"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
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 - AUR" - Number 522
Mr. E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
morganw@patriot.net, ArtUkraine.com@starpower.net
Washington, D.C. and Kyiv, Ukraine, WEDNESDAY, July 13, 2005
------INDEX OF ARTICLES------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. "TRUE COLORS"
Support for Ukraine from the people of Sweden
Natural for Ukraine to become full member of the EU
Europe needs Ukraine as much as Ukraine needs Europe
COMMENTARY: By Anna Ibrisagic, Member
The European Parliament from Sweden
TechCentralStation Online
Washington, D,C. Thu, July 14, 2005
2. COUNTRY OF NOMINAL OWNERS
The agrarian reform in Ukraine is one-third complete
Ukraine still lacks a strategy for agrarian development.
ANALYSIS: Petro Izhyk, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #23,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
3. UKRAINE INVESTORS WARY AS PROGRESS IS SLOW
By Helen Fawkes in Kiev, BBC Business News
BBC, United Kingdom, Mon, July 11, 2005
4. WTO LIGHT AT THE END OF UKRAINE'S TUNNEL
WTO's 148 members represent 97% of the world's trade turnover
Including over 95% of the foodstuffs sold around the world
ANALYSIS: By Vitaly Kniazhansky, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #23
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
5. DID UKRAINIAN COMMUNISTS START MAJOR WTO FIGHT IN
PARLIAMENT AT THE COMMAND OF MOSCOW?
Ukrayinska Pravda, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
6. YUSHCHENKO MUST PREVAIL
A fight for the future: Yushchenko vs. the Communists
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR
FROM: Cliff Downen, Arlington, Virginia
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 2:10 PM
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), No. 522
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 13, 2005
7. SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITIES
O'Donnell: "Ukraine is losing billions of dollars in potential investments"
Interview with Francis O'Donnell, Permanent Representative
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine
Compiled by Serhiy Hordiyenko, The Day, #23
The Day Weekly Digest in English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
8. UKRAINIAN MINISTER OF ECONOMY SERHII TERIOKHIN FORECASTS
ACTIVE TALKS WITH US ON WTO AND WITH EU ON MARKET
ECONOMY STATUS IN SEPTEMBER
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
9. UKRAINE PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO VISITS AUSTRIA
TO GATHER SUPPORT FOR EUROPEAN UNION BID
Announces visa requirements for citizens of Canada
and Japan would soon be lifted
Associated Press (AP), Vienna, Austria, Tue, July 12, 2005
10. U.S. ELIMINATES VISA ISSUANCE FEES FOR UKRAINIANS
United States Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 8, 2005
11. UKRAINE ASKS THE UNITED STATES TO ASSIST IN OBTAINING
MAJOR MELNYCHENKO'S ORIGINAL RECORDS AND EQUIPMENT
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
12. UKRAINE COURT SEIZES CONTROL OF METAL FACTORY FROM
EX-PRESIDENT KUCHMA'S SON-IN-LAW VIKTOR PINCHUK
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
13. TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL WANTS IRAN TO SHIP ITS NATURAL
GAS TO EUROPE VIA UKRAINIAN PIPELINES
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
14. KRAFT FOODS UKRAINE HAS BUILT A COFFEE
PACKING FACTORY IN KYIV REGION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 12, 2005
15. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THE UKRAINE GOVERNMENT CANNOT
FIND A PLACE FOR THE HOLODOMOR MEMORIAL
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: From Eugenia Dallas
Subject: Holodomor Memorial Museum Complex
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 522
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 13, 2005
16. PRESIDENT HONORS MEMORY OF UKRAINIAN COSSACKS
IN VIENNA; MEETS REPRESENTATIVES OF UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY
Monument in commemoration of 320th anniversary of liberation of Vienna
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 12, 2005
17. UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL CROSS TO UKRAINIAN VICTIMS IN
1937 MASS EXECUTION IN SANDERMOCH
UWC Newsletter, No. 7 (23)
Ukrainian World Congress (UWC)
Toronto, New York City, July 2005
18. INTERVIEW WITH LUBOMYR HUZAR, ARCHBISHOP AND CARDINAL
LUBOMYR HUZAR, HEAD OF THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH
Power, conflicts, history, church problems, canons, religious education
Interview with Lubomyr Huzar, Archbishop and Cardinal
Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Interviewed by Klara Gudzyuk, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #23
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
19. BEWARE.......PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
Letter regarding the giving of 'Hero' awards to Yanukovych "cronies'
Open Letter to His Excellency Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko
Presidential Election Observers and all dedicated Ukrainians
From: Natalie Lenstra, Canadian Election Observer
Three times during Ukraine's Presidential Election 2004
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 522
Washington, D.C., Wed, July 13, 2005
=============================================================
1. TRUE COLORS
Support for Ukraine from the people of Sweden
Natural for Ukraine to become full member of the EU
Europe needs Ukraine as much as Ukraine needs Europe
COMMENTARY: By Anna Ibrisagic
Member of the European Parliament from Sweden
TechCentralStation Online
Washington, D,C. Thu, July 14, 2005
Two hundred years ago King Karl XII of Sweden fought together with the
Cossack hetman (leader) Ivan Mazepa for the independence of Ukraine
from Russia. Unfortunately they were not very successful, but it is still
true that the Ukrainian flag has its colors, blue and yellow, from the
banner of Karl XII.
Today, Ukraine is an independent nation. Two centuries of oppression have
come to an end. The color of the Ukrainian democratic revolution was orange,
not blue and yellow, but the joy people in Sweden and all over Europe felt
when watching the crowds gather on Kiev's Independence Square was
overwhelming. Finally, one of the largest and most populous countries in
Europe would be given an opportunity to experience true freedom and
democracy.
In the European Parliament we were keen to show our support for the
Ukrainian freedom movement and for President Viktor Yushchenko. The
tabling of resolutions cannot be compared with the bravery showed by those
Ukrainians demonstrating in Kiev, but I think what we and other politicians
in Europe did actually made a difference. Russian President Vladimir Putin
did not dare challenge such a unified public opinion in the European Union.
The Orange Revolution took place just a few months ago, but already many
seem to have forgotten it. However, our responsibility did not end there. We
encouraged the Ukrainians to seek freedom and to finally end Russian
interference in Ukrainian politics. Now we have to show them that Europe
can also be a partner to rely on. Europe must be there also when it is not
fashionable for EU politicians to wear orange scarves or desperately try to
get a photo opportunity with Viktor Yushchenko.
Ukraine is a part of Europe, Ukraine shares a long history and has deep
cultural ties with other European countries -- Sweden, as mentioned before,
but foremost Poland, now one of the most important member states of the
European Union. Therefore it is only natural that Ukraine in the future
becomes a full member of the EU. Europe needs Ukraine as much as
Ukraine needs Europe.
Of course, the road to membership will not be an easy one. There are many
obstacles. Ukraine is in need of economic reforms and the young Ukrainian
democracy must be given time to mature. But, we should begin by
establishing the end goal, then deal with challenges ahead, just as we did a
few years back when ten other new democracies of Central and Eastern
Europe knocked on our door.
The process of accession for eight of those countries was not without
complications, but now they are full members. Soon two more, Romania and
Bulgaria, will join the EU. There will always be those who would prefer to
keep the European Union an exclusive club, but we have more to gain from
including new eager members than from excluding them.
Opening borders for trade and movement is the first step towards a Ukrainian
membership of the European Union. We should not treat Ukraine and the
Ukrainians as a potential burden, waiting for subsidies; we should let free
trade do for Ukraine what it has already done for other dynamic, liberal
market nations of Central and Eastern Europe.
The Ukrainians, until now dependent on trade with Russia, want to face west
and we should let them do so. If we help Ukraine to introduce Estonian or
Polish style economic reforms, it will not be long before Ukraine is ready
to join the EU.
Russia tends to regard Ukraine as its back yard, but the Ukrainians have
sent a very clear signal to Moscow; they want freedom and independence,
and they will not accept being bullied around. It is likely Ukraine will
become a member of NATO before it joins the EU and this is something
that should be encouraged.
Ukraine must look to its security and should be allowed to share
responsibility for the security of our continent. In Iraq Ukrainian troops
showed their country can be more than just a Russian poodle.
We should continue to embrace Ukraine, just as we did during the peaceful
revolution on Independence Square. The current crises among EU leaders
will soon be forgotten and in a few years' time Ukraine should be able to
join the ranks of countries negotiating a membership of the European
Union.
It would be a historic mistake to leave Ukraine and freedom-loving
Ukrainians out. We have a responsibility to care for the outcome of the
Orange Revolution. -30- [Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The author is a Member of the European Parliament from Sweden.
She serves on the assembly's Committee on Foreign Affairs.
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LINK: http://www.techcentralstation.com/071305E.html
=============================================================
2. COUNTRY OF NOMINAL OWNERS
The agrarian reform in Ukraine is one-third complete
Ukraine still lacks a strategy for agrarian development.
ANALYSIS: Petro Izhyk, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #23,
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
No one doubts the need to integrate Ukrainian agriculture into world
agrarian production, as evidenced by an international agrarian integration
conference recently held in Kyiv. However, attendees had to concentrate
mostly on how to implement this integration with the least possible losses
to domestic producers.
No matter what is said about the advantages of Ukraine's membership in the
WTO and EU, there are still big risks involved in the transition period.
Ukrainian farmers must brace themselves for the WTO regulations that are
seldom favorable for new members. This is especially true of the domestic
agrarian market, which is less protected under the circumstances.
Today 95% of its current produce originates from Ukraine, but if and when
this country is admitted to the WTO, this share will inevitably go down
considerably. Other countries that have succeeded in finding WTO market
niches cannot serve as examples worthy of complete emulation. Ukraine has
different starting possibilities. "No other country has shown such glaring
deviations from economic laws as Ukraine," says Petro Sabluk, director of
the Institute of Agrarian Economics. And the negative consequences have
yet to be overcome.
A constant refrain at the conference was the idea that a full- scale
integration of the Ukrainian agrarian sector into Europe is impossible
without regulating the land issue. Speakers emphasized that Ukraine, with
all that precious chornozem black topsoil, should become a dynamic world
market operator, but this requires solid and legally protected landowners.
"The land-sharing project hasn't been completed, so farmers are merely
nominal owners of their plots. Neither domestic nor foreign investors will
want to do business with such bogus landowners," says Yuriy
Shemshuchenko, director of the National Academy's Koretsky Institute of
State and Law.
According to Mr. Sabluk, many farmers are abandoning their plots of land,
never having taken full possession of them; they leave Ukraine looking for
better paid jobs abroad. Ivan Tomych, chairman of the Verkhovna Rada's
Committee on the Agroindustrial Complex and Land Relations, is more
optimistic; he is placing big hopes on the passage of the land market bill
in parliament, although he predicts this won't be easy.
After all, the Ukrainian agrarian sector isn't used to having good laws
enacted; the trouble is that good intentions often remain unrealized.
Regrettably, most such bills are prepared and enacted without the input of
experts, meaning that they aren't good enough a priori, and it's easy to
predict that they won't be adequately implemented, says Vitaliy Semchyk,
chief research fellow of the Koretsky Institute.
He adds: "Later we'll be hearing that there is no mechanism for implementing
such laws. Yet every law must envisage this mechanism. Otherwise this law is
only a declaration and it requires a number of other laws to help implement
it. This is true of most laws relating to the countryside. This is what
happened to the land code, which requires 30 additional bills. This explains
why it will take so long to push it through.
Because such "agrarian" laws are failing to reach all of the 29,600
populated rural areas, nothing has been done to create economic rules of
the game in the countryside."
Experts voiced a number of complaints about the implementation of a major
law concerning "priority socioeconomic development" in the countryside. Mr.
Semchyk says that "there are many good clauses supporting the countryside,"
but legally envisaged privileges are absent from the tax legislation,
meaning, of course, that they won't be reflected in the central budget
program.
Mr. Sabluk pointed out that the law in question introduces the notions of
"nominal price" and "maximum price" with regard to farm products, yet the
stated price-setting pattern is practically never applied. Such legal
nihilism is intertwined with the low efficiency of implementing domestic
agrarian scientific developments. Mr. Sabluk's statistics show that only 30%
of the solid agrarian reform, developed and submitted by domestic experts
in 1994, has been carried out.
Mr. Tomych believes that the budgetary policy in the agrarian sector today
is marked by the good old approaches that fail to meet EU standards. The
sophisticated budget appropriation procedures run counter to the WTO
doctrine, which envisages a differentiation of state subsidies to villages
according to so- called boxes. Also, government support at this level is
obviously inadequate.
According to research conducted under the Program to Improve the Cost
of Living in the Ukrainian Countryside, the proportion of support to farmers
from the main "green box" in the structure of the state budgets in past
years has not exceeded 25%. Designed to help develop rural areas, these
measures totaled less than 4% of the central budget appropriations.
No appropriations are being disbursed for the development of rural
infrastructures. Likewise, privately owned farmsteads are left without state
protection, contrary to the legally established principle of equal
conditions for all business entities in the field.
Mr. Tomych says that an important component in the formation of
infrastructures is farmers' access to information about the fundamentals of
market economy: "Large producers are kept fully up to date; medium-sized
businesses are partially informed, and small businesses know next to
nothing." At the same time, such reforms can be effective, largely owing to
the right decisions being made by such business entities, depending on
how well they are informed.
These gaps should be bridged by special information services in the
countryside, especially since such services are envisaged by Ukrainian
legislation. However, setting up a nationwide network of such information
services has been postponed for two years, simply because the central
budget cannot afford it.
Mr. Tomych calls the current situation in parliament related to passing the
bills necessary to joining the WTO "complex" and "overly politicized," and
it is connected to next year's parliamentary elections.
However, MPs aren't the only ones responsible for these legislative
hardships. "The government cannot adequately provide for the passage of
bills in parliament related to the WTO," says Vira Nanivska, director of the
International Center for Future Studies, adding that this government lacks a
clear stand on the "worth of the question"; they don't know what Ukraine
stands to gain and lose, depending on various WTO membership options.
But this is not at all surprising, since, as agricultural specialists have
noted, this country, with one-third of the population engaged in the
agrarian sector, still lacks a strategy for agrarian development. Without it
the current government will remain dependent on the coming elections or
the WTO membership deadline. -30-
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LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/144861
=============================================================
3. UKRAINE INVESTORS WARY AS PROGRESS IS SLOW
By Helen Fawkes in Kiev, BBC Business News
BBC, United Kingdom, Mon, July 11, 2005
KIEV - Tourists in Kiev are still snapping up souvenirs from Ukraine's
Orange Revolution. The boom times are slow to arrive in Ukraine. T-
shirts, caps and key rings celebrating the mass opposition protests
last year continue to be sold from street stalls in the capital.
The demonstrations which swept the pro-European Viktor Yushchenko
to power also led to a rush of interest from western investors about the
potential of Ukraine. But the reality hasn't lived up to the hype.
Everyone is welcome ----------
More than six months on from the Orange Revolution, foreign investment
in Ukraine has only increased by 3%. "The desire is there to improve the
business climate, but achieving it will be a long and difficult process,"
says Christian Mol, executive vice president of International Retail at
Rabobank after a recent trip to Ukraine.
The government is urgently trying to attract western funding, which the
country needs if it is to meet its election pledge of raising living
standards. "An investor entering Ukraine should be looked after," says
President Yushchenko. "I have told the government many times, your
mission is like that of a doorman at a hotel or restaurant. You should
invite everyone walking down the street to the restaurant."
More is needed ----------
But the new leadership has left some people disappointed and others
confused about its commitment to business. People still want bribes
and sometimes feels likes the only objective of bureaucracy is to stifle
business.
Investors at a recent World Economic Forum conference in Kiev called
on Ukraine's new administration to use the momentum from the Orange
Revolution to quickly make the necessary changes.
"Ukraine's well-educated, highly-skilled workforce and low labour costs
provide an ideal environment for businesses to prosper," insists Silviu
Popovici, general manager of Coca-Cola Beverages, Ukraine. "This can
truly happen only if it's supported by strong implementation of political
and economic reform."
New rules ---------
Ukraine's Soviet legacy means that it will be a big task. Last week,
opposition deputies in Ukraine blocked a planned debate in parliament
on new laws that would pave the way for World Trade Organization
membership. Moreover, corruption is rife, bureaucracy is unwieldy and a
great deal of the economy is controlled by oligarchs.
"We would like to show that the rules of the game for investors have
changed in Ukraine," President Yushchenko told investors. "Foreign
business, from now on, will operate in accordance with the new rules of
transparency and stability, no longer burdened with excessive regulations."
But not everyone is convinced ----------
"Nothing has really changed," says Pete McAndrew, a westerner who
started investing in Ukraine two years ago. "People still want bribes and
sometimes it feels like the only objective of bureaucracy is to stifle
business."
Uncertain investors ----------
Since coming to power, the new authorities have been reviewing some of
the controversial privatisations of the past. Ukraine's largest steel works
were recently taken back into state ownership after the government said
the law was broken when it was sold and so it will be auctioned off again.
For months there has been talk about a list of other re-privatisation
targets, but now the president says there will be no list. This uncertainty
is harming Ukraine's investment prospects.
But it should not put people off, according to former US Congressman
John Conlan who links up foreign firms with Ukrainian companies. "This
is just a socially justified corrective measure," he says. "The authorities
are not going after business with western involvement."
Fantastic profit margins ----------
Ukraine has one of Europe's fastest growing economies. It occupies a
strategic position on the edge of the European Union while also bordering
Russia.
"We will definitely be keeping an eye on the market as there are bound to
be good opportunities," says Christian Mol, executive vice president of
international retail at Rabobank. "We are certain that the focus of Ukraine
is towards the west and greater democracy."
For the moment the risks are too high for many western investors, but for
some the rewards make it all worthwhile.
"Ukraine is risky but fun," quips Techinvest's Roman Kyzyk, insisting that
despite all the challenges encountered, there is no better place anywhere
today in the former Soviet Union for emerging markets investors.
Kiev businessman Pete McAndrew agrees. "It's so frustrating dealing
with all the problems, all the red tape, but for all that trouble we end up
with fantastic profit margins." -30-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4648029.stm
=============================================================
4. WTO LIGHT AT THE END OF UKRAINE'S TUNNEL
WTO's 148 members represent 97% of the world's trade turnover
Including over 95% of the foodstuffs sold around the world
ANALYSIS: By Vitaly Kniazhansky, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #23
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Last Wednesday the Verkhovna Rada, despite the hue and cry in parliament
that at times turned into hand-to-hand combat, still managed (key word here)
to pass several bills that will smooth the progress of our country's entry
into the World Trade Organization.
If and when Ukraine is granted WTO membership, other members of this
organization won't be able to apply non- tariff trade restrictions, nor will
they be in a position to commence antidumping proceedings against
Ukraine.
This may provide Ukrainian exporters with easier access to world markets.
The WTO currently numbers 148 member countries sharing 97% of the
world trade turnover, including over 95% foodstuffs sold all over the world.
Parliament first passed a bill widely known as the law on the protection of
intellectual property, which envisages criminal prosecution for the illegal
distribution of pirate CDs and matrices for laser reading systems,
possession of specialized equipment and raw materials for their production,
and licensing procedures not only for exporting and importing CDs but also
matrices and raw materials for manufacturing CDs and matrices.
Every 3-year license will be issued by the Ministry for Economics pending a
foreign trade contract or agreement. Impoundment procedures are being
formulated with regard to CDs, matrices, equipment, and raw materials if and
when they are found to have been produced or procured in violation of the
law. The licensing authority is entitled to seal or impound such CDs and
matrices if they are found to have been produced illegally.
At the same time, the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill in the first reading to
lift the ban on nonferrous metal exports and to impose an export duty. The
rate will be 50% of the customs value of all such products, as well as 30%
on zinc and tin scrap, but no less than a certain fixed sum in euros per one
kg of every type of metal.
Amendments were passed in the first reading to the law on export duties on
certain kinds of oil-bearing seeds. A 16% export duty (now set at 17%) will
be imposed on flax (ground or whole), of sunflower (ditto) and camelina
(littlepod false flax) seeds. As of January 1, 2007, the export duty on
these seeds will be reduced annually by between 1% and 10%.
The Verkhovna Rada couldn't pass the whole package of bills making
Ukraine's admission to WTO easier because of resistance from a number
of political forces in parliament. At the same time, experts believe that
what has been accomplished will allow a working group to consider
Ukraine's WTO membership. If it passes a positive decision at its sitting,
the next WTO conference in Hong Kong will have its final say on Ukraine.
Oleh Rybachuk, Deputy Premier for European Integration, is also optimistic
about Ukraine being admitted to WTO before the end of the year: "All the
laws don't have to be passed for the prospect of membership. Even this
one-plus-four standing has improved our chances by more than 50% to
have the question of Ukraine's entry placed on the agenda already by this
fall. We have crossed the Rubicon and this is clear."
Mr. Rybachuk also believes that the intellectual property protection bills
passed by the Verkhovna Rada will solve the problem of Ukraine's WTO
membership. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/144852
=============================================================
5. DID UKRAINIAN COMMUNISTS START MAJOR WTO FIGHT IN
PARLIAMENT AT THE COMMAND OF MOSCOW?
Ukrayinska Pravda, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
KYIV - The Ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs for Ukraine, deputy Serhiy
Osyka, thinks the communists blocked the tribune during the WTO law
debates at the order of Russia. "I consider them to work off a command
from Moscow", said Osyka, commenting upon the latest events in the
Parliament.
He explained that "lately Russia is very actively moving up to the WTO
and wants to enter this organization ahead of Ukraine this year". He cited
as an example Russia's consent to set import duty of chicken meat
to less than in Ukraine.
Osyka estimates equal chances of Ukraine and Russia to enter the WTO
provided Verkhovna Rada approves two bills which have not been voted
for yet. He speaks of the bills on the changes of the import duty of
agricultural products and export duty of the non-ferrous metals.
Osyka thinks the law on defence of intellectual property, approved the day
before, will speed up Ukraine's entry to the WTO.
According to the deputy, right after the law was passed, the Trade
Representative of the US began revising Ukraine's status of the country with
the most piracy in the world. Osyka was informed of the coming revision by
the US Ambassador in Ukraine and the US Ambassador in the WTO.
Deputy Osyka was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1993-1999 and was
engaged in the questions of the WTO entry. (Translated by Iryna Yakovyna)
=============================================================
6. YUSHCHENKO MUST PREVAIL
A fight for the future: Yushchenko vs. the Communists
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR
FROM: Cliff Downen, Arlington, Virginia
Sent: Friday, July 08, 2005 2:10 PM
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), No. 522
Washington, D.C., Wed, July 13, 2005
Morgan,
Its time for there to be a "sea of orange" outside the Verkhovna Rada
(VR) building. The issue has gone far beyond the package of laws
necessary for WTO ascension. Yushchenko's reputation and ability to
govern is on the line.
He must prevail and force through the draft laws in order to clearly
demonstrate that he is in charge and leading the country - not the "old
guard" obstructing Ukraine's westward march. Here and in the
Western Europe he needs to be spinning this to the press as a fight for
the future Yushchenko vs. the Communists.
Left to draw their own conclusions, I am afraid the American and Western
press are going to spin it to say that Yushchenko is not strong enough to
govern or, worse still, his government is incompetent.
The Rules of the VR provide for (or used to) removing deputies from the
Hall when they are disrupting the work of the chairman and the VR. If
necessary, police should remove the Communists from the Hall if they
attempt to further interrupt the proceedings. Enforce the rules!
Cliff Downen
Arlington, Virginia (cdownen01@comcast.net)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Cliff Downen worked in Ukraine for several years as
an advisor to the Verkhovna Rada. In 2004 he worked closely with
the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF) and help organize and lead
several delegations of former U.S. Congressmen and Senators to
Ukraine who served as international election observers during the
presidential election campaign. EDITOR
=============================================================
7. SQUANDERED OPPORTUNITIES
O'DONNELL: "Ukraine is losing billions of dollars in potential investments"
Interview with Francis O'Donnell, Permanent Representative
United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in Ukraine
Compiled by Serhiy Hordiyenko, The Day, #23
The Day Weekly Digest in English
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Most of the reasons behind foreign investors' wary attitude to Ukraine are
generally known: use of non-market methods, the reprivatization debates.
There is also the proverbial sword of Damocles hanging over the 2006
parliamentary elections, which is forcing the government to pretend that it
cares about ordinary Ukrainian citizens' interests, and to go through the
motions of fulfilling their campaign promises about bandits being kept
behind bars.
Such outwardly simple declarations have turned out to be difficult to
implement, particularly in view of the fundamental rules of international
law and investment risks. Domestic and foreign investors will have more
confidence in the current Ukrainian government and its bona fide cooperation
if the populist social budget appropriations are supported by the stated
liberal fiscal policy. A politically unaffiliated view from the sidelines is
always useful.
Mr. Francis O'DONNELL, permanent representative of the UN Development
Program (UNDP) in Ukraine answers some questions from The Day.
[THE DAY] Do you think that Ukraine has experienced fundamental changes
since the Orange Revolution?
F.O'D.: These changes are striking, especially with respect to freedom of
the press. Some changes are also obvious in your economy, but they are
controversial. The problem is that a number of Ukrainian businesses require
capital investments from various sources, including special economic
conditions. Similar agreements have been made, but these are rather
exceptions that the rules of investment.
Despite your government's constant declarations about quickly liberalizing
power-business relationships, I was personally amazed to learn that a great
many businesses have to endure inspections by a number of controlling
authorities, that there are some 150 kinds of licenses that must be obtained
in order to operate in a given line of business, and that all this is
covered by 1,300 legislative acts. No foreign investors or local businessmen
can function normally in this overregulated system.
[THE DAY] In other words, you're saying that Ukraine should cancel the
so-called law on the "regulatory guillotine" as soon as possible?
F.O'D.: You have to introduce across the board the long-awaited one-window
procedure for registering new businesses; overcome existing overregulation,
including price-setting; enact a law providing for financial security as an
inalienable component of protecting foreign investors' business interests;
introduce IFRS accounting standards, so that people can operate transparent
and legally controllable business in your country.
You must carry out the required tax reforms to improve Ukraine's long-term
competitive image and add to the budget return items. You should also
discard the practice of politically motivated administrative appointments.
The customs reform should be continued. Your government's performance
must be kept perfectly transparent and all its enactments freely accessible
to any citizen.
The government should form an independent commission to regulate business
and serve as a guarantor of all such enactments. This commission should be
composed of experts and observers representing other institutions to speed
up the process of passing decisions and strengthening their implementation.
This group of experts must be positioned on the highest level, in the
offices of the president and the prime minister.
[THE DAY] What do you think about the reprivatization debates in Ukraine?
F.O'D.: A number of investors were prepared to do business in Ukraine. Their
proposed investments represented millions of dollars, yet their enthusiasm
quickly waned after the sums were doubled or even further increased. Take
the reprivatization of Kryvorizhstal; here an attempt may have been made to
change the price, ranging from $1.6 to 2 billion - other sources point to $3
billion.
They first mentioned 3,000, and then there was a list of at least 29
privatized projects that were subject to revision. No one knows how many
such cases will crop up: 29, 150, or 3,000. The press has written a lot
about stopping privatization and nationalizing large enterprises, later to
be put up for re- sale. All this hearsay is like a cold shower for
investors.
You had excellent opportunities to develop the market during and after the
Orange Revolution, something other countries could only dream of. I'm
talking about the surge of world interest in Ukraine, something that never
happened before. For two months Ukraine remained on top of the world news;
everyone everywhere was following the presidential campaign. One might say
that Ukraine was in the center of an absolutely unprecedented world
promotional campaign.
Many countries have to pay millions, tens of millions for such publicity.
The result was a phenomenal global interest in Ukraine on the part of
investors, who were learning about your country not only from what they
were seeing on television, but also because they realized that the Orange
Revolution resulted in Ukraine being clearly on its way to European
integration, becoming integrated into international organizations.
Your country had embarked on a democratic road and there was also a
phenomenal growth in the people's expectations. And so any business project
in Ukraine seemed foolproof. Now it's possible to say that Ukraine has
squandered a unique opportunity to welcome an overwhelming investment
influx and to keep its economic growth during this transition period.
Yet the situation is largely reparable, and the roundtable showed that the
new Ukrainian government understands where they must be headed to score
an economic success. Turkey shows a 12% GDP increment. You can also
expect a considerable increase in your economic indices, even if the world
market is watching them go down, with China taking the lead.
Despite all this, Ukraine can increase its GDP by at least 8% this year,
maybe more depending on investments. Against this background all talk
about reprivatization sounds utterly stupid and absurd.
Some political gains could be achieved, but in return you would lose
potential investors. You've wasted five months and Ukraine is losing
billions in potential investments.
[THE DAY] How productive has the "investment rainfall" been in other
countries?
F.O'D.: Yes, let's compare. In Poland the average annual investment is $150
per capita, compared to less than $50 in Ukraine. Or take Serbia and
Montenegro. In the 1990s Serbia fought in the Balkan wars; nearly all of the
national structure was devastated, yet in 2003 its investments totaled $1.3
billion - and this with a population numbering 10 million.
Ukraine has five times more people, but there aren't any investments to
write home about, although experts believe that investments should amount
to at least $7-8 billion a year. In reality it's $1.0-1.5 billion. Don't
forget that Serbia got out of the armed conflict only several years ago, and
it hasn't totally recovered from that military campaign.
You have a peaceful country, which is a great asset; you have no conflicts
like what happened in the Balkans, and you also have great potential, high
technology, and engineering. Serbia doesn't have any of this, yet look at
its investment level. The Ukrainian economy might be suffering from a degree
of neglect; some of your technologies may be obsolete; there could be some
economic dysfunctions, corruption, but you don't have war devastation, you
have infrastructures and market potential.
Why are you slowing down the investment process? Our estimates show that a
country the size of Ukraine should have investments ranging between 10 and
12 billion dollars a year; instead all you have is losses.
[THE DAY] Is Ukraine paying attention to the opinions of international
experts?
F.O'D.: Your president, prime minister, and speaker appeared before a large
audience with a joint reprivatization memorandum that was adopted shortly
before the roundtable (the so- called mini-Davos meeting). It served as a
very positive signal for investors; it's safe to assume that there will be
no reprivatization based on the current legislation. The problem is the
existence of too many legal network controversies.
This fact has been noted by many, including your president and prime
minister. Your courts of law not only have to make rulings, but also have to
ensure that they are duly carried out. A number of investors have won cases,
but have never seen them actually implemented. They had to turn to
arbitration, but even if they won their cases, the whole thing took too much
time, money, and energy.
We've repeatedly told you that you don't have to invent a special Ukrainian
approach, meaning that you shouldn't ignore words of friendly advice. You
shouldn't refuse to learn from the experience of other countries.
Here is the most important piece of advice for your president: don't turn
away from a helping hand, accept our proposals, form your own opinion, which
is applicable to Ukraine; learn from the experience of other countries, even
if it's not by 100%, and then decide what can be useful for Ukraine, what
you wish to change in Ukraine, and then head in that direction.
The Blue Line Commission's recommendations entitled "Proposals for the
President" have been read by a number of Ukrainian dignitaries; some of them
have told us that it's an important document, and that most recommendations
are being heard. If you want to show quick progress in terms of reform, you
must leave the door open for dialogue.
A number of local administrations have begun consultations with the people.
But this is not enough because it's a process of consulting with ordinary
people, not with the world's leading experts. Although this kind of dialogue
isn't perfect, it is reform-oriented, meaning that it's also important. -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.day.kiev.ua/144850
=============================================================
8. UKRAINIAN MINISTER OF ECONOMY SERHII TERIOKHIN FORECASTS
ACTIVE TALKS WITH US ON WTO AND WITH EU ON MARKET
ECONOMY STATUS IN SEPTEMBER
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
KYIV - Economy Minister Serhii Teriokhin has forecast stepping up of talks
between Ukraine and the US on terms of Ukraine's accession to the WTO
and cancellation of sanctions levied by the US against Ukraine beginning
from mid-September.
The minister also predicts more active talks with the European Union on
granting Ukraine a full market economy status (in anti-dumping
investigations). Teriokhin made the statement to the press.
"Late in September, when business and political activity is stepped up in
Brussels and Washington, we will return to these issues with both sides,"
the minister said. He noted that now it is a period of vacations.
Teriokhin forecasts moving forward in talks with the US on Verkhovna
Rada's adoption of the law introducing criminal responsibility for violation
of the rules of export and import of laser discs and reduction of customs
duty on import of agricultural products.
He added that in talks with the EU on granting market economy status it was
necessary to explain the gist of memorandums on price coordination signed
between the government and producers.
According to Teriokhin, this has already been regulated, as the government
explained that such memorandums do not envisage any administrative or
political responsibility.
Taking into account WTO bills passed by the Verkhovna Rada, Teriokhin
forecasts that the issue of Ukraine's accession to the WTO will be debated
at a conference of WTO ministers in Hong Kong in December.
As Ukrainian News reported earlier, Economy Minister Serhii Teriokhin
forecast that the European Union will grant Ukraine the status of a country
with market economy during the Ukraine-European Union summit that will
take place in October.
Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Oleh Rybachuk predicts
that the United States will cancel its intellectual property sanctions
against Ukraine by the end of this year, following adoption by the Verkhovna
Rada of the law introducing criminal responsibility for violations in export
and import of laser discs.
In April 2001, the US government imposed prohibitive tariffs on
USD-75-million worth of imports from Ukraine because of its failure to enact
legislation to crack down on sound recording and optical media piracy.
On April 29 of this year, the US kept Ukraine on its Special 301 Report of
countries having problems with fulfillment of intellectual property rights
(IPR) and preserved trade sanctions with respect to Ukraine. Special 301
Report for 2005 lists a total of 52 countries or economies for IPR-related
problems.
Moreover, Ukraine is the only country designated a "priority foreign
country" (showing highest level of infringements) and remains subject to
trade sanctions. The US Trade Representative announced in May 2005 that
a Special 301 out-of-cycle review would be commenced in 2005 to monitor
Ukraine's progress in passing amendments to its optical media law.
The Special 301 Report (Article 301 of the US Trade Act) includes a list of
foreign countries that deny adequate and effective protection of
intellectual property rights. -30-
=============================================================
9. UKRAINE PRESIDENT VIKTOR YUSHCHENKO VISITS AUSTRIA
TO GATHER SUPPORT FOR EUROPEAN UNION BID
Announces visa requirements for citizens of Canada
and Japan would soon be lifted
Associated Press (AP), Vienna, Austria, Tue, July 12, 2005
VIENNA - Ukraine could apply for E.U. membership as early as next year,
but only if important political and economic reforms are met, the country's
president said Tuesday.
"I do not consider it impossible," President Viktor Yushchenko said when
asked by a reporter whether he would formally ask the European Union to
consider Ukrainian membership once Austria assumes the E.U.'s rotating
presidency next year.
But he suggested that no request would be made before the Ukrainian
leadership thought the country had advanced economically and politically
to the point where such a move would be taken seriously by the 25 E.U.
countries. "The application should (only) be made at the right time," he
said.
Yushchenko spoke after meeting with President Heinz Fischer and ahead
of talks with Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel on a trip focusing on Ukraine's
bid for early E.U. membership. "Europe's house is not complete if Ukraine
is not part of it," Yushchenko told Austrian state television ahead of his
talks, which also were dealing with ways to increase trade between the two
countries.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Fischer, Yushchenko tipped his hat to
Russia while emphasizing that his country's "strategic goal is integration
into the West."
"I'd like to emphasize ... that our policies are not directed against
anyone," he said, alluding to Russian fears that Ukraine's embrace of the
West could harm Moscow's interests. "We (also) have a strategic partner
in the East, Russia."
Yushchenko has claimed that the Russian-backed regime of his predecessor,
Leonid Kuchma, tried to assassinate him before last year's presidential
election. Yushchenko, then opposition leader, suffered near-fatal dioxin
poisoning during the campaign. He told Austrian TV that unnamed "powers"
were behind the poisoning but that he was prepared to let bygones be
bygones.
As an example of his country's efforts to retool society toward Western
standards, Yushchenko said his government had fired 18,000 senior civil
servants since he took office five months ago. "Many contributed to the
blossoming of corruption," he said.
He also announced that visa requirements for citizens of Canada and
Japan would soon be lifted. Americans and nationals of E.U. member
nations already can enter Ukraine without visas. -30-
=============================================================
10. U.S. ELIMINATES VISA ISSUANCE FEES FOR UKRAINIANS
United States Embassy, Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, July 8, 2005
KYIV - To better facilitate travel between Ukraine and the United States,
the United States has eliminated all nonimmigrant visa issuance fees for
Ukrainians. Ukrainian applicants for nonimmigrant visas will be charged
only the Congressionally-mandated $100 visa application fee, which
applies worldwide to all visa applicants.
This is one of many ways in which the United States is improving consular
services for the Ukrainian public.
· For example, every Wednesday from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m., travelers with a
recent, proven travel record to the U.S. can reapply for a nonimmigrant
visa on a walk-in basis without an appointment. See
http://www.usembassy.kiev.ua/visa_appointment_dropbox_eng.html for
instructions and further information on those who qualify for this expedited
processing.
· The U.S. government invested $180,000 to renovate the U.S. consular
building, nearly doubling and improving the public space. As a result,
nonimmigrant visa cases are processed more efficiently, and immigrant visa
applicants no longer need to travel to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw for their
visa interview. This is a great savings of time and money for Ukrainian
applicants.
· Via an easy-to-use, free on-line/e-mail appointment system, Ukrainian
applicants book their own nonimmigrant visa appointments for a specified
time slot at the next available opening, or a later date of their own
choosing. The Embassy provides expedited appointments for medical
emergency cases as well as for student and business travelers who can
demonstrate a need to be in the U.S. by a certain school- or business-
related date.
· This spring the U.S. Embassy in Kiev issued a record number of exchange
visitor visas to Ukrainians. Nearly 3,000 Ukrainians college students will
participate in work and travel programs in the United States this summer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Affairs Section, United States Embassy Kyiv
4 Hlybochytska St., Kyiv 04050 Ukraine
(380 44) 490-4026, 490-4090; Fax (380 44) 490-4050
http://usembassy.kiev.ua; info@usembassy.kiev.ua
=============================================================
11. UKRAINE ASKS THE UNITED STATES TO ASSIST IN OBTAINING
MAJOR MELNYCHENKO'S ORIGINAL RECORDS AND EQUIPMENT
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
KYIV - Ukraine asked the United States to assist the Prosecutor General's
Office (PGO) in obtaining original recordings of former presidential guard
major Mykola Melnychenko and technical equipment that he used to make
these records.
The press service of the Prosecutor General's Office informed Ukrainian
News about this with reference to the meeting in Washington between
Prosecutor General Sviatoslav Piskun and Chris Swecker, Assistant
Director for the Criminal Investigative Division (CID) at FBI, and John
Richter, Acting Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division.
At the meeting the parties discussed Ukraine's request for assistance to
PGO in obtaining Melnychenko's original records and recording devices.
Moreover, representatives of Prosecutor General's Office informed their
US colleagues that filing and investigation of some criminal cases in
Ukraine does not have political background.
In turn, representatives of the US Department of Justice assured that they
will use all existing legal levers to fulfill the above mentioned request.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Piskun left for the United States on
July 6 at the invitation of US Prosecutor General Alberto Gonzalez.
Representatives of the investigation group for the murder of journalist
Georgy Gongadze also left for the US together with the Prosecutor
General.
Piskun said earlier that three things need to be done to finish the
investigation of the Gongadze case, for instance, to receive testimony
from Melnychenko.
The Prosecutor General's Office sent Melnychenko 92 questions, but the
latter refused to answer them or give over to prosecutors the originals of
his tapes and recording devices before their international examination. In
June the Security Service of Ukraine reached agreement with the FBI on
questioning Melnychenko in the Gongadze case. Melnychenko has been
staying in the US since May 2001.
The Prosecutor General's Office closed the proceeding launched against
Melnychenko in September 2004, and is asking him to come to Ukraine
and take the originals of his recordings. -30-
=============================================================
12. UKRAINE COURT SEIZES CONTROL OF METAL FACTORY FROM
EX-PRESIDENT KUCHMA'S SON-IN-LAW VIKTOR PINCHUK
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
KIEV - A Kiev court seized control Tuesday of a major metal plant owned
by the son-in-law of Ukraine's former president, the latest skirmish in
President Viktor Yushchenko campaign to review dozens of suspect
privatizations.
In a statement, the Kiev Court of Appeals said it had taken control of 50%
plus one share of the Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant, owned by Viktor Pinchuk.
The court also banned shareholders, including Pinchuk, to perform any
activity involving the shares.
The plant, which is a key asset for Pinchuk's Interpipe manufacturer, was
acquired in 2003 at prices whose legality have been questioned by
prosecutors. The factory is a major producer of ferroalloys and serves at
least 15 of the world's largest steel producers. Pinchuk's lawyers and
government officials weren't immediately available for comment.
Meanwhile, a court in Nikopol banned the federal State Property Fund from
participating in any activities related to the company's shares, the Unian
news agency reported.
Last month, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko warned Russian metals and
oil tycoon Viktor Vekselberg not to buy Pinchuk's shares in the Nikopol
factory. Tymoshenko said the plant's privatization was in the process of
being rolled back.
Yushchenko has pledged to review dozens of enterprises suspected of
being privatized under shady circumstances during the 10-year tenure of
his predecessor, Leonid Kuchma. Much of Kuchma's term was marred by
corruption, nepotism and alleged government links with organized crime.
=============================================================
13. TOP UKRAINIAN OFFICIAL WANTS IRAN TO SHIP ITS NATURAL
GAS TO EUROPE VIA UKRAINIAN PIPELINES
Associated Press (AP), Kiev, Ukraine, Tue, July 12, 2005
KIEV - Ukraine wants Iran to ship its natural gas to Europe via Ukrainian
pipelines, a top Ukrainian official said Tuesday.
In a statement released in Kiev, Petro Poroshenko, head of the National
State Security and Defense Council, said some 128 billion cubic meters
of natural gas from Russia, Turkmenistan and other countries go through
Ukrainian pipelines annually, meeting about 50% of European demand.
Given growing European needs for gas, Iran should look to use Ukraine's
pipelines in the future, the statement said. "European countries' demand
for gas may increase to 480 billion cubic meters a year, and Iran might
play an important role in it by supplying some 240 billion cubic meters,"
he said.
Poroshenko is on a two-day visit to Iran, where he met his Iranian
counterpart, Hassan Rowhani, and was scheduled to meet other officials.
The statement cited Rowhani as saying that Iran, which has the world's
second largest reserves of gas, could boost its exports within the next
two years. -30- [The Action Ukraine Report Monitoring Service]
=============================================================
14. KRAFT FOODS UKRAINE HAS BUILT A COFFEE
PACKING FACTORY IN KYIV REGION
Ukrainian News Agency, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 12, 2005
KYIV - The Kraft Foods Ukraine company has built a coffee packing
factory in the village of Stari Petrivtsi (Vyshhorod district of the Kyiv
region). Volodymyr Tkachenko, Kraft Foods Ukraine's public and
government relations manager, announced at a press conference.
Two lines for packing instant coffee in glass jars (one made in Germany,
the other in Italy) are installed at the factory. The two lines for packing
instant coffee have an average capacity of 4,000 tons per year. The
coffee for packing is imported from Germany and Great Britain.
The jars and covers for packing coffee are presently imported, but Kraft
Foods Ukraine intends to start using Ukrainian-made containers in the
future. The project cost about USD 5 million.
Among Kraft Foods Ukraine's three coffee brands, only the Carte Noir
brand is imported. Therefore, the Maxwell House and Jacobs coffee brands
will be packed at the factory. According to Tkachenko, packing coffee in
Ukraine will enable the company to respond to demands on the domestic
market more flexibly.
Moreover, the duty on importation of packaged coffee is 10% while the
import duty on coffee in Big Bags is 5%. Meanwhile, the company does
not yet intend to review the price of its coffee because of an increase in
the price of coffee beans on the world market.
The Vyshhorod affiliate of Kraft Foods Ukraine now consists of a factory
for production of chips and snacks and the coffee packaging factory.
The size of the Ukrainian market for instant coffee is estimated at 10,000
tons per year.
As Ukrainian News earlier reported, Kraft Foods Ukraine owns the Ukraina
chocolate factory in Trostianets (Sumy region); the Vyshhorod affiliate of
Kraft Foods Ukraine in Stari Petrivtsi owns a factory for producing chips
and snacks under the Lux, Estrella, and Cherezos trademarks.
Kraft Foods Ukraine sells three brands of coffee on the Ukrainian market,
namely Carte Noir, Maxwell House, and Jacobs. Kraft Foods Ukraine is a
division of Kraft Foods, the world's second largest food producer. -30-
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: Altria, parent company of Kraft Foods, is a member
of the Ukraine-U.S. Business Council in Washington, D.C. Kraft
Foods Ukraine is headed up by an outstanding Ukrainian-American,
George Logush, a good friend of The Action Ukraine Report, who
over the past ten years, through Kraft and personally, has supported
many cultural groups in Ukraine such as the Ukrainian Bandura
Chorus in Kyiv and competition for tenors held in Odessa. EDITOR
=============================================================
15. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE THE UKRAINE GOVERNMENT CANNOT
FIND A PLACE FOR THE HOLODOMOR MEMORIAL
LETTER-TO-THE-EDITOR: By Eugenia Dallas, California
Subject: Holodomor Memorial Museum Complex
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 522
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Dear Mr. Williams:
Please forward this letter to people in the Ukrainian government or to those
who care about our Ukraine. It is unbelievable the Government cannot find
place for the Holodomor Memorial in Kyiv. Seventy two years we kept the
secret of Genocide of our loved ones that perished so unjustly in 1932-
1933. Holodomor is political repression.
Our ancestors died during man-made Stalin's artificial famine. Our loved
ones that perished by excruciating torture of starvation are crying in their
mass graves to be recognized as decent hard working people.
I am a survivor and witness of atrocities that were committed against my
people. I was 5-6 years old when my parents were sent to Siberia to die
there. My sister died from starvation. My student-brother as a political
prisoner was sent to Siberia with 3,000 other young students from his
university. I survived by wondering in the streets - begging.
Today only today we can speak openly. We must be positive about our l
land. No intimidation anymore. No falsification about our History and
insist from the World recognition like the Jewish Community did regarding
the Holocaust. Are we still intimidated or afraid to act strongly and stand
up for our Nation?
We must also collect speakers that can go places and give presentations
of their associated experiences.
Respectfully
Eugenia Dallas (eugenia@eugeniadallas.com)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: Eugenia Sakevych Dallas is the author of the book, "One
Woman, Five Lives, Five Countries." Information about Eugenia
Dallas and her book can be found at: http://www.eugeniadallas.com.
We appreciate her support of the James Mace Memorial Holodomor
Fund, other Holodomor related activities and The Action Ukraine
Report (AUR). EDITOR
=============================================================
16. PRESIDENT HONORS MEMORY OF UKRAINIAN COSSACKS
IN VIENNA; MEETS REPRESENTATIVES OF UKRAINIAN COMMUNITY
Monument in commemoration of 320th anniversary of liberation of Vienna
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, July 12, 2005
VIENNA, Austria - President Viktor Yuschenko has visited a monument to
Ukrainian Cossacks in Vienna and met with representatives of the Ukrainian
community in Austria. Mr. Yuschenko laid flowers at the monument.
The monument to the Ukrainian Cossacks - heroes of the resistance to the
Turkish siege of Vienna - was opened on March 15, 2003.
The monument was erected in commemoration of the 320th anniversary of
the liberation of Vienna from the Turkish siege. -30-
=============================================================
17. UNVEILING OF MEMORIAL CROSS TO UKRAINIAN VICTIMS IN
1937 MASS EXECUTION IN SANDERMOCH
UWC Newsletter, No. 7 (23)
Ukrainian World Congress (UWC)
Toronto, New York City, July 2005
In 1997 some 60 years after the mass execution of more than one
thousand political prisoners (five hundred Ukrainian) from the Solovky
islands in the swamp and forests of Sandermoch, this tragedy was
unearthed literally by the Russian Memorial organization.
Several memorials have been erected to the victims on site. Since
Ukrainians represented the largest percentage of victims, the
Ukrainian community in Karelia deemed it would be appropriate to
erect a separate memorial Cross to Ukrainian victims.
Acting in concert with former Ukrainian political prisoners, Wasyl
Ovsienko and Nadia Svitlychna, the UWC has raised a substantial
portion of the memorial expenses. The memorial has been erected
and on August 6, 2005 it will be unveiled.
Anyone interested in attending the commemorative ceremony should
contact Larissa Skrypnykova at her e-mail address: valpol@onego.ru.
=============================================================
18. INTERVIEW WITH LUBOMYR HUZAR, ARCHBISHOP AND CARDINAL
LUBOMYR HUZAR, HEAD OF THE UKRAINIAN GREEK CATHOLIC CHURCH
Power, conflicts, history, church problems, canons, religious education
"I dream of my Ukraine as a genuinely religious and tolerant
country...Let me stress again that I'm personally dead-set against
teaching God's Law - or any other religion - in state-run schools."
Interview with Lubomyr Huzar, Archbishop and Cardinal
Head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
Interviewed by Klara Gudzyuk, The Day
The Day Weekly Digest in English, #23
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, 12 July 2005
Prior to Constitution Day in Ukraine, Archbishop and Cardinal Lubomyr Huzar,
head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, kindly agreed to an interview
with The Day , in which he focuses on the church's most pressing and
sensitive problems, canons, and the complex issue of religious education
(His Eminence Cardinal Huzar has particular views on this matter), as well
as external church relations that also remain complicated.
While interviewing the archbishop, with whom I failed to agree on certain
matters, I can only feel happy that Ukraine has such spiritual pastors -
extremely tolerant, well educated, intelligent, and above all so very
optimistic, despite all the hardships.
{THE DAY] Your Eminence, the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC)
is one of the largest Uniate churches in Ukraine within the worldwide
Catholic Church. No one can dispute its right to a patriarchate. Meanwhile,
this matter has been at a standstill for decades on end, since the days of
Cardinal Josyf Slipyj.
The new Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, hasn't said no, but neither has
he said anything in particular concerning any deadlines; he hasn't outlined
any conditions for the UGCC patriarchate. What is the problem? What is
behind the Vatican's reluctance to give the Ukrainians the right to this
patriarchate?
[HUZAR] The main reason is the attitude of the Moscow patriarchate; they
can't reconcile themselves to the idea of Ukraine having this patriarchate.
And the West doesn't want to argue with the Moscow patriarchate, owing to
economic reasons. And there is another reason.
As you may know, a patriarchate means a degree of autonomy, higher than
that of a diocese, which is the status that we have; a patriarchate means
that most of the important issues are to be decided internally, regardless
of what the Vatican has to say.
Power is something no one would be willing to let out of one's hands. We all
remember the recent power play in Ukraine. It was a pitched battle, with
bloodied victims. Sometimes power is coveted and acquired for reasons other
than money. Hitler is a vivid example. He was never interested in property.
What he was always after was subjugating the masses.
We will, however, continue to struggle for our church rights, so that we can
be what we want to be, also to demonstrate to the rest of the Christians,
among them Orthodox adherents, the advantages of living in communion with
the Ecumenical Church, as it was in the first millennium, before the church
became divided.
{THE DAY] Not so long ago the Moscow patriarchate issued another protest
against your transfer of the UGCC archdiocese to Kyiv. What is your personal
attitude? Moscow keeps talking about the "inadmissibility from the canonic,
ecclesiological (teachings on the church), and pastoral point of view
concerning the idea of mentioning Kyiv in the title of the Head of the UGCC
and the transfer of its seat to this city."
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) insists that Catholicism cannot be
allowed to be promulgated in Ukraine. We know that Metropolitan Kiril of
Smolensk and Kaliningrad (ROC) said this during the recent meeting with
Cardinal Walter Kasper of the Vatican in Moscow.
[HUZAR] Some people believe that the residence of the metropolitan at the
head of UGCC in Kyiv is incompatible with that of the metropolitan of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church governed by the Moscow patriarchate (UOC MP).
But these protestations are irrelevant because the UOC MP and the UGCC,
which is in communion with the Vicar of Christ in Rome, are two different
churches, albeit of the same origin.
These two churches are on the same territory geographically but not
canonically, for they are not canonically associated. Therefore, there are
no ecclesiological or canonical obstacles to the coexistence of their
hierarchies.
In ancient times, especially after the calamitous years of the Golden Horde,
some metropolitans found themselves in different localities, but they always
remained true to the Kyivan See. Let me remind you that in 1596 it was the
metropolitan of Kyiv who, along with his bishops, resolved to reaffirm their
unity with the Vicar of Christ by signing the Union of Brest.
And so the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church came to be not in 1596 but at
the time of the Christianization of Rus'. At present, the UGCC is one of the
four parts of the original Kyivan Church: the UOC MP, UOC KP, UAOC -
and the UGCC.
{THE DAY] Do you have any personal ideas about how to overcome the
Orthodox rift in Ukraine? We know that the president of Ukraine is
personally supervising this matter.
[HUZAR] Yes, I do. The main thing is for the state to ensure that all
Orthodox adherents have absolutely equal rights. We hear the UOC MP
saying that all of Ukraine is their canonical territory, that we are
heretics, so what kind of equality can there be? Equality can be
established only by equal partners.
We're planning to transfer the archdiocese from Lviv to Kyiv and there are
endless protests. Coming from whom? From the Moscow patriarchate. This
shouldn't be so! There are Christians living in Ukraine who are affiliated
with Moscow, Byzantium, and Rome - meaning us.
Everyone must be allowed to live the way he chooses. They are trying to
impose their will on us; this is being done by all of the "three Romes."
Interestingly, the greatest degree of liberty appears to come from the First
Rome, i.e., the Vatican.
The situation in Ukraine must be such that every Christian can freely choose
his church and confession. You want to be affiliated with Moscow? Byzantium?
Rome? God bless. We'll have true religious freedom only when we discard
words like schismatic and heretic, which are still in church use. After all,
we must remember that all of us come from the same Church of Kyiv.
It's only on such terms that we'll be able to discuss our church problems,
never otherwise. We don't want any restrictions imposed on anyone by anyone;
we don't want anyone reproaching anyone for anything; we want everyone to
respect everyone else's choice. This is what we understand by rapprochement.
I dream of my Ukraine as a genuinely religious and tolerant country - and I
mean tolerance, not indifference, for we have atheists rather than tolerant
believers, people who want everyone to join their ranks. We must remember
the great cause that we must serve: to fulfill the will of Jesus Christ, who
said that we should be united in our faith. Such is His will. Jesus
established a single Church, so we all must find our way to it while
respecting each other's course.
What's happening is very different. There is an invisible force kindling the
small fire of religious differences, trying to turn it into a firestorm.
This was the case with the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, and
this is what they're trying to do to our church; they want to weaken it by
various kinds of internecine conflicts.
[THE DAY] Right now there is an unresolved problem that concerns our
whole society. I'm referring to the study in schools of a subject that is
variously known as God's Law, Catechism, Christian Ethics, and so on.
Characteristically, only one option is being debated, namely introducing
this subject into the grade school curriculum, which makes this difficult
problem even more complicated, for this immediately entails another
problem, that of the students' confessional affiliation (Orthodox, Greek
Catholics, Protestants, Roman Catholics, Moslems, Jews, and finally
atheists).
The following question emerges: Why is only one option of religious
education being considered? Even now Ukraine has over 30,000 churches
and some 22,000 schools. Why not adopt the parish [Sunday] school option
to teach religion? Why should priests go to classrooms rather than children
go to schools run by the church?
[HUZAR] It's true that Ukraine is a polyconfessional country. However, it's
also true that our state has its visage and identity. For me personally,
this is what outlines our heritage. By His will I was born in this land, in
this environment, amongst these people; for a thousand years we had our
princes and hetmans, our language, folkways - in a word, our history. All
this and many other things have combined to form our Ukrainian character
and culture, which is the sum total of all that happened in the past.
Of course, the new Ukrainian state is being formed by various peoples
representing different confessions. However, the character of our nations,
viewed from whichever angle, reveals a strong religious element; it's not a
heathen, Judaic, Khazar or Latin element. It's a genuine Christian Byzantine
one that made such a strong impact on this people's way of thinking and
doing.
Here's an example. Prince Yaroslav the Wise made an extraordinary decision
in his time when he banned capital punishment. What made him act that way?
Apparently it was his Christian faith. The same applies to the old school of
literacy and literature (they were all inspired by the church). In a word, a
great many elements of our culture are determined by Christianity in its
specific Eastern Orthodox manifestation.
Needless to say, Christianity was not the only factor that influenced the
formation of Ukrainians. We often use words like koliadky and koliady
[carols]. The word "koliadky" comes from the Christian heritage and
"koliady" from the heathen legacy.
Christianity, however, remains the dominant element in our national culture,
meaning that whoever wants to learn more about Ukraine and understand it
better must learn our Christian dominant, among other things, because
without it any attempt to understand Ukrainian culture and character is
futile. Getting back to your question, I would say that we need a subject
for all students in Ukraine. I would define it as something like "Learn
about Your Native Land."
Several years ago people representing all the Eastern Orthodox and Greek
Catholic churches gathered in Lviv. They suggested a separate school
subject that they defined as Christian Ethics. However, the name doesn't
answer our concepts or the very idea of the discipline. It's not about
ethics; it's about Christianity as the basis of Ukrainian culture.
And so we are proposing and requesting that all our schools and all their
students, regardless of their family religious background, be taught the
spiritual fundamentals that make up our national culture. Christianity is
one of these dominant elements. Therefore, anyone who wants to become
a true citizen of Ukraine, with a true understanding of his native land,
must have this knowledge.
Were I to live in Turkey or in Iran, I'd have to learn more about Islam,
which is the cultural dominant of these nations. And so I think that
Cultural Ethics is a very inadequate description of the subject, and the
same is true of proposing to teach God's Law in schools. After all,
non-Christian students should learn about precisely the Christian cultural
dominant. Also, it's important to note that, while studying our culture, its
Latin, Judaic, Moslem, and other components cannot be ignored.
Families wishing to raise their children as Judaic, Catholic, Baptist, or
Orthodox adherents must enroll them in Saturday or Sunday schools, so
that every boy and girl could go to the right kind of school and be taught
to pray and sing songs and observe the rituals the right way. Every such
school sees its ultimate goal in teaching God's Law and rules of conduct
as laid down in the Scriptures. Given this pattern, all children could study
their religion in such church-run schools.
Let me stress again that I'm personally dead-set against teaching God's
Law - or any other religion - in state-run schools. In that case,
schoolchildren would have to be divided up according to religious beliefs:
the Orthodox from the Greek Catholics from Jews and other adherents.
That's very bad. Imagine a priest appearing in class and saying the "Hail
Mary" with Protestants and Jews among the students!
That's wrong. Another factor that militates against the introduction of
God's Law - or whatever the subject's name in other schools - in the school
curriculum is that teaching religion this way makes it simply another
subject in the class schedule for pupils, meaning grades, having to take
exams again, and suchlike. That's bad. But when children go to parish
schools it means becoming prepared for a religious life.
Meanwhile, we - I mean our churches - still have no right to set up
religious study grade schools. Schools in today's Ukraine can be either
state- or private-run, but not religious study schools. There is a lyceum in
Lviv, which was founded by a pious philanthropist. Yet we as a church can't
do the same. We're doing our best to convince the state to allow us to run
such schools. How would they differ from regular schools?
Only by having God's Law in their curriculum, along with regular subjects,
and a special Christian educational program. Theologians, people who are
well versed in the field, are working hard on this project. We have 6 such
schools, but we run them through private founders.
Once again, I wouldn't introduce religion as a subject in a government-run
school. You have to consider children from non-Christian families. In our
schools all non- Christian children - those from Moslem, Jewish, Tatar, or
Korean families - must feel at home.
Generally speaking, all our schools must have the kind of textbooks and
teachers that correspond to the spirit of our people. What do we have now?
There is a fifth-grade textbook entitled Humanist Ethics, meant for children
aged between 10 and 12 years. It has a chapter called "Safe Sex." So, as
we shall teach, so shall we reap results.
All our churches, the general public, schoolteachers, and scholars in the
educational field should oppose this. And so should all parents. We must all
confront our government and say, "We want a healthy educational system with
every standard conforming to the needs of the people and universally
accepted moral dictates." However, a general and very important question
should be answered first: What do our children and society expect from
school?
[THE DAY] How well is the UGCC prepared and equipped to step into
classrooms? Are your parish priests sufficiently qualified to teach children
and youth? Are they intelligent and tolerant enough? Are they familiar with
the fundamentals of pedagogy and didactics, considering that government-
run schools cannot admit instructors without an adequate teacher's training?
Another problem concerns the curriculum and class schedules. I'm also sure
that none of the churches in Ukraine has a sufficient number of clergymen
with enough training to undertake such sensitive jobs. This is very
important. You can imagine a physics teacher who isn't popular in class. But
a teacher conducting religious classes and failing to win the students'
respect may well cause a disaster in terms of world perception, leading to
aggressive, even sacrilegious, atheists.
[HUZAR]By and large the church isn't prepared yet. We are trying to
introduce pedagogy into the curricula of seminaries and other religious
schools to make it part of a 5-year theological program, plus 2 years of
practice, in which time the candidate can choose between theology,
instruction, parish priesthood, and so on. We're thinking about adding a
course in pedagogy to these 2 years so that our priests can have teacher's
certificates. Then they'll have the right to teach in school - well, at
least some of them will.
[THE DAY] How many graduates - sufficiently trained priests - can all your
educational establishments produce today? I'm pretty sure about 40 per
graduating class in Lviv. All these priests stay in the region after
graduation. But there are far more parishes, let alone classes in schools.
[HUZAR] In the past 5-6 years we have worked out a comprehensive program
for our theological schools. Our priests have an average age of 45. They
still have a long way to go; they were all raised in difficult conditions,
so most of them aren't sufficiently educated. We failed to pay enough
attention to theological training in the first couple of years after 1991.
Some priests don't have much respect for knowledge and some don't even
consider catechism a science. Recent graduates have proved to be
essentially different. It's also true, however, that our curricula need
upgrading; we must have intelligent priests capable of conducting a
conversation with peasants as well as scientists, with literate and
illiterate individuals. We have few such clergymen so far.
[THE DAY] In our churches today we can see manifestations of phenomena
that can be described as democratization or lawlessness; some religious
communities are expressing distrust of their parish priests or their
superiors; they demand replacements, they elect new priests for themselves,
and apply methods of pressure on the hierarchy that are not always proper.
What do you personally regard as acts incompatible with the dictates of
church life? Or maybe what's happening should be expected in a democratic
society? How do you feel about such incidents that have become known in
your church?
[HUZAR] The church has existed for many years and it has accumulated a
great deal of experience in communicating with people, in studying human
nature. Certain rules and methods have been worked out proceeding from
this knowledge. These rules aren't perfect, of course, but they meet the
requirements of regulating church life at sufficient length and depth.
The problem with Ukraine today is that this society isn't accustomed to
understanding and respecting the laws, let alone living by them. A religious
community may want something, and sometimes these people can get what
they want by using force.
In other countries such communities may also want to vent their resentment
or have something changed for the better, but in these countries people do
so by adopting long-established procedures. Most importantly, they are
tolerant and traditionally respect law and order. Of course, raising people
in this spirit takes generations.
People raised under the Soviet regime often equate freedom with lawless-
ness; they figure they're free to act as they please; that they can get what
they want by using whatever means they wish to apply, without regard to
others, and worse still, without bothering to consider the consequences.
This is, of course, a hangover from the totalitarian system and it is
evident elsewhere, in what was East Germany, for example.
Yet people are always instigated to act that way. Here is a recent example.
A parish that was dissatisfied with its priest wanted him replaced. To do so
the parishioners marched on Lviv and literally occupied the metropolitan's
quarters. I didn't want to call the militia, of course, so the intruders
thought nothing of spending the night on the premises.
It was a provocation, of course, planned and prepared by clergymen, for none
of the parishioners would have conceived such a plan. But if clergymen can
do this, so can laymen, for that is our traditional modus operandi. Respect
for fellow humans and the law remains to be instilled in our flock.
Today, similar things are happening in every religious group, in every
confession. People want to live by the law of the jungle. Winner takes all;
to make matters worse, our society doesn't seem to condemn such behavior.
Another reason is that people have no idea about the normal procedures of
resolving conflicts; that shouts, curses, and acts of violence have never
yielded good results. And so the main reason for all this remains the same:
lack of knowledge about the simple rules of civilized conduct. -30-
=============================================================
19. BEWARE.......PRESIDENT YUSHCHENKO
Letter regarding the giving of 'Hero' awards to Yanukovych "cronies'
Open Letter to His Excellency Ukrainian President Victor Yushchenko
Presidential Election Observers and all dedicated Ukrainians
From: Natalie Lenstra, Canadian Election Observer
Three times during Ukraine's Presidential Election 2004
Published by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 522
Washington, D.C., Wednesday, July 13, 2005
His Excellency Victor Yushchenko
President of Ukraine
Vul Bankova, 11, 01220, Kyiv-220
Observers and all dedicated Ukrainians
Dear President Yushchenko:
BEWARE….President Yushchenko!
I can only attribute your the recent honorary awards to Yanukovych’s
“cronies” to perhaps a “burn out or overworked state” and I hope that
somehow these awards slipped by you accidentally as you may not aware
of the gravity and danger of these awards to Ukraine!
To give an honorary award to Tkatchka Viacheslava Petrovicha, the head
of the Territorial Election Committee, of the territorial region #113 of the
election of the President of Ukraine.
I had the opportunity of serving Ukraine three times during the elections as
an official observer. Twice I was sent to the eastern, most dangerous
Luhansk Region. The first time there was only a handful of 12 Observers
that dared to go to that area. We were privileged to have some of the best
organizers during that first tour and our leaders did an excellent job in
compiling all our information and presenting it in a press conference in
Kyiv.
Ambassador Robinson as well as other Canadian Ministers were present.
I attribute the changes that took place in Ukraine were partly as a result
of that press conference.
During that first tour, I saw and recorded many infractions but the
description that I personally witnessed involved this very man that you have
just honoured as a “Revolutionary Hero” As well as Tkachuka, the very same
military leaders that I will describe below, were also given “General”
status by you in the military!
I chose the TVK office # 113 in Serevodonesk on the first tour to witness
the count and results. I approached the door to the office and presented my
official documents. Tkatchka Viacheslava Petrovicha, grabbed my passport
and my Observer Card and frantically began waving it in front of the
committee.
“This is what Kanada is doing!” he yelled as he ran around the room showing
everyone my documentation. He began yelling at me that I had no right to be
there. I informed him that the according to laws, Observers had a right to
witness the procedures of the election. A gentleman, Anatoliy Perekupka,
who I learned was the head of the Yushchenko Shtab (headquarters) in
Severedonesk, came to my defense.
I had begun filming this frantic display of protest from Tkatchka
Viacheslava Petrovicha. He told me to remove the camera and to leave.
Anatoliy Perekupka, again tried to tell him what I had stated. I dropped my
camera and continued rolling the film with the camera at my side.
Tkatchka Viacheslava Petrovicha turned from me and began yelling at Mr.
Perekupka. He reminded him that Mr. Perekupka had a wife and daughter
in that town and if he valued their safety, he would mind his own business.
Suddenly Mr. Perekupka’s cell phone rang and he asked me to join him
downstairs. I followed him outside to see about 8 militia arresting young
boys and confiscating a white van that belonged to the Yushchenko Shtabb.
Mr. Perekupka approached the head officer as I filmed the conversation.
He asked him why he was arresting the boys.
The reply was that he “suspected them and that the van may have something
hidden or that the van was stolen. I could not see a stolen van parked in
the lot of the TVK office with 50 militia present. “Mr. Perekupka tried to
reason with him and asked him to take all the men he needed and check out
the van with everyone present as witnesses.
He indicated that he feared for the safety of the boys if they were taken
away and he suggested that if the van was checked inside the military
compound rather than on the street …they might find something…meaning
that they might plant something.
At this point I interjected and asked them why they were arresting the boys
who were just parked quietly and observing the election process. They
same officer in charge first told me it was none of my business. I replied
that it was the business of the world to observe fair elections in Ukraine
and I presented my card and repeated my question.
1. The response was, “Because WE HAVE ORDERS FROM ABOVE!”
2. I ask if the boys had done anything wrong. The response was that the
license plates were not from that town.
3. I asked if they had a warrant to take the van. The response was “NO!”
4. I asked if they had a warrant for the arrest of the boys! The response
was “NO!”
“Do I understand you correctly? (I was filming and talking), You are
arresting these boys and taking the van without a warrant. The response
was “YES!”
They removed the boys and drove off with the van. We felt rather helpless
at this point. There was some discussion with other witnesses for about
twenty minutes. Suddenly Mr. Perekupka got a call that the boys and the
van had been released.
About twenty minutes later, Mr. Perkupka called me and told me that the
boys were arrested again and suggested that perhaps the militia had
thought that I left town. I met him at the military station and the head of
the militia came out glared at me and told us in a gruff voice to wait and
slammed the door shut. He was annoyed at my presence.
Then I noticed a lady crying on the stairs. I asked her if her son was
there and she said to me, “Don’t you realize that we might never see those
young boys again!” She rolled up her sleeves and showed me bruises on her
arms. One arm was very sore as she felt her muscles had been pulled. She
warned me to be careful and described how she got into the van after the
boys were released.
She just wanted to ask the boys what had happened. (She was an Observer
for, I believe, the Socialist Party). She was a petite lady about 40 and
she was dragged out of the van by a number of large, strong armed militia.
I suggested accompanying her to the local hospital where the doctor seemed
rather annoyed at our request for an examination, However, when I showed my
Observer card, he agreed to examine her. He found more bruising to other
parts of her body and wrote a report. Her arm was placed in a sling and I
believe she was given pain medication.
During this hospital procedure I suggested to a young military officer in
the hospital to tell his chief that it might be a good idea to have the boys
released. I guaranteed him that I would not let this matter rest and the
Canadian Ambassador would be informed of this entire incident. About
2:00 AM the boys were finally permanently released.
During the third tour at the same #113 TVK, the same Tkatchka Viacheslava
Petrovicha, allowed all (about 20) the observers in and allowed filming so I
believe he may have been reminded about the election laws. It was comforting
not to be the only Observer this time. This man deserves no metals for what
he did during the first election. T
he same Militia leader responsible for assaulting an election Observer has
been given honorary position. These people pose the greatest threat to
Ukraine because they are wolves in sheep’s clothing!
President Yushchenko, you need to be informed of these incidences involving
Viacheslava Tkatchka and the head of the militia. I enclose a letter
forwarded from Mr. Anatoliy Perekupka [see footnote]. All the underlined
names are Yanukovych cronies getting Hero awards! Please check out the
other names and check with Mr. Perekupka as to the infractions committed
by the other so called heroes.
I am more than willing to come to Ukraine at my cost and testify against
Tkachenka and your new general in Serevodonesk. As a Ukrainian
Canadian I ask you to seriously reconsider the names below, underlined in
bold [see footnote], before Ukraine is destroyed from within your own
“house”! Tkatchka and others should be arrested and prosecuted for their
actions, not rewarded!
Respectfully,
Natalka Lenstra, Canada
And fellow Ukrainians
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am asking all my fellow Observers and all Ukrainians to join me in protest
and send you a copy of this letter to renege the “HERO” awards for all
people listed in the underlining of the letter below [see footnote].
(If one of my fellow observers is willing to translate this letter so that
President Yushchenko can personally read it I would appreciate the help.)
I ask that all readers print out these pages and mail this letter as a
protest to: His Excellency Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine,
Vul Bankova, 11, 01220, Kyiv-220, Ukraine -30-
=============================================================
FOOTNOTE: The long Hero letter referred to above in Ukrainian listing
the people receiving the award is not included here. If you would like to
have a copy please write to Natalie Lenstra at natalie.l@rogers.com or
to Anatoliy Perekupka at perekupka@zfs.lg.ua. Editor
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