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Action Ukraine Report

"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"

PROUD AND HISTORIC DAY FOR UKRAINE
, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 6, 2005

President Yushchenko Addresses Joint Meeting Of U.S. Congress
A Day To Remember For Ukrainians Around The World
A Day For The History Books

"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT" - Number 457
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, WEDNESDAY, April 6, 2005

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

1. YUSHCHENKO GETS PROFILES IN COURAGE AWARD
By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer
AP, Boston, Massachusetts, Tuesday, April 5, 2005

2. "YUSHCHENKO'S COURAGE"
EDITORIAL: by Boston Herald editorial staff
Boston Herald, Boston, Massachusetts, Tue, April 5, 2005

3. "DEMOCRACY'S HERO IN UKRAINE"
OP-ED: By John Shattuck, The Boston Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, Tue, April 5, 2005

4. YOUNG BURN VICTIM GETS SPECIAL VISITOR
President of Ukraine Visits 5-Year-Old Hero
Jim Boyd Reports On Visit, The BostonChannel
NewsCenter 5, Boston, Massachusetts, April 5, 2005

5. "YUSHCHENKO IS MAN WITH A MISSION"
ANALYSIS: By Martin Sieff, UPI Senior News Analyst
UPI, Washington, DC, Monday, April 4, 2005

6. YUSHCHENKO THANKS UKRAINIANS HERE IN CHICAGO
By Abdon M. Pallasch, Staff Reporter
Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Illinois, April 5, 2005

7. UKRAINIAN LEADER GETS RED CARPET
Yushchenko's Chicago appearance draws long line of fans
By Alex Rodriguez and Mark Silva, Tribune correspondents.
Tribune staff reporter Russell Working contributed to this report
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tue, April 5, 2005

8. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY AWARDS PRESIDENT'S MEDAL
TO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO
Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, April 6, 2005

9. UKRAINE: IS KYIV SET TO BECOME A CLOSE U.S. ALLY?
By Valentinas Mite, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Tue, April 5, 2005

10. YUSHCHENKO'S WARM US WELCOME
By Jonathan Beale, BBC State Department correspondent
Washington, D.C., BBC NEWS, UK, Tuesday, April 5, 2005

11. LESYA UKRAINKA NATIONAL ACADEMIC THEATRE COMPANY
A Strange, Unusual & Costly Advertisement
THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT
Washington, D.C., Wed, April 6, 2005
=============================================================
1. YUSHCHENKO GETS PROFILES IN COURAGE AWARD

By Steve LeBlanc, Associated Press Writer
AP, Boston, Massachusetts, Tuesday, April 5, 2005

BOSTON - Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko, the populist politician who
survived dioxin poisoning while forcing out Ukraine's pro-Russian government
last year, was bestowed Tuesday with this year's John F. Kennedy Profile in
Courage Award. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy praised Yushchenko's personal
courage and said he has inspired those struggling for democracy across
the globe.

The award, given in a ceremony in Boston, comes a little more than two
months after Yushchenko took office riding the crest of a popular uprising
during which masses of supporters camped out in the Ukrainian capital,
claiming that a Kremlin-backed candidate stole a disputed election.
The government was forced to allow a second vote, which Yushchenko won.

After the election, Yushchenko claimed the Russian-backed regime of his
predecessor, Leonid Kuchma, had tried to assassinate him. Yushchenko
suffered near-fatal poisoning during last fall's presidential election,
which left his once-smooth face sallow and pocked.

"At a critical moment in his nation's history, he took a strong and
courageous stand for what he knew was right. He risked his life, and nearly
lost it, in the ongoing struggle for democracy in Ukraine," Kennedy said.

The illness took Yushchenko off the campaign trail. For months, he suffered
from liver and pancreas troubles and severe back pain. Last week,
Yushchenko said investigators are closing in on those responsible for the
poisoning.

"I could not calmly watch as the hopes of her citizens were replaced by
disillusion, as millions of people were forced to look for work abroad, as
oligarchical clans stole the national wealth," he said Tuesday, speaking
through a translator. "With every cell of my body, I felt that millions of
honest people were behind me, that we could win, that we would
undoubtedly win."

Caroline Kennedy, president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
and daughter of the former president, praised Yushchenko's faith in the
Ukrainian people. "For those of us who are free, he has reminded us that
we can never take our freedom for granted," she said. "And for people with
no voice in their own government, President Yushchenko and the Ukrainian
people have given them hope."

Before accepting the award Tuesday, Yushchenko went to Shriners Hospital
to visit 5-year-old Nastya Ovchar, who became a hero in her country when
she saved her 2-year-old sister Lyuda from a fire in their home last month.
"Millions of people care very much that she recover," Yushchenko said.

Yushchenko is on a three-day trip to lobby for aid and investment, win
Washington's support for joining NATO, and greet Ukrainian-Americans. He
is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday.

The Profile in Courage award, named for President Kennedy's 1957 book
of the same name, is presented annually to public servants who have made
courageous decisions of conscience without regard for the consequences.
=============================================================
2. "YUSHCHENKO'S COURAGE"

EDITORIAL: by Boston Herald editorial staff
Boston Herald, Boston, Massachusetts, Tue, April 5, 2005

In the midst of winter, the sight of orange flags and banners and
handkerchiefs being waved in the streets of Kiev warmed the hearts of
freedom-loving Americans. Hope is a beautiful thing to watch as it
unfolds and takes hold of a people who understand its promise.

Today Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko will receive the John F.
Kennedy Profile in Courage Award in recognition of his leadership and
the calm and steady resolve that encouraged his own people and much
of the civilized world to demand a second - and honest - election. That
victory wasn't just Yushchenko's. It was a victory for his people and for
the rule of law.

"Our ideals are simple and eternal,'' Yushchenko said yesterday at the
White House. "We want democracy and freedom.''

But he also indicated that he realizes none of that will come easily. After
all, when the banners are tucked away and the "Orange Revolution'' is but
a memory, the tough job of governing and of transforming an economy
must be dealt with.

"The legacy we inherited is a very difficult one,'' Yushchenko said. "The
rule of law did not exist'' during the previous regime, "the number one
problem is corruption'' and poverty is also a ``huge problem.''

The Ukrainian president is here to lobby for aid, for investment and for
U.S. support in joining NATO. To prove his viability as a "strategic
partner,'' Yushchenko has engaged in some painful truth-telling - providing
information on the freedom-threatening misdeeds of his predecessor
Leonid Kuchma, including a body of evidence that the Kuchma regime
sold cruise missiles to Iran and to China and radar to Iraq.

Times change, leaders change and as President Bush [related, bio] said
yesterday in a joint news conference with Yushchenko, "freedom is
spreading.''

This year it spread to Ukraine in large part because of the courage and
the inspiration Viktor Yushchenko provided. It is an honor to have him
in our city. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://news.bostonherald.com/opinion/view.bg?articleid=76551
=============================================================
3. "DEMOCRACY'S HERO IN UKRAINE"

OP-ED: By John Shattuck, The Boston Globe
Boston, Massachusetts, Tue, April 5, 2005

FROM HIS prison cell on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela fired the hopes
of millions of South Africans that the chains of apartheid could be broken.
Three years after his release, Mandela was elected his country's first
postapartheid president. For more than a decade Vaclav Havel led a dissident
movement that challenged the moral authority of Czechoslovakia's Stalinist
regime. Then, in 1989, he emerged as the leader of the Velvet Revolution
and a year later became the Czechs' first democratically elected president
after more than half a century of fascist and Communist domination.

Modern heroes like Mandela and Havel are in short supply. So it is a cause
for celebration when another bursts onto the world stage. Last fall, Viktor
Yushchenko galvanized a democratic revolution in Ukraine, a country at the
heart of the former Soviet Union. Battling against enormous odds and at
great personal risk, Yushchenko confronted a corrupt and oppressive
oligarchy rooted deeply in the old Soviet system. Inspired by his courage,
millions of Ukrainians flocked to his cause and propelled him to victory in
an ''Orange Revolution" that recalled the Czechs' Velvet uprising 15 years
earlier.

What made Yushchenko a hero of democracy? A Soviet-trained economist,
he began his career as an accountant in provincial obscurity, emerging after
the collapse of the Soviet Union as an economic reformer and head of the
Ukrainian National Bank. He became prime minister in 1999. When his reform
policies began to threaten the power of the oligarchs, he was fired by the
president. Out of office, Yushchenko built Ukraine's first popular
democratic opposition movement, winning the largest bloc of seats in
parliamentary elections in 2002 and, a year later, beginning his drive for
the presidency.

During the campaign, the candidate became a profile in courage. Harassed
and blocked at every turn by state operatives intent on undermining his
political movement and destroying his personal credibility, Yushchenko
refused to be intimidated.

He was subjected to a steady stream of lies and distortions by the
government-controlled media, which refused to grant him access to defend
himself. His plane was denied landing privileges just before major campaign
events. Barriers went up to slow his ground travel. His car was forced off
the road. People working for him were arrested on false charges. And worst
of all, Yushchenko himself was the victim of a near-fatal poisoning by
dioxin which required him to be hospitalized for several crucial weeks two
months before the election and left him severely weakened and disfigured.

But this was just a prelude for what followed. When the old regime found it
could not terrorize Yushchenko into abandoning his campaign, it went into
overdrive to steal the election. International observers reported massive
fraud on election day, but state officials declared the regime's candidate,
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, to be the winner. Hundreds of thousands
of Yushchenko supporters filled the streets of Kiev for two weeks and
demanded a new election.

Yushchenko demonstrated his political courage by calming the protesters
and calling for a review of the fraud charges by the Ukrainian Parliament
and Supreme Court. He knew that pursuing this constitutional route might
make it more difficult to secure victory than simply by stirring up the
massive crowds, but he wanted to avoid the long-term instability that might
result from street-driven politics. As it turned out, Ukraine's national
institutions validated the findings of the international observers. A new
election was held, which Yushchenko won by a resounding margin of 52 to
44 percent of the vote, and on Jan. 11, he was sworn in as president.

Today, the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation honors Viktor Yushchenko with
its 2005 Profile in Courage Award. Announcing the award last month, Caroline
Kennedy, president of the Kennedy Library Foundation, cited the Ukrainian
leader's ''commitment to freedom and the democratic process as a powerful
example of how one person can truly make a difference." It can be a lonely
commitment, as John F. Kennedy wrote in his 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning
''Profiles in Courage": ''In whatever arena of life one may meet the
challenge of courage, whatever may be the sacrifices . . . each man must
decide for himself the course he will follow."

The course followed by Viktor Yushchenko, Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel,
and other courageous modern political leaders carries hope for democracy.
In Ukraine, South Africa, and the Czech Republic but also in Georgia,
Kyrgystan, Lebanon, and all the places where popular movements for freedom
are led by people of courage and conviction, democracy can take hold, not
imposed from the outside through the barrel of a gun, but engendered from
the inside through decisions of the people about which course to follow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Shattuck is CEO of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation. He served
as assistant secretary of state for democracy, human rights, and labor and
ambassador to the Czech Republic in the Clinton administration and is the
author of ''Freedom on Fire: Human Rights Wars and America's Response."
=============================================================
4. YOUNG BURN VICTIM GETS SPECIAL VISITOR
President of Ukraine Visits 5-Year-Old Hero

Jim Boyd Reports On Visit, The BostonChannel
NewsCenter 5, Boston, Massachusetts, April 5, 2005

BOSTON -- His ravaged face has become a profile in courage and at the
John F. Kennedy Library Tuesday, Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko
was honored for his bravery. On Tuesday, the president honored the
bravery of a young girl from his country. Last September, Yuschenko
was poisoned during the campaign, leaving his face forever scarred.

But, NewsCenter 5's Jim Boyd reported, before he received the John F.
Kennedy Profile in Courage Award, he visited with the family of Nastya
Ovchar, a 5-year-old girl from his homeland who is being treated for severe
burns at Boston's Shriner's Hospital. Nastya was burned over 85 percent of
her body while rescuing her sister from a house fire in Ukraine.

Through translator, Yuschenko said his country's medical facilities are not
equipped to treat such injuries. "Because our health care system can not
provide the adequate level of medical services and treatments to children
and people who have similar case like Nastya Ovchar has," he said.

Yuschenko said he is grateful to Shriner's for making it possible for Nastya
to be brought there for treatment. Boston doctors said the leader's visit
should provide a lift for the family, and someday to Nastya.

"I suspect that the child was not aware that he was there, but certainly her
mother was, and she will hear the stories later. If she does survive, I
think it would be a big benefit to her," said Dr. Rob Sheridan, of Shriner's
Hospital. Yuschenko said he would love to have the medical know-how
available at Shriner's for his own country.

"What I can see here, I would like to take in my hands and take back to
Ukraine -- together with the doctors," he said. Nastya is still in very
critical condition and will likely remain at the hospital for another three
months. She is being treated free of charge. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DONATE: Shriner's Hospital for Children/Boston
c/o Nastya Ovchar, Shriner's Burns Hospital
51 Blossom Street, Boston MA 02114
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/4350107/detail.html
=============================================================
5. "YUSHCHENKO IS MAN WITH A MISSION"

ANALYSIS: By Martin Sieff, UPI Senior News Analyst
UPI, Washington, DC, Monday, April 4, 2005

Washington, DC - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who got a hero's
welcome at the White House Monday, is a man with a mission, and he is in
hurry to accomplish it. The victor of Ukraine's dramatic winter election
and Orange Revolution is enjoying the dramatic launching of a
Washington-Kiev special relationship driven by the passionate vision he
shares with President George W. Bush.

For the leaders of the world's oldest democracy and one whose credentials
have just been dramatically confirmed in the events of November through
January, both share a driving commitment to advance democratic processes
and values around the world as quickly and widely as they can.

Both, for different reasons, are men in a hurry: Bush, because he has just
starting his second successive presidential term and, as he made clear in
his Second Inaugural address Jan. 20, he is determined to transform the
geopolitical map of the world through the spread of democratic values and
institutions within that short period of time.

Yushchenko, by contrast, is just at the start of his presidency, but he
knows he enjoys an unusually favorable constellation of circumstances at
home and around the former Soviet republics in the Commonwealth of
Independent States that could change for the worse against him down the
line.

In less than three months in office he has made clear he is determined to
use his prestige, power and influence not merely to strengthen Ukraine's
ties to the West and seek to establish its energy independence from Russia.
He has also been working flat out to spread democratic values and regimes in
the other former Soviet republics.

Yushchenko has made clear he wants to revive and transform GUAAM -- the
Georgia-Ukraine-Uzbekistan-Azerbiajan-Moldova -- grouping of five former
Soviet republics. And from the moment he entered office, he went out of his
way to create and publicly demonstrate his especially close relations with
President Mikhail Saakashvili of Georgia.

Saakashvili was the first foreign leader Yushchenko invited to Kiev to
celebrate his accession to power. And in late March, he was there again on
a state visit to discuss energy and transportation projects. The Georgian
president even brought along most of the members of his Cabinet to
discuss such issues as energy and transportation cooperation.

This was alike a red rag to a bull in Russian eyes, or perhaps, a rose
colored-flag, since Saakashvili, like Yushchenko himself, was the
beneficiary of a popular, non-violent protest revolution in Georgia in
November 2003 -- the Revolution of Roses. And since coming to power,
he has repeatedly infuriated the Kremlin with his expressed determination
to eventually bring Georgia, a remote republic in the Caucasus east of the
Black Sea, into NATO and to force Russia to finally evacuate its military
bases in his country.

Last month's Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan also reflected Yushchenko's
determination to spread Ukrainian and democratic influence even into remote
Central Asia.

As it unfolded, Yushchenko visited neighboring Turkmenistan and infuriated
his autocratic host, President Saparmurat Niyazov, by publicly calling for
the implementation of democratic values in the region during their joint
press conference in the Turkmen capital Ashgabat on March 23.

"Democracy, freedom or liberty are not just empty words for me and my
partners in the Ukrainian government coalition," Yushchenko said. "We will
defend the values in which we believe and for which we have struggled. I
want to be honest with my children and my nation. Maybe what counts most is
not just that some problems exist. What really matters is that there should
be a will to overcome them, and Ukraine has such a will."

Yushchenko's comments appeared to infuriate Niyazov. "We do not have
people arrested for political motives. There are several people, wanted
criminals, who stay abroad under the guise of refugees and spread filthy
rumors. Don't believe all that written rubbish," he said after their
meeting.

Ukraine is even spreading its democratizing influence into energy-rich
Azerbaijan on the border of Iran. Interfax news agency reported Feb. 7 the
Ukrainian Pora youth organization is trying to help the political opposition
in Azerbaijan that is challenging veteran President Gaidar Aliev in the
coming parliamentary elections there. The Pora organization campaigned for
Yushchenko during the long and disputed election campaign in Ukraine that
led to the Orange Revolution.

Although Yushchenko and his ministers have stressed to Russia they will not
seek to spread their Orange Revolution to Russia itself, the Ukrainian
president has even moved energetically to establish his own direct, personal
links with Russia's leading business tycoons. On March 14, he met with
around 20 top Russian business executives including the heads of Lukoil,
Vneshekonombank, Vneshtorgbank and AvtoVAZ.

"In terms of the number of participants and their rank, only the Kremlin has
previously convened such gatherings," analyst Igor Torbakov wrote for the
Eurasia Daily Monitor of the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation. And in
an interview March 18 with the Russian business newspaper Kommersant,
Yushchenko even declared, "I told them bluntly: I would do everything so
that you feel more comfortable in Ukraine than in Russia."

Torbakov continued, "Yushchenko has already asserted Ukrainian interests on
the issue seemingly dearest to (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's heart --
the formation of the Single Economic Space" led by Russia. Indeed, in an
interview with the Russian newspaper Vremya Novostei published March 17,
Yushchenko stressed that the SES agreements "should not block the road
towards (Ukraine's) full-blown membership of the European Union." "I won't
sign a single document that contradicts this principle," the Ukrainian
president added.

Yushchenko has hit the ground running. For him, it is more important to
establish new economic and strategic facts fast rather than worry about the
reactions they may set off. It is an approach that appears to have already
won him a friend and loyal ally in the White House. -30-
=============================================================
6. YUSHCHENKO THANKS UKRAINIANS HERE IN CHICAGO

By Abdon M. Pallasch, Staff Reporter
Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, Illinois, April 5, 2005

CHICAGO - The cheering crowd was dressed in orange Monday night, but it
wasn't for the Illini basketball team seeking a national championship.
It was for newly elected Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, who came
here to thank local Ukrainians for their support in helping him win office.

"I am happy to have the Chicago community giving most of their votes to me,"
he told a crowd that packed the grand ballroom of the Palmer House Hilton
during a speech sponsored by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations.

"I think the count was 99.6 percent of the votes," he said of the Chicago
area Ukrainians who voted for him. "The turnout was like it used to be when
we had the communists, although with the communists sometimes the turnout
was 102 percent," he joked.

TO INVESTIGATE CORRUPTION

The crowd shouted "Yushchenko, Yushchenko," and in Ukrainian chanted the
slogan of the Ukraine's Orange Revolution: "Together we are many and will
not be defeated." "I am particularly happy to have seen the Ukrainian
nation having arisen from its knees," Yushchenko told the crowd. "We are off
our knees because you were by us."

Earlier Monday Yushchenko met with President Bush in Washington, saying,
"Our ideals are simple and eternal. We want democracy and freedom." He said
ending corruption and easing poverty remain top priorities, and he asserted
that he was committed to nourishing the rule of law and human rights in his
country.

Yushchenko has promised a thorough investigation of corruption and misdeeds
that allegedly flourished during his predecessor's 10 years as president.

Bush said he understood Yushchenko's decision to pull Ukraine's 1,650 troops
out of Iraq. "The president made clear to me in my first conversation with
him that he campaigned on the idea of bringing some troops out; he's
fulfilling a campaign pledge. I fully understand that," Bush said. "But he
also said he's going to cooperate with the coalition in terms of further
withdrawals. And I appreciate that."

TRADE RESTRICTIONS REMAIN

Bush also said he would to support Ukraine's bid to join the World Trade
Organization by the end of this year and to seek to persuade Congress to
lift remaining trade restrictions on Ukraine that are a vestige of the Cold
War.

Yushchenko, 51, was sworn in as president of Ukraine Jan. 23 after a
fraudulent run-off vote was annulled by the country's supreme court in
December. Yushchenko was an accountant appointed in 1993 to head the
country's central bank. His performance there led to his appointment as
premier in 1999. When President Leonid Kuchma dismissed him after two
years, he joined the opposition where his popularity grew.

WIFE IS FROM CHICAGO

During the campaign, Yushchenko was poisoned with dioxin, disfiguring his
once handsome face with cloracne and causing him so much discomfort he
needed injections for pain directly into his spine on the campaign trail. He
attributes the poisoning to a dinner he had at the home of the No. 2
official of Ukraine's secret service. Yushchenko complained to him at the
dinner about government agents trailing him and his campaigners.

Ukrainians took to the streets after the government proclaimed that
Yushchenko had lost the Nov. 21 election last year. After the court threw
out the results of that election and ordered a new one in December,
Yushchenko narrowly won.

He has been married since 1998 to Kateryna Chumachenko, 43, a Chicago-
born former official of the Reagan administration who holds an MBA from
the University of Chicago. (Contributing: Art Golab, AP) -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-yushchenko05.html
=============================================================
7. UKRAINIAN LEADER GETS RED CARPET
Yushchenko's Chicago appearance draws long line of fans

By Alex Rodriguez and Mark Silva, Tribune correspondents.
Tribune staff reporter Russell Working contributed to this report
Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Illinois, Tue, April 5, 2005

CHICAGO - Making his first Chicago appearance since the popular uprising
that propelled him into the Ukrainian presidency, Viktor Yushchenko told a
crowd of local Ukrainians on Monday night that support from the city's
Ukrainian community helped buoy his country's march toward democracy.

"I am particularly happy that the Ukrainian nation has risen from its
knees," Yushchenko said during his appearance at the Palmer House Hilton,
organized by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations. Yushchenko added,
"We also rose from our knees because you were by us."

Scores of Chicago Ukrainians gathered outside the hotel, unable to get
tickets for the appearance, but hoping to catch a glimpse of Yushchenko.
Inside the hall, Yushchenko appeared onstage to chants of "Yush-chen-ko!
Yush-chen-ko!"--much the way thousands of demonstrators in Kiev greeted him
during the turmoil that preceded his ascent to power.

Yushchenko is on a three-day visit to the United States. His victory came
after massive rallies in Kiev last winter against his Kremlin-backed
opponent's initial victory, which later was overturned by Ukraine's supreme
court on charges of widespread election fraud.

Yushchenko's brief visit in Chicago will include a Tuesday breakfast with
Chicago business executives. His wife, Kateryna Chumachenko Yushchenko,
will speak Tuesday at the University of Chicago, her alma mater. Ukrainians
in the city tried desperately to land tickets to the Council on Foreign
Relations speech, said John Horodecki, president of Chicago's Ukrainian
American Club.

CATCHING A GLIMPSE

Olga Collin of Deerfield, a Ukrainian immigrant, showed up at the event but
couldn't get in because she lacked a ticket. She comes from a
Russian-speaking area of southern Ukraine, and some of those walking in to
hear Yushchenko gave her odd looks when they heard her speaking Russian,
she said. Ethnic Russians formed the majority of support for Viktor
Yanukovich, Yushchenko's opponent in the election.

But, she said, "I'm a Russian speaker and I voted for Yushchenko. It was the
first time in my life I felt compelled to vote for someone."

Chicago-area resident Ivanka Gajecky worked as an observer during the
election rerun in December, and she found herself identifying with Kateryna
Chumachenko Yushchenko, the president's wife. "It's really cool that she's
from Chicago and has the same background," Gajecky said. "I did the same
thing as she did growing up. I had two lives: Monday through Friday going to
regular school, and then on the weekend we went to Ukrainian school."

Some in the crowd wore traditional Ukrainian outfits, and nearly everyone
wore orange. The line of people waiting to get in wound through a hall where
a choir from St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral School was getting
ready to welcome the president. They rehearsed a song from Yushchenko's
campaign.

Since his inauguration Jan. 23, Yushchenko has set his nation of 48 million
on a path toward integration with Europe and a strong, strategic partnership
with the Bush administration. He is pursuing Ukraine's membership in the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union and the World Trade
Organization.

But he also has sought a balance between forging a pro-West policy and
maintaining healthy ties with Russia, which remains Ukraine's largest trade
partner and main energy supplier. His first foreign visit after his
inauguration was to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Putin reciprocated by visiting Kiev last month, signaling a willingness to
work with Yushchenko despite Ukraine's push to integrate with Europe.

MEETING WITH BUSH

Before flying to Chicago, Yushchenko stopped in Washington for a White
House lunch with President Bush, who pledged to help Ukraine become
a WTO member and voiced support for Ukraine's membership in NATO.
"There is a way forward in order to become a partner of the United States
and other nations in NATO," Bush said. "We want to help Ukraine get on
that path as quickly as possible.

"It is not a given," Bush added. "There are things that the Ukrainian
government must do in order to satisfy the requirements to be considered
for NATO. And we want to help. . . . I'm a supporter of the idea of Ukraine
becoming a member of NATO."

Yushchenko will address a joint session of Congress on Wednesday. Bush
is asking Congress to appropriate $60 million for the development of
Ukraine's democratic institutions.

Ukraine is among the American allies that have provided military forces in
Iraq, with about 1,650 troops stationed there. But Ukraine, like other
European nations, is starting to withdraw its forces. For Yushchenko, this
withdrawal is a matter of fulfilling a campaign promise to a Ukrainian
public that deeply opposed the deployment of troops in Iraq.

"The president made clear to me in my first conversation with him that . . .
he campaigned on the idea of bringing some troops out," Bush said. "He's
fulfilling a campaign pledge--I fully understand that. But he also has said
that he's going to cooperate with the coalition, in terms of further
withdrawals, and I appreciate that." -30-
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LINK: http://www.chicagotribune.com
=============================================================
8. GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY AWARDS PRESIDENT'S MEDAL
TO UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO

Georgetown University, Washington, D.C.
Wednesday, April 6, 2005

Washington, D.C. - Georgetown University presented His Excellency Victor
Yushchenko, President of Ukraine, with the University's President's Medal,
in honor of his courageous stand on behalf of free and fair elections and
commitment to the path of democratic reform. President Yushchenko received
the medal yesterday after an address to the Georgetown community.

"President Yushchenko has demonstrated a clear commitment to fostering
democracy and freedom for the people of Ukraine," said Georgetown University
President John J. DeGioia. "We are honored to welcome him to Georgetown
and to present him with the President's Medal for his brave and steadfast
actions."

President Yushchenko was born in northeastern Ukraine, the son of a
schoolteacher. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from Ternopil and Economic
Institute and began his career in accounting. He then served in the Soviet
Army, and later worked as an economist with Ukraine's national bank. He was
named chairman of the board and president of the bank in 1993 and in the
years of post-Soviet control, his monetary policy and introduction of the
nation's first currency helped to stabilize the economy.

In 1999, President Yushchenko was appointed Prime Minister of Ukraine by
then President Leonid Kuchma and embarked on an anti-corruption crusade.
Two years later he was voted out of parliament by his opposition, provoking
thousands of Ukrainians to rally in protest. He then served as director of
the Boris Yeltsin Ukrainian-Russian Institute of Management and Business.

In 2002, President Yushchenko became the leader of the "Our Ukraine"
political coalition and a member of the Parliamentary Committee on human
rights, national minorities and inter-ethnic relations. Two years later he
challenged Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich for the Ukraine presidency and
the bitterly contested campaign culminated in a historic showdown in
Independence Square. On January 23, 2005, Victor Yushchenko was
inaugurated as the President of Ukraine.

President Yushchenko is married to Kateryna Yushchenko (SFS '83 ). The
couple has five children and two grandchildren.

The Georgetown University President's Medal was established in 1968 and
is awarded by the president of the university with the consent of the chair
of the board of directors to persons for meritorious service and for
dedication to the goals and objectives of the University. In the past it has
been presented to Carey International Chairman and CEO Vincent A.
Wolfington, Ambassador Tony Hall, American Ambassador to Holy See
James Nicholson, Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai, Archbishop
Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo, President of the Philippines. -30-
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Georgetown University is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit university in
America, founded in 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. Georgetown today is a
major student-centered, international, research university offering
respected undergraduate, graduate and professional programs on its three
campuses. For more information about Georgetown University, visit
www.georgetown.edu. Contact: Andrea Sarubbi, 202-687-4328,
aes54@georgetown.edu
=============================================================
9. UKRAINE: IS KYIV SET TO BECOME A CLOSE U.S. ALLY?

By Valentinas Mite, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, April 5, 2005

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko on Tuesday continued his official
visit to the United States. The new Ukrainian leader has already held talks
with U.S. President George W. Bush, and is due to meet over the next several
days with Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. On Wednesday, Yushchenko is
scheduled to address both houses of Congress, and honor reserved only
for America's closest allies? Just how close are the U.S. and Ukraine
getting?

PRAGUE- It was no doubt a disappointment for Washington when Kyiv opted
to pull its troops out of Iraq. But relations between the United States and
the new Ukraine administration appear to be improving rapidly.

Stuart Hensel of the Economist Intelligence Unit notes that former President
Leonid Kuchma was in charge when Ukraine decided to send troops into Iraq --
but it was not enough to ingratiate himself with the United States.

"Mr. Kuchma was never in a strong enough position to ever get an invitation
to come to the White House," Hensel says. "Given the scandals that arose
during his second term, even sending troops to Iraq was not enough for Mr.
Bush to actually invite him to come to visit Washington, D.C."

Kuchma sent 1,600 troops to Iraq, making it the fourth-largest contributor
to the U.S.-led campaign. But ties between Washington and Kyiv cooled after
allegations that Ukraine had supplied radar systems to Saddam Hussein's
Iraqi regime in 2000. Mr. Kuchma was never in a strong enough position to
ever get an invitation to come to the White House."

Hensel says Ukraine's new westward-looking policy has done much to foster
closer ties between Washington and Kyiv. During talks yesterday, Bush
promised to help Ukraine move closer to the West.

The U.S. president backed Ukraine's ambitions of joining NATO and the World
Trade Organization (WTO). He also vowed to lift the Jackson-Vanik trade
restrictions that were first imposed on the Soviet Union in 1974 and remain
active regarding some former Soviet republics.

Some analysts say it is still too early to predict how close U.S.-Ukrainian
ties will get. Igor Losev, a professor at Kyiv's Mohyla Academy, says
Ukraine has made clear its wish to become a close Washington ally. But he
says it remains to be seen whether Bush will deliver on the promises made
during his talks with Yushchenko.

"The moves [the United States] are taking are still rather modest," Losev
says. "We will see if the Jackson-Vanik amendment that applies to Ukraine
will be lifted. We still have to see if Ukraine will be recognized as a
country with a functioning market economy and if the United States will help
Ukraine to join the World Trade Organization."

Losev also cautions that stronger ties with Ukraine could damage U.S.
relations with Russia. Washington might not be willing to risk colder ties
with Moscow for the sake of honoring obligations to Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials might have some doubts of their own about a U.S.
partnership. Many Ukrainians harbor an ambiguous attitude toward the United
States, and it could be hard for Yushchenko to convince his public of the
benefits of a new U.S. friendship.

Oleksandr Sushko is the director of the Center for Peace, Conversion and
Foreign Policy, a Kyiv-based research center. "The broader public has some
kind of suspicion towards the USA, which they see as a superpower that
meddles in the political life of many regions of the world," Sushko says.

Sushko says this opinion is enhanced by the stereotypes remaining from the
Soviet past, when the United States was considered an imperialist enemy. In
many instances, he says, Ukrainians still prefer closer ties with Russia.
"Russia is an old partner and a country with whom we have very close, old
ties," Sushko says. "America is something very far away -- something that is
very often difficult to understand."

Still, Sushko says, anti-American sentiment is not particularly virulent in
Ukraine. He says Ukrainians maintain much the same skepticism toward the
U.S. as their European neighbors to the west. -30-
=============================================================
10. YUSHCHENKO'S WARM US WELCOME

By Jonathan Beale, BBC State Department correspondent
Washington, D.C., BBC NEWS, UK, Tuesday, April 5, 2005

WASHINGTON - Washington has rolled out the red carpet for Viktor
Yushchenko. Few leaders are received with such warmth or given such
high-level access.

The Ukrainian president has already had talks with President George W
Bush and over the next few days he will meet Vice President Dick Cheney,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld.

On Wednesday he addresses both houses of Congress. It is an honour
reserved for only America's closest allies. In that Viktor Yushchenko joins
a small but revered group that includes British Prime Minister Tony Blair
and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai.

So why all the fuss for a leader of a former Soviet Republic? Well, quite
simply, Viktor Yushchenko and his rise to power - in the bloodless "Orange
Revolution" - symbolises the hopes of President Bush's foreign policy
agenda. He is the living example - often cited by Mr Bush - of the world's
desire for democracy and freedom.

Or in the president's own words when he welcomed Viktor Yushchenko to
the White House: "You are an inspiration to all who love liberty...an
example of democracy for people around the world."

AWKWARD IRAQ ISSUE

Yet despite being the new darling of the Republican Party, Viktor Yushchenko
has made clear his independence. Ukraine has contributed around 1,600
troops to the coalition in Iraq. Mr Yushchenko is keeping his promise to the
Ukrainian people to pull them out.

The White House has done its best to hide any disappointment - just as it
has with another key ally, Italy. Instead President Bush has paid tribute to
Ukraine's efforts in Iraq and says that he "understands" Mr Yushchenko's
decision.

Mr Yushchenko shows no sign of changing his mind, saying that "the Ukrainian
contingent has demonstrated its peace keeping commitment in a very
effective manner". In other words, he is leaving Iraq with a clear
conscience.

FUTURE FAVOURS

Even if the US feels let down on Iraq, it will still support Ukraine's
efforts to tackle corruption and introduce political and economic reform.
You don't have to choose between the EU and friendship with the United
States

President Bush has pledged $60m to the Ukraine - not a vast sum of money,
but a sign at least of its continuing commitment. The United States is
supporting Ukraine's membership of the World Trade Organisation and
Nato - though President Bush warned that membership of the North Atlantic
organisation was "not a given".

As for President Yushchenko's attempts to join the European Union, Mr Bush
said that America would not stand in the way: "You don't have to choose
between the EU and friendship with the United States ... You can be both a
member of the EU and a friend of the United States."

But the US does expect the new Ukraine government to clamp down on illegal
arms exports in return. The White House says that Mr Yushchenko's ministers
are acting in a responsible manner to investigate the sale of strategic
cruise missiles to Iran and China during the rule of the ousted leader,
President Leonid Kuchma.

FUTURE RELATIONSHIP

President Yushchenko is unlikely to let this week's adulation in Washington
go to his head. He has already shown pragmatism in his dealings with a
potentially hostile Russia and his desire for membership of the European
Union. He is not just reaching out to America for help.

And although the Ukrainian president has proved a useful ally to the United
States, President Bush is now looking to the Middle East and Syria to bear
the next fruit of his push for freedom. President Yushchenko's week in
Washington may mark the high point of this relationship. -30-
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4410955.stm
=============================================================
11. LESYA UKRAINKA NATIONAL ACADEMIC THEATRE COMPANY
A Strange, Unusual & Costly Advertisement

THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT
Washington, D.C., Wed, April 6, 2005

WASHINGTON - A very strange, unusual and costly one-half page
advertisement appeared In The Washington Post on Monday, April
4, 2005. The ad said it was from the Lesya Ukrainka National
Academic Theatre Company in Kyiv, Ukraine (see ad below).

According to a reliable source who called The Washington Post
an ad of this size costs almost $50,000. Exactly who paid this
amount of money for the ad? Why did someone do this? What
Washington based public relations, or lobbying or law firm
prepared and placed the ad with The Washington Post? What
is the exact story behind this ad? What is going on here? Was
the ad placed to embarrass Ukraine's president Viktor Yushchenko
while he was in Washington?

If you know anything about this matter and can shed some light
on this strange, unusual and costly advertisement please send
us an e-mail to morganw@patriot.net. -30-
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Letter to Mr. Victor Yushchenko President of Ukraine
From the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theatre Company
Kyiv, Ukraine, Sunday, March 27, 2005
Letter published in a one-half page ad in Ukrainian & English
The Washington Post, Washington, D.C., Mon, April 4, 2005, P. A18

Mr. VICTOR YUSHCHENKO,
PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE

Kyiv, Ukraine, March 27, 2005

Mr. President,

Today, on the day of the International Theatre Day, we appeal to you on
behalf of the Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theatre Company. We
feel we have no other choice but to appeal to you directly because of
the very serious situation which our theatre is facing.

For more than ten years our theatre has been directed by Mr. Mikhail
Reznikovich, a well-known director who has received state awards and
who is also a professor and academic. During recent presidential
elections in Ukraine, Mr. Reznikovich supported your rival, the runner-
up for President.

We were appalled to find out that the General Prosecutor's Office
launched an investigation into our theatre right after the presidential
elections were over. Never, not even during Soviet times when KGB
control was widespread, did we experience such an attack on the life
of our theatre. This appears even more shocking considering the
democratic reforms that you have promised in Ukraine.

Mr. President, it takes a great deal to create a living theatre. Mr.
Reznikovich and his fellow-actors have been creating our theatre for
many years.

But it is very easy to destroy a theatre. All it takes is to fire a
director and appoint another.

The last thing we want is to believe that the events around the Lesya
Ukrainka are the result of a campaign of political prosecution of our
director. But regrettably it is increasingly looking so.

We therefore appeal to you not to allow our theatre to be destroyed.

Kind regards,

Lesya Ukrainka National Academic Theatre Company:

D. V. Babeav V. P. Aldoshin
B. L. Voznuk N. K. Dolya
I. M. Duka V. P. Zaitsev
O. M. Getmanskiy K. G. Kashlikov
L. V. Kadochnikova N. I. Kudria
O. Z. Smolyarova N. G. Nizharadze
L. G. Yaremchuk O. V. Kulchitska
V. M. Shestopalov D. V. Savchdenko
V. V. Saraikin
And other 50 signatures
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Senior Advisor; Ukrainian Federation of America (UFA)
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