Lytvyn Returns As Rada Chair

INSIDE: • NATO’s new plan for Ukraine: the background – page 3. • Community commemorations of the Holodomor – pages 8-11. • Woonsocket, R.I., parish celebrates centennial – pages 14-15. THEPublished U byKRAINIAN the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVI No. 50 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2008 $1/$2 in Ukraine Holodomor is Ukraine’s Lytvyn returns as Rada chair never-ending trauma Ukraine may soon have new majority coalition by Zenon Zawada Kyiv Press Bureau KYIV – Ukraine’s Parliament, led by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, elected Volodymyr Lytvyn as its new chair on December 9, giving Ms. Tymoshenko’s government a chance to remain in place and form a new coalition to include the Lytvyn Bloc. The Tymoshenko Bloc cobbled together 244 votes to support Mr. Lytvyn’s candidacy from a broad range of political forces, including the Lytvyn Bloc, the People’s Self- Defense wing of the Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense bloc and even the Communist Party of Ukraine, which was probably given conces- sions. Upon seating himself, Mr. Lytvyn immediately declared that a new Morgan Williams government coalition agreement had UNIAN/ Oleksander Kosariev Kyiv’s first memorial to the victims of the Holodomor. emerged between the Tymoshenko, Volodymyr Lytvyn, leader of the eponymous Lytvyn and Our Ukraine-People’s by Irena Chalupa refuse to dismantle the statue, claiming political bloc, takes his seat as the newly elect- Self Defense blocs. it has “historic” value. That’s the ed chair of the Verkhovna Rada on December RFE/RL “What’s left is publishing these Communist touch. 9. He previously served as Rada chair in materials and publishing the corre- In many ways, Kyiv is a city of con- Walk a few blocks down to a short, 2002-2006. sponding documents on the (coali- trasts. gray, treeless street called Passage and On one boulevard you will encounter you will be assaulted by ostentatious tion) agreement,” Mr. Lytvyn said. “It’s declared the new coalition, the 32 Our a rather squat, red granite statue of conspicuous consumption: Gucci, Louis understood the decision was reached in quite Ukraine deputies (of the 72-member Lenin, his right hand aloft pointing to Vuitton, Bottega Veneta, Bally, a difficult situation. I am convinced it will OU-PSD faction) who didn’t vote for Mr. the proverbial better tomorrow that, Ferragamo. That’s the nouveau riche, materialize in a practical document.” Lytvyn’s candidacy (therefore, remaining thankfully, after 70 years finally oligarchic touch. Our Ukraine – People’s Self-Defense loyal to the Presidential Secretariat) with- became yesterday. The authorities Up the hill from these two telling (OU-PSD) national deputies leaked to the held support for renewing Ms. spots stands a small – and until, last press a 13-page document to create a Tymoshenko’s government. Irena Chalupa is the director of week, the only – monument to the vic- National Development, Stability and Order After meeting with President Viktor RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service. The views tims of the 1932-1933 Famine in Coalition of the three factions to initiate Yushchenko on December 11, Our Ukraine expressed in this commentary are the Ukraine. It was erected in 1993. sweeping reforms in all areas of state policy. National Deputy and Lviv native Yaroslav author’s own and do not necessarily However, the day after Mr. Lytvyn Kendzior labeled the coalition agreement reflect those of RFE/RL. (Continued on page 21) “complete demagoguery” – a view held by most Our Ukraine deputies and the president himself. NATO offers ANPs, not MAPs, to Ukraine and Georgia Without the support of the Our Ukraine wing, Mr. Lytvyn’s suggested coalition of by Vladimir Socor The alliance’s Bucharest Summit on since 1997) and the NATO-Georgia three factions doesn’t have the necessary Eurasia Daily Monitor April 2 reached a hard-fought compro- Commission (created immediately after the 226 votes to emerge in the Verkhovna Rada. mise: it declared unambiguously that Russian invasion last August), respectively, People’s Self-Defense can’t form the NATO has pushed aside the Ukraine and Georgia will become mem- as “central” instruments in drafting and coalition without Our Ukraine because only Membership Action Plans (MAPs) as bers of NATO (a political commitment implementing those reforms. “NATO will parliamentary factions, elected to Parliament mechanisms for Ukraine’s and Georgia’s unprecedented in NATO’s history) but did maximize its advice, assistance and support” as blocs or parties, can form the coalition eventual accession to the alliance. On not identify a mechanism or other path to that end and will review progress on an government. December 3 in Brussels, the North toward membership (a failure unprece- annual basis (communiqué of the North According to law, a party can’t split from Atlantic Council (NAC) meeting at the dented in NATO’s enlargement process Atlantic Council meeting, December 3). a bloc and form its own parliamentary fac- level of ministers of foreign affairs decid- from the 1990s to date). The NATO-Ukraine Commission held a tion after getting elected. ed to develop Annual National Programs The NAC meeting in Brussels on meeting at the foreign ministers level on the Political observers said Mr. Lytvyn’s (ANPs) for Ukraine and Georgia, instead December 3 reaffirmed the political deci- same day in Brussels. At that meeting the election could result in a de facto parliamen- of MAPs. The allies have yet to announce sion made in Bucharest regarding Ukraine alliance reaffirmed their “conviction that tary majority consisting of the Tymoshenko how long it will take to develop the first and Georgia, now adding an implementa- Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integ- Bloc, Lytvyn Bloc and People’s Self- ANP and when it will go into effect. tion mechanism: the ANPs, presented as a rity were key factors for ensuring stability Defense, even if a new coalition doesn’t The alliance split over the Ukrainian and “performance-based process,” that is, pre- in Europe” (the only strategic consideration emerge on paper. Georgian MAP applications earlier this sumably free from political distortion. The that entered into NATO’s discourse during Although Mr. Yushchenko called for new year. The United States, Canada, Britain ANPs will provide further assistance to this entire event). parliamentary elections, the Tymoshenko (however unfocused on the issue) and Ukraine and Georgia in implementing nec- The meeting welcomed “progress Bloc succeeded in postponing them far almost all the countries that joined NATO essary reforms “as they progress toward achieved” through the current NATO- beyond the holiday season, keeping Prime in recent years were supportive. Germany NATO membership.” Ukraine mechanism, known as Annual Minister Tymoshenko’s Cabinet of Ministers led a group of Western European countries NATO and the two countries will use the in opposition. NATO-Ukraine Commission (in existence (Continued on page 4) (Continued on page 21) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 14, 2008 No. 50 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS A rogue fleet in the Black Sea NATO proposes new format said on December 5 in an interview with the Agence France-Presse news agency that by Vladimir Socor ognized territorial waters) on August 9, KYIV – NATO Secretary General Jaap de the outcome of the meeting of NATO for- Eurasia Daily Monitor issued an attack warning against any vessel Hoop Scheffer stated on December 3 that eign ministers with respect to Ukraine is within a 35-mile radius, and sank (or so the NATO is proposing a new format of relations “progress.” He said that in the last three Russia’s Black Sea Fleet operated with narrative implies) two Georgian coast guard with Ukraine within the framework of the so- years Ukraine had taken important steps total impunity – political and legal, as well cutters on the high sea. The Russian naval called Annual National Program (ANP). After regarding its aspirations to join the as military – against Georgia during the group then proceeded to “screen” Georgia’s a meeting of the NATO Council at the level of European Union and NATO. “Ukraine’s August war. Breaching the neutrality of Poti harbor, where Russian troops sank the foreign ministers in Brussels, he said: “I can joining NATO has no alternative and it is a Ukraine, where it is mainly based, and tear- remaining Georgian coast guard cutters at say that the allies approved two key items. difficult geopolitical question. There is ing apart international maritime law, the their piers in the harbor (Krasnaya Zvezda, First: all the elements, I repeat, all the ele- much debate on a large piece of interests,” Russian fleet’s actions exploited the vacu- October 29, via BBC Monitoring Global ments remain adopted in Bucharest with he said, adding that a “serious” external um of Western power and international Newsline, November 24). regard to Ukraine and Georgia. All the ele- influence is being exerted in regard to the authority in the Black Sea. As an outcome of this war, Russia has ments, and it includes the fact that later on alliance’s decision on Ukraine. The presi- With the United States and NATO dis- substantially expanded its de facto shore- they will be NATO members if they wish, and dent said that Ukraine has to do a great deal tracted elsewhere and complacent about line, territorial waters and economic zone in it is important to add, when they meet NATO of work at the bilateral level, particularly Russia, and the Turkish government seek- the Black Sea by absorbing Abkhazia. This standards.” According to the secretary general, with Russia. “During these kinds of talks, ing a special relationship with the Kremlin, expansion has no legal basis; but Russia is “without forecasting any subsequent decisions the supporters and opponents of Ukraine’s the Russian fleet enjoyed a free hand to enforcing it in practice, and no one will with regard to MAP [Membership Action Euro-Atlantic integration should receive attack Georgia and to violate Ukraine’s sov- challenge it in the foreseeable future.

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