"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"Ukraine just might have the most eclectic foreign policy in the
world....Ukraine's eclectic foreign policy is a reflection of
Ukrainian nation-building at a dead end..." [article one]
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" Year 2004, Number 66
Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C.; Kyiv, Ukraine, SAT-SUN, April 24-25, 2004
INDEX OF ARTICLES
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. UKRAINE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF
Foreign policy menagerie of mixed signals and conflicting interests
ANALYSIS: By Peter Lavelle for UPI, Moscow, Russia, April 22, 2004
2. JOURNALIST'S WIDOW BATTLES CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE
Myroslava Gongadze, "I'm tired. I don't like telling this whole
horrible story again and again, but people have to know."
By Olenka Melnyk, The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Saturday, April 24, 2004
3. WEST FIGHTING FOR UKRAINE AND TRYING TO DRIVE A
WEDGE BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA SAYS RUSSIAN MP
RTR Russia TV, Moscow, Russia, in Russian, 24 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Apr 24, 2004
4. CREATING CLOSER TIES BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
President Kuchma praises formation of Single Economic Space
UT1, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
5. BELARUSIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES FREE-TRADE ZONE
AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND KAZAKHSTAN
AP Online, Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
6. RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN NOW WANTS ECONOMIC
COOPERATION CHARTER WITH UKRAINE
Putin says historically our peoples are naturally the closest of
neighbours, friends, partners and relatives.
Channel One TV, Moscow, Russia in Russian, 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, In English, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
7. UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT SAYS ANYONE WHO THINKS EU
MEMBERSHIP IS CLOSE MUST GO IN FOR SCIENCE FICTION
"...for the moment we need to..create a single economic space"
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian, 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
8. PUTIN WARNS AGAINST TAKING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE
ISSUE IN UKRAINE TO THE REALM OF CONFRONTATION
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, April 23, 2004
9. THOUSANDS MARCH IN UKRAINE ON EVE OF
CHERNOBYL'S 18TH ANNIVERSARY APRIL 26
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, April 24, 2004
10.CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE SAYS DEFICIENCIES
IN RECENT ELECTIONS RAISE SERIOUS QUESTIONS OVER
ABILITY TO DELIVER FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, Maple Leaf News
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 20, 2004
11. DIVIDING POLAND FROM UKRAINE,
NEW WEST FROM NEW EAST
THE NEW EUROPE: Europe's frontier pushes Poland closer to the edge:
Ed Vulliamy reports from the Polish border where policing of the EU's
new divide could make it harder to cross than it was under Stalin
Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, London, UK, Sunday, April 18, 2004
12. MODERN POLAND CARVES NEW IDENTITY FOR THE
FUTURE OUT OF SACRIFICES OF HISTORY
Museum commemorating failed uprising against the Nazis in Warsaw
that killed 200,000 and destroyed 80 per cent of the city
By Jan Cienski, Warsaw, Poland
Financial Times, London, UK, Tuesday, Apr 20, 2004
13.CANADA ANNOUNCES CIVIL SOCIETY PROJECTS IN UKRAINE
Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, Maple Leaf News
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 15, 2004
14. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY TO CELEBRATE
GROUNDBREAKING FOR NEW CHURCH AND CULTURAL
CENTER IN NEW JERSEY
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church
Ukrainian Cultural Center of New Jersey, Whippany, NJ, April 23, 2004
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66 ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
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1. UKRAINE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF
Foreign policy menagerie of mixed signals and conflicting interests
ANALYSIS: By Peter Lavelle for UPI
United Press International, Moscow, Russia, April 22, 2004
MOSCOW, April 22 (UPI) -- Ukraine's foreign policy is a menagerie
of mixed signals and conflicting interests. Attempting to appease an
expanding European Union and a resurgent Russia under President
Vladimir Putin, Ukraine often disappoints both.
Ukraine's policy of looking to the East as well as the West has divided
Ukrainians into roughly three groups: those who would like to see Ukraine
eventually accepted into Western economic, political and even military
structures, ethnic Russian Ukrainians who still identify closely with
Russia, and a significant minority who appear not to care.
Ukraine's foreign policy has been very active recently. On Wednesday,
Russia's parliament reacted angrily to what it believes to be Ukraine's
rapprochement with NATO and Ukrainian law that went into effect this
week mandating that television and radio stations will broadcast only in
Ukrainian.
In a 333 to 34 vote and two abstentions, the Russian Duma favored sending
strongly worded message to the Ukrainian parliament condemning Ukraine's
ratification of a memorandum of understanding with NATO, claiming that it
was a "de facto agreement to NATO's plans to expand eastward." The
memorandum signed last month allows NATO troops the right of quick entry
and passage into and through Ukraine's territory.
The Duma is just as outraged concerning Ukraine's new attitude toward the
use of the Russian language found on the country's airwaves. Russia claims
the new laws banning Russian on Ukrainian radio and television "ignored the
traditional Ukrainian-Russian bilingualism" and violated Ukrainians' civil
rights. It is estimated that half of Ukraine's population of 48 million are
Russian speakers, with ethnic Russians constituting 25 percent of all
Ukrainian citizens.
For most bilateral state relationships, such bickering among neighbors would
constitute a crisis in foreign policy. This is hardly the case for Ukraine
and Russia. On Tuesday, many Ukrainians believed that Ukraine is in danger
of losing its sovereignty in favor of Russia after ratifying three
significant treaties with its large eastern neighbor.
Russian and Ukrainian parliaments simultaneously ratified important
agreements concerning borders, including regulation of the Sea of Azov and
the Kerch Strait -- both at the center of an explosive and what could have
been a dangerous military dispute at the end of last year.
The Azov seabed is believed to be rich in oil reserves, while the Kerch
Strait, which allows access to the Black Sea, is considered to be of
strategic military importance for the Kremlin. The border agreement signed
this week was what Russia has always wanted: joint governance and
exploitation of the Sea of Azov, as well as mandating that the Sea of Azov
and the Kerch Strait as inland waters of the two countries -- ensuring that
third parties (read: NATO) will be denied access to these waterways.
A second agreement was ratified that recognized the state borders of each
country, as well as normalizing regulations for border crossings by
commercial entities, private individuals as well as the permanency of the
border.
The third agreement, called the Single Economic Space, could have
significant long-term meaning for Russian-Ukrainian relations. It
encompasses a customs union, common tax code, joint financial policies,
foreign trade policy, and hints of a common currency. The foreign trade
policy element included a free-trade zone including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus
and Kazakhstan. The EU and the United States have concerns about Russia's
growing ambitions in the former Soviet Union.
Ukraine just might have the most eclectic foreign policy in the world. It
has often been noted that there are "two Ukraines." Geographically, half the
country is westward leaning, with the other focused on its historic
relationship with Russia. The power and influence of both "Ukraines" is
reflected in the country's foreign policies toward an expanding EU and
Russia. However, there is a "third Ukraine" that denies the "European
westerners" or the "eastern Slavs" political hegemony.
Ukraine's eclectic foreign policy is a reflection of Ukrainian
nation-building at a dead end. Ukrainians who comprise of the third groups
reject both Ukrainian nationalism and Eurasian or neo-Soviet patriotism.
These are many of the same people who have not benefited from Ukraine's
transitions away from communism.
The political elite inherited from the Soviet period is most responsible for
the existence for this group. Not adhering to any meaningful ideology beyond
power itself, the current ruling elite promotes disrespect for the law,
unchecked corruption, and widespread state surveillance of citizens.
This week, Ukraine tried to show itself to be a good neighbor to the EU and
Russia. However, it actually showed that it might not be a reliable partner
for either. Making too many promises to the EU and Russia only intensifies
divisions among some Ukrainians, while increasing the alienation of others.
Ukraine can be a reliable partner only when the majority of Ukrainians come
to understand what is best for Ukraine first, then its neighbors. Given
Ukraine's current political elite, that prospect is a long way off. (END)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Peter Lavelle is a Moscow based analysist. His website is
entitled "Untimely Thoughts" and can be found at the following link:
http://www.Untimely-Thoughts.com.
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
Become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Program Fund
==========================================================
2. JOURNALIST'S WIDOW BATTLES CORRUPTION IN UKRAINE
Myroslava Gongadze, "I'm tired. I don't like telling this
whole horrible story again and again, but people have to know."
By Olenka Melnyk, The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Saturday, April 24, 2004
EDMONTON - Myroslava Gongadze hardly cries anymore when she describes
the brutal murder of her husband, Georgiy, a crusading young journalist
whose headless body was found lying in a ditch on the outskirts of Ukraine's
capital, Kyiv.
Gongadze, 31, who is also a journalist and now lives in Washington, D.C.,
has told the gruelling story countless times in the past three years, and
she'll repeat it many times more before her visit to Edmonton is over this
weekend.
"I don't want Ge's death to go unpunished," she said in an interview on
Friday. "If he can no longer be in this world, then I want people to
understand through his death that they have to fight for their rights and
not be silenced by totalitarianism. And I want my children to be proud of
their father and know who he was and what he fought for."
In her battle to bring her husband's killers to justice, Gongadze has taken
on some of Ukraine's most powerful politicians, including the president
himself, Leonid Kuchma, who was implicated in the murder through secret
tapes leaked by a former bodyguard.
Kuchma denied the allegations that it was his voice on the tape ordering
Georgiy Gongadze's murder and refused to resign.
The petite, passionate young woman will discuss freedom of the press in
Ukraine as a keynote speaker at a conference of the Ukrainian Canadian
Congress today at the Chateau Louis.
Gongadze's visit, her first to Canada, is timely given the upcoming
presidential elections in Ukraine this fall, which will put the fragile
democracy to a critical test. Canadian and American officials are already
voicing concerns about the intimidation and violence that have already begun
months before the election campaign swings into full gear.
Gongadze's personal story is likely to sway public opinion further against a
corrupt regime. And it will likely increase the disenchantment already felt
by many Ukrainian Canadians already disillusioned by the slow pace of
reforms in their newly independent homeland.
Taking a deep breath, Gongadze rewinds her life back to Kyiv in the fall of
2000. A family photo taken shortly before her husband disappeared shows an
attractive, smiling young couple cuddling their toddler twin girls.
"We knew a lot of people had disappeared, but we never imagined that such a
thing could happen to us," she says. "We didn't recognize the signs."
There were some anonymous threats. Strange cars would park outside their
apartment and then tail the family wherever they went.
These were unpleasant experiences, worrisome even, but hardly unusual for
Ukrainian journalists, who are accustomed to harassment, says Gongadze. And
her husband, an investigative Internet journalist, was a thorn in the
government's side with his exposes of high-level corruption.
In 1999, he had even gone to Washington to deliver a petition signed by 64
colleagues, denouncing the intimidation of journalists and increasing state
control of the media in Ukraine.
On Sept. 16, 2000, Georgiy went to visit a co-worker and never came back.
More than two weeks later, a headless corpse was discovered in a ditch by
farmers. A group of journalists heard about the discovery and rushed to the
scene to investigate, eventually tracking the body down to a small-town
morgue.
They contacted Gongadze, who demanded to see the corpse, begging for weeks
until authorities finally allowed her to see the corpse nearly two months
after her husband's disappearance.
The body was unrecognizable, but she was able to identify jewelry found
nearby as her husband's. It took another two months before the authorities
conducted DNA tests on the body confirmed it as that of the missing
journalist.
By then Gongadze's private tragedy had become a full-blown scandal as
thousands of outraged Ukrainians repeatedly demonstrated in the streets of
Kyiv, demanding a full public investigation into the case, backed by the
support of international public opinion.
"My personal feelings of grief had become a social problem," says Gongadze.
"It was very hard, but I understood that silence would solve nothing, and
this killing would be different from the ones before. I vowed that I would
do whatever I could to find the truth."
Gongadze knew she had to switch tactics, however, when she heard the secret
tapes made by Kuchma's former bodyguard. "When I heard the president's voice
on the tape, I understood why we were getting nowhere. Where would I find
support? Who would protect me?"
Feeling that it was no longer safe to remain in Ukraine, Gongadze sought
political asylum in the United States with her children.
For the past three years she has been a reporter for Radio Free Europe and
the Voice of America.
She also campaigns for an international investigation into her husband's
death and for press freedom. Four more journalists have disappeared since
her husband's death and since independence in 1991, a total of 14 are dead
or missing, she says. Radio Liberty has been pulled off the air in Kyiv as
the state tightens its grip on media.
This will hardly be welcome news for Ukrainian-Canadians who are already
"having a hard time dealing with the oligarchic clans and systematic
corruption that has replaced Soviet totalitarianism," says Dr. Zenon Kohut,
director of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of
Alberta.
"Things can tip one way or another. There is no clear victor in Ukraine at
the moment."
"Nobody could have anticipated how difficult the transition would be," says
Dr. Roman Petryshyn, director of the Ukrainian Resource and Development
Centre at Grant MacEwan College, which has an office in Kyiv, "and what a
time-consuming process it would be to build a market-oriented democracy from
the ground level up."
After 70 years of oppression, her people received their freedom too
suddenly, says Gongadze, who longs for personal closure. "I'm tired. I don't
like telling this whole horrible story again and again, but people have to
know." (omelnyk@thejournal.canwest.com) (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
==========================================================
3. WEST FIGHTING FOR UKRAINE AND TRYING TO DRIVE A
WEDGE BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA SAYS RUSSIAN MP
RTR Russia TV, Moscow, Russia, in Russian, 24 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Saturday, Apr 24, 2004
MOSCOW - What are the implications of the agreements signed and ratified
earlier this week by Russia and Ukraine? Yesterday, 23 April, the Russian
and Ukrainian presidents, Vladimir Putin and Leonid Kuchma, signed accords
on the state border and on use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait, as
well as the treaty on a Single Economic Space (SES) with Russia, Belarus and
Kazakhstan.
According to Nikolay Svanidze, presenter of the "Zerkalo" analytical
programme on Russia TV channel, "there are political forces in this country
which, in line with an old Soviet imperial tradition, still regard Ukraine
as a Russian province.
In actual fact, I should say straightaway that Ukraine is not just lard,
galushki [Ukrainian dumplings], gorilka [Ukrainian vodka] and the Klichko
brothers [boxing champions]. It is a major central European power, which has
the population of France, has the territory which is bigger than France and
has more tanks than the German army, the Bunderswehr."
Svanidze said it was also important to remind the viewers that the
Putin-Kuchma meeting in Alushta and the signing of the accords "took place
against the background of Ukraine and NATO stepping up their relations -
which is a serious problem as far as Russia is concerned - and the
forthcoming presidential elections in Ukraine".
Andrey Kokoshin, chairman of the State Duma committee on the CIS and
relations with compatriots, interviewed live on the programme, said that
"one of the most important elements of the treaty on the Sea of Azov and the
Kerch Strait is the clause saying that third countries can bring in their
warships there only on condition that both sides agree to that". This clause
was included at Russia's initiative but "as far as I know, it did not meet
strong resistance from the Ukrainian side", Kokoshin said.
The opposition both in Russia and Ukraine campaigned against the signing of
the accords. The only difference was that the opposition in Ukraine mainly
opposed the SES treaty while the opposition in Russia was mainly against the
border treaty, Kokoshin said.
Svanidze asked: "Currently relations between Ukraine and the West, between
Ukraine and NATO are very active. The US ambassador to Ukraine has already
expressed displeasure at the signing of the accords. In your view, what will
be a strategic trend? Will Ukraine lean towards Russia or towards NATO?"
Kokoshin replied: "You know, indeed we currently have a situation whereby we
can see very influential forces in the West actively fighting for Ukraine
and trying to drive a wedge between Russia and Ukraine. Over the past few
years our president, above all, has done a lot of work with Ukraine in order
to reach a steady development of relations and to raise these relations to a
higher level. I think what has taken place over the past few days is the
result of this work."
"Therefore", Kokoshin continued, "a very important step has been made
towards establishing Ukraine as a sovereign state in the future. We
recognize that and, no matter what nostalgic feelings we may have for the
past - and many of us do indeed regret that the Soviet Union disintegrated
and that we and the Ukrainians, indeed our fraternal people, live in
different states - nevertheless Ukraine is a sovereign state, our president
reiterated that in Alushta, and relations with this state should be built on
the basis of this sovereignty."
Kokoshin admitted that a fight over Ukraine was on between Russia and
NATO, and "in this fight one should be intelligent and consistent, and take
it seriously". (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
Major Articles About What is Going on in Ukraine
Current Events Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
You can become a financial sponsor of The Action Ukraine Program Fund
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4. ACCORDS CREATE CLOSER TIES BETWEEN UKRAINE AND RUSSIA
President Kuchma praises formation of Single Economic Space .
UT1, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian, 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
KIEV - [Presenter] At the Livadia Palace in Crimea today, the Ukrainian and
Russian presidents, Leonid Kuchma and Vladimir Putin, exchanged instruments
to ratify the Ukrainian-Russian border accord and a treaty on jointly using
the Azov-Kerch body of water.
Leonid Kuchma said that these decisions, as well as ratification by
parliaments of an accord on setting up the Single Economic Space [economic
union of Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan], are momentous events.
Vladimir Putin stressed that they will open new opportunities for developing
political dialogue and equal economic and cultural cooperation.
[Correspondent] The two presidents gave identical assessments of the Single
Economic Space accord, the Ukrainian-Russian border agreement and a treaty
on jointly using the Azov Sea and the Kerch Strait. The head of state
stressed that the documents will define the future of Ukrainian-Russian
relations. President Leonid Kuchma, in particular, said that the accords are
relevant to all aspects of life of our peoples and countries.
[Kuchma, here and further in Russian] These are not simply relations within
the framework of our economic cooperation. We believe that these issues are
also [related to] joint fundamental research and a single policy in the
field of science, technology, and so on and so forth. This means all issues
of life of our countries and our peoples.
[Putin, here and further in Russian] I fully support this assessment of the
documents which were signed and ratified by parliaments of our countries.
Indeed, these agreements will in many respects define the future of
relations between Russia and Ukraine.
I am sure that these documents' coming into force, as well as the
ratification of the accord on the Single Economic Space, will seriously
reinforce the foundation of strategic partnership and cooperation between
Russia and Ukraine.
[This] will open up new opportunities for developing political dialogue,
equal economic and cultural cooperation.
[Correspondent] Vladimir Putin especially noted the work made by the
governments and parliaments of the two countries. He stressed that cabinet
officials and parliamentarians found a balanced decision on the Azov Sea and
the Kerch Strait which benefits both sides. According to the Russian
president, these accords will give a new boost to cooperation in such
priority areas as shipping, fishing and protection of the environment.
Parliaments' role in forming the Single Economic Space was also highly
praised by Leonid Kuchma.
[Kuchma] Without close cooperation between the executive and the
legislature, parliament, we cannot do anything at all on a large scale, as
they say. I for one am glad that they are our partners today. You probably
know that the situation in Ukraine was not that simple, pressure regarding
the Single Economic Space was being stepped up as ratification was
approaching. But the fact that our parliament unambiguously ratified this
treaty shows that we will not have any problems in this field, but close
cooperation aimed at solving all issues that may arise at some point.
[Correspondent] The Ukrainian president said that a boost in cooperation
between Ukraine and Russia can be perceived already today. In the first
quarter of this year, trade between the two countries grew by 944m dollars.
A meeting of the heads of the four Single Economic Space member states will
give a boost to social and economic relations. It is scheduled to take place
between 20 and 29 May in Kiev.
Vladimir Putin said that among plans for the future is drawing up a new
document which will have to make ways of economic cooperation more specific.
[Putin] On the agenda now is drawing up another serious document on this
conceptual basis. In essence, this means drafting something like an economic
charter of cooperation, which regulates the order of our joint work
regarding transport, tariffs, communications, the movement of people and
goods. All of this has to be included in it in specific terms. It is like an
economic constitution. [Audio and video available. Please send queries to
kiev.bbcm@mon.bbc.co.uk] (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
Exciting Opportunities in Ukraine: Travel and Tourism Gallery
http://www.ArtUkraine.com/tourgallery.htm
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5. BELARUSIAN PARLIAMENT RATIFIES FREE-TRADE ZONE
AGREEMENT WITH RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND KAZAKHSTAN
AP Online, Minsk, Belarus, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
MINSK- Belarus on Friday became the last country to ratify a four-way
agreement on creating a free-trade zone [single economic space] with Russia,
Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
The Belarusian parliament voted 84-2 to accept the treaty, which the
countries' leaders agreed to at a Kremlin meeting last year.
Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Pugachev told the legislature that "the
agreement strengthens the integration processes in the post-Soviet sphere"
but added that "there are few real hopes that the barriers between the
countries will be eliminated any time soon."
According to Belarus' Foreign Ministry, the four countries account for 94
percent of the gross domestic product of the Commonwealth of Independent
Nations, 87 percent of its trade turnover and 80 percent of its population.
The Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian and Kazakh presidents will meet in Kiev
in late May to discuss the agreement, President Leonid Kuchma said Friday.
(yk/ji) (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
The Story of Ukraine's Long and Rich Culture
Ukrainian Culture Gallery: http://www.ArtUkraine.com/cultgallery.htm
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6. RUSSIAN PRESIDENT PUTIN NOW WANTS ECONOMIC
COOPERATION CHARTER WITH UKRAINE
Putin says historically our peoples are naturally the closest
of neighbours, friends, partners and relatives.
Channel One TV, Moscow, Russia in Russian, 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, In English, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
MOSCOW - [Presenter] The presidents of Russia and Ukraine today exchanged
deeds of ratification of the treaties on the Russian-Ukrainian state border
and the joint use of the Azov and Kerch waters. The ceremony at the Livadia
Palace was preceded by a meeting that had not been planned earlier.
Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma arrived at Vladimir Putin's residence.
The leaders spoke one-to-one for a long time. According to official
information, they were discussing various issues of Russian-Ukrainian
cooperation, and then continued their discussion in the Ukrainian
president's car, in which they arrived together at the Livadia Palace.
Our correspondent, Sergey Semenov, will tell us what happened next:
[Correspondent, live on air] Yes, a joint news conference of the Russian and
Ukrainian presidents ended here at the Livadia Palace just under an hour
ago. According to the leaders, the treaties that were ratified today, and in
fact come into force as from today - may I remind you that these were the
treaty on the state border and the treaty on joint use of the Azov Sea and
the Kerch Strait - these documents are vitally important for our countries.
Moreover, according to Vladimir Putin, these treaties determine relations
between Russia and Ukraine for many years to come. The experts who worked
on these treaties resolved many complex issues. Incidentally, there were
many such issues in the treaty on the state border.
[Putin] Naturally, the treaty on the state border is especially important.
And I will repeat this - historically our peoples are naturally the closest
of neighbours, friends, partners and relatives. Today, the Russian-Ukrainian
borders should unite our citizens and serve to develop business and cultural
cooperation and the free movement of people.
I must tell you that Russia has knowingly undertaken this step, of signing
and ratifying the treaty on the border with Ukraine. We are doing this in
order to remove all that is hampering the development of relations between
our states, to remove all obstacles to the development of those relations.
We are not doing this in order to separate the two states but in order to
unite them - to unite them in the sense of creating favourable conditions
for the development of interstate links, to unite in the sense of creating
conditions for the development of the two countries' economies, for the
development of relations in the humanitarian field.
[Correspondent] The presidents of Russia and Ukraine also explained in
detail how work on the creation of a gas consortium is going. Experts are
currently working out the technical details. This project is naturally very
promising, but at the moment, according to both Leonid Kuchma and Vladimir
Putin, the main task naturally is to create a single economic area,
especially as our countries' parliaments ratified the treaty virtually
simultaneously, and a basis for further work in this area has now emerged.
[Putin] We have now prepared two documents and completed work on them.
These are a blueprint for an agreement on the single economic area. The
agenda now is to develop on the basis of this blueprint another major
document.
Essentially, I mean the development of something like an economic
cooperation charter to regulate the procedures for our joint work in the
areas of transport, tariffs, communications, movement of people and goods.
It must cover all this specifically, and would be something like an economic
constitution, or it could be a selection of separate agreements on these
issues, which are key to the development of our economies, so as to create
the necessary conditions to make our economies, our countries' economies,
more competitive on world markets of goods and services.
[Correspondent] At the moment the Russian and Ukrainian presidents are
taking part in a Russian-Ukrainian interparliamentary meeting. I think we
will report on this conference in the next news bulletin. (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
The Genocidal Famine in Ukraine 1932-1933, HOLODOMOR
Genocide Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/index.htm
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7. UKRAINE'S PRESIDENT SAYS ANYONE WHO THINKS EU
MEMBERSHIP IS CLOSE MUST GO IN FOR SCIENCE FICTION
"...for the moment we need to..create a single economic space"
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian, 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, Apr 23, 2004
MOSCOW - [Presenter] There are now no more territorial disputes between
Moscow and Kiev. In the Crimea today, the presidents of Russia and Ukraine
exchange documents ratifying treaties about the state border and the use of
the Sea of Azov.
[Correspondent] The interests of Russia and Ukraine are the same, the
Ukrainian president said. They consist in the aspiration towards Europe, in
the future. But for the moment we need to interact with one another and
create a single economic space.
[Kuchma] Anyone who thinks we will become members of the European
Union, fully-fledged members, so to speak, in the near future - must go in
for science fiction, big time. But we can't sit around waiting for ever.
[Putin] We want to occupy a place in the world division of labour which is
worthy of our countries. We do not want Russia to be restricted to putting
just gas and oil on the international market. And I don't think anybody in
Ukraine wants Ukraine to trade just in sugar beet, especially since nobody
needs beet.
[Passage omitted: Correspondent says Putin and Kuchma confirmed the
need to build relations to catch up after the collapse of the USSR]
[Correspondent] Ukraine is the most important priority in our foreign
policy, Vladimir Putin said today. The members of parliament, both Russian
and Ukrainian, backed this and today set up five working groups, each of
which will deepen cooperation in various spheres.
By the end of the evening nobody mentioned the problems of the Russian
language in the Ukrainian broadcast media. (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
Ukraine's History and the Long Struggle for Independence
Historical Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/histgallery.htm
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8. PUTIN WARNS AGAINST TAKING RUSSIAN LANGUAGE ISSUE
IN UKRAINE TO THE REALM OF CONFRONTATION
Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 23 Apr 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Friday, April 23, 2004
ALUSHTA, Crimea, Ukraine - The issue of the Russian language in
Ukraine is Ukraine's internal affair, Russian President Vladimir Putin has
said. However, he warned against taking this issue to the realm of
confrontation.
"The issue of the Russian language in Ukraine is Ukraine's internal affair
and the internal affair of Ukrainian society," Putin today told Russian and
Ukrainian parliamentarians who participated in a bilateral meeting of
supreme legislative bodies of Russia and Ukraine.
Putin said that the decision on TV and radio broadcasts in Russian in
Ukraine "seems to be purposefully made on the eve of the ratification of
important documents (on the state border, on cooperation in the Sea of Azov
and Kerch Strait and of the Single Economic Space - Interfax-Ukraine)".
"We should in no way succumb to any sort of panic and lead, as some forces
in Ukraine and Russia are doing, this issue to the realm of confrontation,"
Putin said.
"God forbid! We must never do it. This is a very important and sensitive
issue of our cooperation," Putin stressed.
He said that Russia has deep respect for the traditions of Russian-Ukrainian
bilingualism in Ukraine and encourages the development of the Ukrainian
language in the Russian Federation, "especially in the areas of compact
Ukrainian population".
"We will do it with purposefully and consistently," Putin said. (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
The Rich History of Ukrainian Art, Music, Pysanka, Folk-Art
Arts Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/artgallery.htm
===========================================================
9. THOUSANDS MARCH IN UKRAINE ON EVE OF
CHERNOBYL'S 18TH ANNIVERSARY ON APRIL 26
Associated Press, Kiev, Ukraine, Saturday, April 24, 2004
KIEV - Thousands of victims of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster marched in
the Ukrainian capital today as the 18th anniversary approaches.
Many of the five-thousand people who turned out in Kiev suffered from
radiation sickness after the explosion of a nuclear reactor on April 26th,
1986.
Many of the marchers carried portraits of relatives or friends who died,
either in the accident itself or from illnesses linked to it. The blast and
subsequent fire spread heavy radiation over much of northern Europe.
Some 44-hundred deaths in Ukraine are blamed on the accident; among
the hardest-hit groups were the workers sent in to clean up after the blast.
In all, seven million people in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine are estimated to
suffer physical or psychological effects of radiation related to the
Chernobyl catastrophe. (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
==========================================================
10. CANADIAN AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE SAYS DEFICIENCIES
IN RECENT ELECTIONS RAISE SERIOUS QUESTIONS OVER
ABILITY TO DELIVER FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS
Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, Maple Leaf News
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, April 20, 2004
KYIV - Yesterday, Canadian Ambassador Andrew Robinson, in reply to
journalists about the recent municipal elections in the town of Mukachevo,
stated the following:
"Canada observed the Mukachevo election on voting day, and noted significant
defects in the required impartiality of the municipal election commission
and some polling station commissions.
Our observer noted serious obstruction of the efforts of domestic and
international observers to confirm the fairness of the vote.
These irregularities and defects have an importance beyond the local nature
of a municipal election. They confirm the pattern of irregularities which
was noted at the parliamentary by-election in Donetsk on March 7.
Taken together, these deficiencies raise serious questions over Ukraine's
ability to deliver free and fair elections at all levels." (END)
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THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66 ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
Politics and Governance, Building a Strong, Democratic Ukraine
http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
==========================================================
11. DIVIDING POLAND FROM UKRAINE
NEW WEST FROM NEW EAST
THE NEW EUROPE: Europe's frontier pushes Poland closer to the edge:
Ed Vulliamy reports from the Polish border where policing of the EU's
new divide could make it harder to cross than it was under Stalin
Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, London, UK, Sunday, April 18, 2004
COME May Day, the edge of the edge of Europe will be a red-and-white,
diagonally painted concrete column, with a white eagle and the word Polska
on it; dug into the pine and birch woodland skirting the Bug river, it
divides Poland from Ukraine, new West from new East.
The river rounds a bend at the little village of Horodlo, where the faithful
flock to church for Monday evening Mass, and peasants bring carts of
firewood home through the grey of late afternoon.
Here is the easternmost point of a new 2,400-mile (3,860km) frontier of the
European Union, which on 1 May admits 10 new members, seven of them
countries that lived under Stalin's repressive regime. The process that
began with the rise of Lech Walesa's Solidarity movement in 1981 and the
fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 comes to fruition here.
Springtime is stirring in the little park in Horodlo and in the Sparrow pub,
to which Darek and Monika have returned from Warsaw, hoping the frontier
will mean new business. 'They're bringing in 40 extra policemen just for our
little village,' says Monika, 'to add to the two we have at the moment. And
that's in addition to the border guards.'
'They've been chasing out the Ukrainians,' says Janusz, who keeps the
mini-market, 'because the Ukrainians bring in smuggled cigarettes to sell
for two zlotys (28p), while we have to sell them for five. Now people will
have to come to us for a smoke.'
The border of the new EU is both porous and harsh. Upriver, what they call
the new 'Velvet Curtain' is being drawn, on Brussels' insistence - a
necklace of new guard posts manned by thousands of newly recruited armed
men. But this is a border across which tens of thousands journey each day,
and a smugglers' terrain for anything from alcohol to people. Monika's pub
is a rarity in rural Poland, boasting an array of tequilas, malt whisky and
cocktails.
This is land where peasants farm fertile black soil, of storks' nests atop
telegraph poles and trees hung with clumps of mistletoe. It is also soaked
in history, much of it epic and bloody. Armies have marched across these
plains for centuries, to subjugate the Poles - Nazi and Soviet, Prussian and
Russian.
Indeed, the demographic engineering of Horodlo puts it at some bitter kernel
of twentieth-century history, between Holocaust and Cold War: in 1939 the
village was one-third Jewish, one-third Polish and one-third Ukrainian. By
1945 the Jews had all been exterminated at the nearby Majdanek camp; the
Ukrainians shipped across the border to the USSR; and the parents or
grandparents of 60 per cent of the present population - Poles living in
Ukraine - deported 'home' in the opposite direction. 'So you see what
politics can do,' says the village priest, Krzystof Krukowski.
It was in Horodlo, in 1413, that a great power was forged by treaty, not
war, binding Poland and Lithuania to create the biggest country in medieval
Europe. And it is peace that now brings this corner of Europe into a union.
Or, as the mayor of the nearby county seat of Chelm puts it: 'We do not see
ourselves as the edge of something, but more as its gateway - to the East
and its markets.'
Indeed, the quiet of evening in Horodlo belies the scene on the riverbank a
little to the north, at Dorohusk: a hinge on a burgeoning trade corridor
connecting Berlin to Moscow via Warsaw and Kiev. It is the busiest border
crossing between Poland and Ukraine, a confusion of cafes, currency exchange
booths, tatty old Ladas driven by leather-faced peasants and grinding
lorries lined up for five kilometres, waiting to cross in either direction.
Heading from Warsaw to Odessa, Stefan has been here nearly 48 hours and
expects a similar wait on the other side, where 'you have to get 10 stamps
on bits of paper, and each one needs a bribe'.
Every day 12,000 people cross here - where none did in Soviet times - one of
15 crossing points along Poland's (and the EU's longest) external border
with Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They do so under the watchful eyes,
weaponry and cameras of Lieutenant-Colonel Andrzej Wojcik's border guardsmen
Since he joined the guard in 1981, then under communist military authority,
Wojcik's life has been the border. But now that this border is Europe's
front line - against what Brussels and politicians fear will be a flow of
people and goods seeking to cross into the EU - the colonel plays 'a game of
cat and mouse, or chess', against what he calls 'the other side', in which
'you have to anticipate its next move, and plan your own'.
But Wojcik insists: 'We are not putting up another Berlin Wall, we are
creating an opening for legal activity while stepping up security to stop
illegal activity.'
The traffic in people has become Wojcik's biggest challenge, with some
20,000 either caught or turned back each year. 'Either something is wrong
with their papers, or we find them concealed or working illegally,' he says.
He shows a video of groups of Indians and Kurds marshalled by their criminal
couriers across bogland on the other side of the Bug, unaware they have been
picked up on film by the guards' thermo-sensitive equipment that responds to
human body heat.
'Unfortunately these people are not insured, and do not get their money
back, he says. 'They would probably have paid between $ 7,000 and $ 8,000
each.' More successful migrants are usually passed on from Ukrainian to
Polish mafia syndicates, moved across country to the German border, then
handed over to the Germans and shipped elsewhere in the West. 'We can
fight this problem,' says the colonel, 'but we can never solve it. So long
as there are economic disparities, these people will come, just as smuggling
will continue while there are price disparities. We can fight the problem
but we're not here to save the world.'
In Wojcik's Lublin district, 16 new box-style brick installations with
detention facilities have been built along the 'green border' (where there
are no crossings) kitted out with a playground of snowmobiles, motorbikes,
vehicles for fording rivers and racks of pristine PM98 machine guns. There
are kennels inhabited by intimidating dogs, for searching 'and for
protection'. 'But not a shot has been aimed at anyone,' says Wojcik, 'only
into the air in case anyone thinks they are dealing with Boy Scouts.'
In addition to people, the 1,500 guards look for stolen icons, alcohol,
drugs and cigarettes. 'Come 1 May,' he says, 'we can say that we will be
safeguarding the border of the European Union. But this is not something
that has happened overnight - we have been working on this for years, and
they (the EU) have watched us work.' Indeed 'they' have, as Michal Czyz
recounts back in Warsaw, heaving a sigh.
Czyz heads a special European Union section at the Foreign Ministry of
Poland's centre-left government, which - on the eve of enlargement - faces
widespread and politically perilous public disillusionment over what he
bluntly calls 'broken promises' by current member states, markedly Britain,
over freedom of movement and access to work and services.
'We have been under the microscope, and met every demand, on every level.
On the technical level, over securing the border, there has been no mercy on
us. Economically, we have been trying to do in a decade what your countries
did in centuries. But meanwhile, from current member states, the political
willingness to unite Europe is in trouble. With regard to the social
dimension, there are problems with freedom of movement; and psychologically,
we new countries are still outsiders, and not yet part of your "we".'
Poland's efforts are not reciprocated, says Czyz, by the scramble among
current member states to restrict the movement and rights of workers from
eastern Europe. 'We feel that we are being punished for being too
optimistic,' he says. 'There was a conviction that we were strong enough,
enthusiastic enough. But things are much less optimistic now.'
This is not party political banter. Czyz's views are held by his opposition,
the Civic Platform, whose secretary-general is a former mayor of Warsaw,
Pawel Piskorski. 'It has all turned out much worse for Poland than
expected,' he says. 'The problem for us who are very pro-EU is that, come
1 May, all the obligations and requirements - even the disadvantages of
membership - will be visible to the people, while the advantages will be
hidden or deferred.'
Another conservative, former Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki, asks, in
the light of Britain's clampdown on rights for east European workers: 'Are
we joining what you already are, or are we joining you in helping to plan
what this great adventure - the new Europe - will be. There's a lesson here
that neither we nor you have learnt: what does "Europe" mean. Does it mean
we are joining you, or we are all coming together?'
Jerzy Holzer, until recently director of political studies at the Polish
Academy of Sciences, says carving a harsh border between Poland and Ukraine
or Belarus, as was done by the Soviet Union, would be 'unsettling' to many
cultural, personal and family ties binding people on either side. 'What we
want is a border that does what we do not at present - that is, keep out
organised crime - but which does not upset the cultural weave of the
region.'
As his congregation emerges from Mass into the dusk in Horodlo, Krukowski
says: 'This is a dying village, whatever the EU may bring. People cannot
sell their produce; they have no money and prices are rising. The population
declines each year as young people leave. This year we have had 13
marriages, 37 baptisms and 80 funerals. I'm not nostalgic for communism, but
people had a better standard of living then, and the Church is blamed for
backing the transformation. With Europe, a decline here is an opportunity
somewhere else. I understand why they go.'
Krukowski offers a hearty meal of golabki - buckwheat wrapped in cabbage.
But he doesn't eat, deep in thought beneath his crucifix and Our Lady of
Sorrows. 'Even the fact that the earth here is the richest in Poland is not
enough. I am not an economist, and do not understand why. My only hope is
that in lifting the borders within Europe we do not create a border here
that is harder to cross than it was before.' (END)
===========================================================
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
===========================================================
12. MODERN POLAND CARVES NEW IDENTITY FOR THE
FUTURE OUT OF SACRIFICES OF HISTORY
Museum commemorating failed uprising against the Nazis in Warsaw
that killed 200,000 and destroyed 80 per cent of the city
By Jan Cienski, Warsaw, Poland
Financial Times, London, UK, Tuesday, Apr 20, 2004
WARSAW - Warsaw has never had a museum commemorating one of the
most significant events in its history: the failed 1944 uprising against the
Nazis that killed 200,000 and destroyed 80 per cent of the city.
But now, after decades of ideological battles over the its legacy, a museum
dedicated to the uprising is due to open on August 1, the 60th anniversary
of the outbreak of fighting.
As Poland prepares to enter the European Union, Poles are grappling with the
role history has played in shaping their own nation. For a country that
endured centuries of occupation, the authorities are keen to assert Poland's
own identity as it enters a new type of union.
For Janusz Tyman, a veteran of the uprising, the museum is vindication for
the years when Poland's communist rulers vilified the uprising.
"How can you deprive us of our own story?" says the veteran, wearing his
combat decorations as he explains how he and his fellow fighters were
forbidden from meeting or talking about their role in the uprising for
decades. "It's the basis of our existence."
Poland also needs to explain its history to a continent that knows little
about it, says Jerzy Kloczkowski, a history professor at the Catholic
University in Lublin who lost an arm in the uprising.
He has had French and German colleagues, all historians, exclaim: "I didn't
know you were Jewish," when they hear he was wounded, confusing the
city-wide revolt in 1944 with the Jewish uprising in the Warsaw ghetto a
year earlier.
"Until now European history has really been French and German history," said
Mr Kloczkowski at a recent conference on Poland's history. "But now there is
this realisation that European history has to be broadened to include the 10
new member states."
In happier countries such as Britain or Sweden, history is left to
schoolchildren to memorise. But in Poland, history has a hard and bloody
edge.
Like the Irish, Poles have cultivated their history of occasional glory
interspersed with defeat and destruction as a model for future generations.
Poland's "martyrology" is long: being swallowed up in the 18th century by
Russia, Prussia and Austria, failed uprisings against Russia in 1830 and
1863, battles against the Soviets while regaining independence after the
first world war, and the blood-soaked nightmare of the second world war
followed by allied betrayal and communist dictatorship.
Until recently history continued to serve its normal purpose: the battle for
independence, this time against the Moscow-backed communist government.
The communists tried to turn history to their own ends, playing down past
conflicts with the Russians, denouncing the pre-war government and playing
up class struggles. Outside the classroom most Poles were taught the ancient
national struggles - including the Warsaw uprising - by family and the
church.
"The uprising devastated the economy and the intelligentsia but it was a
point of reference for the future - that you had to fight for Poland," says
Leon Kieres, head of the Institute of National Remembrance, which documents
and prosecutes past crimes against Poles.
But in 1989, the role of history changed. Communism collapsed and for only
the second time in more than two centuries Poland was completely
independent.
Instead of absorbing the lessons of the past to prepare for the future,
young Poles rushed to learn English and study business. History became just
another school subject.
"We find huge gaps in the knowledge of the young, things we thought were
obvious," laments Tomasz Merta, a historian.
Freed from the need to nurture the national spirit, historians started
poking around the darker recesses of the past, such as the massacre of 1,500
Jews in the north-east town of Jedwabno by their Polish neighbours in 1944,
the anti-Semitic hysteria of 1968, and the pre-war government's suppression
of Ukrainian nationalism.
As well as communicating Poland's past to the rest of Europe, historians are
also trying to reach out to Poland's young, explaining events that now seem
unfathomably distant in an era of wireless connectivity and euros.
If the past has lost its didactic role, it can at least make the young pause
and revere those who went before, say the founders of the museum.
Looking at a 62m wall that will bear the names of 18,000 partisans who lost
their lives during the uprising, Marcin Roszkowski, the new museum's
25-year-old spokesman, expresses awe. "This history is part of our heritage,
part of who we are." (END)
===========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER THIRTEEN
Check Out the News Media for the Latest News From and About Ukraine
Daily News Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm
===========================================================
13. CANADA ANNOUNCES CIVIL SOCIETY PROJECTS IN UKRAINE
Canadian Embassy in Ukraine, Maple Leaf News
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 15, 2004
KYIV - Canada's Minister of International Cooperation, the Honourable
Aileen Carroll, will announce on Monday, April 19, four new technical
assistance projects with a combined value of $12.1 million, all in the area
of civil society development.
These new projects will be launched at 15:00 , April 19 th, at a ceremony at
the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv by Mr. Mr. Jean-Marc Metivier, Vice-President
of the Canadian International Development Agency, (CIDA). The projects
concerned are Building Democracy ($2.3 million), Community Economic
Development ($5.15 million), People's Voice II ($3.4 million) and Chornobyl
Recovery and Development Program ($1.3 million ).
Noting the increasing concentration of Canada 's development assistance
program for Ukraine in the area of civil society, Mr. Metivier commented
"Civil society has been growing and steadily gaining strength since
Ukraine's independence in 1991.
We at CIDA, together with our Canadian and Ukrainian partners, remain
committed to helping to bring about a vibrant civil society and to improve
governance in Ukraine . These projects will help to empower the Ukrainian
population so they can play an effective part in community affairs and in
determining their own future and well-being."
Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine, Andrew Robinson, noted that this year
there will be a Presidential elections in Ukraine, and added: "It is very
important for the future of Ukraine that the Ukrainian authorities take all
necessary measures to ensure that the Ukrainian people have the opportunity
to exercise their democratic choice in a free and fair electoral
environment.
Although we have serious concerns at present on some of these issues,"
continued Ambassador Robinson, "these projects are being announced
now because they will help to strengthen Ukrainian civil society which is a
vital component of a healthy democracy."
In the projects launched today, Canadian partners will work in partnership
with various non-governmental, government, international and academic
institutions to strengthen civil society and good governance in Ukraine.
Activities will include the development and delivery of foundation courses
on democracy, training in developing sustainable micro-enterprises,
assisting governments and citizens in establishing community priorities and
working with communities resettled following the Chornobyl disaster.
The launch of the four projects takes place in the context of the CIDA Vice
President's week- long mission to Ukraine. During the visit Mr. Metivier
will meet with many of CIDA's Ukrainian and international partners. CIDA has
an average annual disbursement of some $23 million dollars in its bilateral
and nuclear co-operation programs with Ukraine. (END)
=========================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 66: ARTICLE NUMBER FOURTEEN
Ukraine's History and the Long Struggle for Independence
Historical Gallery: http://www.artukraine.com/histgallery.htm
=========================================================
14. UKRAINIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY TO CELEBRATE
GROUNDBREAKING FOR NEW CHURCH AND CULTURAL
CENTER IN NEW JERSEY
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church
Ukrainian Cultural Center of New Jersey, Whippany, NJ, April 23, 2004
WHIPPANY, N.J. - On Sunday, April 25th, the groundbreaking for the new St.
John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Ukrainian Cultural Center
of New Jersey will take place, marking the beginning of the fulfillment of a
dream for generations of Ukrainian Americans who have selected this corner
of the New Jersey Highlands to call home.
More than 100 years ago, the first wave of Ukrainians left their subjugated
and impoverished homeland for this country, seeking an opportunity to better
their lives and those of the families they left behind. Successive waves of
Ukrainian immigrants to the United States fled the terrors of czarist Russia
and later the oppression and genocide of the Soviet Communist regime and the
Nazis. The first stop for many were the mill towns, coal mines or tenements
of the Northeast.
St. John's Parish has served as the foundation of Morris County's
Ukrainian-American community for 80 years. In recent years that community
has grown exponentially, and during the decade ending in 2000 Morris
County's Ukrainian-American population boomed by 76 percent. Many of
these families moved here from the traditional urban centers of New Jersey,
New York City, and Philadelphia.
It is a well-educated, economically strong and ethnically cohesive
community. Today the parish has over 500 parishioners ¬- a number that can
no longer be accommodated in the little church standing on the corner of
Route 10 and Jefferson Avenue. In addition, more than 600 Ukrainians who
are not parishioners use the small church hall for various organizations'
activities.
To meet the growing needs of this population, several years ago activists of
the nascent Ukrainian Cultural Center of New Jersey, in conjunction with St.
John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church, developed a vision for the
religious, cultural, educational and social life of this group. Sunday's
groundbreaking ceremony will take another step toward making that vision a
reality.
Designed in old-world style, the new church will face the East. The site
will also contain a rectory, and a bell tower that will be built using
stained glass windows, the bell and the dome from the current church. The
cultural center will house classrooms, a gymnasium, an auditorium, community
rooms and a commercial kitchen.
The Cultural Center will encompass all types of Ukrainian American
organizations. It will serve as a home for the School of Ukrainian Studies,
scouting and sports groups, charitable organizations, dance and choral
groups, seniors' groups, as well as house a facility for cultural events,
banquets and dances. The Center's purpose is to provide a venue for all
Ukrainian groups, regardless of religious affiliation.
The funding of this ambitious project has been ongoing for several years.
It has included use of the parish's cash reserves, generous contributions
from parishioners, and various fund-raising activities. Not to be forgotten
is the tireless work of the parish women who every weekend make and sell
"varenyky" (or pierogis as they're commonly known) and various other
delectable Ukrainian foods.
In attendance at the groundbreaking ceremony will be the Most Reverend
Stefan Soroka, metropolitan of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in the U.S. and
archbishop of the Philadelphia Archeparchy, which includes all Ukrainian
Catholic churches in New Jersey; the Rev. Roman Mirchuk, pastor of St. John
the Baptist Church; and numerous clergy from the metropolitan area.
Government officials expected to attend include Governor James McGreevey,
Congressman Rodney Freylinghuysen, State Senator Tony Bucco,
Freeholder Director Jack Schrier, Hanover Mayor Ron Francioli, Hanover
Councilmen John Korn, Howard Olsen and Len Fariello, plus numerous
dignitaries from various Ukrainian American organizations in the U.S.
Congratulatory letters have been sent to the local Ukrainian American
community from Governor James McGreevey and U.S. Senator Frank
Lautenberg, and will be read at the banquet following the groundbreaking.
SCHEDULE OF FESTIVITIES
The day's festivities begin at 10:30 AM with an outdoor celebration of
Divine Liturgy under a canopy erected on the current church grounds to
accommodate the overflow crowd that is expected to attend.
At approximately 1:00 PM a procession will begin, led by Metropolitan
Soroka. Local police will direct the procession, which will cross Route 10
and proceed northward one-half mile on Jefferson Road to the new 7.5 acre
site.
The procession will include parishioners and members of the various groups
that will be using the new center. Many participants will be dressed in
festive traditional Ukrainian costumes. Also, children of the parish will
carry a cross to the new site where it will be blessed.
After the groundbreaking ceremony, a celebratory banquet will be held at the
Ramada Hotel in East Hanover, beginning at 3:00 PM. (END)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact: Karen Chelak, 973-543-3202, 973-543-7263, moyehoist@aol.com
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PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
E. Morgan Williams, Coordinator, Action Ukraine Coalition (UAC)
Publisher and Editor: "THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" 2004,
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS),
http://www.ArtUkraine.com News and Information Website.
Senior Advisor, Government Relations, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council
P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013
Tel: 202 437 4707, morganw@patriot.net
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