THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXIX No. 14 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2021 $2.00 Ukraine says Russia amassing troops at the border Zelenskyy dismisses two Constitutional as Rada condemns escalation of fighting in the east Court judges in controversial move Judges in turn challenge their dismissals in Supreme Court by Mark Raczkiewycz KYIV – Ousted Constitutional Court Chief Justice Oleksandr Tupytsky on March 29 challenged his dismissal by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the Supreme Court, a court filing shows. Post-Soviet Ukraine’s sixth president had two days earlier revoked Mr. Tupytsky’s appointment to the court by reversing a presidential decree that his pre- decessor, Viktor Yanukovych, had signed on September 17, 2013. Constitutional Court of Ukraine In signing the executive order, Mr. Ousted Constitutional Court Chief Justice General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Zelenskyy said that certain justices “pose a Oleksandr Tupytsky attends an online Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Ruslan Khomchak. threat to the state independence and forum on August 27. national security of Ukraine.” by Mark Raczkiewycz Russian troops in the vicinity had not Another Constitutional Court judge, that is still simmering and which has killed left since military exercises concluded in Oleksandr Kasminin, had his appointment nearly 14,000 people. KYIV – Ukrainian military Commander- the area on March 23, The New York Times by the former president also revoked. He “These persons [two judges] can go on a in-Chief Lt. Gen. Ruslan Khomchak this reported, citing U.S. strategists. subsequently challenged his ouster with well-deserved vacation,” Mr. Zelenskyy said week notified parliament that Russian An “additional concentration of up to 25 the Supreme Court as well. in a separate statement. He added that all troops are amassing near the country’s Russian BTGs is expected” there soon, the In the wake of the pro-democracy 2014 of Mr. Yanukovych’s decrees are undergo- border in the “north, east and south,” lieutenant general said, while adding that Revolution of Dignity, Mr. Yanukovych ing an audit. including in occupied Crimea. some 34,000 Russian military personnel abandoned office and fled to Russia. He was The ejected chief justice, Mr. Tupytsky, The Armed Forces head on March 30 are stationed in Crimea. convicted of treason in absentia in 2019 for called the presidential decree “unlawful delivered a presentation in the Verkhovna Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed after aiding and abetting “an aggressive war” by and unconstitutional” and the court has Rada where he said 28 battalion tactical an hours-long battle on March 26 north of Russia, which forcibly seized Ukraine’s said the president’s actions are “legally null groups (BTGs) are deployed near Ukraine’s Russian-controlled Donetsk where forces Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and and void.” border and are within one to two days covertly invaded the two easternmost striking distance of the contact line. (Continued on page 7) regions of Luhansk and Donetsk in a war (Continued on page 12) Following internal conflict, Holos members issue statement critical of party leadership by Roman Tymotsko politics on June 11, 2020, when he announced his resignation from the KYIV – In the latest step of an escalating Verkhovna Rada. It was the second time internal political party conflict, half of that the front man of the rock band Okean Holos’s 20 members of parliament Elzy resigned as a national deputy. Mr. released a statement on March 29 calling Vakarchuk’s first foray as a member of for the initiation of a party congress to parliament was in 2007-2008. elect new leadership and change the par- In 2020, the party’s congress elected ty’s statute. The move came after the Kira Rudyk as the new party leader. group’s political council warned last week Ms. Rudyk said that the current internal that several deputies faced possible expul- dispute is over the party’s growth and its sion from party. future direction. Formed by the Ukrainian rock star “Such transformations are complicated. Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, Holos (Voice) man- And this is normal,” said Ms. Rudyk, who aged to become a member of the Ukrainian before entering politics was a chief operat- parliament in July 2019, only two months ing officer of the information technology after the faction was officially formed in startup Ring Ukraine, which was bought 2019. The party now holds 20 seats out of by Amazon for $1 billion in 2018. the total 450 members of parliament, mak- “They are complicated not only in poli- ing it the smallest faction in the Rada. tics; they are complex in all structures that Mr. Vakarchuk gave up his leadership of Holos the party and began moving away from Members of the Holos faction stand in front of the Ukrainian parliament. (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 4, 2021 No. 14 ANALYSIS Demographic transformation of Crimea: forced RSF concerned over journalist’s “confession” the population away from the numerous internal problems of the peninsula” ahead migration as part of Russia’s ‘hybrid’ strategy Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says it of the seventh anniversary of its forcible fears that a detained Crimean journalist’s annexation, which was marked on March Border Service, the National Guard, the Tax televised “confession” to spying on behalf 18. The U.S. State Department called Mr. by Alla Hurska of Ukraine was obtained under torture and Eurasia Daily Monitor Service, the Treasury, the Pension Fund), Yesypenko’s arrest “another attempt to and members of their families are moving has called for his immediate release and repress those who speak the truth about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s to Crimea without changing their perma- the withdrawal of the charges against him. Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.” Graty, a Decree No. 201 came into effect on March nent registration in Russian passports In a statement on March 26, Jeanne Ukrainian media outlet specializing in 20, 2021. The executive edict adds Crimea (because of the fear of being sanctioned), Cavelier, the head of RSF’s Eastern Europe police and judicial abuses, quoted a source and Sevastopol to “the list of Russia’s bor- and thus they are not included in official and Central Asia desk, expressed concern at Mr. Yesypenko’s place of detention as der territories where foreign citizens, state- statistics. about “the psychological and physical pres- saying he had been tortured, while the law- less persons and foreign legal entities can- Russian official statistics include only sure” Vladislav Yesypenko has been sub- yer chosen by the journalist’s family has not own land.” As such, non-Russians, those who registered their place of resi- jected to. Ms. Cavelier also condemned the not been allowed to see him, according to including Ukrainian citizens who still dence in Crimea. The joint “Monitoring ban on access to his lawyer. Mr. Yesypenko, the Crimean Human Rights Group (CHRG). reside in occupied Crimea but who refused Group” of BlackSeaNews and the Black Sea a freelance contributor to Crimea.Realities, This suggests that the authorities are trying to obtain a Russian passport, can now be Institute of Strategic Studies suggests that a regional news outlet of RFE/RL’s to cover up evidence that Mr. Yesypenko stripped of their property. One year ago, Mr. the real number of migrants who came to Ukrainian Service, was “visibly pale and has been “subjected to illegal methods of Putin imposed a ban on land ownership in Crimea may be between 800,000 and 1 mil- had difficulty talking when he made his investigation, including physical and psy- Crimea, thereby legitimizing the state’s lion people (BlackSeaNews, August 29, confession – one almost certainly obtained chological violence,” the CHRG said. Mr. appropriation of Ukrainian government 2020). Refat Chubarov, a politician and under duress – in an interview for local Yesypenko was detained along with a resi- assets and private property there. Foreign leader of the Crimean Tatar national move- Russian TV channel Krym24 that seemed dent of the Crimean city of Alushta, citizens legally had one year to sell or re- ment, stated a few years ago that during more like a police interrogation,” the Paris- Yelizaveta Pavlenko, after the two took part register their property based in Crimea; the period of annexation, new or expanded based media freedom watchdog said. The in an event marking the 207th anniversary but Russia, under the pretext of anti-pan- military towns appeared in Dzhankoi, Saki, interview was broadcast on March 18, of the birth of Ukrainian poet and thinker demic restrictions, significantly limited out- Yevpatoria and Sevastopol (Radio Svoboda, eight days after Mr. Yesypenko, who has Taras Shevchenko the day before in Crimea. side access to Crimea, especially for those May 28, 2018). According to Gayan Yuksel, Ukrainian and Russian dual nationality, was Ms. Pavlenko was later released. Russia trying to enter the peninsula from Ukraine a member of the Mejlis of the Crimean arrested in Ukraine’s Russia-annexed forcibly annexed Ukraine’s Crimean (Krymr.com, March 11). Decree No. 201 is Tatar People, the Russian government Crimea region. Russia’s Federal Security Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops not only a violation of Ukrainian legislation launched a special resettlement program Service (FSB) said Mr. Yesypenko was sus- and staging a referendum denounced as (Crimea remains overwhelmingly recog- for siloviki (security services personnel). pected of collecting information for illegitimate by at least 100 countries after nized as de jure part of Ukraine) and inter- They reportedly receive a one-time pay- Ukrainian intelligence and claimed that an Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President national humanitarian law, but also repre- ment of $30,000 to move their families to object “looking like an explosive device” Viktor Yanukovych was ousted amid a wave sents another illegal step forward for Crimea (Espreso.tv, March 17, 2019).