INSIDE: l Jars Balan on Ukraine’s civilizational choice – page 7 l Dance Camp at Soyuzivka sets attendance record – page 13 l More of our sports correspondent’s “80 in 80” – page 15 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXI No. 33 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013 $1/$2 in Ukraine Forbes Ukraina ranks Ukrainian Orthodox Church of U.S.A. celebrates Lviv region’s wealthiest 1025th anniversary of baptism of Rus’-Ukraine by Zenon Zawada Little is known about Mr. Antonov’s background and how he gained his wealth. KYIV – Most of Ukraine’s wealthiest busi- He was a member of the Komsomol nessmen are from eastern Ukraine, where (Communist Youth League), which is the they gained ownership of the country’s big- way many present-day oligarchs gained the gest factories and mines. The Soviet govern- contacts to accumulate their wealth. He ment invested only a small fraction of that graduated from the Ternopil Financial- amount into building industries in western Economic Institute in 1988 and became Ukraine. general director and main shareholder of Nevertheless, the Lviv region has a few Galnaftogaz by 1995. big shots of its own – three three-digit mil- “There has never been a tradition of lionaires and at least seven two-digit mil- thinking and working large scale in Lviv,” lionaires, according to Forbes Ukraina mag- Mr. Antonov told Forbes. “When I began my azine, which published its rankings in its business, I worked simultaneously here and June issue. in Moscow. It’s precisely there that I learned “Lviviany [residents of the Lviv region] how to think globally.” have a stronger psychology of small and Besides the gasoline retail business, Mr. medium business,” Vitaliy Antonov, the Lviv Antonov is the primary shareholder in region’s biggest businessman, told Forbes. Khlibprom, Ukraine’s biggest bread produc- “Lviv joined the USSR only in 1939 and the er, with 17 factories in western and central destruction of small business here was less Ukraine. He also launched the Universalna prolonged. I would name today’s Lviv as the insurance company, in which he still owns a capital of small and medium business in significant stake. UOC-U.S.A. Ukraine.” In 2008, Mr. Antonov was among the co- Hierarchs and clergy of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. celebrate the The rankings included businessmen who founders of the Lviv Business School at the liturgy inside St. Andrew Ukrainian Orthodox Memorial Church. live in the Lviv region or whose company Ukrainian Catholic University, having sup- SOUTH BOUND BROOK, N.J. – The nounced to those in attendance the Pastoral headquarters are located in the region. ported as its director and chief executive 1025th anniversary of the baptism of Encyclical of the Permanent Conference of Their estimated wealth is based on all their Sophia Opatska, Galnaftogaz’s corporate assets (enterprises, real estate, stocks, luxu- university director. Kyivan Rus’-Ukraine brought people from Ukrainian Orthodox Hierarchs Beyond the ry items), as well as gains from mergers and Shares of Galnaftogaz (GLNG UK), all over the United States to the Metropolia Boundaries of Ukraine, stating: “Let us also acquisitions. Khlibprom (HLPR UK) and Universalna Center of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of treasure the Holy Orthodox Faith which has Insurance (SKUN UK) are traded on the the U.S.A. in South Bound Brook, N.J. been passed down to us by St. Volodymyr 1. Vitaliy Antonov, $264 million Ukrainian Exchange in Kyiv. On Saturday, August 10, Metropolitan the Great. …May our All-merciful Lord, If you filled your tank at an OKKO gaso- Mr. Antonov is divorced; he has three Antony, the prime hierarch of the UOC- through the prayers of our Enlightener, the line station in Ukraine, you contributed to children. U.S.A. and the locum tenens of the Holy Great-Prince Volodymyr the Great, Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Diaspora, strengthen us in the Holy Orthodox Faith, the revenue of the Lviv region’s biggest 2. Petro Dyminskyi, $170 million businessman. Born in Stryi, Lviv Oblast, Mr. along with Bishop Daniel of the Western help us overcome all the trials of life so that Antonov, 50, is best known for being the Owner of the Lviv Karpaty soccer club, Eparchy, who is also president of the we would be worthy and faithful children of primary owner of Galnaftogaz, one of Mr. Dyminskyi, 58, is a native of Kryvyi Rih, Consistory of the UOC-U.S.A., led about 40 our native Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Ukraine’s top three largest gasoline retail- among Ukraine’s biggest hubs of iron min- priests and hundreds of Ukrainian our ancestral homeland of Ukraine. Thanks ers. The company has built and manages ing and steel production. He arrived in Orthodox faithful in a prayerful observance to God’s providence, Ukraine has main- 382 gas stations (most of which are OKKO), Chervonohrad, Lviv Oblast, in 1988 when of this significant anniversary. tained its Christian faith through the centu- and nine petroleum storage deposits. he was promoted to director of the The liturgy inside St. Andrew Ukrainian ries. With this faith, Ukraine will overcome Velykomostovska Mine. Orthodox Memorial Church began promptly all obstacles and remain unvanquished and He made his first millions after the at 10 a.m. with the arrival of Metropolitan faithful, according to the example of its Soviet Union’s collapse, bartering Polish Antony and Bishop Daniel. The Very Rev. great apostle and baptizer, the Holy Great- coal for Ukrainian steel, which he sold to Yuriy Siwko, pastor of St. Andrew Ukrainian Prince Volodymyr.” China. In the late 1990s, Mr. Dyminskyi Orthodox Memorial Church, welcomed the Following the conclusion of the prayer ser- joined several Volyn millionaires from the hierarchs, clergy and visiting faithful for the vices, hierarchs, clergy and laity processed Kontinium business group in buying the celebratory Divine Liturgy of St. John around the Memorial Church, pausing for the Halychyna oil refinery on the outskirts of Chrysostom. prayerful “Memory Eternal – Vichnaya Boryslav in the Lviv Oblast. Metropolitan Antony reflected upon the Pamiat’” at the entrance to the Holy He remains a shareholder in numerous path of Christian witness on the lands of Resurrection Mausoleum, remembering the Kontinium enterprises but isn’t active, said ancient Kyivan Rus’ and the significance ministry of Patriarch Mstyslav along with Ihor Yeremeyev, Kontinium’s major share- that the historic events of 988 have for gen- Metropolitan John (Theodorovych) and other holder. At some point, Mr. Dyminskyi was a erations of Ukrainian Christians throughout hierarchs, clergy and faithful of the Church partner with Kontinium in Western Oil Gas the world, especially in the United States of who are buried at St. Andrew Cemetery. (WOG), among Ukraine’s three leading gas- America. The procession continued to its final oline retailers. It’s unconfirmed whether he’s currently a partner. Four choirs chanted the responses. The destination, Holy Transfiguration Chapel on Mr. Dyminskyi is married with a daugh- choir of St. Andrew Memorial Church was the grounds of the Metropolia Center, for a ter. joined by the members of St. George Ukrainian moleben with the blessing of waters ser- Orthodox Parish in Yardville, N.J., St. Vladimir vice, led by both hierarchs of the Church. It 3. Taras Barshchovskyi, $141 million Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral in Philadelphia is noteworthy that the entire Prayer Trail at Galnaftogaz In 2003, Mr. Barshchovskyi, then 31, was and St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Orthodox St. Andrew Metropolia Center, was recently Vitaliy Antonov, 50, is the wealthiest busi- Church in Johnson City, N.Y. renewed by the High School Mission Team nessman in the Lviv region, with assets one of nine Ukrainian suppliers for the estimated at $264 million, according to At the conclusion of the liturgy Forbes Ukraina magazine. (Continued on page 14) Metropolitan Antony and Bishop Daniel pro- (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 18, 2013 No. 33 ANALYSIS Xenophobia, desire for monopoly of power Association Agreement to be discussed Speaking at a press conference in Sevastopol on August 7, he said: “I think dominate Kyiv’s new approach to Crimea KYIV – Negotiations between the govern- that if we resolve the issue of improving the ment and the opposition on issues related to judicial system, all other issues that are overcoming obstacles on the road to signing raised by Europeans will not influence the by Taras Kuzio (http://president.gov.ua/documents/ the Association Agreement will be held on signing of the Association Agreement. Eurasia Daily Monitor 12259.html). The Council of Representatives of the August 23 during the political stage of the Then, when Parliaments ratify [the docu- When writing about xenophobia and Crimean Tatars attached to the president of national roundtable “Common Ground for ment], some countries may raise the ques- racism, Western scholars and the media Ukraine had been operational since 1999, European Future.” The chairman of the tion of Tymoshenko, but only from a politi- writing about Ukraine inevitably focus on and the Kurultai had delegated representa- supervisory board of the national round cal point of view. However, none of the poli- Western Ukraine and the rise of the tives to it. Mr. Yanukovych’s decree instead table, Viacheslav Briukhovetsky, said on ticians looked at her case. Related parties Svoboda nationalist party. But in fact, empowered the president to select the August 7 at a meeting of the first, public are demanding her release only on an emo- Council of Europe reports, the U.S. diplo- members of this consultative body. Mr. stage of the roundtable: “An action plan on tional level.