INSIDE: l Ukraine’s role in the race for the White House – page 3 l Researcher receives MacArthur “genius” award – page 4 l Moscow supports radicalism on the right and left – page 6 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXVIII No. 42 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY,OCTOBER 18, 2020 $2.00 UNA General Assembly convenes 22nd Ukraine-EU summit 2020 annual meeting virtually marks deepening partnership by Roma Hadzewycz President/CEO Kaczaraj opened the meeting with a prayer and the “Pledge of PARSIPPANY, N.J. – For the first time in Allegiance.” A moment of silence was the 126-year history of this fraternal organi- observed in memory of Peter Serba, secre- zation, the Ukrainian National Association’s tary of UNA Branch 173 for 66 years, who highest governing body between quadrenni- had passed away on September 12. al conventions did not meet in person, con- Following approval of the agenda and vening instead by videoconference and tele- the minutes of the 2019 annual meeting of conference due to continuing restrictions the UNA General Assembly, President/CEO related to the coronavirus pandemic. Kaczaraj presented his report, noting that The UNA General Assembly, which 2020 has been an unusual year due to encompasses executive officers, auditors COVID-19 and assuring General Assembly and advisors, met virtually on Monday and members that the UNA is following the Tuesday, October 5-6, with members sign- guidelines of New Jersey state officials and ing in from their respective locations across the Centers for Disease Control and the United States as well as Canada. Prevention (CDC). General Assembly members plus the “Our Home Office is open for business. editor-in-chief of the UNA’s official publica- But staff is on a staggered work schedule to Presidential Office of Ukraine tions, Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly, ensure social distancing. This helps us President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) in Brussels at the 22nd Ukraine-European submitted written reports in advance of the restrict the number of people in the office Union Summit on October 6 with Charles Michel (center), president of the meeting. at one time. Although we were all working European Council, and Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign Updates on all aspects of the UNA’s activ- remotely at first, our insurance operations affairs and security policy. ity were delivered by the three executive employees have returned to the office. The of the Association Agreement, the continu- operating officers: President/Chief by Roman Tymotsko publications staff continues to work, for the ation of reforms in Ukraine and security Executive Officer Stefan Kaczaraj, Chief most part, remotely,” he explained. “The KYIV – The plenary session of the 22nd issues. As a result of the summit, the part- Operations Officer/National Secretary UNA has weathered many storms and chal- Ukraine-EU Summit took place in Brussels nership between the EU and Ukraine will Yuriy Symczyk and Chief Financial Officer/ lenges in our 126-year history and we will on October 6 with President Volodymyr be deepened in various sectors. Treasurer Roma Lisovich. weather this challenge,” Mr. Kaczaraj added. Zelenskyy of Ukraine, European Council “Your progress is our progress. Your Participating in addition to the operating As regards the financial condition of the President Charles Michel and EU High security is our security,” noted Mr. Borrell. officers were the three other executive offi- UNA, the president/CEO reported that in “Macro-financial assistance is part of this cers: First Vice-President Gerald Tysiak, Representative for Foreign Affairs and 2019 the UNA recorded another increase to Security Policy Josep Borrell participating. partnership. And mobilizing resources to Second Vice-President Eugene Serba and its surplus, which as of December 31, 2019, Director for Canada Ewhen Osidacz. It was the first in-person summit with a fight COVID is also part of our partnership. was $11,287,000 (as compared with European Union partner country since the We have common borders, history, culture Also attending were Auditing Committee $11,021,000 as of December 31, 2018). The members Luba Walchuk and Andrij Skyba beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. surplus has grown further during 2020 to The two sides focused on implementation (Continued on page 14) (George Fedorijczuk was unable to partici- $12,898,000. pate), and Advisors Olya Czerkas, Nicholas Also notable in 2019 was another con- Fil, Gloria Horbaty, Irene Jarosewich, secutive year of net profits. Total net Oksana Koziak, Michael Luciw, Julian income as of December 31, 2019, stood at Pishko, Bohdana Puzyk, Oksana Stanko, $328,000 ($329,000 was recorded the Britain, Ukraine sign partnership deal Lubov Streletsky and Andrij V.R. Szul. prior year). Editor-in-Chief Roma Hadzewycz also par- ticipated. (Continued on page 5) with eye on Russia’s ‘malign influence’ RFE/RL until the end of the year. It is now looking to its post-Brexit future in 2021. Britain and Ukraine have signed a bilat- During their meeting in Downing Street, eral agreement to support Kyiv’s sovereign- Messrs. Johnson and Zelenskyy discussed ty and territorial integrity in the face of “the importance of working together to Russia’s “malign influence,” British Prime counter Russia’s malign influence, both in Minister Boris Johnson’s office says. Ukraine and in the wider region,” according The U.K.-Ukraine Political, Free Trade to the prime minister’s office. and Strategic Partnership Agreement was The statement said Mr. Johnson signed on October 8, the second day of “stressed that reform and rule of law drive Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelens- economic growth, and reiterated the U.K.’s kyy’s visit to Britain. commitment to Ukraine’s reform program.” The deal “lays the foundation for an In a separate statement, Mr. Johnson intensified bilateral relationship in areas said his country was Ukraine’s “most fer- including trade, defense and political coop- vent supporter.” eration,” Prime Minister Johnson’s “Whether it’s our defense support, stabi- office said in statement. lization efforts, humanitarian assistance or Michael Gold/The Corporate Image It replaces key elements of an existing close cooperation on political issues, our The UNA Executive Committee in a photo taken at the fraternal organization’s 2018 partnership agreement between Ukraine message is clear: we are utterly committed convention (from left): Director for Canada Ewhen Osidacz, First Vice-President and the European Union. to upholding the sovereignty and territorial Gerald Tysiak, CFO/Treasurer Roma Lisovich, President/CEO Stefan Kaczaraj, Britain formally left the bloc in January COO/National Secretary Yuriy Symczyk and Second Vice-President Eugene Serba. but remains bound by most of its rules (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020 No. 42 ANALYSIS Russian disinformation shadows Ukraine reports 5,590 new coronavirus cases Luxembourg on October 12, foreign affairs ministers from the EU’s 27 members reiter- Ukraine has registered 5,590 new coro- ated that Belarus’s August election was “nei- Joint Endeavor 2020 Exercise navirus cases in the past 24 hours, bringing ther free nor fair” and threatened to slap the total number of confirmed COVID-19 restrictive measures on Alyaksandr by Yuri Lapaiev cise, working closely with Ukrainian fighter cases to 276,177, it was reported on jets and exchanging information on targets Lukashenka, the country’s autocratic leader, Eurasia Daily Monitor October 14. According to the interactive saying he “lacks any democratic legitimacy.” and air traffic (Facebook.com, September map of the National Security and Defense The Russian Armed Forces’ largest mili- 23). “The [EU] Council strongly condemns the Council of Ukraine, 107 deaths and 2,137 violence employed by the Belarusian author- tary exercise of the year, Kavkaz 2020, was A particularly spectacular element recoveries have been recorded in the coun- held on September 21-23, in the south- involved two CV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft ities against peaceful protesters and calls for try over the past 24 hours. In total, 5,229 the release of all arbitrarily detained persons, western part of the country (TASS, from the U.S. 352nd Special Operations patients have died and 118,699 have recov- including political prisoners,” the bloc said in September 20). Although, officially, the Wing (SOW), which took part in the small- ered in Ukraine since the pandemic began. a statement noting the country’s “fraudulent” Kavkaz maneuvers were presented as hav- er, concurrent Fiction Urchin exercise. First, The highest number of new coronavirus presidential election and subsequent “vio- ing nothing to do with Ukraine, some non- the Ospreys joined Ukrainian special opera- cases has been reported in the Kharkiv lent” crackdown on demonstrators protest- Russian experts warned that these massive tions forces in Khmelnytskyi Oblast to con- region (637), Kyiv city (422), Lviv region ing against it and media covering the events. drills could serve as a rehearsal for occupa- duct joint training in drop-outs and roping (345), Dnipropetrovsk region (342) and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the tion of more Ukrainian territory or even as (YouTube, September 22). Then, the U.S. Odesa region (302). (Ukrinform) ministers had given a “political green light” to cover for a large-scale strike. Of Cabinet extends adaptive quarantine prepare a new sanctions