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Action Ukraine Report

"UKRAINE REPORT-2004"
In-Depth Ukrainian News and Analysis
"The Art of Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"

"Infertility among Ukrainians is among the highest in the world, birth
defects have doubled...Ukraine is now experiencing the fastest growing
rate of HIV-AIDS infection in Europe...Without dramatic improvements
in health and preventive care....Ukraine's population could decline to 45
million by the year 2010....and lose up to 40 per cent of its population
by year 2040.

"It is too late to undo the damage inflicted by Stalin and his henchmen
seventy years ago. However, there can be no better way to overcome their
legacy than to provide the resources Ukraine needs to combat today's
demographic crisis.

"In the words of the great American labor activist Mother Jones, we must
'mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.' In this season of
giving, we call on all of you to help us in our battle to save children's
lives." [see article twelve]

"UKRAINE REPORT-2004," Number 5
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Offices in Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C.
MONDAY, January 12, 2004

INDEX OF TWELVE ARTICLES

1. NEW UKRAINIAN ECONOMICS MINISTER NIKOLAI
DERKCH TO BE INTRODUCED ON MONDAY
ITAR-TASS, Moscow, Russia, 11.01.2004

2. UKRAINE, U.S. TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS ON ENERGY
ISSUES JANUARY 22-23 IN WASHINGTON
Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 10, 2004

3. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION BLOC "OUR UKRAINE" SAYS
POLICE CONFISCATED NEWSPAPER UNLAWFULLY
UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 10 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Jan 10, 2004

4. HUGE UKRAINIAN PLANE SEIZED IN CANADA MAY BE SOLD
Ruling paves way for Ukraine's creditors to auction Antonov AN124 jet
By Tom Blackwell, National Post, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jan 8, 2004

5.U.S. SENATOR BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL WRITES COLLEAGUES
AGAIN ABOUT HIS UKRAINIAN GENOCIDAL FAMINE RESOLUTION
E. Morgan Williams, Senior Advisor, U.S.Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Washington, D.C., Friday, January 9, 2003

6. COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEMBER DOUBTS DECISION OF UKRAINE'S
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REGARDING A THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM
Ukrayinska Pravada, Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 9, 2004

7. FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT LEONID KRAVCHUK IS 70
Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 10, 2004

8. UKRAINIAN RIOT POLICE BLOCK "OUR UKRAINE" MAYOR
FROM CITY COUNCIL MEETING IN MUKACHEVO
Associated Press Online; Kiev, Ukraine, Jan 09, 2004

9. UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HRISHCHENKO HEADS
FOR LONDON, BRUSSELS FOR EU, NATO TALKS
Last month Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma accused Brussels of
being unfair towards Kiev, saying his country needed to "give up its
illusions" of rapidly joining the European Union.
EUbusinesss independent website; London, UK, 11 January 2004

10.CALLING ALL COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY UKRAINIAN ALUMNI!
Maria Sonevytsky, Ukrainian Studies Program
Columbia University, NY, NY, January 12, 2003

11. MOSCOW MUSEUM OPENS COUNCIL OF PEREYASLAVL
EXHIBITION, REMEMBERS 1654 ACCORD
Eastern Economist, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, January 12, 2004

12. COMMEMORATING THE 70th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE GREAT FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Providing the resources Ukraine needs to combat today's demographic crisis.
We call on all of you to help us in our battle to save children's lives.
By Alexander Kuzma, Executive Director, Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
Chornobyl Chronicle, Winter 2003, Short Hills, New Jersey
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
=========================================================
1. NEW UKRAINIAN ECONOMICS MINISTER NIKOLAI
DERKCH TO BE INTRODUCED ON MONDAY

ITAR-TASS, Moscow, Russia, 11.01.2004

KIEV, January 11 (Itar-Tass) - Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich
will introduce the new minister of economics and European integration on
Monday, the government's press service said on Sunday.

President Leonid Kuchma is expected to appoint Ukrainian Ambassador to
Lithuania Nikolai Derkach to the position.

Economics minister Valery Khoroshkovsky explained his resignation with the
de facto subordination of the economics ministry to Finance Minister and
First Deputy Prime Minister Nikolai Azarov. Yanukovich said that statement
was unfounded. (END) (ARTUIS)
========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
=========================================================
2. UKRAINE, U.S. TO HOLD CONSULTATIONS ON ENERGY
ISSUES JANUARY 22-23 IN WASHINGTON

Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 10, 2004

Kyiv, January 10 (Interfax - Ukraine) - Ukraine-U.S. consultations on
the issues in energy sphere will be held in Washington (U.S.) on
January 22-23, according to the official site of Ukraine's Fuel and Energy
Ministry.

According to Mykhailo Honchar, adviser to President of UkrTransNafta
Olexandr Todiychuk, among the priority topics of the consultations is the
implementation of the project of Caspian oil transportation via the
Odesa-Brody oil pipeline. (END)(ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
=========================================================
3. UKRAINIAN OPPOSITION BLOC "OUR UKRAINE" SAYS
POLICE CONFISCATED NEWSPAPER UNLAWFULLY

UNIAN news agency, Kiev, in Ukrainian, 10 Jan 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Jan 10, 2004

Kiev, 10 January: In Zaporizhzhya today, several road traffic officers
stopped a truck carrying the print run of the Bez Tsenzury [Uncensored]
newspaper destined for the southern regions of Ukraine.

The press service of the [opposition] Our Ukraine bloc reports that
according to people's deputy Serhiy Sobolyev, the vehicle was stopped by a
road traffic police inspector on the grounds that its cargo had to be
checked. Once the inspector was sure that this vehicle was transporting the
newspaper, he used his radio to call for reinforcements. The policemen who
arrived shortly afterwards confiscated the driver's internal passport,
driving license, invoices and a bundle of newspapers.

Oleksandr Zubchenko, the personal assistant to Sobolyev, was told at the
local directorate for internal affairs that the driver and his vehicle,
including its cargo, have been detained for three days in order to establish
his identity. The officers of the Interior Ministry categorically refused to
provide documents which provide the grounds for holding the driver and his
vehicle.

At the same time, in a conversation off the record, one of the police
officers said disparagingly: "You write bad articles about [President
Leonid] Kuchma. Zaporizhzhya does not need such a newspaper." Sobolyev has
told the Zaporizhzhya Region prosecutor about the extraordinary incident and
the criminal liability envisaged for it. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
=========================================================
4. HUGE UKRAINIAN PLANE SEIZED IN CANADA MAY BE SOLD
Ruling paves way for Ukraine's creditors to Antonov AN 124 auction jet

By Tom Blackwell, National Post
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, January 8, 2004

A huge Ukrainian cargo plane stranded with its crew for months in remote
Goose Bay, Labrador, may soon be heading for the auction block after a
ground-breaking court decision rejected Ukraine's bid to reclaim the jet.

The Federal Court of Canada ruled at the end of a "herculean" dispute that
the aircraft's seizure last June was above-board, despite complaints about
the action from as high up as the Ukrainian President.

The decision paves the way for a European company to sell the Antonov
AN124 as debt payment, in what one lawyer calls the first successful attempt
by a Western business to collect on a debt by targeting Ukrainian assets.

The giant aeroplane, considerably bigger than a 747 jumbo jet, has sat in
Goose Bay for seven months, as a succession of crews from Kiev-based
Antonov Design Bureau cooled their heels in the chilly outpost, waiting for
a chance to fly the big bird back home.

With that prospect now looking dim, the last group, having spent Christmas
in Labrador, left about a week ago, said an employee at the hotel where they
were staying.

"This is a pretty unique case," said Taras Kuzio, a fellow at the University
of Toronto's Centre for Russian and East European Studies.

"Many Ukrainians assume there is a special relationship between Canada and
Ukraine. It's not something that people expected."

Even Leonid Kuchma, the President, voiced dismay that the plane was seized
in a country whose many Ukrainian immigrants have helped establish close
ties between Canada and Ukraine, Mr. Kuzio said.

The 69-metre-long freight carrier was impounded by the High Sheriff of
Newfoundland and Labrador at the request of TMR Energy Ltd. The
Cyprus-based firm had won a $60-million arbitration award against the
Ukrainian government over an oil refinery contract.

TMR had tried for the previous year to get the government to voluntarily
abide by the arbitration, said Richard DesGagnes, the company's Montreal
lawyer.

"In the past, there have been other attempts by creditors to enforce
arbitration awards against the State of Ukraine or execute against its
assets," he said. "To our knowledge, this is the first time that a creditor
succeeded."

The unusual episode stems from a chronic problem faced by foreign
businesses that invest money in Ukraine, only to have it stolen in a system
rife with corruption, Mr. Kuzio said.

"This is the first time I've heard of a company successfully going back to
retrieve some of its money in this way," he said. "What they're basically
saying is if they tried to do it through the Ukrainian courts, it would be a
waste of time."

The Federal Court became involved when the Ukrainian government's State
Property Fund objected to the seizure. Ukraine argued that the aircraft was
exempt from seizure because it was a military plane and thus immune from
Canadian civil law.

But Mireille Tabib, the Federal Court judge, firmly rejected that argument,
even though the Antonov was in Goose Bay to deliver Italian military
equipment.

"The aircraft is, in nature, no more and no less than a cargo aircraft," she
said. "It has not been alleged or shown that it has camouflage painting,
that it is armoured, that it carries defensive weapons or features, that its
communication equipment is calibrated for specific military use."

George Pollack, lawyer for the State Property Fund, said an appeal of the
decision is likely, but said he could not comment further.

If the decision is upheld, the High Sheriff would likely have the plane
assessed, then place ads in newspapers and trade publications inviting
private bids, said Mr. DesGagnes, the TMR lawyer. A similar plane was sold
for $6-million three years ago in the Netherlands, he said.

The Antonov AN124, which holds the Guiness World Record for hauling the
heaviest single load by air, is a subject of some pride in Ukraine. (END)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
=========================================================
5.U.S. SENATOR BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL WRITES COLLEAGUES
AGAIN ABOUT HIS UKRAINIAN GENOCIDAL FAMINE RESOLUTION

E. Morgan Williams, Senior Advisor, U.S.Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Washington, D.C., Friday, January 9, 2003

WASHINGTON, D.C.......U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO)
has again written his colleagues in the U.S. Senate to inform them about the
resolution he introduced, S. Res. 202, "Expressing the sense of the Senate
regarding the genocidal Ukraine famine of 1932-33" on Monday, July 28, 2003.

A bipartisan group of 26 Senators have now signed on as co-sponsors of
the resolution. The resolution has not yet been considered by the full U.S.
Senate as it has to first pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
chaired by Sen. Lugar (R-IN). There are indications that the resolution is
being held up because it is the first time that the Senate is declaring the
famine as a genocide.

There has for several years been a real hesitancy on the part of the U.S.
government to declare certain events as genocides. Efforts in the past
by Armenian/Americans to have the tragedy imposed on their country in
1915 by the Ottoman Empire in Turkey declared a genocide by the U.S.
Senate have failed. .

The U.S. Ukraine Foundation (USUF) believes it is very important for the
U.S. Senate to remain steadfast it its declaration that the Ukrainian
tragedy was a genocide and is in full support of Senator Campbell's
continuing efforts in 2004. USUF has been informing friends of Ukraine
throughout the U.S. about the efforts to pass such a resolution in the
U.S. Senate.

Please take a look at Senator Campbell's latest "Dear Colleague" letter
below and see if your Senators have agreed to co-sponsor the resolution
or not.

Additonal Senator's are needed as co-sponsors. If your Senators are
have not yet signed onto the resolution please contact them and urge them
to sign on. Please contact USUF's Marko Serbinsky at
mserbinsky@usukraine.com if you need additional information on this
matter.

The following is a copy of the letter sent on January 8, 2004, from U.S.
Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), Co-Chairman of the Helsinki
Commission, to each of his Senate colleagues:

U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO)
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., January 8, 2004

"Joseph Stalin and those around him committed genocide against Ukrainians in
1932-33." -- Conclusion of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine

Dear Colleague:

Last year, I introduced S. Res. 202, a resolution commemorating the
millions of innocent victims of this Soviet-engineered famine. I urge you
to join the bipartisan group of 26 Senate colleagues cosponsoring this
resolution: George V. Voinovich, Mike DeWine, Richard J. Durbin, Frank
Lautenberg, George Allen, Norm Coleman, Barbara A. Mikulski, Saxby
Chambliss, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Arlen Specter, Russell D. Feingold, Dianne
Feinstein, Jon S. Corzine, Paul S. Sarbanes, Rick Santorum, Barbara Boxer,
John Kerry, Carl Levin, Wayne Allard, Charles Schumer, Joseph Lieberman,
Mark Dayton, Hillary Clinton, Debbie Stabenow, Mary Landrieu, and Edward
M. Kennedy.

Seven decades ago, a Famine in Soviet-dominated Ukraine and
bordering ethnically-Ukrainian territory resulted in the deaths of millions
of Ukrainians. In his seminal book on the Ukraine Famine, Harvest of
Sorrow, renown British historian Robert Conquest writes, "A quarter of the
rural population, men, women, and children, lay dead or dying, the rest in
various stages of debilitation with no strength to bury their families or
neighbors."

In 1988 - a few years prior to the fall of the Soviet empire - the
Congressionally-created Ukraine Famine Commission following a four-year
long inquiry concluded that "Joseph Stalin and those around him committed
genocide against Ukrainians in 1932-33." Archival evidence since the Soviet
Union disintegrated has only reinforced and documented the genocidal nature
of the Famine.

The Ukraine Famine was not the result of drought or some other
natural disaster, but of Soviet dictator Stalin's inhumane, coldly
calculated policy to suppress the Ukrainian people and destroy their human,
cultural and political rights. It was the result of deliberate starvation.
Requisition brigades, acting on Stalin's orders to fulfill impossibly high
grain quotas, took away the last scraps of food from starving families,
including children, often killing those who resisted. Millions of rural
Ukrainians slowly starved amid some of the world's most fertile farmland,
while stockpiles of grain rotted by the ton. Meanwhile, the Soviet
Government was exporting grain to the West, rejecting international offers
to assist the starving population, and preventing starving Ukrainians from
leaving the affected areas in search of food. The Stalinist regime - and,
for that matter, subsequent Soviet leaders and their apologists in the
West - engaged in a massive coverup of denying the Famine.

Please join me in remembering the innocent victims of this tragedy.
It is important that the world not forget this genocidal famine and that we
support Ukraine's independence and democratic development as the best
assurance that atrocities such as the Famine become truly unthinkable. If
you are interested in becoming a cosponsor of the Ukraine Famine resolution,
please have your staff contact Orest Deychakiwsky
(orest.deychak@mail.house.gov) at the Helsinki Commission at 5-1901.

Sincerely,
/s/
Ben Nighthorse Campbell,
U.S.S.
Co-Chairman of the Helsinki Commission

[Thanks to Orest Deychakiwsky for distributing Sen. Campbell's letter.]
[To read a copy of S. Res. 202 regarding the genocidal famine in Ukraine
click on: http://www.artukraine.com/famineart/senate_resol.htm.
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
=========================================================
6. COUNCIL OF EUROPE MEMBER DOUBTS DECISION OF UKRAINE'S
CONSTITUTIONAL COURT REGARDING A THIRD PRESIDENTIAL TERM

Ukrayinska Pravada, Kyiv, Ukraine, Jan. 9, 2004

Hanne Severinsen, a co-rapporteur on Ukraine in the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), says she does not understand
the decision of Ukraine's Constitutional Court that allowed
President Kuchma to seek a third presidential term.

In an interview to the Danish Public Radio on Thursday she doubted
the decision since "both the current and the former constitution
talk about only two terms."

Ms Severincen said she would make sure that the European Commission
for Democracy through Law under the Council of Europe, also known as
the Venice Commission, takes a look at the ruling and she expects
the Commission to reject it. She also promised to bring up the
matter with the authorities of Ukraine on her next visit, scheduled
for the beginning of February.

The Danish crusader lawmaker believes that "the Constitutional Court
had obviously taken the decision under the fear of replacements
taking place in the court."

The post-Soviet constitution, adopted in 1996, limits a president to
two terms. The Constitutional Court ruled late December that
Kuchma's first term, which started in 1994, didn't count because it
began before the constitution's approval. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
=========================================================
7. FORMER UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT LEONID KRAVCHUK IS 70

Interfax-Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine, January 10, 2004

KYIV.......President Leonid Kuchma has congratulated MP [member of
parliament] Leonid Kravchuk on his 70th jubilee.

"The prominent role you have played in Ukraine's history during the 20th
century has really become a pledge of your historic immortality," the
president said in his congratulation, the presidential press service
reported Saturday.

"Achieving the state independence, making the political system and
development of the civil society - Ukraine as a whole in the modern format -
are impossible without the name of the first president. Your purposefulness,
political foresight, feeling of aspirations of millions of Ukrainians
appeared to be the factors, due to which the Ukrainian state was formed, is
developing and strengthening," Kuchma stressed.

He wished the Kravchuk Cossack health, happy longevity, inspiration, and
luck.

Kravchuk was born on January 10, 1934 in the village of Velyky Zhytyn of
Rivne region. He graduated from the Kyiv Shevchenko University as economic
specialist. The occupied various posts in the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of Ukraine. In 1989-1990 he was secretary for ideological
work of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, as of June
1990 - member of the Political Bureau, second secretary of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

In 1990-1991 he held the post of Verkhovna Rada Chairman of the Ukrainian
Soviet Socialist Republic, and then Chairman of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada. In
1991 Kravchuk announced he was leaving the Communist Party.

In 1991 he was elected the first president of Ukraine. He received 61.59% of
the votes. He headed the Ukrainian state until July 1994. He took part in
the next presidential election, but was beaten by the current president
Leonid Kuchma.

Kravchuk is a MP [member of parliament] of three convocations. Presently he
leads the SDPU(u) faction. (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
=========================================================
8. UKRAINIAN RIOT POLICE BLOCK "OUR UKRAINE" MAYOR
FROM CITY COUNCIL MEETING IN MUKACHEVO

AP Online; Kiev, Ukraine, Jan 09, 2004

KIEV......Riot police blocked opposition lawmakers from participating in a
city council meeting in western Ukraine on Friday, in the latest sign of
political tension in the run-up to this year's presidential election.

"We've witnessed a gross violation of the law," said Ihor Ivancho in
comments posted on the opposition Our Ukraine bloc's Web site.

The conflict came almost two weeks after President Leonid Kuchma appointed
Myroslav Opachko as acting mayor of the southwestern city of Mukachevo amid
a festering electoral dispute.

Vasyl Petiovka, Our Ukraine's candidate, was declared the winner of the June
mayoral vote but a regional court called a new election after the
pro-presidential Social Democratic Party United, headed by Kuchma's chief
of staff Viktor Medvedchuk, claimed the vote was marred by violations.

On Thursday, the council announced a new vote would be held April 18.

Our Ukraine claimed that four cordons of police blocked their
representatives from attending Friday's meeting which Opachko convened one
hour ahead of schedule.

The region is considered a stronghold of Our Ukraine supporters, but many
businesses owned by Medvedchuk, one of Ukraine's richest men, are also
based there.

Tension between opposition and pro-presidential forces have piqued in recent
weeks after the constitutional court ruled Dec. 30 that Kuchma may seek a
third term. That decision came on the heels of parliament's preliminary
approval of a constitutional amendment that would allow lawmakers to chose
the president in 2006 _ not voters.

No politicians have declared their candidacy for the 2004 ballot, but Our
Ukraine leader and former Prime Minister Viktor Yushchenko is widely
expected to challenge Kuchma-appointee and current premier Viktor
Yanukovych. Kuchma has said publicly several times that he wouldn't seek
another term in elections set for October. (am/tv/mb) (END) (ARTUIS)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
=========================================================
9. UKRAINIAN FOREIGN MINISTER HRISHCHENKO HEADS
FOR LONDON, BRUSSELS FOR EU, NATO TALKS
Last month Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma accused Brussels of
being unfair towards Kiev, saying his country needed to "give up
its illusions" of rapidly joining the European Union.

EUbusinesss independent website; London, UK, 11 January 2004

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Konstantin [Kostyantyn] Hrishchenko
[Hryshchenko][Gryshchenko] headed Sunday for London where he was
to discuss Kiev's plans to join the European Union before flying on to
Brussels, the foreign ministry announced Sunday.

Hrishchenko was due to hold talks with his British counterpart Jack
Straw on Monday, the ministry said in a statement.

In Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, Hrishchenko was to discuss
Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic prospects with the new NATO
Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Schaeffer and the European
Commissioner for Enlargement Guenter Verheugen. He will also meet
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel, the statement said.

Ukraine, a former Soviet republic of 48 million inhabitants,
announced in 2002 that it planned to join the Atlantic alliance and
has set 2011 as a target date for starting negotiations on joining
the European Union.

Last month Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma accused Brussels of
being unfair towards Kiev, saying his country needed to "give up its
illusions" of rapidly joining the European Union.
LINK: http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040111100705.v95vwjd8
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER TEN
=========================================================
10. CALLING ALL COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY UKRAINIAN ALUMNI!

Maria Sonevytsky, Ukrainian Studies Program
Columbia University, NY, NY, January 12, 2003

The Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University is compiling an archive
with a list of all the Ukrainians who have studied at Columbia and Barnard.

Please phone, fax, or e-mail us with information about your and your
family's Columbia studies.

Write to ms2147@Columbia.edu or mail to:
Maria Sonevytsky, Ukrainian Studies Program, Columbia University
International Affairs Building, 1209A, 420 West 118th Street
New York, NY 10027, tel: 212-854-4697, fax: 212-666-3481
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5: ARTICLE NUMBER ELEVEN
=========================================================
11. MOSCOW MUSEUM OPENS COUNCIL OF PEREYASLAVL
EXHIBITION, REMEMBERS 1654 ACCORD

Eastern Economist, Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, December 12, 2004

MOSCOW.....The Moscow-based State History Museum opened today
[Jan. 9] an exposition, the Council of Pereyaslavl, to mark the 350th
anniversary of Muscovy incorporating the Ukrainian territory along the left
bank of the Dnipro river.

Bohdan Khmelnytskiy, Hetman of Ukraine, convened a council of elective
public spokesmen in 1654. The gathering ended in establishing a union with
Russia. There are more than 250 exhibits on show.

Of particular notice are the Hetman's awards to Cossacks who displayed the
greatest valor in the Russian-Polish War of 1654-55, and items relating to
the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Also of great interest are exhibits from the time
of Russian-Turkish wars of the last half of the 18th century. The exhibit is
open until February 23. (Russian Information Agency Novosti, Jan. 9)
=========================================================
UKRAINE REPORT-2004, No. 5, ARTICLE NUMBER TWELVE
=========================================================
12. COMMEMORATING THE 70th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE GREAT FAMINE IN UKRAINE
Providing the resources Ukraine needs to combat today's demographic crisis.

By Alexander Kuzma, Executive Director
Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund
Chornobyl Chronicle, Winter 2003, Vol. XXIX
Short Hills, New Jersey

This fall, human rights advocates, historians, and people of Ukrainian
heritage across the world will commemorate the 70th Anniversary of one of
the most ghastly acts of genocide in human history. Between the years
1932-1933, the Soviet government under the leadership of Joseph Stalin
deliberately and systematically starved to death an estimated 10 million
Ukrainian farmers in Eastern Ukraine. Despite frantic attempts by Western
relief agencies to provide grain and foodstuffs, Stalin's regime blocked the
aid at Soviet borders. Armed commissars expropriated all grain and brutally
punished Ukrainian villagers who tried to resist or withhold even minute
quantities of food to safeguard their families.

As part of this campaign of terror, Ukrainian leaders, artists, and writers
were rounded up and deported to Siberia or executed. The legacy of the
"Holodomor" or "Terror Famine" has haunted Ukrainians for seven decades.
Yet until recently, Western scholars and journalists have either ignored the
famine or downplayed its horrific genocidal nature.

On October 20th, the House of Representatives unanimously passed House
Resolution 356 (by a vote of 382-0) recognizing the man-made famine in
Ukraine and expressing condemnation for those who orchestrated this massive
crime against humanity. On October 24th, The New York Times disclosed a
report by Professor Mark von Hagen, the director of the Harriman Institute
at Columbia University who recommended that The Times revoke the 1932
Pulitzer Prize awarded to its Moscow bureau chief Walter Duranty. Mr.
Duranty admitted to fellow correspondents that millions of Ukrainians had
died of starvation as a result of Stalin's policies, but he continued to
defend Stalin's brutality with the now infamous saying: "You can't make an
omelet without breaking eggs."

For those of us working to combat the aftermath of the Chornobyl disaster,
the Famine of 1932-33 remains a chilling reminder of man's inhumanity to
man. It is also an important reminder of the influence of corrupt
journalists and the power of the Western media to cover up even the most
massive disasters through neglect, denial, and falsification. It reminds us
how "the powers that be" can manipulate information to deny victims timely
humanitarian or medical assistance.

In the immediate aftermath of Chornobyl, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev
belittled Western reports about widespread radiation exposure and covered up
Politburo documents that verified thousands of casualties during the first
weeks following the nuclear accident. The International Atomic Energy Agency
went out of its way to downplay the high incidence of thyroid cancer among
children in Belarus and Ukraine and continues to blame reports of radiation
effects on "hysteria" and "radiophobia" without taking the time to research
the birth defects, chromosome damage, and the rare and latent cancers that
our partner hospitals have documented in their pediatric patients.

Seventy years after the Terror Famine, we can do nothing to bring back the
millions of men, women and children who died, but we can certainly honor
their memory as we work to safeguard the Ukrainian population from further
demographic declines.

In the late 1990's, for the first time since the Famine and World War II,
Ukraine experienced a steep decline in population. Infertility among
Ukrainians is among the highest in the world, birth defects have doubled,
and pregnancy complications continue to cripple young mothers' ability to
bring healthy babies into the world. To make matters worse, Ukraine is now
experiencing the fastest growing rate of HIV-AIDS infection in Europe.

The overall population has already dropped from 51 million in 1991 to 48
million in 2003. Without dramatic improvements in health and preventive
care, the US Agency for International Development and the World Health
Organization estimate that Ukraine's population could decline to 45 million
by the year 2010. The United Nations Office of Population predicts that
Ukraine will lose up to 40 per cent of its population by the year 2040.

With your continued help and support, we can and will work to reverse these
alarming trends by providing the adequate tools and training needed to make
a difference.

It is too late to undo the damage inflicted by Stalin and his henchmen
seventy years ago. However, there can be no better way to overcome their
legacy than to provide the resources Ukraine needs to combat today's
demographic crisis.

IN THE WORDS OF THE GREAT AMERICAN LABOR ACTIVIST
MOTHER JONES, WE MUST "MOURN THE DEAD AND FIGHT
LIKE HELL FOR THE LIVING." IN THIS SEASON OF GIVING,
WE CALL ON ALL OF YOU TO HELP US IN OUR BATTLE TO
SAVE CHILDREN'S LIVES.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, Inc.
272 Old Short Hills Road, Short Hills, NJ 07078
973 376 5141, Fax 973 376 4988
252001, vul. Khreshchatyk 25/28, Kyiv, Ukraine
011 380 44 228 1870/464 1207
info@childrenofchornobyl.org, www.childrenofchornobyl.org
=========================================================
FOLK ART MAGAZINE: NARODNE MYSTETSTVO
A Great Magazine About Ukrainian Folk Art Culture....In Ukrainian
http://www.artukraine.com/primitive/artmagazine.htm
=========================================================
"UKRAINE REPORT-2004," No. 5, MONDAY, JANUARY 12, 2004
FOR PERSONAL AND ACADEMIC USE ONLY
==========================================================
WEBSITE FOR NEWS AND INFORMATION ABOUT UKRAINE
http://www.ArtUkraine.com

To check out the latest NEWS and other Information about UKRAINE click on:
WELCOME TO UKRAINE: http://www.artukraine.com/travel/wumagazine.htm
Best Magazine in English: Issue Number Four for Year 2003 Just Issued.
FOLK ART MAGAZINE: http://www.artukraine.com/primitive/artmagazine.htm
A Great Magazine in Ukrainian....Excellent Magazine, Twice A Year
GENOCIDE GALLERY www.ArtUkraine.com/famineart/index.htm
One of the Largest Website Galleries in the World on the Genocidal Famine.
NEWS-DAILY GALLERY: http://www.artukraine.com/newsgallery.htm.
Links to Several Major Ukrainian Daily News Source Websites
CURRENT EVENTS GALLERY: http://www.artukraine.com/events/index.htm
BUILD UKRAINE GALLERY: http://www.artukraine.com/buildukraine/index.htm
The Art of Building an Independent, Democratic, Prosperous Nation State
========================================================
INFORMATION ABOUT "UKRAINE REPORT-2004"
The "UKRAINE REPORT-2004," is an in-depth news and analysis newsletter,
and is produced by the www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS)
with production offices in Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C.. The report is
distributed worldwide free of charge, courtesy of the sponsors listed below,
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contact: morganw@patriot.net.

We give special thanks to "UKRAINE REPORT-2004" SPONSORS:
1.U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION, (USUF), Nadia Komarnyckyj
McConnell, President; John A. Kun, VP/COO; Markian Bilynskyj,
VP, Dir. of Field Operations, Kyiv, Ukraine and Washington, D.C.
website: http://www.usukraine.org .
2. UKRAINE-U.S. BUSINESS COUNCIL, Kempton Jenkins,
President, Washington, D.C.
3. KIEV-ATLANTIC UKRAINE, David and Tamara Sweere,
Founders and Managers; Kyiv, Ukraine
4. VOLIA SOFTWARE, Software to Fit Your Business, Source your
IT work in Ukraine. Contact: Yuriy Sivitsky, Vice President, Marketing,
Kyiv, Ukraine, yuriy.sivitsky@softline.kiev.ua; Volia Software website:
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5. POTENTIAL, the launching of a new business journal for Ukraine.
http://www.usukraine.org/potential.shtml#about
6. INDIVIDUAL AND CORPORATE READERS OF "UKRAINE
REPORT-2004" who financially support the publication. Additional
financial support is needed to expand the program.

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
E. Morgan Williams, Senior Advisor, Government Relations and
Foundation Development, U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION (USUF)
Publisher and Editor: "UKRAINE REPORT-2004,"
www.ArtUkraine.com Information Service (ARTUIS).
http://www.ArtUkraine.com News and Information Website,
P.O. Box 2607, Washington, D.C. 20013
Tel: 202 437 4707, morganw@patriot.net
Office In Kyiv: 380 44 212 5586, Mobile in Kyiv: 380 50 689 2874
====================================================
NOTE: We use the English translation from the Ukrainian, i.e. Kyiv instead
of Kiev, whenever possible. The articles are published using the basic
format, spelling, and language contained in the original.

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