"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" Year 04, Number 169
The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC), Washington, D.C.
Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA), Huntingdon Valley, PA
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net (ARTUIS)
Washington, D.C.; Kyiv, Ukraine, TUESDAY, September 21, 2004
-----INDEX OF ARTICLES-----
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "AMERICA'S FINAL WARNING"
Zerkalo Nedeli On The WEB, Mirror-Weekly
International Social Political Weekly
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, 18 - 24 September 2004
2. TO ENCOURAGE THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY,
FREE, FAIR, AND TRANSPARENT ELECTIONS, AND RESPECT
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW IN UKRAINE
"Constantine Menges Ukraine Democracy and Fair Elections Act of 2004"
HR 5102 IH: Introduced in U.S. House, 108th CONGRESS, 2nd Session
Sponsor: Representative Dana Rohrabacher [CA-46]
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
3. RUSSIAN CENTRE TV STATION IN MOSCOW PROMOTES
VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH FOR PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE
Source: Centre TV, Moscow, in Russian, 20 Sep 04
BC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
4. UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF INTERFERENCE
IN MEDIA COVERAGE AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL VOTE BY
ALL MEDIA WATCHDOGS AND INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS
Ukrainian state controlled TV run 24-hour propaganda campaigns
Anna Melnichuk, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
5. SELF-CENSORSHIP AND GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS
PLAGUE COVERAGE OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Washington, D.C., Sep 20, 2004
6. CRIMEAN JOURNALISTS SAY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
COVERAGE BY STATE NEWSPAPERS IS BIASED AND DISTORTED
AND DOES NOT ADEQUATELY REFLECT THE CAMPAIGN
Black Sea TV, Simferopol, in Russian 1600 gmt 20 Sep 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
7. "UKRAINIAN MOGUL'S PRESSING FOR TRUTH"
"It is becoming harder to print the truth here in Ukraine as well as
in Russia.." Vadim Rabinovich controls a media empire from Kiev.
Walter Ruby, Daily News Writer
New York Daily News, NY, NY, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
8. INQUIRY LAUNCHED INTO ALLEGED POISONING OF
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YUSHCHENKO
Aleksandar Vasovic, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
9. TATAR CONGRESS CONDEMNS RADICALS, PLEDGES
SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
ANALYSIS: By Mykyta Kasyanenko
Den, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 15 Sep 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sun, Sep 19, 2004
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169 ARTICLE NUMBER ONE
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1. "AMERICA'S FINAL WARNING"
Zerkalo Nedeli On The WEB, Mirror-Weekly
International Social Political Weekly
Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, 18 - 24 September 2004
Reliable sources in US political circles reported not long ago that on
September 15, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher submitted a document
entitled “Ukraine Democracy and Fair Elections Act of 2004'” to the US
House of Representatives. You will remember that numerous delegations
of current and former members of congress visited Ukraine over the last
few months. Their closer examination of the Ukrainian presidential
campaign in all of its ugly manifestations must have brought about the bill
with the registration number 5102.
Clearly, the bill will neither be discussed nor passed prior to the
elections. However, the development of this rigorous document is, in and
of itself, highly symbolic, as the bill envisions sanctions targeting not
only the country as a whole, but also a large group of Ukrainian officials
and politicians. Pressure will be brought to bear unless Ukraine upholds its
international commitments vis-a-vis free and fair elections. The bill should
be viewed as a serious warning to the incumbent Ukrainian regime; a
warning, the likelihood of which official Kyiv has lately ceased to heed.
The bill is short (which is common for US legislative instruments) and harsh
in tone (which has recently become common for documents concerning
Ukraine). The premise of the bill maintains, inter alia, that the “incumbent
Ukrainian authorities, led by President Leonid Kuchma and Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych, (…) persecute the independent mass media, suppress
freedom of expression and deny opposition candidates access to public
places for meeting with voters”.
The document points out that the OSCE and other international human
rights watchdogs deemed non-democratic the 1999 presidential elections,
the 2000 referendum and the 2002 parliamentary campaign, as well as the
recent by-elections to the Supreme Rada and mayoral elections in a number
of Ukrainian cities (including Mukachevo), providing a long list of
registered irregularities and abuses.
Article 3 of the bill affirms the US Congress’ support for democratic,
open, free and fair elections in Ukraine and its course towards European
integration. It also urges the Ukrainian government to “put an end to
harassing political opponents and independent journalists, intimidating
people willing to exercise their basic human rights and freedom of speech
and assembly”.
The bill calls on President Kuchma and Prime Minister Yanukovych to
“stop overt, flagrant and inadmissible violations of Ukraine’s human rights
commitments to the OSCE, and guarantee respect for fundamental
democratic liberties”. American members of congress are adamant that
Ukrainian leaders “defuse a lasting constitutional and political crisis by
ensuring:
- free, fair and transparent 2004 presidential elections;
- the political opposition’s true access to state-controlled mass media,
including access to printing facilities;
- the political opposition’s free access to public halls and other places
for meeting with voters;
- the harmonization of the electoral process with OSCE standards;
- absolute freedom for international observers to monitor the elections
and count votes at the local, oblast and national levels”.
The bill’s authors recommend that the President of the USA coordinate
his policies on Ukraine with the leaders of other countries, particularly
European states. They also advise that the US President, should sanctions
be imposed against Ukraine, invite “other states to act commensurably”.
Provisions of Article 5, entitled “Sanctions against the Ukrainian
Government” deserve special consideration, since they describe the
penalties to be applied to officials representing all branches of power in
Ukraine. In the event of the bill’s coming into effect and the US President
ascertaining that Ukrainian authorities failed to honour their international
commitments, he will be entitled to impose certain sanctions. In particular,
he will issue a prohibition for any one to enter the territory of the United
States of America if he or she is:
- a top official of the current Ukrainian government;
- a spouse, under-age child or an agent of the above person.
The bill contains a detailed interpretation of the term “top official”. It
is used to denote:
- the President, Prime Minister, Vice Prime Ministers, ministers, heads
and members of state committees (including the Central Election
Commission and local election commissions);
- Members of Parliament, Presidential Office staff, chiefs of the Security
Service, the State Tax Administration and the State Customs Service;
- any officials and public figures with a record of violating human rights
and freedoms, of obstructing free, fair and open elections in Ukraine,
including judges, law enforcement officers, prosecutors, heads of oblast
state administrations and mayors;
- any other persons, as designated by the US Secretary of State, involved
in policy development and activities running counter to internationally
recognized human rights and free election standards.
Moreover, the bill drafters suggest taking the following measures against
the individuals guilty of infringing on human rights and liberties in
Ukraine:
- confiscating their property in the United States;
- blocking their accounts and seizing money in those accounts;
- banning loans, credit and other financial assistance to them.
The US President would commission the Alien Property Control Division
under the Department of Treasury to identify and seize property and money
in personal accounts in US banks, if those are proceeds of crime and belong
to Ukrainian officials, their spouses, under-age children or representing
agents.
The President of the USA is entitled to forbid any US agency, including
the Export-Import Bank and the Private Foreign Investment Corporation,
to extend any loan, offer credit guarantees, write insurance policies or
render
any other financial assistance to the Government of Ukraine. Exception is
made for humanitarian aid, agricultural produce and pharmaceuticals. Should
the above sanctions be applied, the US Agency for Trade and Development
will be required to terminate the funding of all its activities in Ukraine.
It is expected that as soon as the bill is passed, the Secretary of the
Treasury will advise the CEOs of all international financial organizations
with American membership to vote against any further lending, financial
and technical assistance and grants to the Government of Ukraine.
The bill stipulates that special, periodical reports should be written to
present updated data:
- on the status of personal property and bank accounts of the incumbent
President, prime minister and other top officials of Ukraine that are
located in the USA or other countries, if this property and money were
defined as proceeds of crime, and on all actions taken in the USA to
investigate, identify and confiscate this property and money as well as to
encourage other countries to act commensurably;
- on sales or supplies of arms or military technologies from Ukraine to any
other state whose government, as designated by the US Secretary of State,
(…) harboured international terrorism;
- on the nature of goods and services, loans, etc received by Ukraine in
exchange for arms and military technologies.
The US President can opt not to use the above pressure tools against the
Ukrainian authorities, provided the “new president of Ukraine, elected in
November 2004, manages to avoid abuse of power and irregularities in
the course of elections (…) and promises to hold free, fair and open
parliamentary elections in March 2006”.
The American law-makers’ awareness of the actual situation in Ukraine is
commendable. So is their realization that a second round will be needed to
determine the 2004 campaign winner in Ukraine.
As soon as the bill’s contents are made public in Ukraine, the Presidential
Office is likely to orchestrate a campaign of “popular indignation and
protest against US interference with our internal affairs”. Yet, after all,
nobody forced the Ukrainian authorities to commit themselves to abiding
by the civilized rules of political behaviour.
In our opinion, bill #5102 is a signal of the American establishment’s
reaction to the inconsistency of Ukrainian leaders’ words and deeds, rather
than a local episode of legislative drafting. It is also an admission of the
inefficiency of the myriad of previous ritual invocations to official Kyiv.
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LINK: http://www.mirror-weekly.com/ie/show/512/47828/
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169: ARTICLE NUMBER TWO
=======================================================
2. HR TITLE: TO ENCOURAGE THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY,
FREE, FAIR, AND TRANSPARENT ELECTIONS, AND RESPECT
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE RULE OF LAW IN UKRAINE
"Constantine Menges Ukraine Democracy and Fair Elections Act of 2004"
HR 5102 IH: Introduced in U.S. House, 108th CONGRESS, 2nd Session
Sponsor: Representative Dana Rohrabacher [CA-46]
U.S. House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, September 15, 2004
Mr. ROHRABACHER introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on International Relations, and in addition to the Committees
on the Judiciary and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently
determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To encourage the promotion of democracy, free, fair, and transparent
elections , and respect for human rights and the rule of law in Ukraine.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the `Constantine Menges Ukraine Democracy
and Fair Elections Act of 2004'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The United States supports the promotion of democracy, free, fair, and
transparent elections , and respect for human rights and the rule of law in
Ukraine consistent with the commitments of Ukraine as a member country
of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
(2) The United States has a vital interest in the independence and
sovereignty of Ukraine and in its successful integration into the European
community of democracies.
(3) Elections conducted by the Government of Ukraine during the past ten
years have not satisfied the criteria established for free, fair, and
transparent elections consistent with OSCE and European democratic
standards.
(4) Georgiy Gongadze, Igor Alexandrov, and other independent journalists in
Ukraine who supported democracy and published critical reports concerning
governmental actions have been murdered or have disappeared and are
presumed dead.
(5) Former government officials of Ukraine have made credible allegations
and produced evidence that top officials of the current government were
involved in the disappearances.
(6) The current Government of Ukraine , led by President Leonid D. Kuchma
and Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych--
(A) systematically harasses and represses independent media and independent
trade unions and journalists;
(B) actively suppresses freedom of speech and expression and encourages a
virtual blackout on national television stations of the main democratic
opposition candidate;
(C) uses police to block the transit by land of opposition candidates and
refuses access for the airplane of the opposition candidates to land at city
airports for campaign appearances;
(D) uses state and city dump trucks and bulldozers to block access of voters
to city squares for appearances by opposition candidates;
(E) denies access of opposition candidates to rent government-owned
auditoriums and public places for meetings with voters; and
(F) denies postal service delivery of opposition campaign literature.
(7) In spite of current and past statements by President Kuchma and Prime
Minister Yanukovych that the up-coming presidential election will be free,
fair, and transparent with an honest ballot count, the presidential election
of October 1999, the national referendum of 2000, the parliamentary election
of March 2002, and recent by-elections to Parliament and city mayoral races,
including the mayoral race in Mukachevo in spring 2004, were determined by
OSCE and other local and international observers to be fundamentally unfair.
(8) These elections failed to meet OSCE standards for democratic elections
as formulated in the 1990 Copenhagen Document, and were marred by
significant abusive and illegal misconduct that was publicly approved at the
highest levels of the government, including--
(A) the harassment, arrest, and false disqualification of opposition
candidates;
(B) the arrest and beating by the police of members of Parliament who were
acting as official precinct election observers;
(C) the denial of equal and fair access by opposition candidates to the
state-controlled television, radio, and print media, and the denial of the
use of the postal system for sending opposition campaign mail to voters;
(D) the seizure of equipment and property of independent nongovernmental
organizations, radio stations, and press organizations and the harassment of
their staff and management, causing several individuals to flee to foreign
countries for their safety;
(E) the implementation of voting and vote counting procedures that were
neither transparent nor legal; and
(F) the implementation of a campaign of intimidation directed against
opposition activists, domestic election observer organizations, and
opposition and independent media, including denying newsprint and access
to printing plants to the independent media.
(9) Dr. Constantine Menges, who died in July 2004, served as a senior
official on the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan and
was a staunch anti-Communist, a friend of the peoples of Eastern European
countries, and particularly supportive of Ukrainian independence.
SEC. 3. DECLARATION OF POLICY.
Congress--
(1) expresses its support for individuals and organizations in Ukraine that
promote--
(A) democracy, free, fair, and transparent elections , and respect for human
rights and the rule of law in Ukraine ; and
(B) the integration of Ukraine into the European community of democracies;
(2) expresses it grave concern over the murders and disappearances of
independent journalists in Ukraine like Georgiy Gongadze, Igor Alexandrov,
and others;
(3) calls upon the President Kuchma and Prime Minister Yanukovych to
cease persecution of political opponents and independent journalists and to
cease harassment of individuals who try to exercise their rights to freedom
of speech, expression, assembly, and association;
(4) calls upon President Kuchma and Prime Minister Yanukovych to end the
pattern of clear, gross, and uncorrected violations of relevant OSCE human
dimension commitments and to respect the basic freedoms of speech,
expression, assembly, and association; and
(5) calls upon the Government of Ukraine to resolve the continuing
constitutional and political crisis by assuring--
(A) a free, fair, and transparent presidential election in 2004;
(B) meaningful access by the political opposition to state-controlled media,
including access to newsprint and printing plants;
(C) full and uninterrupted access for the political opposition to postal
delivery services;
(D) unimpeded access by the political opposition to public auditoriums and
other areas for gathering and meeting with voters;
(E) unimpeded transit by road and air for opposition candidates;
(F) modification of the electoral code in keeping with OSCE commitments;
and (G) full freedom for international observers to monitor the election and
ballot counting at local, regional, and national levels.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING MULTILATERAL
COOPERATION CONCERNING UKRAINE .
It is the sense of Congress that the President should coordinate with other
countries, particularly European countries, to formulate and implement a
comprehensive and multilateral strategy to further the purposes of this Act,
including, as appropriate, encouraging other countries to take measures with
respect to Ukraine that are similar to the measures described in this Act.
SEC. 5. SANCTIONS AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT OF UKRAINE .
(a) Application and Timing of Sanctions- Until the President makes the
determination that Ukraine meets all the requirements specified in
subsection (b) and certifies such determination to the appropriate
congressional committees, the President shall direct that the sanctions
described in subsection (c) shall apply immediately with respect to Ukraine
.(b) Certification- A certification under this subsection is a certification
transmitted to the appropriate congressional committees of a determination
made by the president that the following has occurred with respect to
Ukraine :
(1) The implementation of free, fair, and transparent elections for
president and Parliament fully consistent with OSCE standards for democratic
elections and in cooperation with relevant OSCE and Council of Europe
institutions.
(2) The cessation of all forms of harassment and repression against the
media, independent trade unions, nongovernmental organizations, religious
organizations, and the political opposition.
(3) The withdrawal and cessation of politically motivated legal charges
against opposition figures and independent journalists.
(c) Sanctions Described-
(1) DENIAL OF ENTRY INTO UNITED STATES- The President shall
direct the Secretary of Homeland Security to deny entry under section 212(f)
of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1182(f)) to the United
States of any alien who--
(A) is a senior government official in the current government of Ukraine ;
or (B) is a spouse, minor child, or agent of such an alien.
(2) SEIZURE OF ASSETS IN UNITED STATES- The President shall
direct the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the
Treasury to identify and seize the personal assets or personal financial
accounts in the United States obtained by improper or illicit means of any
alien who--
(A) is a senior government official in the current government of Ukraine;
or (B) is a spouse, minor child, or agent of such an alien.
(3) PROHIBITIONS ON LOANS AND INVESTMENT- The President
shall direct that--
(A) no loan, credit guarantee, insurance, financing, or other similar
financial assistance is provided on or after the date of the enactment of
this Act by any agency of the United States, including by the Export-Import
Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation,
to the Government of Ukraine (except with respect to the provision of
humanitarian goods and agricultural or medical products); and
(B) no funds made available to the Trade and Development Agency may
be made available on or after the date of the enactment of this Act for any
activity or project of the Agency in or for Ukraine .
(4) INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS- The President
shall direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the United States
executive director to each appropriate international financial institution
in which the United States participates, to oppose and vote against the
extension by each such institution of any loan or financial or technical
assistance or grant to the Government of Ukraine (except for loans and
assistance that serve humanitarian needs).
(d) Waiver-
(1) IN GENERAL- The President may waive the application of subsection
(c)(1), (c)(2), (c)(3), or (c)(4), or any combination of such subsections,
if the President determines--
(A) that it is in the national security interest of the United States to do
so;
(B) that a new president is elected in Ukraine in November 2004 who--
(i) has corrected the abuses and election irregularities outlined under
section 2; and
(ii) has pledged to conduct a free, fair, and transparent election in the
parliamentary election scheduled for March 2006; or
(C) that in the case of the application any such subsection or combination
of such subsections to an individual, such individual was not directly or
indirectly involved in any of the abuses or election irregularities outlined
under section 2.
(2) CERTIFICATION- If the President exercises the waiver under
paragraph
(1), the President shall submit to the appropriate congressional committees
a report containing the reasons for such waiver.
SEC. 6. REPORTS.
(a) Dates for Submission- Not later than 90 days after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and every year thereafter, the President shall
transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report containing
the information required by subsection (b). In the case of the second and
all subsequent reports, each such report shall contain such information
with respect to the preceding 12-month period.
(b) Contents- The reports required by subsection (a) shall contain
information regarding the following:
(1) The personal assets and bank accounts of the current president, prime
minister and other senior government officials of the Government of Ukraine
that are located in the United States or other country, and, if such assets
and accounts are determined to have been acquired through improper or
illicit means, any actions the United States has taken to investigate and
seize such assets and accounts and encourage such other country to take
similar action.
(2) The sale or delivery of weapons or weapons-related technologies from
Ukraine to any country, the government of which the Secretary of State has
determined, for purposes of section 6(j)(1) of the Export Administration Act
of 1979 (50 U.S.C. App. 2405 (j)(1)), has repeatedly provided support for
acts of international terrorism.
(3) An identification of each country described in paragraph (2) and a
detailed description of the weapons or weapons-related technologies
involved in such sale.
(4) An identification of the goods, services, credits, or other
consideration received by Ukraine in exchange for the weapons or
weapons-related technologies involved in such sale.
(c) Form- A report transmitted pursuant to subsection (a) shall be in
unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.
SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES- The term
'appropriate congressional committees' means the Committee on International
Relations of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign
Relations of the Senate.
(2) SENIOR GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL- The term 'senior government
official' means, with respect to Ukraine --
(A) the president, prime minister, deputy prime ministers, government
ministers; chairmen and members of state committees, including the Central
Election Commission and regional and local election commissions, members of
the Presidential Administration, members of Parliament; and the heads of the
Security Services, State Tax Administration, and the State Customs Services;
(B) any official of the Government of Ukraine who is personally involved in
the suppression of freedom and free, fair, and transparent elections in
Ukraine , including judges, law enforcement personnel, prosecutors, regional
governors, mayors, and administrators; and
(C) any other individual determined by the Secretary of State to be
personally involved in the formulation or execution of policies or
activities that are in contradiction of internationally recognized human
rights and free, fair, and transparent elections standards. (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169: ARTICLE NUMBER THREE
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3. RUSSIAN CENTRE TV STATION IN MOSCOW PROMOTES
VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH FOR PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE
Source: Centre TV, Moscow, in Russian, 20 Sep 04
BC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
Russian regional television station has said Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych would be a better leader for that country than his rival Viktor
Yushchenko. The station polled people in the streets in an unspecified
Ukrainian town near the Russian border and ran a phone-in poll for its
own viewers in and around Moscow.
In both cases most respondents said they wanted a closer relationship
between Russia and Ukraine. The broadcast came on the final day when
presidential candidates can submit signatures in their support in Ukraine.
The following is the text of a report by Russian Centre TV on 20
September; subheadings inserted editorially:
[Presenter] The collecting of signatures in support of presidential
candidates in Ukraine has ended. As everyone expected, Prime Minister
Viktor Yanukovych and right-wing opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko
collected the largest number of signatures. The latter is mostly supported
in western Ukraine. The dwellers of the left bank of the Dnieper river,
traditionally inclined towards Russia, prefer to have Yanukovych as a
president.
Come to think of it, it would be interesting to know how the Russians are
disposed towards Ukraine. Do you think it would be a good idea for us to
share our home with our neighbours, to have the same president, the same
government, the same parliament? Or do you feel the border does not divide
the two nations? Certainly, no-one would want to encroach on Ukraine's
statehood. We are only interested in people's innermost feelings. While you
are searching yourselves, let's see what is on the minds of people who live
in Ukraine.
VOX POPS
[Correspondent Grigoriy Dolukhanov] In spite of what the nationalists claim,
young people in Ukrainian regions bordering on Russia are no less patriotic
than elsewhere in this country, which is home to many millions of people.
Young people here love Ukrainian songs and dances, but they would hate
someone else to call the tune where political choices are at stake. And
every young person has their own point of view as to who should be at the
helm of their fatherland for the next few years and why. [Video shows young
people dancing a Ukrainian folk dance on a town square]
[Unidentified young girl] It would be good for our state to build a closer
relationship with Russia. [Young woman, unidentified] It is definitely
frightening to choose something different, because you never know what
could happen. [Unidentified woman in traditional Ukrainian dress, speaking
in Ukrainian] This border is a hassle. You cannot visit your relatives or
simply travel there. Of course it would be better if the border was not
there.
[Unidentified man] I feel closer to Yanukovych, mostly because nothing
would change drastically in the country if he became president.
"CHESTNUT REVOLUTION"
[Correspondent] Everyone here is free to think and act as they see fit, just
the way things should be in a country that is building a democracy. For this
reason, it is hard to expect that, in full view of international observers,
anyone would deny citizens their legitimate right to vote. Yet increasingly,
the opposition is voicing fears that this could happen. The right-wingers
even said recently that they would urge their supporters to overthrow the
government if they lost the election. The name for the coming coup has
already been made up: the chestnut revolution. There are a lot of chestnut
trees in Kiev.
[Mykola Azarov, deputy prime minister of Ukraine, captioned, speaking in
Russian] Needless to say, Ukraine will not accept such calls. If any sort of
real action occurs, the authorities have ample forces to ensure that all
measures taken are legal and constitutional and, most importantly, to
maintain stability and order.
[Correspondent] People in Ukraine, just like in Russia perhaps, are slightly
suspicious of words, particularly of words spoken in the run-up to an
election. But the incumbent Ukrainian prime minister has the advantage of
being able and willing to do what many people in Ukraine expect from him.
He is trying to make the process of rapprochement with Russia irreversible.
[Video shows vans emblazoned with the slogan "Kharkiv Region for
Yanukovych!". Continuously changing results of a phone-in poll "Would you
like Russia and Ukraine to reunite?" are displayed on screen throughout the
item. The options for a reply are "yes", "no" or "we are together anyway".
The final results are as follows: 1291 callers said yes, 523 said no, 56
selected the "we are together anyway" option] (END)
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ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169: ARTICLE NUMBER FOUR
=======================================================
4. UKRAINIAN GOVERNMENT ACCUSED OF INTERFERENCE IN
MEDIA COVERAGE AHEAD OF PRESIDENTIAL VOTE BY
ALL MEDIA WATCHDOGS AND INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS
Ukrainian state controlled TV run 24-hour propaganda campaigns
Anna Melnichuk, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Ukraine, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
KIEV - Six weeks ahead of the presidential vote, Ukraine's media watchdogs
and international observers warned Monday of unbalanced media coverage
and a government crackdown on independent and pro-opposition media. "We
cannot assert that there's no freedom of speech in Ukraine at all, but media
freedom is very, very limited," said Serhiy Taran, director of the
Kiev-based Institute of Mass Information, Ukraine's leading media watchdog
group.
Ukraine's seven state-controlled television channels "don't meet standards
of journalistic ethics," said Taran, calling the pre-election programs "24-
hour propaganda campaigns" in favor of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,
a leading contender for the presidency. Yanukovych has the backing of
outgoing President Leonid Kuchma. "The bigger the channel is the more
pressure from authorities it suffers from," Taran added.
Independent observers in Ukraine said Yanukovych has received far more
news coverage on state television than the other candidates, including his
main challenger, opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko _ and it has been
overwhelmingly positive. Yushchenko, in contrast, has been portrayed
negatively since the campaign began for the Oct. 31 vote.
"Unfortunately, the situation with respect to the media in Ukraine in the
run-up to the election is discouraging," said U.S. Rep. Christopher Smith,
a Republican from New Jersey, who heads the U.S. Helsinki Commission
on Security and Cooperation in Europe. "It seems the ruling regime has
decided to interfere in media election coverage at an unprecedented scale,
presumably with the expectation that the interference will ensure their
victory at the polls," Smith said in a statement last week.
Western governments and human rights groups have accused Kuchma and
his allies of cracking down on the independent media and of involvement in
the 2000 killing of anti-corruption journalist Heorhiy Gongadze, as well as
several other suspicious deaths of journalists and opposition activists.
Ukraine's media watchdogs have reported that more than a dozen journalists
have been attacked this year.
Earlier this year, Kuchma's administration drew international criticism for
shutting down or threatening independent media outlets, especially radio
stations that rebroadcast the U.S.-funded Radio Liberty. Channel 5, a
Kiev-based TV station financed by a Yushchenko political supporter, was
yanked off the air this summer in many eastern Ukrainian cities, a move that
Yushchenko's Our Ukraine spokeswoman Tetiana Mokridi called "politically
motivated".
Western governments have repeatedly urged Ukraine to conduct a fair
presidential vote. Many see the election as a crucial test for democracy in
the ex-Soviet republic. Kuchma's critics say that democracy has suffered
during his decade-long tenure and accuse his administration of using its
power to influence the election outcome. (END)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169: ARTICLE NUMBER FIVE
=======================================================
5. SELF-CENSORSHIP AND GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS
PLAGUE COVERAGE OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Washington, D.C., Sep 20, 2004
Washington, D.C. - Media coverage of the presidential election campaign
in Ukraine has been inadequate due to a restrictive media climate in the
country, according to Andriy Shevchenko, a Ukrainian journalist who spoke
to a RFE/RL audience in Washington, D.C. this week. Journalists engage in
"self-censorship" while the government restricts access to information
producing "the most restrictive coverage of elections in Ukraine's history,"
Shevchenko said.
A news anchor and also news director for 5 Kanal Television, the only
nation-wide, independent, Ukrainian television station, Shevchenko said that
his station strives to provide full and objective information about the
campaign. An agreement signed between the news team and the manager of
the station in summer 2003, guarantees the news department independence
and frees them from political interference by the station owners.
The other national stations are either government controlled, or owned by
oligarchs openly supporting the candidacy of Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych for president. Not surprising, he said, "pro-government
candidates such as Yanukovych dominate the airwaves in Ukraine."
Shevchenko said that only his own station, Kanal 5, has been airing live
interviews with the candidates.
Shevchenko said the biggest problem for independent journalists in Ukraine
is being cutoff from information by the government, but that has required
journalists to become more "skillful at dodging problems caused by
officials." At the same time, media owners have discovered that the
government can cause problems for stations by canceling or denying licenses,
putting them at a competitive disadvantage. Shevchenko predicted that
stations feeling this pressure will give up news coverage completely, citing
a decision by Ukraine's Channel 3 to stop broadcasting news by the end
of 2004.
There is also a "lack of confidence and trust" of the Ukrainian media,
Shevchenko said, and that means that "the media will have little impact in
the upcoming presidential election." He believes that nonetheless "even one
outlet, such as Kanal 5, could change the outlook of the election."
Shevchenko added that among Ukraine's population, the older generation
knows how to "read between the lines" of the media, while the younger
generation gets their news mostly from the Internet. He said that the
Internet is a powerful source for regional newspapers and is mostly a
free market.
He predicted that not a great deal in media coverage will change after the
presidential election because "the television markets are already
established and stations know how to earn a profit under the current
system." Moreover, Ukraine's journalists are "not motivated to practice
real journalism" and "freedom of speech is not appreciated in either
[political] camp."
"Evening Liberty" is the RFE/RL Ukrainian Service's most popular program.
A transcript (in Ukrainian) and audio of the August 26 show can be found on
the Ukrainian Service's website, at
www.radiosvoboda.org/article/2004/08/bd0e5362-5636-4b4a-ab77-7af8ad9b520f.ht
ml. [paste link together]
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service broadcasts nearly 7 hours of programming a day
Monday through Friday, and 3 hours every Saturday and Sunday, with
programs produced in Prague and the service's Kyiv Bureau and transmitted
to listeners via shortwave, satellite and AM and FM signals provided by
local affiliate stations in Ukraine. Ukrainian Service programming is also
available via the Internet, at the service's website www.radiosvoboda.org
and at www.rferl.org. To hear archived audio for this and other RFE/RL
briefings and events, please visit our website at www.regionalanalysis.org.
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169: ARTICLE NUMBER SIX
=======================================================
6. CRIMEAN JOURNALISTS SAY PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
COVERAGE BY STATE NEWSPAPERS IS BIASED AND DISTORTED
AND DOES NOT ADEQUATELY REFLECT THE CAMPAIGN
Black Sea TV, Simferopol, in Russian 1600 gmt 20 Sep 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
SIMFEROPOL - [Presenter] The coverage of the [Ukrainian] presidential
election campaign by papers run by the Crimean parliament and Crimean
government is biased. That was the conclusion of the Crimean monitoring
committee for press freedom [an NGO]. The committee says that the Crimean
government daily [Krymskaya Gazeta] and the Crimean parliament daily
[Krymskiye Izvestiya] are mostly covering the election campaign of
[Ukrainian Prime Minister] Viktor Yanukovych. The papers either don't
cover other candidates at all or carry negative reports about them.
[Correspondent Roman Spyrydonov] The results of the monitoring of the
Crimean [state-run] papers during July and August were the reason behind
the statement that Krymskaya Gazeta's coverage of the presidential election
campaign is biased. For example, in August Krymskiye Izvestiya mentioned
Yanukovych 34 times, while his opponent [opposition candidate Viktor]
Yushchenko was mentioned only twice. The same could be said about [minor
candidates] Vitrenko, Kinakh and Kozak, or [Socialist leader Oleksandr]
Moroz and [Communist leader Petro] Symonenko.
However, the paper did not publish any negative materials about the
candidates. Krymskaya Gazeta published 33 reports about Yanukovych
and eight about Yushchenko, seven of them negative. Volodymyr Prytula,
the head of the Crimean monitoring committee for press freedom, says that
the situation in other state-run print media is similar. He says that this
happens because direct pressure is being exerted on journalists.
[Prytula, captioned] If we analyse the situation, during the past years
there have been many cases of pressure on journalists. Journalists were
beaten up, attacked, threatened, and no state official was punished. None of
the attackers was found. Under these circumstances one can fully justify the
position taken by journalists [of the state-run media]. Nobody wants to lose
their job and put their family at risk.
[Correspondent] The academy of the Ukrainian Press [Ukrainian NGO]
arrived at the following conclusion: the coverage of the election campaign
in Crimea is distorted and does not accurately reflect the election
campaign. [0321-0515; video shows a news conference held by the media
monitoring NGO, Prytula speaking] (END)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No. 169: ARTICLE NUMBER SEVEN
=======================================================
7. "UKRAINIAN MOGUL'S PRESSING FOR TRUTH"
"It is becoming harder to print the truth here in Ukraine as well as
in Russia.." Vadim Rabinovich controls a media empire from Kiev.
Walter Ruby, Daily News Writer
New York Daily News, NY, NY, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
KIEV - The Ukrainian multimillionaire who owns New York's only
Russian-language daily newspaper believes it could become a beacon of
liberty for the entire Russian-speaking world if freedom of the press is
eliminated in the former Soviet Union. That could be more surprising than
it sounds, considering that Vadim Rabinovich is barred from entering the
U.S. by the government.
>From his headquarters in Kiev, Rabinovich controls a media empire that
includes a daily business newspaper, a slick weekly newsmagazine, the
main newspaper of the Ukrainian Jewish community - and Novoye
Russkoye Slovo (New Russian Word) in New York.
"It is becoming harder to print the truth here in Ukraine, as well as in
Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union," he said. However,
he said, "the journalists of Novoye Russkoye Slovo will publish unbiased
material in New York that will reach people in Moscow and Kiev, who
will not be able to learn the full truth from locally based media."
Rabinovich, who in less than a year has transformed the 98-year-old
Novoye Russkoye Slovo from a musty émigré publication with rambling
idiosyncratic articles into a snappy, slickly designed, "get to the point"
newspaper, has ambitious plans to expand distribution.
In the next few years, he expects to be selling copies of Novoye Russkoye
Slovo throughout the United States and Canada and the former Soviet
Union, as well as to large Russian-émigré communities in Israel, Germany
and Australia. "Nowadays there is a world Russian community, and it is my
ambition to serve that community with a newspaper that is both entertaining
and which tells the truth," he said.
But Rabinovich, who has joint Ukrainian and Israeli citizenship, has been
persona non grata in the U.S. since the mid-1990s because of alleged ties
to organized crime. Asked about the ban, he responded genially, "There is
a difference between someone like me, who simply broke the tax laws, and
others who did more serious things, like having people killed."
Relaxing in a black turtleneck and slacks in his well-appointed office,
Rabinovich comes across as engaging and supremely self-confident. His
inability to visit the U.S. has not prevented American VIPs, such as former
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, from visiting him in Kiev. And Rabinovich's
offices are chock-full of pictures of him with world leaders, ranging from
Ukraine President Leonid Kuchma and Russian President Vladimir Putin to
Bill Clinton and Giuliani.
Rabinovich, 51, rose from humble origins in the eastern Ukrainian city of
Kharkov to become one of the country's wealthiest and best-connected
businessmen. For someone so well-placed, he is remarkably blunt in his
assessment of the political situation in Ukraine.
Acknowledging that the country's upcoming presidential election will have
high stakes for him personally, Rabinovich remarked, with tongue seemingly
only partly in cheek: "In America, the November election will decide who
takes power and who will be in the opposition. Here in Ukraine, our
October election will decide who will survive and who will be shot."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.nydailynews.com/boroughs/story/233384p-200460c.html
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169: ARTICLE NUMBER EIGHT
=======================================================
8. INQUIRY LAUNCHED INTO ALLEGED POISONING OF
UKRAINIAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE YUSHCHENKO
Aleksandar Vasovic, AP Worldstream, Kiev, Mon, Sep 20, 2004
KIEV - Authorities launched an inquiry into the alleged poisoning of Viktor
Yushchenko, Ukraine's most prominent opposition leader and a key
candidate in next month's presidential election, an official said Monday.
The General Prosecutor's office said it was taking allegations of a possible
attempt on Yushchenko's life seriously, spokesman Serhiy Rudenko said.
"The assassination attempt of a prominent Ukrainian politician is a serious
crime, and our investigators will do their best," Rudenko said.
Viktor Yushchenko became ill Sept. 6 and after a week was rushed to a
hospital in Vienna, Austria, where he underwent a weeklong treatment for
several acute illnesses. His campaign manager claimed Yushchenko was
poisoned, which doctors in Vienna said was possible but could not confirm.
Meanwhile, another prominent Ukrainian opposition leader on Monday
accused the Ukrainian and Russian governments of plotting to summon her
to Moscow for questioning in a military corruption scandal during crucial
campaigning days for Yushchenko. Yulia Tymoshenko, a fierce opponent
of President Leonid Kuchma, claimed Russian and Ukrainian authorities
were trying to tarnish the opposition's image with such moves ahead of the
Oct. 31 vote.
Pressure is mounting with the approach of the election, expected to be a
showdown between Ukraine's powerful Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych,
who has Kuchma's backing, and Yushchenko, a Western-leaning moderate.
Rudenko told reporters that prosecutors would pursue the case of
Yushchenko's possible poisoning, and would travel to Austria if needed,
even though the candidate had not made a formal complaint. Prosecutors
have asked Yushchenko's campaign manager, Oleksandr Zinchenko, to
hand over all related documents and evidence. Only hours after his release
from hospital Saturday, Yushchenko resumed his presidential campaign at
a major opposition rally in downtown Kiev.
Tymoshenko's bloc has supported Yushchenko's candidacy. Last week,
Ukrainian prosecutors said they subpoenaed Tymoshenko to appear before
Russia's military prosecutors Tuesday for questioning about her alleged
entanglement in a mid-1990's corruption scandal involving Russian Defense
Ministry officials. Tymoshenko denied she received any summons, and
refused to travel to Moscow, citing campaign activities.
"If they come, if they attack my apartment or ambush me in the street, I'll
use my legally owned hunting weapon and shoot these hares," she said,
while accusing authorities of plotting to "abduct" her, according to the
Interfax news agency. "They want to destroy the people who can contribute
to Yushchenko's victory," she said.
As a lawmaker, Tymoshenko enjoys immunity from prosecution in Ukraine,
but a spokesman for the office of Russia's chief military prosecutor said
she can be summoned for questioning under a 1993 agreement among
ex-Soviet republics in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Opposition groups in Ukraine believe Russia favors Prime Minister Viktor
Yanukovych as a candidate because it is assumed he would be more loyal
to Moscow than Yushchenko, a Western-leaning moderate.
Tymoshenko became deputy prime minister in 1999, but was dismissed in
2000 and became one of the former Soviet republic's most prominent
opposition leaders. Earlier this year, Ukrainian prosecutors asked
parliament to let them bring criminal charges against her, claiming she
tried to bribe a judge to end court proceedings against one of her former
associates who had been jailed for embezzlement. Parliament rejected
the motion. (END)
=======================================================
ACTION UKRAINE REPORT-04, No.169 ARTICLE NUMBER NINE
=======================================================
9. TATAR CONGRESS CONDEMNS RADICALS, PLEDGES
SUPPORT FOR OPPOSITION LEADER VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
ANALYSIS: By Mykyta Kasyanenko
Den, Kiev, Ukraine, in Ukrainian 15 Sep 04
BBC Monitoring Service, UK, in English, Sun, Sep 19, 2004
The Congress of the Crimean Tatar people has decided to support Ukrainian
opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko in the coming presidential election, a
Ukrainian daily has said. The recent congress opposed the rotation of the
Majlis, condemned the Beslan tragedy and criticized the radical Hizb
al-Tahrir organization, the paper said. The congress also called for land
plots to be given to Crimean Tatars, the paper said. The following is the
text of the article by Mykyta Kasyanenko entitled "The Kurultay has
decreed. 'The Crimean Tatars link the solution to all their problems with
the Ukrainian state'", published in the Ukrainian newspaper Den on 15
September; subheadings have been inserted editorially:
CONGRESS DELIBERATIONS
The delegates of the Kurultay [National Congress] of the Crimean Tatar
people, who gathered in Simferopol, showed calm and restraint. Its decisions
were aimed at showing, as [head of the assembly] Mustafa Dzhemilyev said,
that "the Crimean Tatars link a solution to all their problems precisely
with the Ukrainian state", and sooner or later it will have to come to terms
with that. Having dismissed two representatives of the more radical wing of
the national movement (Sinaver Kadyrov and Ayder Mustafayev) from their
posts in the Majlis [assembly] the day before the Kurultay, the main nucleus
of the Majlis, which is at the same time the Council of Representatives
under the Ukrainian president, demonstrated that, in the first place, this
was no accident, but a measured political policy, and secondly, that it also
has the support of the Kurultay delegates, and that means the people.
The congress did not support the radical proposals about the rotation of the
Majlis and listened patiently to the opinion of radicals who accused Ukraine
of all the deadly sins of which the bloodiest African regimes used to be
accused of in the past - genocide, apartheid, segregation and racism - and
took these definitions from the texts of the documents. Naturally, the
Kurultay could not fail to express its point of view on the terrorist act in
Beslan. The delegates adopted a statement condemning this crime, and fully
in the spirit of its policy up to now and its current position, they pointed
out that "states can only become supporters of non-violence and consistent
supporters of a peaceful solution to any differences and injustices which
arise in relations between the state and society when they rule out methods
of coercion and repression against their own peoples and citizens".
CONGRESS CONDEMNS RADICAL PARTY
In this respect, it was logical that the Kurultay weighed up the dangers of
a split in the Muslim community, and they adopted an Address to the Muslims
of Crimea, in which they condemned the activities on the peninsula of
followers of the Hizb al-Tahrir political organization, which is banned in
many countries, which calls for radicalism and a tough attitude towards the
state, circulating leaflets calling for a jihad and permitting threats of
the "elimination and annihilation of the rulers" who are cooperating with a
non-Muslim state. The Kurultay supported the Spiritual Board of the Muslims
of Crimea, "acting on the basis of the true values of Islam, tolerance and
good-neighbourliness in relation to all people".
At the same time, one could not fail to note real danger in the fact that,
according to Mustafa Dzhemilyev, there are already on the peninsula over a
thousand Hizb al-Tahrir members and "Wahhabists", who have set up over
30 religious communities, who are not subordinate to the muftiat, and who
are consistently striving to exacerbate the situation in Crimea.
In his opinion, they are being directed from outside Crimea, and in certain
instances are being supported by some state bodies with the objective of
destabilizing the situation in Crimea. Everything points to the fact that
the situation requires the immediate intervention and proper reaction of the
state, if it wants to prevent a conflict on Crimean soil getting out of
control. Whereas Mustafa Dzhemilyev and his supporters still maintain that
the "Majlis will never permit radical actions which violate the rights of
other citizens", the representatives of the new currents who clearly draw
their inspiration from abroad do not have such restraint.
And if there for the moment seems to be no sense of opposition to these
radical Islamic currents on the peninsula, then one has to ask - does anyone
need this? Several attempts to destabilize the situation in Crimea on
inter-ethnic grounds have already failed. Now attempts are expected to
base this on religious differences, and for the moment there is no proper
resistance to them.
KURULTAY'S "IMPORTANT" ROLE IN ELECTIONS
The Crimean Tatars, who make up approximately 0.5 per cent of the
number of voters in Ukraine, cannot really influence the outcome of the
Ukrainian presidential election, but the Kurultay still has an important
part to play in the election. In a special decision the delegates virtually
supported a formula "for [leading opposition candidate Viktor] Yushchenko,
but not against the authorities", which Mustafa Dzhemilyev explained to a
correspondent as follows: "We have no strained relations with the present
government, and we are working constructively with the country's president.
Yes, our government is a conventional one, but we prefer Yushchenko. Like
all citizens, we, too, have the right to our own point of view and our own
choice."
As far as specific problems are concerned, then, as Mustafa Dzhemilyev says,
"if we continue to regard the Crimean Tatars as an ethnic minority, then we
will get nowhere. There is no way we can resolve our problems on the basis
of the law on ethnic minorities in Ukraine, and the collective rights of the
people must be taken into account. It goes without saying that it is a
disgrace for Ukraine, which is striving to get into Europe, that the
language of an indigenous people on the peninsula is not mentioned even
among the official languages of the autonomy, and proper representation of
the people in bodies of power has not been guaranteed. This is not because
the Crimean Tatars possess fewer rights, but that Ukraine has not provided
them with equal conditions".
LAND
The second grievance of the Crimean Tatars is the land issue. The radicals
succeeded in tabling the question of land on the agenda of the Kurultay, and
criticized in the strongest manner the actions of state bodies. The
delegates of the Kurultay, however, by a majority vote, on the one hand did
not support the feelings of the radicals, and on the other demanded that a
realistic solution to the problem be found. Mustafa Dzhemilyev told Den:
"One can understand that the returning Crimean Tatars, who were deported
from their lands in 1944, and yet officially remained members of their own
collective farms, now have not been able to join those remains of those
collective farms which they were still able to find.
Therefore, mechanisms had to be found which would provide them with land
at least in the same degree as the other citizens living alongside them.
This question cannot be solved on the basis of common land legislation,
since it does not take into account the presence of the people in Crimea
and the special nature of the Crimean Tatars position in respect of their
deportation."
The Kurultay showed that the Crimean Tatars have not given up hope of the
adoption of a law "On restoring the rights of persons deported for ethnic
reasons", which could resolve a number of problems. The adoption of this
law, the Kurultay's decision points out, would be "a real contribution by
the Ukrainian parliament towards giving legal backing to the restoration of
the rights of the Crimean Tatar people". However, the draft bill was vetoed
by the president and was sent for further review.
The consensus was that today "mutual understanding has been found", but
because of the efforts of a number of factions this draft bill was not
included in the current session. Naturally, the people are not happy about
this which means that the problem of the Crimean Tatars, which has attracted
some attention in European and other international organizations, by a
decision of the Kurultay will again be submitted for discussion in the hope
of resolving Ukraine's domestic problems. All this is dragging out the
process of the "maturity" of the state in the eyes of international
structures, although Ukraine should be able to deal with this problem
without outside help. (END)
========================================================
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Kyiv vs. Kiev----SPELLING POLICY--Chornobyl vs.Chernobyl
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PUBLISHER AND EDITOR
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Executive Director, Ukrainian Federation of America
(UFA); Coordinator, The Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC);
Senior Advisor, Government Relations, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF);
Advisor, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council, Washington, D.C.;
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"POWER TENDS TO CORRUPT,
ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTELY"
An observation that a person's sense of morality lessens as his or
her power increases. The statement was made by Lord Acton, British
historian of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
True then, true today, true always.
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THE ACTION UKRAINE COALITION
"Working to Secure Ukraine's Future"
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(UACC), Ihor Gawdiak, President, Washington, D.C., New York, NY
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