INSIDE: l Rada passes bill creating anti-corruption court – page 2 l Radoslav Zuk’s church designs exhibited in Kyiv – page 5 l Community: Philadelphia, South Bound Brook – page 14 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXVI No. 23 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2018 $2.00 Ukraine enters cultural diplomacy Global rallies for release of Sentsov with founding of Ukrainian Institute held ahead of World Cup in Russia by Mark Raczkiewycz This is where the 33-year-old native Kyivan and the UI come in. KYIV – France has the Institut Français, It’ll be his job to cultivate formal interac- Germany has the Goethe-Institut, now tion between artists, cultural leaders, celeb- Ukraine is getting its own international cul- rities, writers, as well as organizations. ture and language center. “The UI should move in a few directions. On June 12, Volodymyr Sheiko will take The first one is to reach out to non-Ukraini- the reins as the head of the newly formed ans who live abroad. To make them under- Ukrainian Institute (UI) whose vision he stand that Ukraine is one of them,” Mr. said is to promote the country “internation- Sheiko said. “The goal of UI is to make the ally through culture, science, education and world recognize that Ukraine is an equal language.” among them and has a lot to offer and that Speaking to The Ukrainian Weekly on we ultimately speak the same language.” May 29, the nation’s chief cultural diplomat Several programs are envisioned to said that the tumultuous events of 2014 accomplish this, some of which are prac- “actually helped the creative community to ticed by similar institutions like the British be hungry for international connections,” Council, where Mr. Sheiko previously Mr. Sheiko said. “There has never been a worked as arts director, regional arts man- better time for Ukraine to work in culture.” ager and marketing and communications Authors like Serhiy Zhadan and Maria manager. Matios are seeing more of their works being Marta Farion Eventually, international travel grants About 150 protesters went to downtown Chicago on June 3, assembling in front of the translated and sold abroad. Hollywood star- and art residencies will be awarded. lets often are seen with gowns and dresses Chicago Tribune newspaper tower on Michigan Avenue to call for the release of Exchange programs and research projects Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov from a Russian penal colony, where he is serving a designed by Lilia Poustovit or Lilia will be funded. Close cooperation with the 20-year prison sentence on politically motivated charges of terrorism. Litkovskaya. Ukraine’s national ballet Education Ministry will enable the UI to recently made its U.S. debut with perfor- teach Ukrainian and offer certification in by Mark Raczkiewycz Russia, in August 2015. Initially detained in mances of “Don Quixote” and “Sleeping order to develop a model for language the Crimean capital of Symferopol on the Beauty.” And Ukrainian filmmaker Serhiy schools abroad. KYIV-OTTAWA-CHICAGO – A worldwide peninsula that Moscow annexed four years Loznitsa this month won the best director campaign to call for the release of ago, the artist refused Russian citizenship prize at the Cannes film festival. (Continued on page 5) Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov from a during his trial. Russian penal colony spanned at least three According to the Geneva Conventions of continents with over three dozen cities tak- 1949, it is illegal to impose citizenship ing part on June 1-3. upon residents by an occupying force. Moscow court sentences Ukrainian journalist Led by a coalition of advocacy groups Mr. Sentsov is considered a prisoner of like Let My People Go and Save Oleg conscience by the international human to 12 years in prison for espionage Sentsov, thousands took the streets to draw rights group Amnesty International and attention to the plight of the 41-year-old Russia’s Memorial. The free speech advoca- cy organization PEN America, in a June 1 RFE/RL’s Russian Service The Russian Federal Security Service Crimea native who opposed Russia’s (FSB) has claimed that Mr. Sushchenko annexation of Crimea and is currently on a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, A Russian court has sentenced works for the Ukrainain Defemse hunger strike while serving a 20-year pris- called for the political prisoner’s “immedi- Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko Minitsry and that he gathered informa- on sentence on what human right groups ate and unconditional release” and assert- to 12 years in prison after convicting him tion about the Russian military and say are trumped-up charges of terrorism. ed that he was “wrongfully imprisoned.” of spying in a case that Kyiv and rights National Guard. The global rallies were meant to call The filmmaker has said through inter- activists say is politically motivated. Mr. Sushchenko pleaded not guilty at attention to the award-winning director’s locutors that he timed his hunger strike for At a June 4 hearing, the Moscow City the start of his trial in March. unlawful incarceration as well as nearly 70 it to fatally end on the opening day of the Court found Mr. Sushchenko guilty of Prosecutors had urged the court to sen- other Ukrainian political prisoners ahead of World Cup on June 14. espionage and sentenced him to 12 tence him to 14 years in prison. the quadrennial World Cup soccer tourna- The freedom of media chief for the years in a strict-regime prison. Mr. Sushchenko’s daughter, Yulia, who ment that Russia will host for a month Organization for Security and Cooperation The verdict and sentence are likely to is also a journalist with Ukrinform, on starting on June 14. in Europe, Harlem Desir, on June 4 “urged” add to international scrutiny on Russia June 4 told Current Time, the Russian- Mr. Sentsov said he won’t stop his hun- Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey ahead of the 2018 soccer World Cup, language TV network run by RFE/RL in ger strike until all the political prisoners Lavrov to re-examine the filmmaker’s case. which it is hosting from June 14 to July cooperation with VOA, that the last time are freed. “I call on the Russian authorities to 15. A lawyer for Mr. Sushchenko, Mark she spoke with her father on the phone Rallies were staged in over 15 Ukrainian review Sentsov’s case and to release him Feigin, said he would appeal the verdict. was three months ago. cities, as well as Sydney and Melbourne in immediately,” Mr. Désir wrote in a letter to Kyiv, human rights activists and Ukraine has called repeatedly for the Australia, Stockholm in Sweden, Helsinki in Mr. Lavrov. “His continued detention is Western governments say Russia has Finland, Toronto and Calgary in Canada, unjustified and creates a strong chilling jailed several Ukrainians on trumped-up, release of Mr. Sushchenko and other New York, Chicago and San-Francisco in the effect for those in Crimea who have the politically motivated charges since Ukrainians held in Russia. Last week, U.S., Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia, as right to express their views and opinions Moscow seized the Crimean peninsula in Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman well as Tel-Aviv (Israel), London (the United freely. His voice should not be silenced, no March 2014 and threw its support behind Maryana Betsa said the journalist was a Kingdom), Brussels (Belgium), Berlin matter how critical.” armed separatists in eastern Ukraine. “hostage to Russian aggression.” (Germany) and Geneva (Switzerland). Ukraine Mr. Sushchenko, a Paris-based corre- The verdict in the Sushchenko trial Currently in a high-security Russian spondent for the Ukrinform news agency, came amid heightened attention to the Hundreds came to the Ukrainian capi- prison above the Arctic Circle, Mr. Sentsov was detained in Moscow in 2016 on sus- tal’s main square of Maidan Nezalezhnosty picion of collecting classified information. (Continued on page 5) was arrested by Kremlin authorities in May 2014 and convicted in Rostov-on-Don, (Continued on page 4) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2018 No. 23 ANALYSIS Arkady Babchenko’s staged assassination: U.S. calls for anti-corruption court prime minister I have made a decision: If such a just and independent [anti-corrup- political consequences for Ukraine, the West The United States has highlighted the tion] court is not formed, I will step down importance of establishing an independent from the post of the prime minister of anti-corruption court in Ukraine as it called Ukraine, I will resign,” Mr. Groysman said. by Mykola Vorobiov eastern Ukraine, confessed in a Facebook on Kyiv to implement comprehensive He made similar comments on Twitter. Eurasia Daily Monitor post after the press briefing that he was one reforms and put an end to systematic cor- Parliament Chairman Andriy Parubiy, who of the co-organizers of Mr. Babchenko’s ruption in the country. In a statement issued was also present at the briefing, said that he In the week since Russian journalist staged murder, closely cooperating with the on June 5, the U.S. State Department said, was “confident that the vote will take place.” Arkady Babchenko’s staged assassination on SBU on this case (MK.ru, May 31). Initially, “The establishment of a genuinely indepen- The IMF has called the establishment of an May 29 (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, May 31 – the spokesperson of the SBU denied the dent anti-corruption court is the most anti-corruption court a “benchmark” of published on page 3 of this issue), plenty of claim, but shortly thereafter the SBU con- important, immediate step the government Ukraine’s progress toward Western legal smoke and dozens of unanswered questions firmed Mr.