"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT"
An International Newsletter
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"

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - Number 448
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, THURSDAY, March 24, 2005

-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"

1. REPORTS INDICATE US HOUSE SPEAKER HASTERT HAS
INVITED UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO TO
ADDRESS THE US CONGRESS
Inside Ukraine Newsletter
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2005

2. POROSHENKO AND ADVISOR TO US PRESIDENT ON NATIONAL
SECURITY HADLEY DISCUSS PREPARATION FOR YUSHCHENKO'S VISIT
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 23, 2005

3. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO'S WELCOME COMMITTEE PLANS
TWO MAJOR PUBLIC EVENTS FOR HIS VISIT TO THE U.S.
Rally at Shevchenko Monument, Banquet Honoring Yushchenko
New information and updates in the schedule
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT
Washington, D.C., Thursday, March 24, 2005

4. UNITED STATES PROVIDES USD-700,000 WORTH OF
EQUIPMENT TO UKRAINIAN BORDER AUTHORITIES FOR
IMPROVING BORDER WITH MOLDOVA
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 23, 2005

5. UKRAINIAN, TURKMEN LEADERS FAIL TO AGREE ON
LONG-TERM GAS SUPPLIES
ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English, 23 Mar 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, March 23, 2005

6. UKREXIMBANK AND WORLD BANK TO LEND USD 207
MILLION TO UKRAINIAN EXPORTERS
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 23, 2005

7. EUROPEAN VOTERS 'PREFER' UKRAINE TO TURKEY
Nicholas Watt in Brussels, The Guardian
London, UK, Thursday, March 24, 2005

8. UKRAINE WARMS UP TO IT OFFSHORING
Outsourcing for Strategic Advantage
Interview with Emmy Gengler, IT Business Edge
Your Technology Intelligence Agency
Louisville, KY, Wed, March 23, 2005

9. LITTLE PROGRESS MADE DURING PUTIN'S VISIT TO UKRAINE
Den, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 22 Mar 05; p 1, 3
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Mar 22, 2005

10. UKRAINE PROBES FATE OF NUCLEAR ARSENAL
By Tom Warner in Kiev, Financial Times, London, UK, Mar 23 2005

11. UNDER KUCHMA, UKRAINE SENT MISSILES TO IRAN & CHINA
By Taras Kuzio, The Eurasia Monitor
Volume 2, Issue 57, The Jamestown Foundation
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 23, 2005

12. WEBSITE OF UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE FAMINE FOUNDATION
"Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation - USA, Inc."
To: info@artukraine.com; Friday, March 18, 2005

13. "A TRIBUTE TO EVIL"
By Vytautas Landsbergbis, first postcommunist president of
independent Lithuania, is a Member of the European Parliament
The Day Weekly Digest In English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 22, 2005

14. FUNERAL REPAST OR JUBILATION
May 9: No Drums, Just Violins
Volodymyr Denysenko, Iryna Yehorova, Valery Kostiukevych,
Hanna Khrypunkova, Olena Astrakhovych, Myroslava Sokolova,
Volodymyr Soniuk, The Day; Valery Kalnysh (Zaporizhzhia);
Mykola Kasianenko (Simferopol); Nataliya Potapchuk (Chernihiv);
The Day Weekly Digest in English #9
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 22 March 2005

15. PYSANKY COLLECTIBLES BY HELEN BADULAK, NINA
BADULAK AND KRISTINA SCHAEFFER
Newly published book,"Pysanky in the 21st Century
Helen Badulak, Nina Badulak and Kristina Schaeffer"
armcdan@ptd.net, To: info@artukraine.com
Thursday, March 17, 2005

16. UKRAINIAN BANDURIST CHORUS
"Enchanting the world since 1918"
Message from your friends at the
UKRAINIAN BANDURIST CHORUS
Ukrainian Cultural Center, Warren, Michigan
Thursday, March 24, 2005

17. U K R A I N E A N D I T S M U S I C A L N E I G H B O U R S
ST. VLADIMIR INSTITUTE MUSIC LECTURE SERIES
St. Vladimir Institute, Toronto, Ontario
Canada, Thursday, March 17, 2005
===========================================================
1. REPORTS INDICATE US HOUSE SPEAKER HASTERT HAS
INVITED UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO TO
ADDRESS THE US CONGRESS

Inside Ukraine Newsletter
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, March 24, 2005

KYIV - Recent reports in Kyiv indicate the Office of Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko has received an official invitation from the Speaker
of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert (R-IL), inviting
the new President of Ukraine to address a joint session (meeting) of
the House and Senate when he comes to Washington in early April
for his first official visit.

The word around Kyiv is that President Yushchenko will most
likely address the U.S. Congress at 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday,
April 6th.

The hero of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, President Viktor
Yushchenko, his wife Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko, and
his official delegation arrive in Washington on Sunday evening,
April 3rd.

President George Bush invited President Viktor Yushchenko to a
working visit in Washington. Yushchenko will meet with the U.S.
President on Monday, March 4th.

There has been speculation around Washington and Kyiv for
some time that Yushchenko, as the successful leader of the
democratic forces in Ukraine and as one of the most widely
known politicians in the world today, would be invited to
address the U.S. Congress. There is considerable confusion in
political circles as to why, if the invitation has been sent and has
arrived in Kyiv, why there has not been an official announcement yet.
===============================================================
2. POROSHENKO AND ADVISOR TO US PRESIDENT ON NATIONAL
SECURITY HADLEY DISCUSS PREPARATION FOR YUSHCHENKO'S VISIT

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 23, 2005

KYIV - The Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council,
Petro Poroshenko and Steven Hadley, adviser to the US President for
National Security, have discussed preparation for the visit of President
Viktor Yuschenko to the United States, which is scheduled for April 4-7.
Poroshenko's press secretary, Iryna Friz, disclosed this to Ukrainian
News, citing the telephone conversation of Poroshenko and Hedley.

In her words, the interlocutors also discussed the itinerary of the official
visit of the Ukrainian delegation to Iraq headed by Poroshenko, which is
planned for March 28-30. Friz disclosed that Poroshenko and Hedley agreed
to coordinate the actions and cooperation of the American side during this
visit to Iraq. As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Yuschenko plans to visit
the United States on April 4-7 [4-6].

The visit is expected to result in the signing of a bilateral document by
Yuschenko and US President George W. Bush, which will determine
the future course of bilateral relations.

In particular, the presence of the Ukrainian peacekeeping contingent in
Iraq will be discussed during high-level meetings. A Ukrainian delegation
headed by Poroshenko will visit Iraq on March 28-30 to hold consultations
with coalition partners in Iraq and with the Iraqi leadership relating to
the withdrawal of Ukrainian peacekeepers from this country. -30-
===============================================================
3. PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO'S WELCOME COMMITTEE PLANS
TWO MAJOR PUBLIC EVENTS FOR HIS VISIT TO THE U.S.
Rally at Shevchenko Monument, Banquet Honoring Yushchenko
New information and updates in the schedule

THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT
Washington, D.C., Thursday, March 24, 2005

WASHINGTON, D.C. - President Yushchenko's Welcome
Committee in Washington, D.C. is in the process of finalizing
their plans for two major public events the Committee will
sponsor in honor of the new Ukrainian President, Viktor
Yushchenko, while he is in the United States for his first
official visit as President.

The first public event will be held at the Taras Shevchenko
Monument in Washington, D.C. beginning at noon on
Wednesday, April 6. President Yushchenko will lay a wreath
at the monument to the most famous Ukrainian, Taras
Shevchenko (1814-1861), an honored poet, writer, artist
and fighter for personal liberty and national independence.

Yushchenko will then speak at a large public Rally of Ukrainian-
Americans and other friends of Ukraine who will gather at the
Shevchenko monument to celebrate the victory of the Orange
Revolution which resulted in the election of Viktor Yushchenko
as president of Ukraine in December of 2004. Yushchenko was
inaugurated on Sunday, January 23, 2005.

Several thousand people are expected at this event. Plans are
being made for people to come to Washington in special buses
from such places as New York City, Philadelphia and other cities.

The monument to Taras Shevchenko in Washington was unveiled
on June 27, 1964 by President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
(http://www.artukraine.com/taras/monumentp2.htm)

The second event will be a large banquet in honor of President
Yushchenko to be held in the Omni Shoreham Hotel ballroom
in Washington. The reception will begin at 6:30 p.m and the
banquet will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6. Tickets
are being sold to the public for the banquet. President
Yushchenko will also speak at the banquet.

EVENT ONE -- Wreath Laying and Orange Revolution Rally,
Shevchenko Monument

Event: Wreath Laying and Speech By Viktor Yushchenko
President of Ukraine
Where: Shevchenko Monument, Washington, D.C.
Located near DuPont Circle, P & 22nd Street
When: Wednesday, April 6, 2005, 12 Noon - 2 p.m.
(There has been a change in the starting time)
Attendance: The event is open to the public.

EVENT TWO -- Banquet in Honor of President Yushchenko

Event: Banquet in Honor of Viktor Yushchenko
President of Ukraine
Where: Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C.
2500 Calvert Street, N.W. (at Connecticut Ave)
When: Wednesday, April 6, 2005
Reception: 6:30 p.m.
Dinner: 7:30 p.m.
Dress: Black Tie Optional

Attendance: Tickets for the banquet are now on sale to the
public for $200.00 each. One can purchase a ticket by check.
Seating is limited and the space available will be sold on
the basis of when a check arrives. The banquet is
expected to be sold out in a very short period of time.

Checks should be made out to the 'Yushchenko Banquet
Committee' and mailed [with complete contact information]
immediately to the:

Ukrainian Washington Credit Union
P.O. Box 19228
Alexandria, Virginia 22320-1228.
(P.O. Box number has changed)

Financial sponsors are needed for the two events. Special
sponsor tables (seating ten people) are available for the
Yushchenko banquet for $2,500.00 each. Please contact
the Committee for complete sponsor information.

Arrangements are also being made to purchase tickets by
credit card. These arrangements will announced by Thursday,
March 24th and will be published in The Action Ukraine Report.

Co-chairs of President Yushchenko's Welcome Committee are:

(1) Nadia Komarnyckyj McConnell, President
U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
(2) Ihor Gawdiak, President
Ukrainian American Coordinating Council (UACC)
(3) Ihor Kotlarchuk, President
The Washington Group (TWG)
(4) Michael Sawkiw, President
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA)
(5) Iryna Kurowyckyj, President
Ukrainian National Women's League of America

Other organizations represented on President Yushchenko's
Welcome Committee include the Ukrainian Federation of
America, Ukrainian Institute of America, United Ukrainian
American Relief Committee, The Bleyzer Foundation, Ukrainian
Human Rights Committee, Ukrainian Scouting Organization
(Plast), Ukrainian National Information Service, Ukrainian
National Association, Action Ukraine Coalition, Ukrainian
Catholic Shrine of the Holy Family, Saint Andrews Orthodox
Cathedral, Taras Shevchenko School of Ukrainian Studies,
and the Holy Trinity Particular Catholic Church.

For additional information call:
1. U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, 202 347 4264
2. Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, 202 547 0018
3. Ukrainian American Coordinating Council,
Ihor Gawdiak, President, 410 884 9025
4. The Washington Group,
Ihor Kotlarchuk, President, 703 548 8534
5. Ukrainian National Women's League of America
Motria Slonewska, 703 536 7795

As further information becomes available about these two major
events they will be published in The Action Ukraine Report. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Your editor is a member of the finance committee of
President Yushchenko's Welcome Committee. If you need
further information please send an e-mail at morganw@patriot.net
or call me at 202 437 4707.
==============================================================
4. UNITED STATES PROVIDES USD-700,000 WORTH OF
EQUIPMENT TO UKRAINIAN BORDER AUTHORITIES FOR
IMPROVING BORDER WITH MOLDOVA

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 23, 2005

KYIV - The United States has provided equipment worth USD 700,000 to the
Kotovsk border guards (Odesa region) to enable them to tighten the Ukrainian
border with Moldova. The press service of the State Customs Service
disclosed this to Ukrainian News.

According to the press service, the United States provided the border guards
with a set of passport control equipment, stationary metal detectors, photo
and video equipment, and facilities for inspecting means of transportation.
The United States also provided radio communications facilities, radiation
control facilities, night vision equipment, binoculars, safes, and
automobiles. The press service said that the equipment would be transferred
to the Kotovsk border unit on March 28.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the US company Raytheon Technical
Services Co. LLC won a tender in the United States for technical enhancement
of the capability of Ukrainian border service at the cost of USD 7,088,570
in August 2004. The United States handed over vehicles and equipment of
USD 0.46 million to border troops of Ukraine in 2002.

The handover of this batch of equipment became a result of agreement signed
in 2001 between the US and Ukraine, according to which the parties broadened
spheres of provision of technical assistance. The US and Ukraine started
cooperation in the sphere of transport control and border security in 1993
==============================================================
5. UKRAINIAN, TURKMEN LEADERS FAIL TO AGREE ON
LONG-TERM GAS SUPPLIES

ITAR-TASS news agency, Moscow, in English, 23 Mar 05
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, March 23, 2005

ASGABAT - Viktor Yushchenko and Saparmyrat Nyyazow could not agree on
long-term supplies of Turkmen gas to Ukraine. The two presidents admitted
this failure today at their news conference on the results of the Ukrainian
president's two-day visit to Turkmenistan.

According to Nyyazow, he "even felt uneasy when he turned down Yushchenko".
"I only said 'we shall see'," the Turkmen president told reporters. He
explained that the sides discussed at the talks the present terms of gas
supplies to Ukraine and a strategy for long-term deliveries over the next 15
years, as well as participation of Ukrainian companies in developing oil and
gas deposits in Turkmenistan.

Nyyazow noted, however, that Turkmenistan is ready to cooperate with
Ukraine in the energy sphere on mutually advantageous terms, since this is
a question of energy security for Kiev. "If the problem of transporting gas
is settled, Turkmenistan can deliver annually 60-70bn cu.m. of gas to
Ukraine," the Turkmen leader said.

For his part, Yushchenko admitted that "there is a political factor now".
"It remains a serious barrier in implementing gas-export projects," he
noted. "It is high time to speak of a gas alliance of all member countries
of production, transportation and consumption of gas. We want to optimize
the fuel balance of Ukraine and understand that the main problem is how to
deliver the necessary volume of gas."

According to the Ukrainian president, this question was high on the agenda
both at the present talks with Nyyazow and at the previous meetings with the
Russian president. "I believe that we can find a common component of our
interests," Yushchenko said. The sides discussed a possibility of
establishing a gas-transport consortium with the participation of
Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine in order to pipe gas to
Ukraine and the EU.

The bilateral five-year agreement on gas supplies ends next year. The
governments of the two states had worked on a project of a next 25-year
contract over the past two years, but failed to come to any agreement.

According to a TASS dispatch from Kiev, quoting the press service of the
Ukrainian president, the Ukrainian president was generally satisfied with
the talks in Asgabat. "It is now up to the governments of the two countries
which should record understandings in appropriate documents, reached
at the top level," the press service quoted Yushchenko as saying. "The
documents should clearly spell out a way for their implementation."

For instance, apart from gas, the sides discussed cooperation in trade,
humanitarian and military spheres. "The countries should formulate a
clear-cut action plan," the Ukrainian president said. "We shall plot
specific ways of mutually advantageous cooperation thanks to this
approach."

Nyyazow also confirmed Asgabat's interest in cooperation in the defence
industry, including updating military hardware: tanks, planes and artillery.
According to the Ukrainian president, the sides also raised the issue of
fighting terrorism and preservation of peace all over the world. Nyyazow
also expressed interest in Yushchenko's proposal to help with training
Turkmen students at Ukrainian higher educational establishments.
=============================================================
6. UKREXIMBANK AND WORLD BANK TO LEND USD 207 MILLION
TO UKRAINIAN EXPORTERS

Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wed, March 23, 2005

KYIV - The state-owned Export-Import Bank (Ukreximbank) together with the
World Bank plan to launch a program for provision of around USD 207 million
of loans to Ukrainian exporters. Ukreximbank management board chairman
Viktor Kapustin announced the plan to a press conference.

The program also includes insurance of Ukrainian exporters' export
operations and will soon be put forth in an agreement and signed, Kapustin
said. "The project is at the stage of a very dynamic development... we could
sign an agreement in a week if we'd want to," he said. Kapustin added
that the funds of the WB in the project account for around USD 150 million.

Besides Ukreximbank, the Ukrainian government is expected to finance
some part of the project, too. The project is to be implemented in two
stages: from 2005 to 2007 and from 2007 to 2011. According to Kapustin,
some kind of institute for project implementation will be created at
Ukreximbank during the first stage, and the second stage will be focused
on implemen-tation of the project itself. Kapustin added that his bank is
ready to embark on the project today and wishes it to be launched as
soon as possible.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, the supervisory board of Ukreximbank,
ranking among top ten Ukrainian banks, recently replaced Oleksandr Sorokin
with Viktor Kapustin as management board chairman. As of January 1, 2005,
net assets of Ukreximbank were valued at UAH 5,296.4 million, loan portfolio
amounted to UAH 3,515.8 million, and capital totaled UAH 614.5 million. The
bank ended the year of 2004 with a net profit of UAH 90.158 million. The
state owns 100% of the shares in the bank through the Cabinet of Ministers,
which runs the bank. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
===============================================================
7. EUROPEAN VOTERS 'PREFER' UKRAINE TO TURKEY

Nicholas Watt in Brussels, The Guardian
London, UK, Thursday, March 24, 2005

Ukraine's campaign to join the EU today receives a boost from an opinion
poll which shows greater support in Europe for Ukrainian membership than
for Turkey. A survey of some 6,000 people in the EU's six largest countries
found 55% of voters would like Ukraine to become part of the union. This
compares with 45% who support Turkey's bid to join, a process which is
due to be formally launched on October 3.

Pro-Ukraine campaigners will use the results to increase pressure on
European leaders to give Kiev a start date for accession talks.
Laurent Dondey, spokesman for the pro-Ukraine Yes campaign, said:
"This survey is very significant and a great surprise. There has been a
big debate about Ukrainian membership but until now nobody was
interested in the views of European citizens."

The Yes group commissioned the TNS Sofres polling group to survey
opinions in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Britain and Poland. Voters
in Poland, which spearheaded the EU's diplomatic efforts to end the
presidential standoff in Ukraine, are overwhelmingly in favour, with
77% for and 12% against.

Forty-nine per cent of voters in Britain support Ukrainian membership,
with 27% against. French voters are broadly in favour (58% to 37%),
but German voters are opposed by 53% to 41%. The findings
contrasted with the opposition to Turkish membership. French voters
are strongly opposed (59% to 37%), as are the Germans (60% to 36%).

Only Poland (55%) recorded a majority in favour of Turkish membership.
Half of British voters support Turkey, with 32% against. Pro-Ukraine
campaigners will be careful not to use the figures to criticise Turkey
for fear of inflaming arguments about race.

Emmanuel Riviere, of TNS Sofres, said: "People who are against Turkish
membership but who accept Ukraine feel it belongs to the European area.
They see Turkey as outside their geographic area." The Yes group said it
would use the findings to say it is wrong to deny Ukraine's 48 million
people, who live in the largest country wholly within Europe, the chance
to join the EU. "This survey will help Ukraine in its negotiations," Mr
Dondey
said. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
===============================================================
8. UKRAINE WARMS UP TO IT OFFSHORING
Outsourcing for Strategic Advantage

Interview with Emmy Gengler, IT Business Edge
Your Technology Intelligence Agency
Louisville, KY, Wed, March 23, 2005

With Emmy Gengler, CEO of Softjourn, which features a network of IT
services with partner companies throughout Ukraine. Each of Softjourn's
partners has an area of expertise, such as security, voice and data
compression, image technology and BPO.

Question: Softjourn's IT software development is done in Ukraine. What
led you to choose Ukraine as your offshore hub? What are the benefits
of doing IT work in the area?

Gengler: As a former Soviet Union country, Ukraine benefited from a built-in
educational and research and development infrastructure. Indeed, several
components of the Soviet space program were researched and developed in
Ukraine, including the development of their own shuttle program and the
development of what is still today the largest transport plane in the world.

The educational infrastructure, while having had to make adjustments for
decreased government funding, as our own public universities have had to
do, is still in place with its heavy emphasis on math and sciences. Today
more than 60 percent of university graduates receive degrees in these areas.
Twenty years ago in the U.S., companies such as EDS grabbed thousands
of math and science grads for their programming training programs
because they were excellent logical thinkers.

Today in Ukraine, the math, science and engineering programs all require
the development of software development skills, and many of these students,
with their excellent logic skill set, continue in the software development
area after graduation.

Ukraine did not have to just build its educational infrastructure, as many
of the offshoring countries have had to do, rather it is benefiting from a
structure that has been in place for decades. Literacy in Ukraine is 99
percent, with over 80 percent of the high school students going on to
higher education.

Eastern Europe is considered an up-and-coming area for outsourcing due
to its educational infrastructure and proximity to Western Europe, which can
benefit those U.S. companies that have partners or offices in Europe.
Ukraine is also currently underutilized as an offshore location, which will
become increasingly more important as Asian locations continue to heat
up and experience shortages and high turnover rates.

Question: At first glance, there would seem to be major concerns in terms
of sending work to Ukraine, such as the security of intellectual property in
the area and the infrastructure. Can you address the reality for each of
those concerns?

Gengler: Any time you are developing software, industrial espionage is
always a concern, and it does not matter where you are developing it. There
are steps that every company should go through to protect what they are
having done in another country. Companies need to make sure that the code
that is being worked on is uploaded or checked back in to the source control
library daily, so you always have the latest code in your possession.

Peer reviews should be conducted to actually go through the code, to make
sure that nothing is going in to the code beyond what you had intended.
Companies should also make sure that they have NDAs signed directly
between the client and each member of the development team, as well
as between their vendor and their own employees, to maximize the reach
in case there are any issues.

WTO ascension is a top 2005 priority for Ukraine's government. As Ukraine
moves towards this, its intellectual property laws are being rewritten to
comply with WTO standards, which will beef up the litigation rights of the
buyers. Another legacy of the Soviet system that aids in litigation is how
people are identified. Unlike some other offshore locations, Ukraine
inherited its internal identification system from the Soviet Union. For
decades, there has been an internal passport system with its unique
numbering identifiers for each person.

This, coupled with unique tax IDs, helps identify each potential candidate
for work as well as aiding in background checks. However, buyers should
not rely on any of this alone, the same as they should not rely solely on
this in the U.S. nor in India or any other country. They should take a
proactive stance in protecting themselves and their IP.

Internet connectivity is one of the infrastructure areas of concern for
anyone thinking about offshoring since it is used so often now for both
voice as well as data communications.

Telecom is one of the fastest growing markets in Ukraine, and fiber optics
are continually being laid and new companies are continually opening new
connectivity services, which continually lowers cost. For example, monthly
fees for a DSL connection are lower in Ukraine than in India.

Services companies in Ukraine do not tend to cluster into particular
complexes as they may in other offshore locations, but rather can be found
throughout the cities. Many may be located in universities or research and
development centers or in the new office buildings going up, all relying
very well on state power for their electricity infrastructure needs.

Ukraine has enjoyed several years of GDP growth, topping 9 percent
for the last two years.

This growth has spawned new building and reconstruction throughout the
major cities, creating a lot of visible activity with an exciting energy. I
have never had anyone who wanted to leave Ukraine early - on the contrary,
most people want to extend their visits. Question: With those myths
dispelled, what are some of the real challenges in IT offshoring in Ukraine?

Gengler: From the point of view of a company trying to engage in software
engineering in Ukraine, the challenges are similar no matter what country
they are working with. Software development does not fail usually because of
technical skills, but rather because of managerial skills and scope control
skills. Some of the most important managerial skills are delivered at the
client site, or at least in the home country.

They must come from this area in order to set priorities for what is to be
developed, to work together with the offshore side to determine realistic
schedules for development, to be able to pull out from the offshore side
what is really happening, where is the project really at, and so on.

On the offshore side, project management skills are needed to keep the
team on track during their working hours, which may differ from the client's
side; to pick up all of the details, such as who is working on what and
where are they at; to monitor or put in place the QA process; and to
coordinate with the onshore side, and so on. Having enough managers
who can work to this level of detail is an issue in Ukraine, as there are
few employees who have enough actual work experience.

One way we are looking to combat this is through more project manage-
ment training. I am one of the directors of the Project Management Institute
(PMI) in Kyiv, Ukraine, which is the first PMI entity in Ukraine. To date,
we have offered project management professional (PMP) prep courses
taught by a certified U.S. instructor, and we are also looking to add an
online alternative later this year.

English language skills can be another issue. English is the language of
choice in the universities and in the schools it is now required from an
early age. Several universities are conducting entire programs in English.

Oral and written comprehension is high among software engineers, given
the amount of text they have to read for their degree and work programs
and the amount of English language programming available in the country.
Conducting online chats and using instant messaging and e-mail in English
should not be an issue with developers in Ukraine. With writing skills, you
will probably notice that they are not native speakers.

Oral skills, however, are not always where they should be. If you are
looking at having a team of 40 people in Ukraine, it would be difficult to
expect that everyone speaks excellent English and has the technical
skills that you require. Those persons who interface directly with any
U.S. personnel will speak, read and write in English. To assist with the
language issue, most companies conduct in-house English language
training programs. -30- [Action Ukraine Monitoring Service]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.itbusinessedge.com/content/3Q/3qpub8-20050323.aspx
===========================================================
9. LITTLE PROGRESS MADE DURING PUTIN'S VISIT TO UKRAINE

Den, Kiev, Ukraine, in Russian 22 Mar 05; p 1, 3
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Tue, Mar 22, 2005

Despite upbeat statements during Russian President Vladimir Putin's
recent visit to Kiev, many problems remain unresolved, a daily has said.
Many serious problems like border delimitation, oil and gas and aircraft
building are still to be tackled. Kiev is notably cool to Moscow's economic
union plan, preferring to move towards the EU, according to the newspaper.

The following is the text of the article by Viktor Zamyatin published in
the Ukrainian newspaper Den on 22 March under the headline "Secret
meanings of partnership"; subheadings have been inserted editorially:

During the visit by Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to Kiev it was made
clear that the idea of creating the Single Economic Space [SES - economic
union between Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan] was not Russia's.

This is what Putin said in Kiev. During the visit to Moscow by Ukraine's
president, Viktor Yushchenko, in January it seemed that Kremlin was only
doing what the previous Ukrainian leadership had asked for. It is precisely
this that can so far be considered the main news of bilateral relations,
since statements saying that the two countries do not have any unresolved
problems do not entirely correspond to reality.

Indeed, during Putin's one-day visit to Kiev the impression was created
that the main thing for him was to have a preemptive talk with Yushchenko
before he met with [US President George] Bush, to understand precisely
with whom he had to settle things here - with Yushchenko, or possibly
with Prime Minister [Yuliya] Tymoshenko and to make some statements
binding on nobody but that might go into the reckoning of the overall
number of intensive contacts. The sides, when speaking about the
absence of unresolved problems between them, effectively misled
the broad public.

After all, topics remain unresolved about which the presidents themselves
spoke - the maritime border, free trade, oil and gas issues, aircraft
building and so forth, as well as the ones that were not mentioned. In
particular there is what the provocation over the island of the Tuzla Spit
[disputed island in Kerch Strait] really meant, what spin doctors from
Russian were doing in Ukraine and what, after the elections, [former Prime
Minister Viktor] Yanukovych, [radical leftist Progressive Socialist Party
leader Nataliya] Vitrenko and [far-right Brotherhood leader Dmytro]
Korchynskyy were doing in Moscow.

Or one could ask where is the agreement on readmission, where is
the normal border security from both sides, and where, finally, are the
effective joint economic projects that would be open, "transparent" as
it is now fashionable to say, in which there were problems of the
functioning of the consortium that is to produce a transport plane
on the basis of the An-70?

It can hardly be claimed that the situation has been fully settled over the
stay on Ukrainian territory of bases and units of the Black Sea Fleet,
which, it is presented, are the de facto owners of the city of Sevastopol.
There are enough questions.

RUSSIAN SCEPTICISM OF UKRAINE'S EU ASPIRATION
The only thing that Putin demonstrated in Kiev was Moscow's firm scepticism
regarding Ukraine's European integration. He repeated the theme that is
often repeated in Moscow - Ukraine will not be taken into the EU even as a
candidate. And so it has nowhere else to go apart from very closest
cooperation with Russia, which, in turn, is building a common economic
space with the EU. It must be admitted that they are saying this with such
confidence in Moscow that it may be evidence of contacts between the
Russian leadership and representatives of EU structures and EU member
countries after the Ukrainian Orange Revolution. In itself the hackneyed
theory that cooperation with Russia does not contradict the process of
European integration is neither new nor even a statement of fact. Since
cooperation can mean various things.

In particular, nobody has yet been able to answer one question: precisely
what problems does the creation of the SES solve, why is it impossible to
get by without the creation of this incomprehensible association and where
are the calculations and conclusions of specialists? And why, frankly
speaking, should Ukraine move into Europe in the wake of Russia and what
can all the sides gain from that (apart, perhaps, from a certain moral
satisfaction for those who simply do not accept Ukraine)?

The creation of the Putin-Yushchenko commission may be a very good
step precisely in that direction. Moreover, it does not look as if the
initiative for creating it was Russian. The fact that President Yushchenko
received President Putin at home also looks like a smart move.

In Ukraine they are diplomatically declaring that they are really in favour
of the functioning of the SES (Prime Minister [Yuliya] Tymoshenko), but
only in the form of a free trade zone (President Yushchenko). And again,
Economics Minister Serhiy Teryokhin is appointed to be responsible for
Ukraine's participation in the creation of the organization - a person
thoroughly familiar with questions of trade, financial processes and stock
market mechanisms. To be sure, at the same time it has not been indicated
what powers he will have in relation to the documents and accords that were
approved by his Ukrainian predecessor, [former Finance Minister] Mykola
Azarov.

And what do these documents say in general; what possible benefit or
damage is there in them for the state? It looks as if the new Ukrainian
leadership has simply set the aim, with the help of statements and
diplomatic contacts, gradually to level out the possible basis for
Ukrainian opponents (who were recently "the authorities"). If that is
the case, then the results are not bad for a start.

MAJOR PROBLEMS REMAIN
As far as truly serious issues are concerned, such as the long-suffering
gas transport consortium, European capital in whose creation Russia
apparently again welcomes, or the reverse flow of the Odessa-Brody oil
pipeline, and in general a retreat from the monopolization of the Ukrainian
oil market only by Russian companies, fulfilment of obligations with the
An-70 [plane] and achievement of really free trade - there will be problems
here.

Still more problems will arise if it turns out that some of Ukraine's
obligations to Russia and NATO in the security field come into conflict,
and so the situation will very soon now require not simply an unequivocal
choice, but also an effective mechanism to protect our national interests.
There should also be steps directed at a serious presence of Ukrainian
capital in Russia, as well as protection of its interests.

Commenting on his visit to Kiev, Putin said that he had encountered
"understanding of the need to develop Russo-Ukrainian relations from the
level that they had reached in recent years. We stated with satisfaction
that the Ukrainian leadership is inclined extremely positively and is
constructively approaching the decision of questions in power engineering
and the SES". But there are other topics that need special attention, in
particular in the economy. Putin requested the minister of industry and
energy, Viktor Khristenko, to contact the Ukrainian economics minister as
soon as possible for joint work in the high level group for forming the
SES.

"We need to build at a quadrilateral meeting at expert level in order
to make steps on the road to agreeing documents." Putin said that there
were 29 of them on the list. The president gave an instruction once again
to engage in the question of reducing trade restrictions between Russia
and Ukraine.

The visit can be called successful. But only in that it marked the start of
relations of confidence between the leaderships of the two states. There is
not yet any question of tackling the enormous number of pressing problems
on the agenda. If one were to consider the content of relations between the
countries precisely in the context of normal, friendly international
relations, then neither side evidently has a vision of them. However,
Ukraine has an advantage - the initiative gained.

But using it may prove problematic in the event of disputes over control
of "the Russian vector" in the new state leadership. The first signs of
intrigues are already to be seen. The news that the everyday work of
the Yushchenko-Putin commission will be carried out by the NSDC
[National Security and Defence Council] clearly did not delight the
government, in particular the prime minister.

FOREIGN PRESS COMMENT
The foreign press commented on Putin's visit to Kiev fairly equivocally.
The first thing that the Russian press noted was that contacts between the
leaders were considerably warmer. "One of the few problems that were really
'smoothed out' was the personal relationship between the two presidents.
Nobody now even brought up what happened during the Ukrainian elections
(the first meeting in January between Putin and Yushchenko to a large
extent consisted of explanations on that score)," Izvestiya says. The
government Rossiyskaya Gazeta notes that "the leaders of the Orange
Revolution have done much to show Putin how they value good relations
with Russia".

"However, in fact it became clear that the fine phrases about
eternal partnership conceal what in effect is Ukraine's proposal to start
the relationship from a clean sheet." Kommersant recalls that Yushchenko
met Putin on the street despite the frost, and Putin's residence was a
detached house in Lypky [up-market part of central Kiev].

At the same time, the Western media also made their conclusion from
Putin's Saturday [19 March] visit to Kiev. "Despite all the diplomatic
expressions and conciliatory gestures, the visit of Russian President
Vladimir Putin to Kiev showed one thing: the times of Moscow diktat
that also continued during the rule of [former President] Leonid Kuchma
have definitively receded into the past," the German Tages Allgemeine
Zeitung believes. In its opinion, Yushchenko and Putin are now for
the first time meeting as equals.

"But the interest of the two sides in fruitful relations has a completely
differing nature," the publication says. "After Russia brazenly
and unilaterally backed the schemer Viktor Yanukovych who lost the
election, it is important now first and foremost for Putin to minimize the
damage. But the Kremlin chief is clever enough to realize that the former
Soviet republics are swimming away from him," the paper writes.

The French Liberation notes that during the visit Putin "brilliantly
depicted his innocence". "Despite the fact that the Russian president
was personally mixed up in the last presidential election campaign in
Ukraine and acted in support of the pro-Russian candidate, and even
the fact that Moscow was suspected of participation in the poisoning
that disfigured Yushchenko's face, in Kiev on Saturday both
presidents expressed the confidence that they were prepared for
constructive cooperation," the paper writes.

"Ukraine is moving in the same direction as Russia," Putin said in
justification, trying to convince Ukrainians that their participation in
the SES, so beloved by Russia as a possibility of again welding
together the former Soviet republics, does not hinder their getting
closer to the EU. Indeed, Russia is also 'bringing its legislation into
line with European Union legislation' Putin stressed," Liberation notes.

At the same time, the newspaper indicates that Yushchenko, "trying
his utmost to be polite", said that the SES was still in the "negotiation
stage" and that "the creation of a free trade zone" would be quite
enough for him. The priority for the new Ukrainian president is
bringing Ukraine closer to the EU. -30-
==========================================================
10. UKRAINE PROBES FATE OF NUCLEAR ARSENAL

By Tom Warner in Kiev, Financial Times, London, UK ,March 23 2005

Ukraine is investigating what became of its cold war nuclear arsenal in
response to revelations that at least 18 unloaded cruise missiles were
smuggled to Iran and China in 2001.

Petro Poroshenko, secretary of Ukraine's National Security Council, said he
had ordered the Defence Ministry and SBU secret police to make a full
account of the arsenal, which was supposed to have been destroyed or
transferred to Russia after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Mr Poroshenko also promised an "objective, unprejudiced and transparent"
investigation of the smuggling case and a review and strengthening of
arms-export controls "in order to rule out any recurrence".

However, he said it was up to the judge to decide whether to lift a secrecy
order on the trial of one of the smuggling suspects.

Two men were arrested and accused of smuggling the missiles last year, but
the case was kept secret until after the pro-western government of Viktor
Yushchenko took power in January. One of the men, Russian businessman
Oleg Orlov, was arrested last July in the Czech Republic, where he is
being held in prison pending a hearing on Ukraine's extradition request

Mr Poroshenko stressed that the missile sales were not official policy.
"We're not talking about a crime carried out by the state of Ukraine.
There's no evidence that this sale was sanctioned," he said.

Kishichiro Amae, Japan's ambassador to Ukraine, said the case was
"stunning" because he thought Ukraine had completely disposed of
its former nuclear arsenal. The only known exceptions were a well
monitored programme in which inter-continental ballistic missiles
were converted into commercial satellite launch vehicles and a
small number of missiles turned into museum pieces.

The X-55s missiles allegedly exported to Iran and China are considered
particularly dangerous because they can fly up to 3,000km and avoid
detection by most radar. They were designed to carry a 200-kiloton nuclear
warhead. These were stripped out and handed over to Russia years before
the smuggling incident, according to Ukraine's prosecutor general.

The X-55 has been converted to carry conventional warheads by Russia but
most nuclear bombs, especially primitive ones, would be too big for its
payload. A Defence Ministry spokesman said 483 X-55s had been destroyed
under a US-funded disarmament programme but declined to say how many
were in the arsenal Ukraine inherited from the Soviet Union or how many
were left.

According to a member of the Ukrainian parliament who first publicised the
case last month, the Defence Ministry reported that it had destroyed the
missiles but had actually turned them over to the state arms export company,
which sold them to the smugglers. Ukrainian specialists were sent to Iran
to help install the missiles, according to the MP. -30-
===============================================================
11. UNDER KUCHMA, UKRAINE SENT MISSILES TO IRAN AND CHINA

By Taras Kuzio, The Eurasia Monitor
Volume 2, Issue 57, The Jamestown Foundation
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Since President Viktor Yushchenko was inaugurated on January 23,
Ukraine's Interior Ministry (MVS), Security Service (SBU), and Prosecutor-
General's office have made daily revelations about massive, high-level
corruption under former president Leonid Kuchma. One new scandal is
that Kyiv sent 12 long-range surface-to-air missiles to Iran and six to
China in 1999 and 2000 (Financial Times, March 17).

These revelations come on top of previous accusations that Kuchma
authorized the sale of Kolchuga radars to Iraq in July 2000. The concurrent
transfers to Iran, China, and Iraq confirm a three-fold suspicion long held
by Western governments.

FIRST, the weapons transfers took place while Leonid Derkach was chairman
of the SBU (1997-2001). Derkach has been implicated in numerous illegal
arms transfers while head of the SBU. The Secretary of the National Defense
Council from 1999-2003, Yevhen Marchuk, publicly accused Derkach of
being involved with arms traffickers on trial in Italy.

SECOND,the highest levels of the Kuchma regime were involved in the
deception. While Kuchma was authorizing and undoubtedly taking a cut from
the $113 million proceeds, he was re-elected on a pro-Euro-Atlantic
integration platform in 1999 and sought to prove this orientation by making
Yushchenko prime minister.

THIRD, illegal arms transfers were part of the high-level involvement in
numerous corrupt activities. Kuchma's abuse of office was the factor that
prompted security guard Mykola Melnychenko to secretly tape 700 hours
of conversations in Kuchma's office.

Ukraine faced a political crisis after a portion of the tapes was first
publicly revealed in November 2000. But despite the political crisis, abuse
of high office continued. An attempt to sell 14 additional missiles as late
as 2004 was only blocked because the SBU had a different chairman,
Ihor Smeshko.

Hryhoriy Omelchenko, deputy head of the parliamentary committee on
organized crime and corruption, first made public the Iran and China
allegations last month. A former SBU officer, V.V. Yevdokimov, has
been charged with involvement in the missile sales. Yevdokimov
headed the state-owned UkrAviaZakaz airfreight company.

The Prosecutor-General's office has now confirmed that a criminal
investigation is underway (Financial Times, March 17). Consequently,
Prosecutor-General Sviatyslav Piskun has characterized the transfers
as "contraband," not "exports" (Ukrayinska pravda, March 18).

Piskun faces the uncomfortable allegation that he did nothing to investigate
the illegal transfer of this "contraband" while he was prosecutor-general in
2002-2003. Omelchenko has revealed that his parliamentary committee
informed the SBU, Prosecutor-General's Office and Kuchma about these
transfers in 1999-2002. Omelchenko received standard noncommittal
replies that "your information has not been confirmed" (Interfax-Ukraine,
March 18).

Omelchenko claimed that Piskun is not genuinely interested in investigating
the issue and his only aim is to continue to remain in his post. "Piskun is
guided by principles of double standards, double morals, and political
opportunism," Omelchenko charged (Interfax-Ukraine, March 18).

The head of the parliamentary committee on organized crime and corruption,
Volodymyr Stretovych, explained this discrepancy by the fact that the Kuchma
regime "did not provide opportunities for the prosecutor to investigate the
affair" (Ukrayinska pravda, March 18). Similar accusations were made over
the inability of the authorities under Kuchma to resolve the murder of
journalist Heorhiy Gongadze.

The missiles in question were part of the 1,000 missiles Ukraine inherited
from the USSR and falsely recorded as having been destroyed in the 1990s.
The Defense Ministry has rushed to deny any involvement, an unbelievable
claim as it never bothered to inventory what it actually inherited from the
former USSR (UNIAN, March 18). When Marchuk was defense minister, he
complained that much of what Ukraine had inherited from the USSR had
gone missing due to the lack of an inventory.

These long-range missiles, the KH-55 (AS-15 Kent in NATO's classification)
and KH-55SM (AS-15B), are capable of delivering a 200-kilotonne nuclear
warhead, although Ukraine did not supply any nuclear material. Both missiles
have a 2,400-3,000 kilometer range and are launched by Tupolev bombers.
Thus missiles based in Iran are capable of hitting Israel, while those based
in China have the capability to hit Japan.

Russia's involvement in the arms transfers to Iran and China is also under
scrutiny. The Russian secret services were allegedly involved, and
Omelchenko has implicated two Russian arms traders (known only as "O"
and "Ch"). Interpol arrested Russian citizen "O" in the Czech Republic
last year and is still considering whether to extradite him to Ukraine.

Melnychenko provided the FBI with a recorded conversation in which a voice
resembling Derkach's is heard saying that the transfer of the missiles to
Iran was undertaken with the assistance of Russian security services.

Omelchenko also accused Valeriy Shmarov, former head of Ukraine's
state-owned arms trader, Ukrspetseksport, and former deputy SBU chairman
Petro Shatkovskyi of complicity in the Iran and China deals. Shmarov has
denied any involvement, as he only headed Ukrspetseksport from 2002 after
Valeriy Malyev died in a suspicious car accident just as the Kolchuga
scandal was unfolding (Interfax-Ukraine, March 19). Ukrspetseksport has
always been closely linked to the SBU, and Malyev was aware of the illegal
transfers.

Missiles sent to Iran and China are not the only items that have gone
missing. The Defense Ministry has admitted that a Strela-3M portable
launcher and two missiles have disappeared from the navy in the Crimea
(Interfax, February 24). These launchers are ideal for terrorists, as they
can be held by one person and can hit airborne targets within a range
of 4.5 kilometers at a maximum altitude of 30 kilometers.

The United States has welcomed the transparency of the Ukrainian
investigation and has expressed a desire to work with Ukraine in preventing
future proliferation. U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli has
noted that the new atmosphere in U.S.-Ukrainian relations will facilitate
cooperation in investigating how these transfers to Iran and China took
place and why (Ukrayinska pravda, March 20). -30-
===============================================================
12. WEBSITE OF UKRAINIAN GENOCIDE FAMINE FOUNDATION

"Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation - USA, Inc."
To: info@artukraine.com
Friday, March 18, 2005 12:34 AM

Website of the Ukrainian Genocide Famine Foundation - USA, Inc.
Contains history of Ukraine, Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933,
Reading List, Website Links, UGFF Events and Publications,
Membership Forms and Educational materials request form.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: URL: www.ukrainiangenocide.com; UGFF-USA@sbcglobal.net
============================================================
13. "A TRIBUTE TO EVIL"

By Vytautas Landsbergbis, first postcommunist
president of independent Lithuania,
Member of the European Parliament
The Day Weekly Digest In English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 22, 2005

In May, the world will mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II
in Europe. But instead of happily preparing for that occasion, the Baltic
countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania - which scarcely 15 years ago
regained the independence they lost in WWII - are uneasy.

The heads of state of all three countries have been invited to participate
in the parades to be held in Moscow to celebrate the Red Army's victory over
Nazi Germany. But the host of the celebration, Russia, in the guise of the
Soviet Union, itself caused the war - the bloodiest in European history -
whose end is being commemorated. Of course, the USSR instigated
the war in tandem with Adolf Hitler, but its responsibility is undeniable.

By holding these celebrations in Red Square, and thus highlighting the
Soviet victory, today's Russia is also celebrating its gains in that war.
One of those gains was my country, Lithuania, whose incorporation into
Stalin's empire was accompanied by countless tragedies. Unlike Germany,
Russia has never recognized its responsibility for the war and the mass
graves of the innocent.

Thus, a former captive nation is now being invited to celebrate its
captivity. This is why almost all Lithuanians - indeed, most residents of
the Baltic countries - feel uneasy at the prospect of their leaders marking
this anniversary in Moscow. But Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians are
not the only Europeans who should feel this way.

When Stalin offered Hitler his friendship in the spring of 1939 - formally
concluded that summer in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact - Nazi aggression
was assured of not being knifed in the back from the East and so was
left with free hands to do as Hitler pleased in the West.

The Pact came after the pogroms of "Kristallnacht" in Germany, so its Soviet
initiators knew pretty well to what destiny they were consigning the Jews of
Poland and Lithuania, which, in accord with the first secret Protocol signed
by Ribbentrop and Molotov on August 23, 1939, were to go to Hitler. A month
later, in equal secrecy, Hitler sold Lithuania to Stalin.

The other countries situated between Germany and the USSR were similarly
sentenced to disappear as nations - sooner or later. Their peoples were
treated practically as though they did not exist; the aggressors' only
concern was territory. The death sentences and torturing that were then
imposed on almost entire nations and millions of people are, it now appears,
to be silently accepted and noisily celebrated on May 9 in Moscow. Some
Russian officials want to unveil a monument to Stalin to crown the
festivities.

When Hitler's Wehrmacht struck West, the USSR duly supported Germany in its
war against Poland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark,
Norway, and the United Kingdom. As a result, cities in those countries were
flattened and people killed not only by the Nazis, but also by their Soviet
ally, which invaded Poland and supplied the Wehrmacht with the materiel it
needed for its war against the West. In return, Stalin's USSR was given a
free hand to attack Finland and to occupy Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as
well as a part of Romania.

In law, when two criminals seal a contract with the blood of their victims,
that act remains a crime, even if the two criminals later have a falling out
and spray bullets at one another. The same applies to the two greatest
European criminals of the twentieth century. We must not forget the crimes
that Hitler and Stalin committed together as de facto allies only because
they later turned on each other.

The blood of WWII's victims calls for justice and fairness, but most of all
it demands honesty about who and what caused their tragic fate. If those who
gather in Moscow on May 9 do anything to validate Soviet war crimes, they
will show themselves insensitive to the silent cries of WWII's tens of
millions of dead innocents. The only real winner would be the spirit of that
evil. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Moitoring Service]
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vytautas LANDSBERGIS, the first postcommunist president of independent
Lithuania, is a Member of the European Parliament.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://day.kiev.ua/134275
===============================================================
14. FUNERAL REPAST OR JUBILATION
May 9: No Drums, Just Violins

Volodymyr Denysenko, Iryna Yehorova, Valery Kostiukevych,
Hanna Khrypunkova, Olena Astrakhovych, Myroslava Sokolova,
Volodymyr Soniuk, The Day; Valery Kalnysh (Zaporizhzhia);
Mykola Kasianenko (Simferopol); Nataliya Potapchuk (Chernihiv);
The Day Weekly Digest in English #9
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 22 March 2005

[1] Prof. Petro KRALIUK, Ostrih Academy National University:

Suppose we proceed from the assumption that May 9 became a propaganda
show in the Soviet Union, with WWII veterans often used as extras. Since
1965, when it became a red-letter day, Soviet propaganda purposefully
formed in people's minds the myth about the Great Patriotic War. Twenty
years had elapsed and some of the horrors of WWII had been forgotten,
so now they could start creating myths.

The one about WWII boiled down to Nazi Germany treacherously invading the
Soviet Union in June 1941; the Red Army was not prepared and had to retreat
at first, but then, owing to the heroism of the Soviet people as well as to
the talent of certain military leaders (particularly Georgy Zhukov), the
Nazi onslaught was stopped and Germany was defeated, with almost half of
Europe liberated.

Regrettably, this myth became predominant in the minds of most people in the
USSR and continues to exist in the post-Soviet space. In building this myth,
its authors seemed to forget generally known facts: that WWII was actually
started by the Soviet Union and Germany when Poland was invaded in 1939;
that the Soviet military leaders (specifically Georgy Zhukov) won their
victories not with military skill but by having several times more officers
and men killed than on the German side; last but not least that, owing to
some reasons, the victors (i.e., the Soviet people) lived in far worse
conditions than the losers (i.e., Germans in the FRG and even in the GDR).

After the USSR's collapse the myth about the Great Patriotic War was
effectively monopolized by the leadership of the Russian Federation. Just
like in Soviet times, Victory Day continues to be used for propaganda and
image-building purposes. Remember the way its 50th anniversary was
celebrated in Russia; it was a typical image-building campaign stunt. I'm
convinced that the same thing will happen in Moscow for the celebrations of
the 60th anniversary, only on a larger scale.

I hope the current Ukrainian leadership will muster the courage and wisdom
not to play along with this Russian promotional campaign. The Second World
War was a great tragedy for Ukraine and Ukrainians. We must be aware of this
and remind ourselves of this even on the day marking its 60th anniversary.
We must, of course, mark the anniversary, but with something like a funeral
repast rather than jubilation. Above all, we must pay homage to the millions
of its victims.

[2] Prof. Yuriy SHAPOVAL, historian:

Every year on the eve of May 9, when another official display pomp and a
parade beckons, with glorifications of heroism, discourses on tragedy,
patriotism, controversies, and the humiliating ritual of serving glasses of
vodka to war veterans (and others) in public parks, I'm reminded of an
intellectual in the West who said bitterly that in any war there are no
victors, only losers. That's why we must first rid ourselves of all Soviet
approaches to this anniversary. War veterans must finally be provided with
adequate social security rather than one-time charity handouts.

I think that May 9 is an annual occasion to remind ourselves that victory
over Nazism did not come by itself, that a price had to be paid: this fact
must be openly admitted. Society's historical consciousness is still
enslaved by Stalinist-Brezhnevite myths that are stubbornly maintained by
some war veterans' organizations and leftist politicians. The war must be
demystified. The President of Ukraine can contribute to this, come May 9, by
making a truthful assessment, instead of continuing to run with the hare and
hunt with the hounds, as was the case in previous years.

Another important thing is that it's absolutely necessary to cancel all
those military parades, for they actually mean nothing and they symbolize
the participation in the war of only a certain proportion of Ukrainians -
those who served in the Red/Soviet army. Then who are the rest of the war
veterans, for example, those who fought in the Ukrainian Insurgent Army?
Outcasts? Scum that must be totally ignored? May 9 should become an
anniversary that would help to unite rather than antagonize war veterans and
society, and to achieve a consensus in understanding one of the fundamental
problems of the past.

[3] Prof. Volodymyr DERHACHOV :

The previous regime remembered our veterans only on red-letter days and
during election campaigns - yet they remained its most faithful part of the
electorate. Hence all those commemorative medals and presents. The new
young government has decided to cancel all these traditions. But what does
this have to do with Victory Day? In the West they're debating the
possibility of attending it, so how can we cancel it now?

I understand the stance of the Baltic countries that were occupied by Soviet
forces in 1939. They have their own complex attitude to WWII. Ukraine is an
entirely different matter. It was incorporated into the Soviet Union as an
independent state. Anyone familiar with the documents of the Anti-Hitler
Coalition can appreciate the Herculean efforts that were made by Soviet
diplomats to keep Halychyna part of Ukraine.

The victory in the Great Patriotic War was achieved by the Soviet people,
meaning also the Ukrainian people, and it marked a global event in the
history of mankind. To have the right to annul it, one must first create
something as significant. History doesn't tolerate any conditional methods.
We should learn from the Chinese; they leave nothing out of their history
and preserve it so their heirs can study it and add to their knowledge.

[4] Prof. Stanislav KULCHYTSKY, D.S. (History):

The 60th anniversary of victory in WWII is an extremely important event
in our sociopolitical life. Naturally, all related events will focus on war
veterans, especially those who were directly involved in hostilities.

We must abandon the format of such festivities, which took shape in the
1960s-1980s; we should discard all that pomp and circumstance. We must
understand that the Allies, with the Soviet Union playing the main role,
focused their military efforts on the annihilation of Nazism, not Germany.

I was amazed by last year's 60th anniversary of the Allied landing in
France, when Ukraine wasn't invited to take part in the festivities because
no one in the West knows about its contribution to the defeat of Nazism.
This contribution was immense, because Ukraine was a theater of war from
1941 until 1944, and our manpower losses were such that we can estimate
them to within a million, bringing the total to 8 or 9 million.

If we want to integrate into Europe, we must also be closer to European
countries in our understanding of our shared history. In other words, we
should see how V-Day is marked in Europe, primarily in France and Germany;
Germany also celebrates the victory over Nazism. We too should invite guests
from Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States to take part in
our festivities.

Our youth badly needs a clear concept of this victory, and for this we need
new, unconventional parameters of these festivities.

In conclusion, I must comment on the Ukrainian Insurgent Army's
participation in the 60th anniversary celebrations. It's true that the UPA
fought against the Soviet army and Soviet partisans, but this warfare had
nothing to do with WWII - or the Great Patriotic War for those who fought in
the ranks of the Soviet army. The UPA veterans also fought the German
occupier. Stalinist propagandists branded them as German lackeys and this
left its mark on the consciousness of the older generation.

However, we must understand something: the UPA's very presence in
German-occupied territory was a challenge to the aggressor. What
administration would have tolerated armed units acting on their own in a
territory under its control? Nikita Khrushchev was well aware of this when
he gave the order to leave the UPA fighters alone while they were in the
rear of the Wehrmacht. The Germans and French celebrate V-Day together.

Why does a confrontation persist between Ukrainians who fought each other
during this period? We are used to this confrontation, it began in 1941, but
it's a different epoch and different historical realities.

[5] Yuriy SHUKHEVYCH, chairman of the civic organization "Halytsky vybir"
(Galician Choice):

I fully agree with Deputy Premier Mykola Tomenko about the impropriety of
a military parade on the 60th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic
War. In my opinion, we should institute a Remembrance Day commemorating
the people who perished during WWII regardless of the uniform they wore
or not.

What I mean to say is that this subject is extremely sensitive in western
Ukraine. As soon as the war began and German forces entered Lviv, they
found 5,000 bodies, victims of NKVD atrocities. Halychyna lost over a
million people in 1939-41.

So what kind of victory are we supposed to be celebrating? What political
liberties and social gains did it bring our land? The collective farmers
were denied the right of free movement and were thus reduced to the status
of Roman slaves. In 1946-47, when people were being shuffled like a deck
of cards, forced from one place to the next (those who were deported from
Halychyna to Poland and vice versa were lucky, because it was neither
Siberia nor the firing squad), didn't we have our share of suffering?

Above all, we must have a clear understanding of what happened in those
days. Today, many people have muddled notions. After the truth is
established, understanding will come automatically. None of our people feel
any hatred toward those lads who donned Soviet uniforms somewhere near
Poltava, then crossed Halychyna and ended up in Berlin. They were soldiers,
they fought well, and thank God they made it back home.

True, some of them later ended up in prison camps because they were
straightforward and said things they shouldn't have. At times UPA men shared
the camp barracks with former Soviet solders against whom they had fought
(as well as the Nazis) only a couple of years back. By the way, the UPA men
who were fighting for Ukrainian independence not because they were
conscripted but because their hearts told them to do so still do not enjoy
the same privileges and respect from the state as the veterans of the Great
Patriotic War and their lives are miserable.

Why hasn't this problem been solved? Why do we remain silent about the
Death Valley in Yakutia with tens of thousands of corpses of prison camp
inmates, POWs, among them German, Japanese, and Russian, Kazakh,
Ukrainian, and other political prisoners, that weren't even given a proper
burial?

Viktor Yushchenko proposes festively laid tables along Khreshchatyk St.,
where war veterans from all Ukraine could sit and share food and drink. Try
to imagine anything like that in Lviv. How could Soviet army and UPA
veterans sit together at these tables? One can only hope that their children
will come to some sort of mutual understanding one of these days. This
must happen, but people my age have different feelings about V-Day.

[6] Oleg KOSTROMITINOV (Zhytomyr), war veteran, participant in the
defense of Sevastopol in 1941 and combat operations at Malaya Zemlya:

This outstanding occasion should be celebrated at the highest level. Even
during the most difficult times, under constant German air raids at
Sevastopol, we believed that we would be victorious and tried to imagine
how our victory would be celebrated. Victory over Nazi Germany laid the
foundations of Ukrainian independence and Ukraine can't be separated
from this victory. I think that on this day we must tell our children the
truth about that war, about the grandeur of victory and people's heroism.

It is necessary to instill in our children a sense of patriotism and love of
their native land. To this day my fellow veterans and I have been marching
on V-Day in Zhytomyr, all the way from the center of the city to the Obelisk
of Glory. I think that the 60th V-Day should be a festive occasion not only
for war veterans, but for the entire nation. May there be merrymaking in all
public parks, may there be all kinds of amusements. But it is also necessary
to speak the truth about the role of the people in the victory over fascism.

[7] Oleksandr SERHIYENKO, chairman of the Donetsk Regional Council
of Veterans:

Parades have always taken place in our country. It's a tradition. Therefore,
I believe that an outstanding event, such as the 60th anniversary of
Victory, must be celebrated in keeping with this tradition. We are
dumbfounded by the Ukrainian government's decision to cancel the parade.

We don't understand. Instead of a parade, we were promised festively laid
tables. But this is not a solution to the problem; we believe that this
won't be jubilation but a funeral repast. Besides, all the veterans in the
regions won't come to Kyiv, there won't be enough room for them.

We have over 900,000 war and labor veterans in the Donbas alone, among
them more than 50,000 disabled veterans and other participants of combat
operations. There are over a million such people in Ukraine. They can't
invite all of them to Kyiv, and those who won't be invited will feel
bitterly offended because they too made a great contribution to the victory.

It hurts to realize that someone believes that all we need is a lunch. We
need such parades above all because they mobilize us, bring us back to
the good old times; they cheer us up. You don't have to take part in such
ceremonies, it's enough just to watch them and remember the past.

Veterans from all over the region keep calling and asking why they made
such a decision. Perhaps if a ranking government official talked to us and
explained the situation we'd understand. As it is, we feel hurt; we fought
throughout the war and remember all those beautiful parades and now
suddenly the tradition is forgotten.

Does this mean that our country is forgetting that many war veterans are
still alive, that they need attention and respect, that they simply need
this parade? Besides, for many of us this 60th anniversary may well be
the very last one.

Today, the "youngest" veterans are 80 years old. Our numbers are
constantly declining. Is it that difficult to pay some attention to us while
we're still around? After all, the President of Russia invited our president
to attend the festivities and he didn't decline. Why doesn't he want to
organize festivities for his fellow Ukrainians?

[8] Les TANIUK, MP, chairman of the VR Committee for Culture and
Spirituality:

I believe this occasion should be a holiday of reconciliation, so Red army
and UPA veterans could share festive tables and celebrate V-Day together
rather than separately. To do so, the Verkhovna Rada should consider the
bill I drew up three years ago on the rehabilitation of UPA combatants. Now
and then attempts are made to put it on the agenda, but every time it's
blocked by the Communists.

I think that the bill could be passed before V-Day at an emergency session;
then there would be no legal grounds for any conflicts. As it is, the
situation looks grotesque, with Germans visiting Stalingrad and being made
welcome, whereas we can't come to terms in Ukraine. It's as though we didn't
fight for the same cause known as an Independent Ukraine. I believe that
such reconciliation is absolutely possible in a rejuvenated Ukraine of the
new European type.

I also think that pomp and circumstance isn't what we need. I support the
president's idea of a "roundtable" instead of brass bands and marching
soldiers. Military celebrations are being discarded all over the world.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/134274
===============================================================
15. PYSANKY COLLECTIBLES BY HELEN BADULAK, NINA BADULAK
AND KRISTINA SCHAEFFER
Newly published book,"Pysanky in the 21st Century

Helen Badulak, Nina Badulak and Kristina Schaeffer"
armcdan@ptd.net, To: info@artukraine.com
The Action Ukraine Report, Thursday, March 17, 2005

View our newly published book,"Pysanky in the 21st Century," by
Helen Badulak. Traditional Ukrainian eggs with an original touch of
today's influence. Authentic Trypillian Designs, original combinations of
old and new world. Pysanky are decorated on finch eggshells and all
sizes of eggs up to Ostrich eggshells. www.pysankycollectibles.com
===============================================================
16. UKRAINIAN BANDURIST CHORUS
"Enchanting the world since 1918"

Message from your friends at the
UKRAINIAN BANDURIST CHORUS
Ukrainian Cultural Center, Warren, Michigan
Thursday, March 24, 2005

HEADLINES
(1) 2004 YEARBOOK ----------
Stop by and visit the 2004 YEARBOOK. See pictures of concerts
and other activities of the Chorus from 2004. There are newly added
photos from BANDURA CHRISTMAS INTERNATIONAL with Paul
Plishka, and Christmas Caroling pictures, http://www.bandura.org/
Stop by and visit the 2005 YEARBOOK for pictures from the
recording sessions! http://www.bandura.org/

(2) NEW RECORDING PROJECT ---------
The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is in the middle of recording a new
CD entitled "BAYDA: A TRIBUTE TO FOUR CENTURIES OF
KOZAK HEROISM BY THE UKRAINIAN BANDURIST CHORUS."
The Chorus is taking this opportunity to record its historic repertoire.
Thanks to the financial support of various sponsors, the Chorus plans
to distribute the recordings throughout North American libraries and
music schools, and throughout Ukraine. Its projected release date
is October 1, 2005.

(3) IN MEMORIAM ---------
Veteran member and soloist of the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus
ROMAN KASSARABA passed away March 17, 2004. His dedication
to our mission will always be remembered. During his 25 plus years
as a member of the UBC, Mr. Kassaraba was best known for solo
parts in such songs as "Song About Yurij Tiutiunnyk" and "Song
about Nechaj." http://www.bandura.org/

(4) KOBZARSKA SICH BANDURA CAMP DATES ANNOUNCED -----
After a successful 25th anniversary celebration of KOBZARSKA SICH
in 2004, the Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is happy to announced the
dates for its 2005 educational program. Join us from August 7th - 21st
as we embark on our program. Stay tuned for more details! For an
application and more information, please visit http://www.bandura.org/
or send an email to: UBCbanduracamps@bandura.org
http://www.bandura.org/

(5) FUTURE CONCERTS ---------
The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus is finalizing its plans for a Western
Canadian Tour from November 5th - 13th, 2005. Concerts are
scheduled for Vancouver and Kelowna, British Columbia; Edmonton
and Calgary, Alberta; Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, and
Winnipeg, Manitoba. Stay tuned for more information! -30-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK to website: http://www.bandura.org/
==========================================================
17. U K R A I N E A N D I T S M U S I C A L N E I G H B O U R S
ST. VLADIMIR INSTITUTE MUSIC LECTURE SERIES

St. Vladimir Institute, Toronto
Ontario, Canada, Thursday, March 17, 2005

BANDURA - KLEZMER - QANUN
A series of free public lectures exploring cross-cultural musical
influences from a Ukrainian perspective Lectures to include
musical demonstrations. Wednesdays at 7:00 pm.

MARCH 23, 2005 -----
Victor Mishalow: How much do we know about the Ukrainian
bandura?
APRIL 13, 2005 -----
Eric Stein: Ukrainian roots of Klezmer Music.
MAY 11, 2005 -----
George Sawa: Arabic relative of the bandura: How and why?

Free admission. Refreshments will be served.
Everyone welcome!
ST. VLADIMIR INSTITUTE, 620 Spadina Avenue (at Harbord)
Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Call (416) 923-3318, ext. 104
=============================================================
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