INSIDE: • Ukraine’s security, political and economic prospects — page 2. • Ukrainian National Foundation begins its work — page 5. • Dateline New York: Ukrainian Christmas in the city — page 8. HE KRAINI A N EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXV No. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 1997 $1.25/$2 in Ukraine Ukraine’s TV Ukraine’s vice-consul ejected from Canada by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj October 29, and to surrender his pass- the arrest and search of his car, therefore, restructured; Toronto Press Bureau port. However, the vice consul did nei- were illegal because they were not per- ther. In fact, he failed to appear at seven formed under a specially issued warrant TORONTO — Declared persona non subsequent hearings prior to the expul- as demanded by the Vienna Convention. critics cry foul grata together with his wife by Canada’s sion order of December 23. Their petitions and diplomatic pressure Ministry of Foreign Affairs and In the meantime, conflicting pressure from the Ukrainian Embassy in Ottawa by Roman Woronowycz International Trade, Ukraine’s vice-consul on the Canadian Ministry of Foreign resulted in a November 8 letter to Ms. Kyiv Press Bureau in Toronto, Oleksander Yushko, boarded A f f a i r s from Prosecutor Welch seeking to Welch, in which R.J. Rochon, director an afternoon KLM flight to Kyiv on KYIV — In a restructuring of its try Mr. Yushko on the one hand, and general of the Canadian Foreign Affairs December 24, 1996. broadcasting, Ukraine’s two govern- from Ukraine’s diplomatic missions and M i n i s t r y ’s Bureau of Legal Affairs, The Canadian Foreign Affairs Ministry ment-run television channels have opted its lawyers on the other, produced contra- agreed with their position and indicated issued the declaration on December 23, to no longer carry private broadcasting dictory positions on whether Mr. Yushko that his ministry “wishes to withdraw” the stipulating that the pair was to leave except for the German-based “Studio actually had diplomatic immunity at the previous two items of correspondence in Canada by midnight of Christmas Day. 1+1.” The move sounds the death knell time of his arrest. the matter. Mr. Rochon went on to certify This marked the climax of a bizarre two- for one of Ukraine’s more popular news In letters to Ms. Welch of October 29 Mr. Yushko as a consular officer was month series of events during which the programs, “Vikna.” and November 1, the Ministry of Foreign “entitled to the privileges and immunities On December 31, 1996, the National Canadian government and various agencies Affairs and International Trade’s Deputy alternately did, and did not, recognize the afforded” to such officials. Television and Radio Broadcasting Chief of Protocol W.R. Bowden stated that Ms. Welch pressed on, however, Commission announced that because of Ukrainian official’s claim of diplomatic Mr. Yushko “does not have immunity from immunity. Ukraine’s diplomatic corps attracting media attention to the case. On its heavy broadcasting schedule, it will criminal jurisdiction” because he was not a December 5, the Toronto Sun daily ran no longer carry independent news pro- steadfastly insisted that no matter how full-fledged diplomat. damning the circumstances, any arrest of an Christie Blatchford’s column titled “Feds g r a m s . After the vice-consul missed another change tune on envoy immunity,” fol- The two stations, UT-1 and UT-2, official of theirs was illegal. hearing on October 31, Ms. Welch began Immediately prior to the December 19 lowed by another on December 13, titled have long been accused of simply being pressing for the execution of a discre- “Ukrainian thumbs nose at our laws.” propaganda arms of the government. Ontario Provincial Court hearing into the tionary bench warrant for his arrest, con- matter, the Ukrainian Consulate General’s In the latter piece, Ms. Blatchford According to the Kiev Post, even produc- tending that the matter of his immunity revealed that Mr. Yushko is the son of a ers and reporters at the networks admit legal affairs officer, Anatoliy Alekseyenko, from prosecution was for the courts, and told The Weekly that the 32-year-old Mr. former KGB colonel who was stationed that their reports are regularly censored not for Mr. Yushko, to decide. at Soviet Consulates in Toronto and and that most news reflects the official Yushko arrived in Toronto on October 17, The Ukrainian Consulate G e n e r a l 1996, carrying a Ukrainian diplomatic pass- Montreal in the 1950s and 1960s before position of the government. retained Greg Hood, Todd Archibald and returning to Kyiv to serve in a “senior Viktor Petrenko, chairman of the port stamped with a Canadian diplomatic Lubomir Kozak of the Toronto law firm visa. Mr. Alekseyenko said Mr. Yushko operations position.” National TV and Radio Broadcasting Borden & Elliott to press their case that These press reports irked Ukrainian Commission, had said on December 17, sent his documents to Ottawa to further for- Mr. Yushko was performing consular that many private companies would be malize his registration as a representative of duties at the time of his arrest, and that (Continued on page 3) cut out in the restructuring of national the Ukrainian government, because he TV. He said companies propogating hadn’t passed through the Canadian capital pornography and violence “would be upon arriving in the country. punished.” He also said the commission Nine days later, with the paperwork still New documentary to focus “would insist on broader introduction of not complete, Mr. Yushko was in hot the Ukrainian language in broadcasting.” water. On a Saturday night, he was on Ukraine in World War II “Vikna,” a news program that broad- charged with drunk driving, possession of stolen property, bribing a police officer, casts in Ukrainian, did not seem like a TORONTO – Prof. Norman Davies, 2.3 million Ukrainians were taken as and accused of trying to lure two teenage show that was ready for the chopping a noted historian at the University of Ostarbeiter slave laborers to Germany in girls into his car and of intending to block. However, it may be a matter of London and author of the new publica- 1 9 4 2 - 1 9 4 4 . administer a noxious substance, since he censorship due to content. Yurii tion “Europe: A History” (Oxford The Ukrainian Canadian Research and had a handkerchief soaked with xylene (an Aivazian, a director of the International University Press), in a recent interview Documentation Center (UCRDC) is con- anesthetic solvent) in his possession. Media Center (IMC), which finances analyzed World War II, stating that tinuing its search for materials that will According to depositions made by the “Vikna,” said the networks had censored Germany and the Soviet Union were best portray the fate of Ukraine during the prosecutor in the case, Crown Attorney the news program in the past. “The day equally responsible for starting the war war. The film will cover the struggle of Sarah Welch, Mr. Yushko lacked any iden- Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz in 1939. Ukrainians to survive between the tification attesting to his status at the time of condemned the beginning of the re-elec- Prof. Davies noted in his interview: scorched earth policies of Stalin’s Red his arrest, and did not identify himself as a tion campaign, we put his quote in the “from September 1939 to 1941 Nazi Army on one side and Hitler’s brown consular official until after offering a bribe news, and the National Commission Germany and the Soviet Union weren’t German Army on the other. Among the removed the program from the evening to the arresting officer, Const. Charlie formal allies but they were clearly part- 10 million Ukrainians that Ukraine lost in line-up and broadcast Strauss music Kozdas of the Metropolitan Toronto Police. ners ... Germany, I think in those two the war were 600,000 Ukrainian Jews instead,” he said. Mr. Alekseyenko told The Weekly years attacked eight European countries, executed by the German Einsatzgruppen. IMC President Mykola Kniazhytskyi that Mr. Yushko did not have his docu- the Soviet Union attacked and invaded According to Andrew Gregorovich, said this was not the first instance of ments because they were still in Ottawa five European countries.” executive director of the UCRDC, the government disapproval of a piece that being processed. The interview with Prof. Davies was film will include interviews with “Vikna” had run, according to Agence According to court transcripts, Ms. conducted at Oxford University by Ukrainian Ostarbeiter survivors and France Press. He recalled that in July the Welch alleged that Mr. Yushko had Slavko Nowytski, the director of a film some of the Jews saved by Ukrainians in government had expressed its irritation failed a roadside alcohol blood-level test on Ukraine in World War II. This doc- with a story on the strike by the indepen- and then attempted to bribe the officer the war. umentary film has been commissioned Prof. Davies said: “The post-war histo- dent miners’ union and its leader who who administered it to him. Mr. Yushko by the Ukrainian Canadian Research was in prison awaiting trial. was then handcuffed, the car he was dri- ry of Ukraine starts with the phase of con- and Documentation Center and is tinuing resistance. Many people in the He called the government’s latest ving was searched, and he was taken to scheduled for completion in late 1997. move “indirect censorship.” Toronto’s 14th Division Metro Police West don’t realize that Ukrainians ..