"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR"
An International Newsletter
The Latest, Up-To-Date
In-Depth Ukrainian News, Analysis, and Commentary
"Ukrainian History, Culture, Arts, Business, Religion,
Sports, Government, and Politics, in Ukraine and Around the World"
"THE ACTION UKRAINE REPORT - AUR" - Number 550
E. Morgan Williams, Publisher and Editor
Published in Kyiv, Ukraine, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2005
--------INDEX OF ARTICLES--------
"Major International News Headlines and Articles"
1. UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE LIFTS TARIFF
SANCTIONS AGAINST UKRAINE
Announces Out-of-Cycle Review
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Executive Office of the President, Washington, D.C., Wed, Aug 31, 2005
2. INVESTMENT BOOM
EDITORIAL, Kyiv Post
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug 31 2005
3. U.S. SENATOR LUGAR CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATELY DESTRUCTION
OF MORE WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION IN UKRAINE
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., Tuesday, August 30, 2005
4. THE ORANGE CIRCLE
New initiative to advance democracy and freedom in Ukraine
Orange Circle, New York, NY, August, 2005
5. U.S. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (USTDA) AWARDS
GRANT FOR COAL BED/COAL MINE METHANE PROJECT IN UKRAINE
Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, August 30, 2005
6. INVESTMENT IN UKRAINE DROPPED 14% YEAR-ON-YEAR
Interfax, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
7. UKRAINIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS MEETS WITH
REPRESENTATIVES OF UNION OF UKRAINIANS IN POLAND IN GDANSK
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
8. WORLD LEADERS PAY TRIBUTE TO POLAND'S SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
Associated Press (AP), Gdansk, Poland, Wed, August 31, 2005
9. THE POLISH AUGUST
REVIEW & OUTLOOK, The Wall Street Journal
New York, NY, Wednesday, August 31, 2005
10. DEATH NOTICES SERVE TO REVIVE MORIBUND CIS
END NOTE: By Liz Fuller
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
11. JEWISH COMMUNITY OF UKRAINE WELCOMES NEW HOLOCAUST
MEMORIALS IN KHARKIV, ODESA AND OTHER LOCATIONS
By Shauna McLarnon, exclusively for RISU
Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU)
Lviv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
12. PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: DECREE N 1087/2005, ON ADDITIONAL
MEASURES FOR HONORING AND PERPETUATING THE MEMORY OF
THE VICTIMS OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONS AND FAMINES IN UKRAINE
President of Ukraine Decree N 1087/2005
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 11, 2005
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 550
(English translation edited by The Action Ukraine Report)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, September 1, 2005
13. UKRAINIAN ARCHEOLOGISTS UNVEIL MYSTERY OF
ANCIENT OLVIA'S SUBMERGED PART
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 31, 2005
============================================================
1. UNITED STATES TRADE REPRESENTATIVE LIFTS TARIFF
SANCTIONS AGAINST UKRAINE
Announces Out-of-Cycle Review
Office of the United States Trade Representative
Executive Office of the President, Washington, D.C., Wed, Aug 31, 2005
WASHINGTON - In recognition of the efforts that the Ukrainian Government
has made to improve its legislative framework to protect intellectual
property rights, U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman today announced
the lifting of 100% tariff sanctions that since 2002 had been imposed on
$75 million worth of Ukrainian exports to the United States.
In July 2005, the Ukrainian parliament (Rada) adopted an important set of
amendments to Ukraine's Laser-Readable Disk Law. These amendments,
which went into force on August 2, will strengthen Ukraine's licensing
regime and enforcement efforts to stem the illegal production and trade
of CDs and DVDs.
"I commend Ukrainian President Yushchenko and Prime Minister
Tymoshenko for their personal involvement in securing passage of these
amendments, which is expected to improve Ukraine's protection of
intellectual property rights," said U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman.
"This recent legislative action by Ukraine is a key step in the right
direction. We expect that Ukraine will use the tools created by these
amendments to crack down on illegal pirating of protected works."
As a further step, the Administration is conducting a Special 301
Out-of-Cycle Review (OCR) to focus on Ukraine's IPR enforcement and
consider Ukraine's status as a Priority Foreign Country and its
eligibility for Generalized System of Preferences benefits.
Background:
In March 2001, the U.S. Trade Representative designated Ukraine as a
Priority Foreign Country in the Special 301 process, and initiated a
Section 301 investigation. At that time, Ukraine was the largest
producer and exporter of pirated optical media in Europe.
In August 2001, the USTR took initial action under Section 301 by
suspending Ukraine's benefits under the Generalized System of
Preferences.
In January 2002, the USTR took further action under Section 301 by
imposing 100% tariff sanctions on $75 million worth of Ukrainian exports.
After extensive efforts of the Ukrainian Government to advance these
important amendments to Ukraine's Laser-Readable Disk Law, the
Ukrainian Radaapproved them on July 6, 2005 and they became law on
August 2, 2005.
Click here
http://www.ustr.gov/Document_Library/Press_Releases/2001/December/Section_Index.html
to access the December 21 press release listing tariff categories affected.
=============================================================
2. INVESTMENT BOOM
EDITORIAL, Kyiv Post
Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug 31 2005
August is looking all right for Ukraine, at least as far as foreign
investment goes. Another major international hotel chain, Hilton, is moving
in, and at the same time Radisson SAS says they are finally going to open
the doors of their Kyiv location on Sept. 1. Two new large investment
funds - the Colliers-Concorde collaboration and a new 200-million-euro
fund run by SigmaBleyzer - have announced plans to invest in Ukraine.
It's difficult to say how much credit Yushchenko and company should get for
all this. On the one hand, President Viktor Yushchenko has been relentless
in his courting of foreign investors, at times even seeming to beg. His team
managed to force some WTO bills through parliament before summer
recess, and the cabinet is slowly ridding Ukraine's books of unneeded and
cumbersome laws governing and restricting business.
On the other hand there are many, including the IMF, that remain
disappointed in the government. Ukraine had a chance to pass laws
necessary to join the WTO, but Yushchenko's team couldn't get everything
through parliament. The government also passed ill-advised tax reforms,
which it later retracted after a barrage of criticism.
Then there are those who consider the government's actions nearly incidental
to the actual inflow of investment. This thesis presupposes that as long as
the political situation is stable, and the laws unchanging, investment will
come. By this logic, the real flood of money will come next spring, when
power structures become clearer after the parliamentary elections.
Each of these hypotheses has its merits, but even of the one that puts
Yushchenko in the best light is true, no one should be slapping the
president on the back quite yet. There's no doubt he's done some good, but
it would have been hard not to after the Orange Revolution, and he could
have done a lot more.
In September he'll have one last chance to prove himself. In the upcoming
parliamentary sessions - the last before the spring elections - Yushchenko
and his team need to show that they are capable of effecting serious and
meaningful change in the economy, change that will cement Ukraine's
standing as a burgeoning free market and as a magnet for foreign
investment.
If he doesn't, Ukraine can probably forget joining the World Trade
Organization this year, and by consequence, the European Union any
time in the near future. -30-
=============================================================
3. U.S. SENATOR LUGAR CALLS FOR THE IMMEDIATELY DESTRUCTION
OF MORE WEAPONS AND AMMUNITION IN UKRAINE
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C., Tuesday, August 30, 2005
DONETSK, Ukraine – United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Chairman Richard G. Lugar today called for the immediate destruction of
15,000 tons of ammunition, 400,000 small arms and light weapons, and
1,000 man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS) or shoulder missile
launchers that are often sought by terrorists.
Lugar and Senator Barack Obama toured the Donetsk State Chemical
Production Plant, a conventional weapons destruction facility where the U.S.
has taken the lead in a three-year NATO program to destroy the weapons.
Another 117,000 tons of ammunition and 1.1 million small arms and light
weapons are slated for destruction within 12 years.
So far, the U.S. has contributed $2.1 million to the project, and Austria,
Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have contributed $1.2 million.
While the destruction is ready to begin, the Ukrainian Rada (parliament)
first must pass a law exempting the foreign assistance from taxation. Lugar
and Obama discussed this issue with Rada Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn, Prime
Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko and President Viktor Yushchenko in meetings
yesterday. All three leaders indicated they would promote action before the
March 2006 parliamentary elections.
The visit underscores the importance of legislation Lugar and Obama have
authored that would commit additional U.S. resources and expand authorities
in cooperative threat reduction of conventional weapons around the world.
The bill is part of the Foreign Relations Authorization Bill that is pending
in the Senate and will be introduced as a free-standing bill by the senators
this fall.
“We discussed MANPADS, landmines and other very highly dangerous
explosives. Ukraine has huge stockpiles leftover from previous times that
are dangerous to people of this country as well as the possibility for
proliferation to other countries,” Lugar said.
“We are working to obtain funds to secure and destroy these weapons in
cooperative threat reduction. We are encouraging the U.S. and Ukraine to
work together and to obtain more funds. We came here to see the problem
and the solution with our own eyes.”
By the late 1980’s, 75 percent of all Ukraine’s industrial capacity was used
to produce Soviet weaponry, including strategic weapons. In June 1996, the
Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program successfully achieved the
removal of all 1,240 deployed SS-19 and SS-24 strategic nuclear warheads
from Ukraine.
“Vast stocks of conventional munitions and military supplies have
accumulated in Ukraine. Some of this stockpile dates from World War I and
II, yet most dates from Cold War buildup and the stocks left behind by
Soviet withdrawals from East Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungry and
Poland,” Obama said. “We need to eliminate these stockpiles for the safety
of the Ukrainian people and people around world, by keeping them out of
conflicts around the world.”
Estimates by the NATO Maintenance and Supply Agency suggest a significant
proliferation and public safety threat from the 7 million small arms and
light weapons and 2 million tons of conventional ammunition stored in more
than 80 depots across Ukraine. These depots were never designed to hold
such large stockpiles and remain vulnerable to those seeking such weapons
or their components, or to spontaneous detonation in some of the older and
larger ammunition stockpiles.
In March, the Foreign Relations Committee added the Lugar Disarmament
Initiative (LDI) to the Foreign Affairs Authorization Act for Fiscal Years
2006 and 2007. The LDI is modeled on the original Nunn-Lugar Act. Its
purpose is to provide the Department of State with a focused response to the
threat posed by vulnerable stockpiles of conventional weapons around the
world, including tactical missiles and MANPADS.
Such missile systems could be used by terrorists to attack commercial
airliners, military installations and government facilities in the U.S. and
abroad. Reports suggest that Al Qaeda has attempted to acquire these kinds
of weapons. In addition, unsecured conventional weapons stockpiles are a
major obstacle to peace, reconstruction and economic development in regions
suffering from instability.
This bill declares it to be the policy of the United States to seek out
surplus and unguarded stocks of conventional armaments, including small
arms and light weapons, and tactical missile systems for elimination or
safeguarding. It authorizes the Department of State to carry out an
accelerated global effort to destroy such weapons and to cooperate with
allies and international organizations when possible.
The Secretary of State is charged with devising a strategy for prioritizing,
on a country-by-country basis, the obligation of funds in a global program
of conventional arms elimination. Lastly, the Secretary is required to
unify program planning, coordination and implementation of the strategy into
one office at the State Department and to request a budget commensurate
with the risk posed by these weapons.
During the trip, the senators have inspected a nuclear warhead storage
facility and missile destruction facility in Russia and biological
laboratories in Russia and Ukraine. On Thursday, they will review sea
interdiction exercises on the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan.
In 1991, Senator Lugar (R-IN) and former Senator Sam Nunn (D-GA) authored
the Nunn-Lugar Act, which established the Cooperative Threat Reduction
Program. This program has provided U.S. funding and expertise to help the
former Soviet Union safeguard and dismantle its enormous stockpiles of
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, related materials, and delivery
systems.
In 1997, Lugar and Nunn were joined by Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) in
introducing the Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction Act, which
expanded Nunn-Lugar authorities in the former Soviet Union and provided
WMD expertise to first responders in American cities.
In 2003, Congress adopted the Nunn-Lugar Expansion Act, which authorized
the Nunn-Lugar program to operate outside the former Soviet Union to address
proliferation threats. In October 2004, Nunn-Lugar funds were used for the
first time outside of the former Soviet Union to secure chemical weapons in
Albania, under a Lugar-led expansion of the program.
The latest Nunn-Lugar Scorecard shows that the program has deactivated or
destroyed: 6,760 nuclear warheads; 587 ICBMs; 483 ICBM silos; 32 ICBM
mobile missile launchers; 150 bombers; 789 nuclear air-to-surface missiles;
436 submarine missile launchers; 549 submarine launched missiles; 28
nuclear submarines; and 194 nuclear test tunnels.
Beyond the scorecard’s nuclear elimination, the Nunn-Lugar program secures
and destroys chemical weapons, and works to reemploy scientists and
facilities related to biological weapons in peaceful research initiatives.
The International Science and Technology Centers, of which the United States
is the leading sponsor, have engaged 58,000 former weapons scientists in
peaceful work.
The International Proliferation Prevention Program has funded 750 projects
involving 14,000 former weapons scientists and created some 580 new
peaceful high-tech jobs. Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan are nuclear
weapons free as a result of cooperative efforts under the Nunn-Lugar
program.
They otherwise would be the world’s the third, forth and eighth largest
nuclear
weapons powers, respectively. -30- [Action Ukraine Report ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark Helmke, Senior Professional Staff Member
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Sen. Richard G. Lugar, Chairman, 202-224-5918
=============================================================
4. THE ORANGE CIRCLE
New initiative to advance democracy and freedom in Ukraine
Orange Circle, New York, NY, August, 2005
New York - Ukraine's President Viktor Yushchenko will be the guest of honor
at the Founding Dinner of the Orange Circle, a new initiative that will work
to advance the values of democracy and freedom that represented the
essence of the Orange Revolution. The Dinner will be held at New York's
Rainbow Room on September 15th with registration beginning at 7:00, a
reception at 7:30 and dinner at 8:15 p.m.
The Orange Circle is an emerging association of eminent international
leaders, including Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski, who will address the Founding
dinner. It includes important business leaders, including Tim Draper, the
head of the $ 3 billion investment fund Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which has
announced the creation of a Nexus fund to invest in high technologies in
Ukraine.
As importantly, it includes leading Ukrainian-Americans and
Ukrainian-Canadians, who have committed themselves to building the
longterm nongovernmental initiative.
The principal aims of the Orange Circle are to :
Promote Ukraine's Newborn Democracy
Promote the Legacy of the Orange Revolution
Cooperate with Ukraine's Democratic Leaders
Strengthen Ukraine's International Image
Build Public and Official Support for Ukraine in the US, Europe, and Canada
Support the European Integration of Ukraine
Promote Business Investment in Support of Ukraine's Democratic Stability
Build Western-Ukraine Cultural Links and Understanding
Mobilize Legislators and Civic Leaders in Support of Ukraine
The new initiative has won the strong support and long-term cooperation of
President Yushchenko and First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko, Prime Minister
Yulia Tymoshenko, Deputy Prime Minister Oleh Rybachuk, Foreign Minister
Borys Tarasyuk, Secretary of State Oleksander Zinchenko, and other
Ukrainian leaders.
The initiative is being coordinated by former Freedom House President
Adrian Karatnycky, who will serve as the new entity's chief executive
officer.
"We are just beginning the work of building the Orange Circle," said founder
and coordinator Adrian Karatnycky. "The Founding Dinner will offer
Ukrainian-Americans and American friends of Ukraine an opportunity not
only to honor President Yushchenko during one of the few public venues of
his U.S. visit this fall, but it will offer an opportunity to play an early
and important part in the support for a major new initiative that we know
will have significant impact on promoting Ukraine's democracy and its
integration into the democratic community of nations."
Mr. Karatnycky, who will chart the direction of the initiative has had
extensive experience in building non-governmental organizations. He took
over Freedom House as Executive Direct and later President, and saw its
budget grow from $ 1.2 million in 1992 to $ 14 million in 2003, when he left
as CEO.
More recently, he has served as Freedom House Counselor and Senior
Scholar, writing frequently on Ukraine's politics and working closely with
the political and civic leaders who helped make Ukraine's Revolution.
"We are assembling an impressive team of friends of the Orange Revolution.
And we hope to work with them and Ukraine's democratic leaders in building
support for the deepening," said Adrian Hewryk, President of the East-West
Management Institute, and a founding board member of the Orange Circle.
The Founding Dinner will be the first of a series of fundraising initiatives
planned to support the Orange Circle in the U.S., Canada, Ukraine, the rest
of Europe.
Tickets for the Founding Dinner to be held on the 65th floor of 30
Rockefeller Center (The Rainbow Room), are priced at $ 500 each, $ 900
for pairs of tickets, while tables of 10 will be priced at $ 4,500.
There are also special tables for institutional and corporate donors that
will offer privileged access to a reception meeting with the Ukrainian
government delegation are priced at $ 10,000 and $ 25,000 with different
levels of access and visibility.
The Founding Dinner will represent an opportunity for participants to enroll
as charter donors of the Orange Circle and in the coming years to take part
in events and meetings with Ukraine's key leaders.
Ticket availability will be made public through posters, ads in the
Ukrainian American print media, through brama.com and through
www.orangecircle.org. For further information contact 1-212-388-0177.
=============================================================
5. U.S. TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (USTDA) AWARDS
GRANT FOR COAL BED/COAL MINE METHANE PROJECT IN UKRAINE
Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy
Kyiv, Ukraine, Tue, August 30, 2005
DONETSK, UKRAINE - Today, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency
(USTDA) awarded a $585,570 grant to the Donetsk Regional Administration
for a feasibility study on a proposed Coal Mine Methane/Coal Bed Methane
(CMM/CBM) project in the Donbass Region of Ukraine.
The U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, John Herbst, and the Governor of Donetsk,
Vadym Chuprun, signed the grant agreement on behalf of the United States
and Ukrainian Governments, respectively.
The USTDA-funded study will examine the possibility of commercial
development of CMM/CBM in Donbass to increase the domestic supply of
natural gas, as well as increase the safety and environmental quality of the
mines in the region.
The analysis will focus on developing the best technical and economic
approach for degassing Donetsk regional coalmines; evaluating
the technical and economic merits of producing CMM; assessing the most
likely markets and infrastructure required to utilize CMM and CBM; and
developing a financing strategy, taking into account the potential for
carbon
credit sales.
In addition, the contractor will evaluate the environmental benefits
of methane capture and carbon dioxide sequestration with a focus on the
regulatory requirements necessary to implement a project of this type.
Advanced Resources International, Inc. (ARI), of Arlington, Virginia, will
conduct the study.
The U.S. Trade and Development Agency advances economic development
and U.S. commercial interests in developing and middle-income countries.
The agency funds various forms of technical assistance, feasibility studies,
training, orientation visits and business workshops that support the
development of a modern infrastructure and a fair and open trading
environment.
USTDA's strategic use of foreign assistance funds to support sound
investment policy and decision-making in host countries creates an enabling
environment for trade, investment and sustainable economic development.
In carrying out its mission, USTDA gives emphasis to economic sectors that
may benefit from U.S. exports of goods and services. Since 1992, USTDA
has allocated nearly $11 million to Ukraine, of which almost $10 million
were in grants for feasibility studies. Such studies are the first step
needed for the implementation of many investment projects. -30-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public Affairs Section, United States Embassy Kyiv
4 Hlybochytska St., Kyiv 04050 Ukraine
(380 44) 490-4026, 490-4090; Fax (380 44) 490-4050
info@usembassy.kiev.ua; http://usembassy.kiev.ua/infocentral_eng.html
==============================================================
6. INVESTMENT IN UKRAINE DROPPED 14% YEAR-ON-YEAR
Interfax, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
KYIV - Investment in Ukraine dropped 14% year-on-year
in the first half of 2005, First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoliy Kinakh said.
"An effective defense of property rights hasn't been set up yet in Ukraine,
which makes it hard to attract investment to the economy," he said at a
meeting of a working group on problem issues in privatizing state property.
Kinakh said that a meeting [on Tuesday] would consider questions concerning
the tender to sell shares in Kryvorizhstal, including the draft contract on
selling the enterprise's shareholding. Also, questions about the effective
work of OJSC Chysti Metaly (Pure Metals), based in Svitlovodsk, Kirovohrad
region, and OJSC Oriana based in Kalush, Ivano-Frankivsk region will be
raised.
According to Kinakh, during the nearest ad hoc group meetings, problematic
questions concerning the property complex of Siverskodonetsk State
Production Enterprise Azot Amalgamation.(Luhansk region) will be discussed.
He also said the ad hoc group examining the situation at Nikopol
Pivdennotrubny Plant will present its report on the performance of all the
enterprise's structures in late September. -30-
=============================================================
7. UKRAINIAN MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS MEETS WITH
REPRESENTATIVES OF UNION OF UKRAINIANS IN POLAND IN GDANSK
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
KYIV - Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk met with
representatives of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland in Gdansk on August
29, the Foreign Ministry press service told Ukrinform.
During the meeting the parties focused on Ukraine's cooperation with its
compatriots abroad. As the Minister stressed, foreign Ukrainians' attitude
toward their native country, as well as their aid, which they provided to
Ukraine during the period of its independence and, particularly, during the
Orange Revolution, is being appreciated in Ukraine.
As Borys Tarasyuk particularly noted, "you've always been with us and we've
always felt your support. It was especially tangible on the orange maidan,
where the heart of all Europe was beating those days". "The Orange
Revolution, the Minister went on, has changed Ukraine and the Ukrainians.
Today, we feel ourselves the only family, irrespectively of the place of the
world we live in". As Mr Tarasyuk said, the world's attitude toward Ukraine
after the Orange Revolution has significantly changed to better and "today,
we all together are proud of our country, of the people, who stood up for
European values and democracy".
During the warm discussion with the Gdansk-based Ukrainian Community
representatives the Ukrainian top-placed diplomat said that, with a view of
effectively settling all the spectrum of diverse issues of foreign
Ukrainians, a department of matters of Ukrainians living abroad has been
established with the Foreign Ministry.
The department is aimed at coordinating actions of state bodies in the
realization of the national policy of the State, which grounds on the
position that foreign Ukrainians are essential and inalienable part of the
Ukrainian nation. The new division will also promote the realization of the
national program "Foreign Ukrainianhood" and the Law of Ukraine "On
legal status of foreign Ukrainians".
As the Minister said, the work of the national commission on matters of
foreign Ukrainians will be shortly resumed. The commission will decide on
issuance of foreign Ukrainian certificates.
The meeting also tackled the matters of establishment of a
cultural-information center in Poland in the near time. As the Ukrainian
Minister noted, such a center is to become an additional element of
development of bipartite cooperation in the cultural-humanitarian sphere.
The center will play an important role in further establishment of a
positive image of Ukraine in Poland, as a modern European state with
rich history and cultural heritage, high level of education and science.
Furthermore, another priority of the center will be contribution to
satisfaction of national-cultural, linguistic-educational, informational and
spiritual needs of foreign Ukrainians and to establishment of stable ties
with their native land.
The meeting also dealt with Ukraine's and Poland's fulfillment of the
protocol to the bipartite agreement on respectful attitude toward memory
places. The story is about improvement of more than 40 memory places in
Poland through 2007.
The participants in the meeting touched on preparations for the scheduled
World Forum of Ukrainians and for the opening of a joint
Ukrainian-Polish-German University soon. Talking about the expediency of
the opening of this educational institution, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister
stressed the importance, which the President and the Government impart
to this initiative, as a practical manifestation of Ukraine's integration to
the European Union.
Later, Borys Tarasyuk gave an interview to the edition of the Union of
Ukrainians in Poland, the weekly Nashe Slovo. -30-
==============================================================
8. WORLD LEADERS PAY TRIBUTE TO POLAND'S SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT
Associated Press (AP), Gdansk, Poland, Wed, August 31, 2005
GDANSK, Poland - World leaders paid tribute to Solidarity on Wednesday,
saying the labor movement launched 25 years ago in the Gdansk shipyards was
a catalyst for some of the most profound changes Europe has seen, including
the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, and democratic
revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia.
Poland's triumph over communism "led to the unification of Europe, led to a
united Germany," German President Horst Koehler said at a ceremony marking
Solidarity's 25th anniversary. "Poles freed not just themselves - they
launched a process which radiates until today," he said.
During an outdoor Mass at the gates of the shipyard, the late Polish-born
Pope John Paul II was honored for his historic role in inspiring the birth
of Solidarity.
Pope Benedict XVI, in a message read out by papal nuncio Archbishop Jozef
Kowalczyk, said Solidarity "not only peacefully created unimaginable
political changes in Poland, putting Polish people on a road to freedom and
democracy, but also showed other nations of the former eastern bloc the
possibility of correcting historic injustice."
"I know how close it was to the heart of my great predecessor, the servant
of God, John Paul II, that this act of historical justice take place and
that Europe be able to breathe with two lungs - one western and one
eastern," Benedict said.
Krakow Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, John Paul's longtime aide, delivered a
homily from an altar decorated with flowers and a Byzantine-style painting
of St. Mary and baby Jesus - imagery that underlines the important role the
Roman Catholic Church played from Solidarity's start. "The free homeland is
largely the fruit of his teachings," Dziwisz said.
The movement's leader, Lech Walesa, has often credited John Paul with
inspiring the birth of the movement with his historic 1979 visit to his
homeland, during which he celebrated Masses that electrified the nation and
subtly criticized the communist regime.
A year after that, on Aug. 31, 1980, 18 days of strikes began at the Lenin
Shipyards of Gdansk and elsewhere that culminated with the communist regime
making unprecedented concessions to the workers, including allowing the
Soviet bloc's first free trade union.
Solidarity suffered setbacks after martial law was declared in December
1981, but it went on to negotiate a peaceful end to communism in Poland in
1989, which in turn helped hasten the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said it was "a second wave of
Solidarity" that brought him to power in U.S.-backed street protests in
2003, as well as Viktor Yushchenko in Ukraine following last year's "Orange
Revolution." "Solidarity has become a road for everyone," Yushchenko added.
President George W. Bush sent a statement recognizing Solidarity's "vital
and important contributions to the spread of liberty." "Those striving for
democratic rights need our support, and they can look to Solidarity as a
shining example of liberty and justice," Bush said in a statement read by
his envoy, James Baker, who was secretary of state under former President
George H.W. Bush.
Those at the ceremonies also included Walesa and former Czechoslovak
dissident leader Vaclav Havel. Walesa, a former shipyard electrician,
reflected on how he and the other strikers risked their lives to defy the
communist regime when they had no guarantee of success.
"Why did we do all of it?" Walesa said. "To launch a new epoch, one without
divisions. Without one shot, our generation was able to do it." -30-
=============================================================
9. THE POLISH AUGUST
REVIEW & OUTLOOK, The Wall Street Journal
New York, NY, Wednesday, August 31, 2005
At 6 a.m., on Aug. 14, 1980, three workers at Gdansk's Lenin Shipyard
declared a strike. Within hours, thousands of others joined their sit-in. At
11 that morning, Lech Walesa, a former electrician at the yard, scaled the
wall and soon took charge of an impromptu strike committee.
It's now a footnote in history but this protest, then illegal, was sparked
by the dismissal the previous week of Anna Walentynowicz, a crane operator
with only five months left to retirement. The official reason was
absenteeism. The real one was that Ms. Walentynowicz was active in
underground workers' rights groups and, like the political rabble-rouser
Lech Walesa before her, was being punished.
The strikers' demands, at the start, were mostly limited to giving her and
Mr. Walesa their jobs back. Soon enough, the protest mushroomed into a
revolution. Under the ironic slogan "Workers of All Enterprises -- Unite,"
strikes spread from Gdansk up and down the country during a hot summer of
labor unrest fed by Poles' dissatisfaction with their illegitimate communist
rulers.
Two weeks later, on this day 25 years ago, Solidarity was born. It was a
trade union but embodied the idea that a people unified for freedom can
change the world.
Some of the 21 points in the August Agreements between the workers and the
communist government sound quaint today -- like the food stamps for meat and
a rise in the commuter's allowance. The real change was the end on the
prohibition on independent trade unions.
That effectively recognized a right to free association and weakened the
communist's monopoly on public life, if not power. Even though the army and
police stayed firmly in their hands, the terms of the relationship between
the ruler and the ruled were changed.
This victory, hard won, proved brief. The Poles didn't get democracy or real
freedom, only a taste. Brezhnev, and his Doctrine that gave the Soviets the
"right" to rule eastern Europe, were alive then. Martial law shut down
Solidarity in 1981. But the seeds of collapse of totalitarianism in Europe
were planted in Gdansk that August. A quarter of all Poles, 10 million,
ended up joining Solidarity.
The Catholic Church and a Polish Pope kept hope alive even during the dark
days of the 1980s. As did the support of America and its cowboy president,
Ronald Reagan. That backing was greatly appreciated behind the Iron
Curtain -- and continues to be repaid today by countries who are some of
America's closest allies.
Seen from our times, when most of the old Soviet bloc sits safely and
prosperously in the European Union, the birth of democracy in Europe almost
looks inevitable. Easily forgotten now are that liberal elites, in America
and Western Europe, believed that the Continent's status quo was
irreversible and that the American president, with his talk of "evil
empire," was a dangerous fool.
Two decades on, these Cassandras have turned their sights to another cowboy
resident of the White House and his efforts to help democracy come to life
in the Muslim world.
The enduring lesson of Solidarity is that all people yearn to live in
freedom. Fatalism has no place in this day. The Polish August inspired the
fight for democracy the world over. In last year's "Orange Revolution" in
Ukraine, when a military crackdown looked possible, Lech Walesa told
hundreds of thousands gathered in Kiev's Independence Square to stay united
and avoid violence. Ukraine's autocrats didn't dare move against the people
after that Nobel Peace Prize laureate came to town.
What's more, the Polish experience, from martial law to the early days of
democracy, shows that this struggle isn't for the faint of heart. Change
takes time. When Tadeusz Mazowiecki was nominated the eastern bloc's first
non-Communist prime minister in another August, of 1989, he came up to
Gdansk for mass at St. Brygida's Church, the spiritual home of Solidarity.
His appointment marked the beginning of the end of communism in Europe, but
he felt anxiety in the air. In an interview in that morning's Gazeta
Wyborcza, the Solidarity daily, Mr. Mazowiecki had faced skeptical grilling.
"What, sir, will you do so that people will feel that something has really
changed?"
He responded: "But don't you think, my lady, that if for the first time in
40 years there is a non-communist prime minister, that something has really
changed?"
Fifteen years after the fall of communism, Poland and the rest of the Soviet
bloc are mostly unrecognizable. In Gdansk, the Lenin shipyard and St.
Brygida's are historical relics. The real action now takes place a few
blocks away in a center crowded with bars, office blocks and private
businesses that feed the country's economic boom.
In the 25 years since the birth of Solidarity, all of Europe -- with the
glaring exception of Belarus -- is largely free of tyranny. In that time,
the number of democracies in the world has tripled, something that the
Gdansk shipyard workers can take some justifiable credit for.
As a political party, Solidarity floundered in democratic Poland. The Poles
no longer needed to unite against the government; it now ruled with their
consent. Freedom disappointed many Solidarity leaders since it brought
wrenching economic change as well. All this wasn't easy and didn't happen
overnight, but we don't hear anyone complaining.
These Polish lessons are worth bearing in mind as other peoples and nations
wage their own struggles for freedom.
=============================================================
10. DEATH NOTICES SERVE TO REVIVE MORIBUND CIS
END NOTE: By Liz Fuller
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
Prague, Czech Republic, Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Meeting in the wilds of Belarus on 8 December 1991, the
presidents of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus announced the creation of
a new Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on the ruins of the
crumbling USSR. Two weeks later, on 21 December 1991, the
presidents of 11 former Soviet republics (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
Ukraine, and Uzbekistan) met in Almaty and signed a protocol to that
declaration affirming their countries' membership in the CIS.
The ink was barely dry on those signatures when skeptics
began questioning how long that new union would last. Shortly after
its first anniversary, in January 1993, U.S. expert Paul Goble
memorably dubbed the CIS "the world's largest fig leaf," alluding to
the need to conceal the final collapse of Moscow's influence over the
country it had controlled since the USSR was first created in 1922.
Russian politicians, however, including President Vladimir Putin,
have tended to put a positive spin on the emergence of the CIS as a
mechanism for ensuring a "civilized divorce," in other words, for
enabling the various former Soviet Socialist Republics to agree,
without bloodshed, to go their separate ways.
Initially, every effort was made to preserve cooperation
between CIS member states at a level close to that which existed
within the USSR. In May 1992, six CIS member states (Armenia,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) signed
the CIS Collective Security Treaty pledging to intervene collectively
to counter an attack on any one of them; a CIS armed forces general
staff continued to exist until mid-1993. But from the outset, the CIS
was split into two factions, the first of which (Armenia, Belarus,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) was
markedly more committed than the others (Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Moldova, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine). Azerbaijan quit the CIS in 1992
following the advent to power of the Azerbaijan Popular Front (AHC),
but rejoined in late 1993 after the AHC leadership was ousted.
Georgia was coerced into joining in late 1993 by Russian threats to
withhold energy supplies.
In January 1993, the CIS presidents adopted a new charter and
statutes, and in September of that year they reached agreement in
principle on creating an economic union. But already the centrifugal
tendencies that precipitated the collapse of the USSR were evident
within the CIS: Uzbek President Islam Karimov complained in April
1993 that the CIS had already adopted 270 documents that his country
found unacceptable and would not abide by. Writing in "Rossiiskie
vesti" in December 1996, one commentator note that "implementing one
[CIS] agreement is more difficult than signing 10 new ones."
The process of signing ever more documents that were never
implemented nonetheless continued for several years, until at a CIS
summit in late March 1997, hard-line Russian political scientists
Andranik Migranian and Konstantin Zatulin unveiled a program intended
to restore Russia's status as unacknowledged leader within the CIS.
Warning that the CIS risks becoming "a fiction," they advocated
radical measures, including the deliberate destabilization of the
domestic political situation within selected CIS states (Georgia,
Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan), to reverse the perceived drift of the
former Soviet republics away from Russia. They argued that the
founders of the CIS had committed a fundamental error by selecting
the wrong (from Russia's point of view) model, namely EU-style
integration, and that reunification of the two Germanies would have
been far more appropriate.
That blueprint set off alarm bells across the CIS, and served
as the catalyst for the foundation in late 1997 of GUAM, a loose
geo-political alignment encompassing Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan,
and Moldova; Uzbekistan acceded to GUAM in April 1999.
In a possible acknowledgement that the scare tactics espoused
by Migranian and Zatulin had proven counterproductive, in April 1998,
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovskii was appointed CIS executive
secretary with a brief to persuade the CIS presidents to endorse, and
then implement, a blueprint for closer and more effective economic
cooperation, beginning with the creation of one or more CIS
free-trade zones. (An agreement in principle to form such zones had
been signed in April 1994, but shared the same fate as hundreds of
other collective statements of intent that were signed but never
implemented.) Meanwhile, the "core" CIS states -- Russia, Belarus,
and Kazakhstan, which had formed a customs union in 1995 to which
Kyrgyzstan acceded the following year -- were mulling the creation of
a Single Economic Space together with Ukraine.
Two developments seemed to infuse new vitality into the CIS,
albeit only briefly: the election of Vladimir Putin to succeed Boris
Yeltsin as Russian president, and the creation in November 2001 of a
CIS Antiterrrorism Center. Then in 2003, the CIS drafted, but failed
to endorse, a new 10-part plan for expanding economic cooperation,
the first stage of which was to be the creation of a free-trade zone.
That failure to move decisively forward prompted Kazakh President
Nursultan Nazarbaev, one of the most enthusiastic proponents of
closer CIS integration in both the economic and political spheres, to
propose at a CIS summit in Astana in September 2004 transforming the
Single Economic Space into the nucleus of a "super-CIS" while the
remaining CIS members confined their cooperation within that body to
the military sphere. Nazarbaev also proposed other measures to
streamline the CIS and make it more effective, including abolishing
the CIS Economic Court and several other bodies and reducing the
staff of the CIS Executive Committee from 220 to 140, according to
"Vremya novostei" on 17 September 2004. The summit participants
agreed to reach a final decision on Nazarbaev's reform proposals
within 12 months.
In the event, however, last week's CIS summit in Kazan failed
yet again to yield a consensus on reform; the participants decided to
readdress the issue at their next summit, tentatively scheduled for
2006 in Belarus. Putin proposed establishing a "council of wise men"
to draft new, unspecified proposals for reforming the CIS. (An
alternative blueprint for reform drafted by Ukrainian President
Viktor Yushchenko was reportedly not included in the agenda.) Despite
the ongoing uncertainty, however, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin
described the Kazan summit as one of the most productive ever,
according to "The Moscow Times" on 29 August.
That comment may, however, prove to be premature in light of
two related developments. First, in line with its predilection for
structuring its foreign policy exclusively on bilateral, rather than
multilateral ties and agreements, Turkmenistan has finally admitted
its total lack of interest in the CIS and formally requested that its
status be downgraded to that of associate member. (Article 8 of the
CIS Statutes adopted in January 1993 provides for states with such
associate membership to participate in selected CIS activities with
the formal consent of the CIS full members).
Some might argue that the effective exclusion of Turkmenistan from
the CIS equation is a positive development insofar as it removes an
obstacle to closer and more effective economic integration. Others,
however, might see it as the thin end of a much larger wedge -- a
wedge that the unequivocally Western-oriented CIS members, in the
first instance Georgia and Ukraine, might seek to use at some future
point to deal the coup de grace by announcing their collective
withdrawal.
One unfortunate incident at the summit's opening ceremony on
26 August -- shown on Russian television -- perfectly symbolized the
CIS's dilemma. The presidents gathered in a magnificent new
conference center only to find the air conditioning did not function
and the windows would not open. Putin, perspiring visibly, looked on
as a workman wielding a crowbar was summoned to force open a
window and let in some fresh air -- a commodity without which the CIS
will suffocate, sooner or later. The question being, which president will
wield the crowbar? -30-
=============================================================
11. JEWISH COMMUNITY OF UKRAINE WELCOMES NEW HOLOCAUST
MEMORIALS IN KHARKIV, ODESA AND OTHER LOCATIONS
By Shauna McLarnon, exclusively for RISU
Religious Information Service of Ukraine (RISU)
Lviv, Ukraine, Friday, August 26, 2005
On 22 August 2005, the Jewish community of Kharkiv and nearby settlements
joined civic leaders, government officials and members of the general public
for the inauguration ceremony of the memorial hall at the Drobitsky Yar
Holocaust Memorial Complex. Now that construction has finished, it is now
officially open for prayer and for viewing. The website of AEN reported on
this event on 24 August.
The hall features "The Cup of Grief" in the center of the room, as well as
dark marble plaques showing the names of 4,000 Jews from the Kharkiv
Region who had fallen victim to the Holocaust. This is the amount of Jews
that have been identified to date, though there may be more among the
victims of this tragedy.
The total number of people killed in Drobitsky Yar by the Fascists during
World War Two is estimated at somewhere from 16,000 to 30,000 persons.
Jewish community leaders spoke at this inauguration ceremony and offered a
prayer. This commemoration event also involved representatives of the City
Administration, as well as other non-governmental organizations and faiths
operating in this region of eastern Ukraine. Towards the end of this event,
participants paid a minute of silence to pay tribute to those who died here
and elsewhere at the hands of the Nazis.
The establishment of this memorial is the latest in a number of developments
in cities of Ukraine where local Jewish community leaders and community
members are joining with people of other confessions and nationalities, as
well as political leaders, to commemorate hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian
Jewish Holocaust victims.
Such tributes are completely in sync with Jewish culture. In fact, Jewish
law obligates all Jews to carry out the mitzvah of honoring the deceased.
Such recent initiatives aimed at honoring their memory is helping them to do
just that, as well as serving to remind members of the general public of the
tragic events that occurred on the territory of Ukraine during the
Holocaust.
One memorial was erected at Pliskunovskiy Yar by Priluki, where Nazi forces
murdered 1300 Jews 63 years ago. The two-year project "Remembrance
and Gratitude," sponsored by the Association of National and Cultural
Associations of Ukraine, got underway in late June.
It will entail the construction or maintenance of monuments in 11 regions.
"We have come a long way. We have searched for and detailed the names
of the victims, created a picture of events that happened here based on
testimony by eye witnesses. We will also search for the relatives of those
buried here," explained Priluki Jewish community Chairman Pavel Lipin.
In Odesa, the Ukraine-Israel Association also began the construction of a
memorial to victims of Fascism. The new memorial is to be located at a
site where over 18,000 innocent victims were murdered in 1941 by
invading Nazi forces. It is scheduled for completion by mid-October.
Earlier this summer, another monument was erected in the Odesa Region,
to pay tribute to the shooting of more than 770 Jews at this site in March
1942. Its inauguration involved local residents and Jewish community
members and leaders of Odesa, including pupils of the Ohr Avner Chabad
Day School, the local Yeshiva, and members of the Israeli Cultural Center.
In addition to state officials and dignitaries, the event also involved the
Second Secretary of the Israeli Embassy in Ukraine, Lev Korits,
representatives of the Yad Vashem Museum in Jerusalem, and Leonid
Dusman, director of the Zaradi Zhittya (For the Sake of Life) Charitable
Foundation.
A local resident who witnessed this tragedy, Ivan Cherevayko, told the
crowd the ghastly tale of what he saw at that horrific time. Rabbi David
Feldman, director of the Yeshiva in Odesa, recited a commemorative
prayer in memory of these victims.
"Our pupils feel that, while such facts are quite hard to swallow, the
bitter taste they leave helps to ensure such poison is never again
unleashed," explained Rinella Frumkina, vice-director of the Ohr Avner
Chabad Day School.
These two monuments in the Odesa Region were not the first erected here
to commemorate Holocaust victims. Five years ago, a memorial stone was
put up in Odesa to pay tribute to the 25,000 Jews burned to death there in
1941 by the Nazis. -30-
Sources: AEN
. http://www.aen.ru
. http://www.jewish.ru
. http://www.aen.ru/ru/story.php?id=tape&article=33251
. http://www.jn.com.ua/community/Kharkov_2207.html
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
LINK: http://www.risu.org.ua/eng/kaleidoscope/article;7009/
=============================================================
12. PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: DECREE N 1087/2005, ON ADDITIONAL
MEASURES FOR HONORING AND PERPETUATING THE MEMORY OF
THE VICTIMS OF POLITICAL REPRESSIONS AND FAMINES IN UKRAINE
President of Ukraine Decree N 1087/2005
Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, July 11, 2005
The Action Ukraine Report (AUR), Number 550
(English translation edited by The Action Ukraine Report)
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, September 1, 2005
On additional measures for honoring and perpetuating the memory of the
victims of political repressions and famines in Ukraine
To perpetuate the memory of victims of political repressions and famines
in Ukraine, to provide a profound understanding of the historical past of
the Ukrainian nation, its longstanding fight for the renewal of its
nationhood, and also to encourage the Ukrainian society and especially
its youth to pay closer attention to the tragic pages in its history
I D E C R E E :
1. To Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine:
a) to resolve the question of the creation of the Ukrainian National
Memory Institute by 26 November, this year's Day of Remembrance of the
victims of political repressions and famines.
For this purpose in particular:
By August 15, 2005, create an interdepartmental working group on the
creation of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute, the preparation of
proposals on its structure and main directions in its activity. This working
group should be created taking into consideration the proposals of the
Ukrainian National Academy of Science, the Ukrainian Voluntary
Cultural-Educational Human Rights Charitable Association "Memorial"
named after V.Stus, the Association of Researchers of Famines in Ukraine,
the All-Ukrainian Association of Political Prisoners and Repressed People.
This group should include leading scientists, renowned experts,
representatives of non-governmental organizations who carry out research
on political repressions and famines;
in accordance with the established order, provide a solution for the
location of the Ukrainian National Memory Institute in the center of Kyiv;
b) in accordance with the established order, make proposals for
giving national status to the State Historical-Memorial Reserve "Brykivski
Mohyly" by August 1, 2005;
c) in accordance with the established order, prepare and introduce for
the consideration by Verkhovna Rada a bill on political-juridical appraisal
of famines in the history of the Ukrainian nation.
2. To Security Service of Ukraine, State Archive Committee of Ukraine -
to provide all necessary assistance to the representatives of
non-governmental organizations, scientific institutes and organizations, as
well as scientists in accessing appropriate archives pertaining to political
repressions and famines in Ukraine and in publishing such documents.
3. To the Council of Ministers of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea,
regional, Kyiv and Sevastopil municipal state administrations with the
assistance of non-governmental organizations that research political
repressions and famines:
in 2005-2006 take measures on the study and appropriate enumeration
of the burial places of victims of political repressions, as well as on the
erection of monuments and memorials;
with the assistance of schoolchildren and students organize work on the
search for mass grave sites of victims of political repressions and
famines;
support the establishment of museums, the formation of museum
collections, the organization of permanent expositions of historical events
connected with political repressions and famines in Ukraine.
4. To the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine with the assistance of
non-governmental organizations that carry out research on political
repressions and famines, also with the assistance of representatives of
the Ukrainian community abroad :
in accordance with the established order arrange the measures on the
activization of the search for and investigation of mass grave sites of
Ukrainians on the territories of foreign countries who died as a result of
political repressions .
V. Yushchenko, President of Ukraine
Kyiv, July 11, 2005; N 1087/2005
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE: This English translation is one that has been edited
by The Action Ukraine Report (AUR) Monitoring Service.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOOTNOTE: The interdepartmental working group that was to have
been appointed by August 15th has not yet been appointed. In
meetings I had in Kyiv this week related to the Ukrainian Genocide
(Holodomor) it has been reported that there are many organizations
and individuals from different political and historical persuasions who
wish to be represented on the working group. In particular
representatives of the various security services and labor unions are
seeking representation on the interdepartmental working group.
It has also been reported that three of the recommendations of the
committee that made recommendations to the President regarding
this Decree would not included in the final Decree. These were (1)
that the Ukrainian National Memory Institute by under the Presidential
Administration, (2) that the Institute have all the legal rights of a
governmental organization, and (3) that the Institute be located in
the large October Palace in the center of Kyiv. EDITOR
=============================================================
13. UKRAINIAN ARCHEOLOGISTS UNVEIL MYSTERY OF
ANCIENT OLVIA'S SUBMERGED PART
Ukrinform, Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, August 31, 2005
KYIV - Ceramics, dated back to the 5th and 4th Centuries BC, were found
by Ukrainian underwater archeologists during excavations of ancient Olvia's
submerged part.
The finds point to the ancient Greek colony in what is now the southern part
of Mykolaiv region as having been founded some 150 years earlier than in was
through, Valentina Krapivina, Candidate of Historical Sciences and the
expedition's chief, commented on the underwater excavations, which were
financed by entrepreneur Oleksandr Lastenko.
So far, the underwater part of the Olvia national sanctuary has supplied
rather few artifacts. In 1997 Ukrainian archeologist Sergei Kryzhitskiy
found what once were stores with ancient ceramic containers for olive oil,
wine, grain, flour.
As the bulk of archeologists believe, presently only 33 ha of the former
territory of Olvia is easily accessible to excavations, whereas 20 ha to 22
ha of the ancient colony's territory submerged, as a result the Bug Liman
raising its level.
With a view of starting underwater excavations, Oleksandr Lastenko suggested
a project of his own, which provided for using a specially equipped vessel.
The research vessel helped the archeologists find many interesting artifacts
both in ancient Olvia and elsewhere.
In particular, the archeologists discovered a brigantine of the 18th Century
in the vicinity of the Khortytsia Isle in the Dnieper. Among other
objectives, the project is meant for drawing out a map of the Olvia colony's
submerged part.
To this end the archeologists are using a unique device, which they call a
"profilograph," and which experts from Russia's St Petersburg offered.
Combined with the GPS system, this will allow to map the sea bed with great
precision and pinpoint ancient colony's features, which for almost a
thousand years existed on the Bug Liman's shores.
According to Valentina Krapivina, the expedition's members are technically
superbly equipped. In addition to ceramics they have found several coins, a
human skull, bones of domestic animals, which points to the fact that what
now is located 180 meters off the coast and is submerged, once was a densely
populated polis.
As the excavations show, Olvia's lower part had a haven in the 5th Century
BC and its houses were made of stone. Olvia City was the administrative
center of the namesake Greek colony, which was founded in the first quarter
of the 6th Century BC on the Bug Liman's right bank.
In its best times the colony occupied about 50 ha. In the 6th and 5th
centuries BC the colony was ruled by oligarchs, and in the early 4th Century
BC a democratic form of government was established there.
In the year 55 BC the colony suffered from the Gothes' invasion. Later the
polis revived to become the Roman Empire's province in 198 AD.
In the 70s of the 4th Century AD Olvia was totally ruined by the Huns. In
1924 on Olvia's territory an archeological sanctuary was created, presently
the national historical-archeological sanctuary Olvia. -30-
=============================================================
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Coordinator, Action Ukraine Coalition (AUC)
Senior Advisor, U.S.-Ukraine Foundation (USUF)
Chairman, Executive Committee, Ukraine-U.S. Business Council
Publisher, Ukraine Information Website, www.ArtUkraine.com
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Power Corrupts and Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely.
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