukrainian Priashiv region of Slovakia, appeared in Yerdi's "Rigoiletto," Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Shostakovich's "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk," 9 in cooperation with the Music and Art Center of Greene County, N.Y., a quartet of accomplished musi cians from Lviv and Kyyiv, composer7pianist Myroslav Skoryk, pianist Anna Klymashivska, soprano Maria Hirska and baritone Oleh Chmyr, presented a progam of Ukrainian lieder and operatic arias in concert appear ances in major Ukrainian communities throughout the northeast, premiering at the Grazhda in Hunter, N.Y and including the program "New Faces, New voices from Lviv," at the Sumner Museum in Washington on September 26. 9 Pianist My kola Suk appeared in concert at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center on October 23 in a program of works by Beethoven, Bartok, Liszt and Sylvestrov. The concert was sponsored by Shupp Artists Management inc. in association with the Ukrainian institute of America. 9 Cellist vagram Saradjian and pianist volodymyr vynnytsky, winners of the 1994 international Artists Award, made their Carnegie Hall debut in a concert on November 13. ' The chamber music of virko Baley, music director of the Nevada Symphony and longstanding promoter of contemporary Ukrainian music in the West, was presented by the Ukrainian institute of America's Music at the institute concert series, at New York's Weill Recital Hall on November 21. The six works, which were performed by an impressive roster of accomplished artists, represented a span of more than two decades of compositional activity. Dance lrina Dvorovenko, a principal dancer of the Kyyiv Ballet, and Maxim Belozerkovsky, a principal dancer with the National Opera and Ballet Theater of Ukraine, appeared in New York in a concert billed as "Ballet Stars of Moscow." Ms. Dvorenko, who is in her early 20s, is a gold medal recipient of the 1994 Serge Lifar international Ballet Competition. Mr. Belozerkovsky has been signed by American Ballet Theater. m Ukraine's national dance, the Hopak, with choreog raphy by Roma Pryma Bohachevsky of New York, was featured in this season's cross-country tour of the acclaimed Duquesne University Tamburitzans with a performance at the Fashion institute of Technology's Haft Auditorium on October 29. ART This year witnessed the appearance of "Terra incognita," a trilingual publication devoted to contempo rary art in Ukraine edited by artist Hlib vyshesiavsky. The premiere issue, published in Kyyiv, came out in spring. e The Soros Center for Contemporary Art, which opened in Kyyiv in May, inaugurated its activities with an art show on the subject of peace titled "Alchemic Surrender," held in July abroad the Ukrainian warship, Slavutych. The show, curated by SCCA's director, Marta Kuzma, addressed the conflict in language and politics between the Russian and Ukrainian fleets in the Black Sea port of Sevastopil. The exhibit and the artists received international attention. The SCCA also spon sored, in October, the showings of works by Ukrainian artists at the Sao Paulo Biennale in Brazil and at the i n t e r n a t i o n a l "Project for E u r o p e " exhibition in Copenhagen. 9 "New Ukrainian Painting," an exhibition organized by The Economist and the 369 Gallery, featured the work of Kyyiv artists valeria Trubina and the late Oleh Holosii, significant figures on the contemporary Ukrainian art scene who, over the past three years, have attracted growing attention in Europe and in the U.S. The exhibit opened in London on February 8 and was on view through March 12. Literature Askold Melnyczuk's first novel, "What is Told," a publication of Faber SL Faber, has been hailed as an inventive, assured work. At once scathingly comic and tragic, the novel is embued with a'deep sense of the importance of history as it follows three generations of a fictional Ukrainian family from the outbreak of World War 1 to the U.S. of the 1950s and '60s.The work has garnered extensive critical attention as well as excellent reviews in The New York Times Book Review and The Boston Globe.
e 9

World adopts Baiul, Ukraine keeps rolling

And so, the first time Ukraine's flag and anthem rose above an Olympic podium for everyone to see, it was thanks to an orphan named Oksana. Taras Shevchenko wouldn't have had it any other way.

THE TALE OF TWO SKAT1NG CENTERS

Profiting from the successes of Ukraine's competi tors in figure skating and the increased attention paid the sport in general, plans for skating centers in Odessa and in Connecticut simultaneously went into high gear. Because of this parallel, confusion arose as to where Ms. Baiul would live, for which country she would compete, and where she would train, despite a series of clear s t a t e m e n t s issued to the press by Coach Zmiyevska and Ms. Baiul herself. The anwers: she will live in Odessa; compete for Ukraine; train in Odessa and Connecticut. After a brief spat over the actual location of Connecticut's new international Skating Center, a site in the town of Simsbury was chosen. Ms. Zmiyevska, Nina Zmiyevska-Petrenko, Mr. Petrenko and Ms. Baiul all flew in for the groundbreaking ceremonies, which took place on April 22, with some 1,200 people in attendance. Completion of the large complex (which includes one Olympic size figure skating and one ice hockey rink) was scheduled for September 15. Construction was completed in late October, and the official opening is scheduled for January 1995. Adding to the tangle of fact and conjecture was the wishful thinking of the local press, particularly of the Hartford Courant, which carried mentions of details suggesting that Oksana was relocating to Connecticut per manently. in fact, Ms. Baiul's commitment to Ukraine and Odessa could not be stronger. She took time out of her arduous Tour of World Figure Skating Champions to participate in a May 3 reception benefitting her home training facility, which is badly in need of renovation, as well as basic equipment, ranging from ice making machines and a Zamboni, to figure skates for a new g e n e r a t i o n of P e t r e n k o s , B a i u l s , D m y t r e n k o s , Zahorodniuks and others who are ready to establish a lasting Ukrainian dynasty in the sport. HOCKEY in early February, Ukraine's best hockey team, Kyyiv Sokil, spent a nightmarish week in eastern Canada because Toronto-based promoter Yevhen Stashkiv had enticed them across the ocean (at the team's expense), promising them games against top minor league teams in Quebec and Ontario. When the team was marooned with no money, food, or a c c o m m o d a t i o n s in N i a g a r a F a l l s , the local Hungarian, Greek and Ukrainian communities chipped in with donations of food and funds for necessities, and notified the CBC, Canada's national and radio network, which gave the story full coverage. Legal pro ceedings against Mr. Stashkiv, who also allegedly duped a number of choirs and dance groups, are still pending. Minor leagues During the 1993-1994 campaign, young prospect Yaleriy Slyvchenko played for Wheeling, a farm team for the 1993 Stanley Cup champion Montreal Canadiens. He led the East Coast Hockey League in goal scoring for over four months, but a separated shoulder sidelined him just prior to the playoffs. For the 1994-1995 campaign, now strike-crippled, one of the hottest prospects was 18-year-old Donetske native Oleh Tverdovsky, rated third among international draft pick choices by the respected Hockey News. As this year-ender was going to press, Ukraine was among eight (along with Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Russia, Sweden and the U.S.A.) countries sending a team to this year's World Junior Hockey Championships in Alberta, scheduled to begin December 26. Ukraine was to play the host country, Canada, in its first game. SOCCER The World Cup in July, The W e e k l y carried articles by Mark Papworth and Oleh Szmelskyj (enthusiasts from England) about the history of soccer in Ukraine leading up to the 1994 World Cup, and a two-part expose of the collusion between F1FA (soccer's international govern ing body) and the e m e r g e n t Russian Football Association, headed by Yyacheslav Koloskov, to exclude Ukraine (along with Georgia and Croatia) from the competition.

nce again, the story in Ukrainian sport was the waif adopted by her coach (Halyna Zmiyevska) and by the world Oksana Baiul. Unfazed by the orgy of publicity swirling around the grotesquely American "Tonya and Nancy" drama, unbowed by injuries (including a collision with a fellow competitor the day prior to a crucial skate), the 16-year-old from Dnipropetrovske continued to grow and blossom. Columnist and best selling author Anne Roiphe devoted a touching piece to Ms. Baiul in The New York Observer, imploring her to stay pure, to steer clear of the corrupting Holden Caulfields of the global arena. Her persona has been pulled into a duel between superagents. At first, along with fellow-Ukrainian and adoptive Odessite "older brother" viktor Petrenko, she was "the jewel" of agent Michael Rosenberg's "stable." Then Ukrainian presidential candidate and wheeler dealer Yaleriy Babych pulled the plug on various "Snickers" endorsement contracts (it's the chocolate bar Oksana said she likes before she was told that words are money), repatriating her "for the benefit of Ukraine" and the powerful William Morris New York-based group of advertisers. After her win at the W i n t e r O l y m p i c s , former President Leonid Kravchuk wisely included Ms. Baiul in his entourage for the official visit to Washington. U.S. President Bill Clinton ignored precedent and made Oksana the first Lillehammer Olympian (gasp, a for eigner!) in the White House. Nevertheless, as the year drew to a close, Ms. Baiul seems to have managed to stay pure. She sat, like a fid gety flower, as one of Barbara Walters' choices for top 10 most interesting people of the year, and the world's sympathy and concern seemed to shine from the interviewer's eyes. Ms. Baiul cried at the mention of her dead mother and looked down shyly. But then she smiled and stole our hearts.

WINTER OLYMPICS
The 17th Winter O l y m p i a d in L i l l e h a m m e r in Norway, was the first for a fully independent, separately recognized Team Ukraine, a contingent of 37 athletes. The first medalist was Yalentyna Tserbe, who took the bronze in the biathlon. The first gold medal went to Ms. Baiul. Mr. Petrenko, along with three other much her alded professionals returning briefly to amateur status, was somewhat disappointing, but he finished a solid fourth. Besides, he already won his gold, at Albertville. Ukraine finished 13th in the medal standings, with nine top-10 performances, and another 10 in the top-20.

Roman lwasiwka7CBS

Oksana Baiul beaming to the crowd after her gold medal triumph at Lillehammer Winter Olympics,

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

17

Prior to the final tournament in July, the team repre senting Russia was riven by dissension. Two Ukrainian stars, Andriy Kanchelskis and viktor Leonenko (top scorer in the Ukrainian league) were kept out of the line-up by coach Pavel Sadyrin after public clashes, in the end, the roster included five Ukrainians (Serhiy Yuran, viktor Onopko, Oleh Salenko, illia Tsymbalar and Yury Nikiforov), but the team fared poorly, barely squeaking past the first round, it was summarily dis patched in its next game. Along the way, however, one of the Ukrainians, Mr. Salenko, made soccer history by scoring five goals against a bedeviled Cameroonian squad, a record for one World Cup game by an individual. Mr. Salenko also tied italian Paolo Rossi's record for most goals in a World Cup tournament six. Ukrainian American Andy Rudawsky, trainer of the U.S. contingent, was among those who shared the spotlight as the sport was given a new prominence in North America. The Dynamo rollercoaster After a decade of successes in the 1980s (in 1986, it won the European championship and was ranked sec ond only to the squad that won the World Cup for Argentina that year), Kyyiv Dynamo suffered through considerable financial difficulties and various indigni ties since independence. For example, in March the team was involved in a scandal when its officials banned 15-year veteran announcer7commentator Serhiy Derepa from all of its games. He had questioned a referee's call that gave Dynamo a victory over Nyva Ternopil in a Ukrainian league tilt. in the UEFA Cup competition, Dynamo (ranked 19th in Europe) raised its country's hopes with a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Moscow Spartak (ranked seventh) on September 14 in the Ukrainian cap ital's Republican Stadium. However, the elation was shcrt-lived. Dynamo lost to Paris St. Germain at home and away, and dropped a 1-0 closely fought contest in Germany to Munchen Bayern. The final nail in the cof fin was a 4-1 pasting delivered by the Germans on December 7, knocking Kyyiv Dynamo out of the com petition. Other news in European Championship competition, Team Ukraine was knocked out on September 7, in a game played on home turf, by a Cinderella outfit from Lithuania, blanked 2-0. Ukraine faired better on the junior circuit, 16-years and-under division, at the world championships in Dublin, ireland in October. The team reached the semi final game, lost to the eventual world champion Belgians, but bounced back to claim the bronze medal by defeating Austria 2-0.

ment. Olena Brioukhovets stayed with the tour but con tinued to struggle, unable to get past the second round of major events. Having a similar year was Natalia Medvedeva, A n d r e i ' s sister, who did better when teamed with Ms. Nieland. The tandem reached the quar ter-finals of the doubles competition at Wimbledon.

received accolades for valiant endurance and an excel lent rookie effort. OTHER H1GHL1GHTS
m Kateryna Serebrianska of Ukraine won or shared in all the individual gold medals on the final day of the World Rhythmic Gymnastics Championships in Paris, October 8. She won the ribbon and the clubs events outright, tied with Ukraine's Olena vitrychenko for first in the ball event, and finished in a three way tie for first in the hoops. 9 valeriy Borzov, president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine (NOCU), was accepted as a member of the international Olympic Committee at a meeting of the iOC's General Assembly held in Paris from August 28 to September 4. e The women's volleyball team from Ukraine contin ued to consolidate its world top 10 ranking, in March, it took the bronze medal by beating the U.S. at the Canada Cup in Winnipeg, and qualified for the World Championships in Brazil. 9 Coach Basil Tarasko's (from New York's City College) Ukrainian National Team won the Pool European Baseball Championships with a thrilling 7-6 win over the undefeated host team from Slovenia. They advanced to the Pool A tourney that will determine who qualifies for the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta. m Ukraine's rowing teams left their stamp on the World Rowing Championship held on September in indianapolis, ind., thanks to the dedicated support of Laryssa Barabash Temple, the U.S. representative of the NOCU and the Buffalo Friends of Ukrainian Athletes, whose co-presidents, Mykola Lewczyk and Joe Grega, have become leading patrons of the Ukrainian Olympic movement. ^ in a year when the Baltimore CFL Colts flubbed a chance to even the score with baseball's Toronto Blue Jays and become the first U . S . champions of the Canadian-based football league, The Weekly's readers learned, thanks to ihor Stelmach's report, that Hamilton Tiger-Cats president and chief executive officer is Ukrainian Canadian John Michaluk. :. Chornomorska Sitch, the oldest active sports club in North America, which has fielded a number of strong U.S. amateur soccer and volleyball teams and produced many Olympic and World Cup athletes, celebrated its 70th anniversary with a gala banquet on October 22. 9 The Sitch Sports School, operated in Glen Spey, N.Y., completed its 25th season of service to Ukrainian youth, with a training camp and competitions in soccer, tennis, volleyball and swimming. Also participating were instructors from Ukraine, including Dnipro Ukraine soccer great ihor Chupenko, v o l o d y m y r Kovalev of the Kyyiv institute for Physical Education, Albert Kolb of the Uzhhorod Tennis Federation and Marian Karbivnyk of the Lviv institute of Physical Education.

ATHLETICS
Although it was Ms. Baiul's year, pole-vaulter Serhiy Bubka was back. After struggling in the 1992 Summer Olympics, bouncing back that fall, and then going into an prolonged slump, sports vultures began to write obituaries for the 30-year-old Donetske native's career. Then, on July 31, a big breezy day in Sestriere in the Alps of northern italy, Mr. Bubka cleared a height of 20 feet 1.75 inches (6.14 meters), smashing his old mark (set in Tokyo in September 1992), by a full half-inch. He had just set his 35th world record. At this y e a r ' s E u r o p e a n Track and Field Championships in Helsinki, Finland, all of the familiar names in Ukrainian track and field were in evidence. 1993 W o r l d U n i v e r s i t y G a m e s hero O l e k s a n d e r Klymenko took gold in the shot-put, with Oleksander Bahach and Roman vyrastiuk completing Ukraine's sweep of the podium, viktoria Pavlysh also struck gold in the shot-put in the women's competition. Oleh Tverdokhlib pulled off a stunning upset in the 400-meter run, taking the gold; Zhanna Tarnopolska claimed two silvers in the 100- and 200- meter sprints, viadislav Dologodin took silver in the 200 meters and was part of the men's 4x100 meter relay squad that brought Ukraine in second to France, inessa Kravets, the world record-setting long and triple jumper from Dnipropetrovske, claimed silver in the long and bronze in the triple. Lev L o b o d i n finished third in the decathlon, while vitaliy Kolpakov was ninth. ROUND THE WORLD WTTH HETMAN A ODESSA Throughout the year, The Weekly chronicled the progress and tribulations of two yachts, the Odessa (named after the port where it's based) and the Hetman Sahaidachny (of Mykolayiv), as they made their way along the route set out for the Whitbread 'Round the World Race. Our offices even began receiving biweekly telegrams that read like passages from C.S. Forester's sea adventure novels gales at Cape Horn, riding massive 30-foot waves, frost on the sails in a grey dawn... Thanks to the continuous support of the Ukrainian community in North America, the sponsorship of vari ous firms and private patrons in the U.S. and Ukraine, and crews consisting of an international array of able seamen, the two ships completed most of the arduous run an accomplishment in itself. The Sahaidachny didn't make it to the finish, and the Odessa limped into the English port of Liverpool last. Nevertheless, they

TENNIS
Men's tour This was the year that Ukraine's Andrei Medvedev established himself firmly among the elite top 15 club, won the Spanish Open, but was unable to get further than the quarter-finals in a Grand Slam event. The high est profile match Mr. Medvedev had was a five-setter he lost to German former champ Boris Becker in the fourth round of Wimbledon. Fellow Kyyivan tour pro Taras Beiko, who now lives in Montreal with his Ukrainian Canadian spouse, told The W e e k l y that Mr. Medvedev's anti-Ukrainianism has been overblown, and that he has resisted several offers and great pressure exerted by foreign officials urging him to move to Moscow and play for Russia. While on the subject of Montrealers, 1994 was also the year when Canada's Greg Rusedski of Pointe Claire, Quebec (a suburb of the home of the Canadiens) also achieved a degree of success. His highest level match came against none other than Mr. Medvedev, when the two former contenders for the World Junior title went head to head in the third round of the French Open. Mr. Rusedski bowed out in a five frame see-saw battle that demonstrated how his 125-1- m.p.h. serve and improving skills have lifted him into the top-60 in the world. Women's tour The best woman player from Ukraine this year played for Latvia. Lviv-born Larysa Savchenko-Nieland reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon, only to meet the red hot Lori McNeil of the U.S., who had dispatched German powerhouse Steffi Graf earlier in the tourna

Ukraine's indomitable women's volleyball team, at a fundraiser held at Toronto's Ukrainian Cultural Center, on October 12. Nine days later, they were in Brazil for the World volleyball Championships.

18

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

^
"60 Minutes" shows ugly face of media

n October 23, 17.5 million American households watched a "60 Minutes" broadcast that reported on the alleged resurgence of anti-Semitism in western Ukraine. Haunting images of young children marching in a torch-filled night flooded television screens, as did a weeping Simon Wiesenthal, touted by "60 Minutes" correspondent Morley Safer as "the world's number one Nazi hunter," who proclaimed at the end of the segment that "They fUkrainiansJ have not changed." The segment, titled "The Ugly Face of Freedom," managed to ascribe the beliefs of the UNA7UNSO, a fringe ultra-nationalist group, to the whole of western Ukraine, and alluded to all Ukrainians as "genetically anti-Semitic." its staged drama, unidentified footage, historical inaccuracies, and sharply edited interviews with Cardinal Myroslav ivan Lubachivsky and Msgr. ivan Dacko of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, and Rabbi Yaakov Dov Bleich, chief rabbi of Ukraine, raised the ire of the Ukrainian communities of North America as no other instance of Ukrainian defamation has in recent years. With swift precision, Ukrainian institutions and Ukrainian communities in the United States and Canada lashed out at CBS and "60 Minutes," jamming CBS telephone lines with complaints, and writing letters to CBS executives and the sponsors of the program. The Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church immediately issued a statement saying that the segment's producer, Jeffrey Fager, had misrepresented the thrust of the report, claiming the piece would focus on "post-Communist Ukraine." Rabbi Bleich too issued a statement that read, "1 would like to state unequivocally that my words were quoted out of the context that they were said." Ukraine's Embassy to the United States also reacted, in a letter to CBS News Division President Eric W. Ober, v a l e r y Kuchinsky, charge d'affaires, relayed the Ukrainian government's "utter resentment at the stridently biased segment on the alleged rise of anti-Semitism" in western Ukraine, demanding that CBS carry a retraction and "present an official apology for its gross injustice to Ukraine and its people in the highly abusive report." Ukrainian government officials in Kyyiv were apprised of the segment and communicated with the Jewish Council of Ukraine, the Jewish community's largest a s s o c i a t i o n , and the Council of Ethnic Associations of Ukraine. Joint action was to be taken. Embassy Press Counselor Dmytro Markov said that during Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's state visit to the United States in late November, arrangements were made for the president to discuss the issue with Jewish leaders in New York and at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The Embassy has circulated the texts of the Ukrainian president's addresses before both groups to the media. Mr. Markov also reported that the issue has been brought up in Ukraine's press. The Ukrainian newspaper Za vilnu Ukrainu, whose editor was featured in "The Ugly Face of Freedom," is scheduled to run an opinion piece written by Rabbi Bleich. The Ukrainian Congress Committee of America has made arrangements for Rabbi Bleich and an assistant to Cardinal Lubachivsky to appear on Lviv Television to condemn the "60 Minutes" segment and plead for peace between the Ukrainian and Jewish communities of western Ukraine. The UCCA and the Ukrainian National Association launched a campaign within their branches to tele phone7fax CBS in protest and demand the dismissal of Mr. Safer. UCCA branches were advised to communi cate with CBS affiliates, many of whom are fleeing CBS for the Fox network, to request a meeting with the Ukrainian American community. Representatives of the Rochester area community met with CBS affiliate WROC on October 28 and arranged for the airing of an "equal time" program on the station's "30 Minutes" program. On November 26, "30 Minutes" broadcast a report on the Ukrainian community's outrage over "The Ugly Face of Freedom" segment while provid ing an overview of independent Ukraine's recent history. The program featured interviews with UCCA President Askold Lozynskyj and UCCA Rochester Branch vice President Walter Zacharkiw. On November 2, Chicago area community activists met with CBS affiliate WBBM and were offered air time to rebut the "60 Minutes" segment on the station's "Newsmakers" program. The affiliate's offer for a rebuttal program was later retracted.

in Detroit, the local CBS affiliate covered an October 27 community rally at the Ukrainian Cultural Center attended by some 600 Ukrainian Americans and aired it on that evening's 11 o'clock news. Ukrainian Cultural Center director and Detroit area UCCA President Borys Potapenko met with Michigan Reps. David Bonior and Sander Levin, who said they would speak out on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives regarding the issue. A letterwriting campaign targeting the 15 corporate sponsors of the October 23 segment spearheaded by the Ukrainian Professional Society of Philadelphia and the Federation of Ukrainian American Business and Professional Organizations bore some results. Five corpo rations Allstate insurance, General Motors Corp., Merrill Lynch and Co. inc., Toyota and United Parcel Service inc. sent letters to UCCA President Lozynskyj. Mr. Lozynskyj has called on Ukrainian Americans to boy cott the products of the 10 remaining sponsors: ATScT Corp., Cadillac, Oldsmobile, Chrysler, Enterprise Rent-A Car, General Mills, Goodyear Tire, international Business Machines, Wal-Mart and the Unites States Postal Service. The first in a series of demonstrations protesting the segment was held at CBS offices in Philadelphia on October 24. Demonstrators met with the affiliate's pro ducer and station director, who said they would arrange for a meeting with community representatives and "60 Minutes" Executive Producer Don Hewitt. That demon stration, and one held in Washington on November 2 at the CBS office there, attracted 100 Ukrainian Americans apiece. Demonstrators in Washington met with vice President and Bureau Chief Barbara S. Cochran. A larger demonstration at both CBS's production and corporate headquarters in New York on November 14 attracted over 500 Ukrainian Americans from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. On October 31, an ad hoc delegation of Ukrainian Americans met with Mr. Hewitt, CBS vice-President Joseph Peyronnin, Mr. Safer and Mr. Fager at CBS headquarters in Manhattan. The Ukrainian delegation, which included two recent Jewish emigres from Ukraine and Eastern Europe, received no commitment from CBS to publicly rectify the inflammatory segment. instead, according to Mr. Lozynskyj, a meeting par ticipant, CBS pledged to revisit the issue, convene its own meeting of researchers and experts, convene a meeting with Rabbi Bleich, and then make a decision. The one-hour, 40-minute meeting was organized by Mr. Hewitt at the insistence of Ukrainian Human Rights Committee President Ulana Mazurkevich. UNA vicePresident Nestor Olesnycky, Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Basil Losten and Rutgers University Prof. Taras Hunczak rounded out the Ukrainian delegation. On November 1, Rabbi David Lincoln, the leader of the congregation at Park Avenue synagogue in Manhattan who had written a letter to CBS denouncing the inaccura cies and defamation in "The Ugly Face of Freedom" seg ment, received a conference call from Messrs. Safer and Fager, who tried to persuade him to accept their position. On November 4, an ad hoc coalition of representatives of community organizations held its inaugural meeting at the Ukrainian National Association's headquarters in Jersey City, N.J. The group accepted as its mandate to secure a complete retraction from CBS and to counter the

negative publicity that occurred as a result of "The Ugly Face of Freedom" segment. The group reactivated the UNA-Ukrainian Heritage Defense Fund and launched a drive to collect funds to publish advertisements in major North American newspapers to set the record straight. According to UNA Special Project Coordinator Oksana Trytjak, the group's liaison, the defense fund has collected S27,000 to date, Si0,000 of which was donated by the veterans of the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army and S5,000 of which was donated by Selfreliance Federal Credit Union of New York. The UNA has promised to donate Si0,000 to the fund. Organizations represented at the weekly meetings are: the Ukrainian American Bar Association, the Federation of Ukrainian A m e r i c a n Business and Professional Organizations, veterans of the 1st Division of the Ukrainian National Army, Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine, the Ukrainian National Center: History and information Network (UNCHA1N), the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, the Harvard U k r a i n i a n Research i n s t i t u t e , and the Ukrainian Catholic and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches. On November 6, at the end of its program, "60 Minutes" read excerpts from Cardinal Lubachivsky's statement. On November 10, the UCCA filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Citing the Fairness Doctrine, which requires broadcasters to provide adequate coverage of controversial issues of public importance and to ensure that the coverage fairly reflects differing viewpoints on the issue, the UCCA filed a com plaint against 13 CBS flagship stations and network affil iates. The complaint is still pending. in C a n a d a , 4 9 0 , 0 0 0 h o u s e h o l d s , mostly from Ontario, tuned in to "60 Minutes" on October 23, slight ly more than usual. According to Nielsen Marketing Research, "60 Minutes" garnered an average of 403,000 Canadian households in eight previous shows. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress launched its own letter writing campaign. On November 28 CanWest Global System, under whose aegis Global-Tv, the Canadian network that carried the "60 Minutes" broadcast falls, issued an apology to the Ukrainian Canadian c o m m u n i t y in a letter to Orest H r a b o w y c h of Willowdale, Ontario, in addition, CanWest Global System vice-president for legal and regulatory affairs, Glenn P. O'Farrell, advised Mr. Hrabowych that C a n W e s t r e q u e s t e d that it be notified by CBS international in advance if and when CBS intends to rebroadcast "The Ugly Face of Freedom" segment in order for CanWest to cover it with another segment. Mrs. Mazurkevich, the impetus behind the October 31 meeting at CBS headquarters in Manhattan and the November 14 demonstration, has begun working with the w a t c h d o g group A c c u r a c y in M e d i a , which promised to disseminate information about the "60 Minutes" segment to various media. According to Mr. Lozynskyj, The New York Times will publish an interview with Rabbi Bleich and the Wall Street Journal will carry an opinion editorial piece by the rabbi in upcoming issues. All c o m m u n i t y o r g a n i z a t i o n s urge U k r a i n i a n Americans to continue their protest.

Khristina Lew

November 14: Over 500 Ukrainian Americans demonstrate at CBS production headquarters in Manhattan.

No. 52

THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

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Still in the headlines: Demjanjuk and Koziy

he Demjanjuk case continued to make headlines in 1994. At the start of the year, Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., in a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, called on the Justice Department to investi gate its prosecutors' misconduct in the John Demjanjuk case. That, said the Ohio Democrat, should be the focus of the department's efforts not the deportation of Mr. Demjanjuk, who, as readers will recall, returned to the U.S. in September 1993, two months after being acquit ted of being "ivan the Terrible," the sadistic guard at the Treblinka death camp. Rep. Traficant noted, "Much to my dismay, the Justice Department continues to try and prosecute Mr. Demjanjuk totally ignoring prosecutorial misconduct charges that were leveled by the U.S. Appeals Court." He added, "Unfortunately, it has become evident that the Justice Department is either unable or unwilling to fully investigate these serious allegations." The congressman wrote also to President Bill Clinton, suggesting that "The appointment of a special indepen dent prosecutor is the only way to uncover all the facts in this case and assure that justice is done." The immediate cause of Rep. Traficant's ire was the Justice Department's filing on December 30, 1993, of an appeal of the decision overturning Mr. Demjanjuk's 1987 extradi tion to israel, which came after the court found that the U.S. government had committed fraud by with holding evidence from the Demjanjuk defense. The department also asked a federal judge in Cleveland to reopen the denaturaliza tion case against Mr. John Demjanjuk Demjanjuk so that the d e p a r t m e n t ' s Nazi hunters, the Office of Special investigations, could present new evidence that Mr. Demjanjuk had served at Nazi camps other than Treblinka. Then on February 24, the full 6th Circuit Court of Appeals announced its refusal to reconsider a ruling by the court's three-judge panel that had overturned the Demjanjuk extradition. The ruling by the 15-member court gave the Justice Department 90 days to make a final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Still pending, however, was the Justice Department's request that District Judge Frank Battisti reaffirm his denaturalization of Mr. Demjanjuk. Demjanjuk attor neys then filed papers arguing that Judge Battisti should reject that request in light of the 6th Circuit's finding of fraud on the part of OS1 prosecutors. On May 24, the Justice Department did indeed take its case to the Supreme Court, as it asked the highest court in the land to throw out the lower court ruling that prosecutors had committed fraud by withholding excul patory evidence from the Demjanjuk defense. Solicitor General Drew S. Days said in his petition to the Supreme Court that the Circuit Court's November 1993 finding was impeding the U.S. government's efforts to expel Mr. Demjanjuk. He argued that U.S. prosecutors had acted in good faith and that the failure to produce certain documents did not rise to the level of "egregious and deliberate misconduct, such as bribery of a judge or fabrications of evidence," that typically is found to be fraud upon a court. Rep. Traficant reacted to the appeal by stating: "instead of working so hard to overcome a decision by the federal appeals court, the Justice Department should be vigorously investigating charges of prosecutorial misconduct... Our government continues to protect these prosecutors who have broken the law and should be prosecuted themselves. That flies in the face of jus tice." The Justice Department lost yet another round on October 3, when the Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal. Thus, the lower court finding of fraud on the part of OS1 prosecutors stands. The Demjanjuk family was jubilant. Ed Nishnic, son-in-law and president of the John Demjanjuk Defense Fund, said, "Today's deci

sion makes it absolutely clear that the Department of J u s t i c e defrauded the U . S . c o u r t s , d e c e i v e d the American people and destroyed Mr. Demjanjuk's good name." The New York Times called the Supreme Court's action a potential "fatal blow to the tU.S.J government's 17-year effort to banish John Demjanjuk... once described as one of the most barbaric Nazi figures of the Holocaust." Though his extradition has been overturned, Mr. Demjanjuk has another battle to fight: regaining his U.S. citizenship. The Supreme Court's denial of certio rari, or review, would now make it difficult for the gov ernment to sustain its argument that Mr. Demjanjuk's citizenship should not be restored, and it actually paves the way for reconsideration of his 1981 denaturaliza tion. But Mr. Demjanjuk's son-in-law feels there is still one more battle: to have cases brought by the OS1 against suspected war criminals "criminalized," that is, ensuring that these cases are no longer treated as civil proceedings in which the standards of proof and legal safeguards are much less rigorous than in criminal cases. x x On the home front, Mr. Demjanjuk spent the year liv ing quietly with his family in Ohio. However, Jewish groups, from time to time, staged picketing of his home in Seven Hills, with demonstrators shouting epithets like "bloody murderer." There was a new development at the Office of Special investigations on February 10 as Neal M. Sher, its director, was named executive director of the leading pro-lsrael lobby, the American israeli Public Affairs Committee ().
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his homecoming. Prompted by a written request from Mr. Koziy to help clear his n a m e , the Rebirth Association turned to regional security services seeking a review of evidence previously gathered in the Koziy case. The World Jewish Congress, meanwhile, wants Mr. Koziy to stand trial for war crimes against Jewish fami lies in that region, and it began a campaign in midyear to expel Mr. Koziy from Costa Rica. Elan Steinberg, executive director of the New York-based World Jewish Congress, dismissed Mrs. Snigur's recantation, calling it "rubbish."

The noteworthy: events and people

his section encompasses all those noteworthy events and people that simply defy classification under any of our other headings for this year-end review. So here goes: 9 At the beginning of the year, on January 10, Weekly readers learned that New Jersey's Holocaustgenocide studies bill, stripped of its Ukrainian and Polish amendments (regarding the Great Famine and the Polish Christian victims of the Nazis), had failed to reach the floor in the final session of the New Jersey state legislature. Observers said there were two reasons for the failure: first, the bill was poorly written to begin with; second, there was an outpouring of concern that the bill, as proposed by Assembly Speaker Garabed "Chuck" Haytaian, was exclusionary and biased. The latter prompted Sens. Ronald Rice and Randy Corman to introduce amendments in the State Senate recogniz ing, respectively, the Ukrainian and Polish tragedies. T h e s e were r e m o v e d , h o w e v e r , when the State Assembly re-amended the measure. in March, during its new session, the state legislature passed another bill mandating the teaching of the Holocaust and other genocides in New Jersey elemen tary and secondary schools. The difference was that the second bill left open the possibility of studying all genocides, thus spurring Walter Bodnar of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine to write that the curricu lum bill is "an opportunity to be used." 9 On February 26, after almost a year of discussions, eight Ukrainian American business and professionals societies launched a national federation. The charter members of the Federation of Ukrainian American B u s i n e s s and Professional A s s o c i a t i o n s met on February 26 to set up an organizational framework. They elected an executive committee chaired by Lydia Chopivsky Benson of Washington and a committee of national directors that includes representatives of each of the eight groups: The Buffalo Group, Ukrainian Business and Professional Group of Chicago, Ukrainian Graduates of Detroit and Windsor, Ukrainian American Professionals and Business Persons Association of New York and New Jersey, Ukrainian Professionals Society of Philadelphia, Ukrainian Technological Society of Pittsburgh, Ukrainian American Business and Professionals Association of Rochester and The Washington Group. Together these associations represent more than 1,000 persons involved in diverse businesses and professions. 9 A film which elicited reaction on the part of Ukrainian viewers in Canada and the U.S. was the television series "Blood and Belonging" by Michael lgnatieff. A produc tion of BBC Wales and Primedia Canada, it premiered at the beginning of February on T v Ontario and on PBS in the United States in March. Ukraine formed the first episode in the six-part series, with the focus on how the Russians are faring in Ukraine after independence. The film, based on Mr. lgnatieff s 1993 book "Blood and Belonging: Journey into the New Nationalism," was provocative and outraging for a Ukrainian audience in that the author's investigation falls victim to his avowed Russo-centrism, an attitude which can best be described as Great Russian condescension towards "those little Russians," which in Mr. lgnatieff s case, originates in the author's paternal roots in old tsarist Russia, in Toronto, the showing of the film was followed by a phone-in dis cussion, with Prof. Orest Subtelny of York University tak ing the calls after the episode on Ukraine. m After years of functioning under the Soviet regime, practically as the arm of the KGB when it came to "diag nosing" dissidents, psychiatrists in Ukraine held the first national meeting of the Ukrainian Psychiatric Association. The Western co-sponsor of the educational conference, held May 5-7 at the Pavlov Psychiatric institute, was the

He

in related news, the aforementioned Judge Battisti, who presided over the Demjanjuk deportation case, died on November 16 at the age of 72. On his docket at the time of his death was a rehearing of the Demjanjuk case ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court, as Mr. Demjanjuk is seeking to have his citizenship restored. x x x Finally, at year's end, came the news that Yoram Sheftel, the outspoken israeli attorney who took on the defense of Mr. Demjanjuk following the suspi cious death of the previous lawyer, had authored a book on the internationally renowned case. Titled "The Demjanjuk Affair: The Rise and Fall of a ShowTrial," the 379-page book was released by Goltancz publishers. According to a book review by Chrystia Freeland that appeared in the December 10-11 issue of the British newspaper The Financial Times, Mr. Sheftel concludes: "Not only was the wrong man put on trial; the whole affair began with a despicable plot, an international conspiracy of five countries the Soviet Union, Poland, the United States, Germany and israel." The Koziy case This summer, 64-year-old Hanna Snigur recanted tes timony she had given in 1976 regarding the Bohdan Koziy case, thus calling into question the veracity of war crimes accusations against the former U.S. resident. Ms. Snigur said she was told she would be sent to "see the polar bears in Siberia" if she did not testify that in the autumn of 1943 she saw Mr. Koziy, a young Ukrainian militiaman in German-occupied Lysets, car rying off a 4-year-old girl named Monica Singer. Mrs. Snigur says she has spoken out now about the forced testimony because, "1 was a false witness and 1 don't want to sin before God and make an innocent person suffer." She is apparently the first Soviet-era witness to admit she was compelled to give false testimony in a war crimes case. Soviet-supplied, videotaped testimony was used in the Koziy case, and he was stripped of his U.S. citizenship in 1984 for concealing his wartime activities when he entered the U.S. Before the U.S. could deport him to the USSR to stand trial, he fled to Costa Rica, which refused a Soviet request to extradite Mr. Koziy. Mr. Koziy, 71 a man without a passport, without citizenship, without a country has been living in Costa Rica for nearly a decade, but now wants to go home to his native ivano-Frankivske region in Ukraine. in Kalush, the Rebirth Association, a volunteer group that aims to resettle deported ethnic Ukrainians in Ukraine, together with the human rights commission of the ivano-Frankivske Oblast Council of deputies, is working to prove Mr. Koziy's innocence and facilitate

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THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 25,1994

No. 52

111
Bank of Ukraine, and managing director of the venture capital Ukraine Fund, killed in a head-on collision near Boryspil international Airport - Kyyiv, July 8. 9 Bill Mosienko, 72, a hockey Hall of Famer; right winger with the Chicago Black Hawks, holder of the record for the fastest three goals in National Hockey League history Winnipeg, July 9. 9 Mykhailo Chereshniovsky, 83, renowned sculptor, known for his neoclassical monumentalist style and woodcarvings, former president of the Ukrainian Artists' Association of America New York, July 20. 9 The Rev. Marian iwachiw, 35, former pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Detroit and associate pastor at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Chicago; actively involved in church, youth and Ukrainian civic organizations Chicago, July 13. 9 Walt Chyzowych, 57, soccer player and coach; played with the Philadelphia Ukrainian Nationals and other U.S. and Canadian teams, member of the U.S. World Cup Team, former director of coaching at the United States Soccer Federation and head coach of the World Cup, Olympic, and Pan American Youth teams; former member of the President's Council on Physical Fitness Winston-Salem, N. C , September 2. 9 Zenon Kochanowsky, 9 1 , owner and managing director of transport engineering firm, active in Ukrainian engineer organizations in western Ukraine, Poland and in the diaspora, co-founder of the Philadelphia branch of the Society of Ukrainian Engineers Toronto, September 7. 9 Dr. volodymyr Hordynsky, 79, award-winning clini cal chemist, former co-editor of the Journal of the Ukrainian Medical Association and Advances in Clinical Chemistry, executive vice-president of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund. Livingston, N.J., October 1 9 Emily Zaporozhetz, 80, dedicated community activist, known for her work of over 50 years in public service to the Ukrainian and American communities in Detroit through her affiliation with social agencies, the international institute as well as Ukrainian and American civic and cultural organizations Detroit, October 1. 9 The very Rev. Bohdan Smyk, 82, longtime pastor of St. volodymyr Ukrainian Catholic Church and spiri tual leader and chaplain of the Plast Ukrainian Youth Association Utica, N.Y., October 12. 9 Metropolitan loann, 64, of Lutske and v o l y n ; played an instrumental role in the rebirth of the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in Ukraine; killed in a car accident in western Ukraine ivano Puste, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine, November 9. 9 v o l o d y m y r ivashko, 62, one-time head of the C o m m u n i s t Party of Ukraine and member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Hamburg, Germany, November 13. - Zinaida Mykhailivna Grigorenko, nee Yehorova, 85, wife of the late Gen. Petro Grigorenko, a founding member of the Moscow and Kyyiv Helsinki monitoring groups New York, December 11. from Canada, Tony Leliw who covered Great Britain, and Oksana Zakydalsky, who did a piece on Ukraine's diplomatic presence in Egypt when she visited that country.) On June 15, Associate Editor Marta Kolomayets arrived in the Ukrainian capital to begin her fourth tour of duty at our press bureau. Before that, however, she took some time off to get married to Danylo Yanevsky, a historian and journalist from Kyyiv. (To continue our travel theme, we must note that they traveled to Hawaii not on assignment, but for their honeymoon.) Before that she traveled to Pittsburgh to cover the 33rd Regular Convention of the Ukrainian National Association. She also served on the convention's Resolutions Committee. Speaking of the UNA Convention, Editor-in-Chief Roma Hadzewycz also traveled to Pittsburgh. While there she delivered her first quadrennial report as a supreme advisor, and her fourth report as The Ukrainian Weekly's chief, and was overwhelmingly re-elected to the Ukrainian National Association's General Assembly as an advisor (she was the top vote-getter). Later in the year, Ms. Hadzewycz took a quick nine-day trip to Ukraine in September-October to visit, for the first time, the Kyyiv Press Bureau and to touch base with contacts in the capital and Lviv. Soon after that, in mid-October, it was off to Washington for the annual Leadership Conference, where the editor-in-chief accepted The Washington Group's 1994 Journalism Award presented to The Ukrainian Weekly "for outstanding reporting, keeping the Ukrainian and American communities informed about issues and developments in Ukraine." Just weeks later, a delegation representing Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine mysteriously appeared in our office bearing a plaque citing Ms. Hadzewycz for "outstanding editorship" on the occasion of The Weekly's 60th anniversary year (which officially began October 6,1993). Yet another travel event was the May arrival in the United States of our trusted Kyyiv secretary, v i k a Hubska. She arrived for the KolomayetsTYanevsky wed ding and did some sightseeing in the U.S. along with two other Kyyivans who have connections to The Weekly: journalists Borys Klymenko and volodymyr Skachko, whose bylines are occasionally seen on our pages. in JulyAugust, Andrij Wynnyckyj, the aforemen tioned "other" staff writer7editor, traveled to Ukraine as part of the American Jewish Committee's "Project Ukraine." His trip turned out to be more than we bargained for as our hapless colleague was the victim of a robbery at the customs control point at Lviv airport where he had arrived with the group from Warsaw. And the project turned out to be quite that, as Mr. Wynnyckyj's coverage of the fact-finding trip was a project in and of itself. (Later in the year, Mr. Wynnyckyj was badly in need of a break, so he jour neyed to Paris for vacation.) Our staff was a u g m e n t e d by i k a K o z n a r s k a Casanova, our part-time editorial assistant; Yarema Bachynsky, our part-time, part-time summer intern (who shows up during the school year whenever he needs bucks). And, we should mention our Kyyiv intern, Adriana Leshko, who helped out during August in our press bureau there and earned a couple of bylines to boot. On the production side (or in "Lomkaland," as we call it), there are our invaluable typesetter Awilda Arzola (whose first name, despite her 14 years with The Ukrainian Weekly, some of our fellow employees at the UNA headquarters still cannot get straight) and Serge "King Sid" Polishchuk, our layout artist. During the year we the editors and our production team put out several special issues. There was our issue dedicated to the UNA centennial (we are particularly proud of that one), the issue containing the proposed amendments to the UNA By-Laws (for the perusal and review of all UNA members on the eve of the conven tion), and, of course, at year's end, our scholarship issue and, well, this Herculean effort that you hold in your hands.
He
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Psychiatric Committee (chaired by Dr. Jurij Savyckyj) of the Ukrainian Medical Association of North America. One of the main organizers on the Ukrainian side was a prominent psychiatrist and himself a dissident, Dr. Semyon Gluzman, who spent 10 years in prison for his protests against Soviet abuse of psychiatry and in the 1980s founded an unofficial psychiatric association called the Union of independent Ukrainian Psychiatrists. 9 The Short Hills, NJ.-based Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund organized its 11th airlift to aid the victims of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine. What made this airlift different from all others was that the U.S. government provided a C-5 Galaxy military cargo plane to transport the S3.5 million worth of medical equipment and supplies, most notably a huge Sl.l million magnetic reso nance imaging system (MRJ), whose procurement was made possible through the joint efforts of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America and the CCRF. The airlift was supported by the Congressional Wives Task Force formed after a fact-finding mission to Ukraine during the summer of 1993. Use of the C-5 was approved by the Department of Defense. The airlift took off from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the mobile MR1, housed in a trailer, was carefully loaded onto the cargo plane. The MRJ was bound for Kyyiv, while other precious cargo was destined for 12 medical facilities in cities throughout Ukraine, including Kyyiv, Luhanske, Chernihiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Donetske and Cherkasy. 9 Olga Medynsky, 72, a native of the village of Savaryn, near Brody, Ukraine, and today a resident of Wethersfield, Conn., was recognized on July 18 at the Consulate of israel by Yad vashem, the official Holocaust remembrance agency, as one of the "Righteous Among the Nations." She was cited for her role in helping Jews escape Nazi persecution in German-occupied Ukraine, among them a 14-year-old girl named Dziunia. Mrs. Medynsky received the medal of the Righteous and her name will be inscribed on the Honorable Wall in the Garden of the Righteous at Yad vashem in Jerusalem. 9 Billionaire philanthropist George Soros accepted the Ukrainian institute of America Achievement Award at a November 6 luncheon at the Plaza Hotel in New York. Mr. Soros has donated millions of dollars toward the establishment of Western-style democratic and eco nomic institutions in U k r a i n e through his Soros Foundation, or more specifically its Ukrainian arm, the international Renaissance Foundation of Ukraine.

They are mourned by our community

uring 1994, the Ukrainian community mourned the passing of notable clergy, leaders and activists, artists, scholars, professionals and ath letes, both in the diaspora and in Ukraine. Among them were the following: 9 The Rev. v i a d i m i r Shewchuk, 76, builder of Canada's first Ukrainian Catholic shrine in Ottawa and former provincial superior of the Basilian Fathers in Canada - Ottawa, January 6. 9 Dr. Maria Kwitkowsky, 78, social worker and prominent community activist, former national presi dent of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations Detroit, January 21. 9 Dr. Wasyl Halich, 97, former professor of history at the University of Wisconsin - Superior, immigration historian and pioneer of studies on Ukrainians in the United States, author of "Ukrainians in the United States," (University of Chicago Press, 1937) and "History of Ukraine," (Yale University Press, 1941) Superior, Wise, April 3. 9 The Rev. Harry Boretsky, 50, successor to the Rev. Shewchuk as rector of St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Shrine - Ottawa, May 18. - Michael Podworniak, 85, author and editor of the Ukrainian Baptist publications in Canada Christian Herald and Doroha Pravdy Winnipeg, June 1. 9 Walter Bacad, 80, Merrill Lynch account executive, founder and director of Ukraine Dancers of New York, and prominent cultural activist with the Ukrainian Youth League of North America and the Ukrainian Heritage Foundation Jamaica, N.Y., June 12. 9 Mykhailo Osadchy, 58, journalist, poet and acade mician; former political dissident, founding member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group and author of the book "Cataract" Lviv, July 7. 9 George B. Yurchyshyn, 54, former senior vice-pres ident of the Bank of Boston, advisor to the National

Meanwhile... back at The Weekly

ere at The Ukrainian Weekly, 1994 seemed to be a year to travel as just about everyone went somewhere on assignment that is. As we began the year, Roman Woronowycz, staff writer-slash-editor (he and the other staff writer7editor chose the title themselves) was already in Kyyiv at the UNA-funded Kyyiv Press Bureau, having arrived there on December 1 of the previous year. He stayed on until July 1. But he did not stay put. Mr. Woronowycz, who as some might recall had said way back when that he doesn't want to just sit at his desk, didn't do that in Ukraine either. His pre-election coverage took him to Lviv, Ternopil, Odessa, Rivne, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovske, Symferopil and ivano Frankivske. Later in the year, in October, Mr. Woronowycz went on a brief hop to Ukraine as Finnair aimed to popularize Helsinki as a major gateway city offering direct flights to Kyyiv. Assistant Editor Khristina Lew flew to vienna and then on to Odessa on March 28 to provide coverage of Austrian Airlines inauguration of its vienna-Odessa route. While on that trip she interviewed Ukraine's ambassador to Austria, Yuriy Kostenko. That, of course, fit in just fine with her series on Ukraine's diplomatic representations in the United States its Embassy in Washington and Consulates General in New York and Chicago. (Our coverage of Ukraine's diplomats was filled out with reports by Chris Guly

And so, as 1994 draws to a close, we continue to cover developments in Ukraine (as we like to continually remind our readers, that nation of 52 million - or 52.6 million to be more precise), news within the Ukrainian American and Uk Jrainian Canadian communities, Ukrainian diaspora happenings, Ukrainian anything... We thank all our correspondents, colleagues and faithful readers for their cooperation and their input. As always, we wish all of you happy holidays. May 1995 bring the fulfillment of all your dreams. And, oh yes, keep on reading and keep in touch.