The Ukrainian Weekly 2002, No.9

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Controversy continues to mark Ukraine’s election campaign — page 4. • Complete results of Team Ukraine at Winter Olympics — page 10. • Mosaics and stained glass: the art of Roman Kowal — page 13. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXX HE KRAINIANNo. 9 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2002 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine IMF Ttells Ukraine itU will not issue credits Ukraine’sW Olympians leave until exporters receive refunds of taxes Salt Lake City medal-less by Roman Woronowycz nomic advisor, Anatolii Halchynskyi, said by Andrew Nynka In both events, however, the fifth place Kyiv Press Bureau on February 25 that because Ukraine has results came as a pleasant and unexpected had a positive balance of payments for SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – For all their surprise for the competitors, highlighting a KYIV – The International Monetary three years running, it should consider not effort and sacrifice prior to the start of the bright spot in Ukraine’s disappointing final Fund threw Ukraine a financial curve ball taking IMF loans. 19th Winter Olympiad in Salt Lake City, medal count of zero. on February 22 when it told Kyiv that it “It may be time to change our relations Utah, Ukraine’s athletes returned home dis- In the men’s freestyle aerials event, must return more than $1 billion in value- [with the IMF],” said Mr. Halchynskyi. appointingly medal-less. Stanislav Kravchuk (no relation to added taxes (VAT) collected from During a press conference in Kyiv, Mr. Following years of rigorous training and Ukraine’s current president Leonid Ukrainian exporters before the country Rohovyi said he was not sure that was the preparation for the games, the best result Danylovych) told The Weekly that he qualifies for more financial support. Until expected to do no better than sixth place, best possible alternative. He expressed his Ukraine’s athletes could muster was a pair Ukraine complies, the financial organiza- but was shooting to place in the top 10. opinion that it was probably better to com- of fifth-place finishes in men’s freestyle tion refused to issue more credits. aerials and women’s 30-kilometer cross- Kravchuk held first place after seven of The decision by the IMF executive (Continued on page 4) country skiing. the event’s 12 finalists completed their last board, which came after three days of meet- jump. With only three jumpers remaining, ings in Washington with a Ukrainian dele- including gold medal favorite Eric gation led by Minister of the Economy Bourgoust of the United States, Kravchuk, Vasyl Rohovyi, led some Ukrainian offi- who at that point was holding on to third – cials to suggest that it may be time to curtail overtaken by the event’s ultimate silver relations with the international financial U.S. native Lonchyna consecrated bishop in Lviv medalist, Joe Pack of the United States, and organization. the bronze medalist, Alexei Grichin of President Leonid Kuchma’s chief eco- Belarus – dropped to fifth after Ales Valenta of the Czech Republic took the gold and Canada’s Jeff Bean took fourth place. With Bourgoust jumping last in the final Demjanjuk stripped round, it seemed certain that Kravchuk would drop to sixth. However, Bourgoust’s crash landing in the final jump of competi- of U.S. citizenship tion left Kravchuk in an unexpected fifth and American Bourgoust in a surprising CLEVELAND – A federal judge once again revoked the U.S. citizenship of (Continued on page 11) John Demjanjuk, whom the Office of Special Investigations of the U.S. Justice Department accuses of being a guard at several Nazi death and labor camps. The Kyiv ‘man on the street’ decision was handed down on February 21. blames lack of funds, Ed Nishnic, spokesman for the Demjanjuk family, told The Weekly on February 27 that Mr. Demjanjuk will inadequate facilities appeal the decision. He explained also that the Demjanjuk defense has 10 days by Roman Woronowycz from the date of the judgment to Kyiv Press Bureau respond. KYIV – Ukrainians, outspoken and The Associated Press reported that infinitely quotable as always, had Judge Paul Matia of the Federal District much to say about the failure of Court in Cleveland said there is enough Ukraine’s Olympic squad to capture a evidence to prove Mr. Demjanjuk was a single medal at the recently completed guard at Nazi death and forced labor Winter Games in Salt Lake City, camps without eyewitness corrobora- Utah. Nonetheless, the reasons they tion. The ruling came a little more than sited for the most part were variations eight months after a seven-day trial in on a single theme: the Ukrainian team the case that ended on June 8, 2001. performed badly because of a lack of “The government had the burden of finances and a proper training site. proving its contention to the court by The climate and geography of a clear, convincing and unequivocal evi- country, as we all know, plays a key dence,’’ Judge Matia said in a supple- role in how it does in the Olympics. ment to the ruling. “It did so.” Northern, more mountainous coun- Mr. Nishnic responded by saying: tries have long dominated the Winter “We tried our case and continue to Games. Ukraine has a relatively tem- believe the government is wrong. We perate climate and few mountains to most respectfully believe that Judge speak of. As such, experts do not con- Matia has made serious factual and legal sider it a prime winter sport country, errors in his opinion.” and it has had few successes in the “It is true that judges have ruled LVIV – Following his episcopal ordination on February 27, Bishop Hlib Lonchyna, 48, outdoor events. But at least one against us over the past 25 years and is surrounded by members of Lviv’s Faith and Light community outside St. George Kyivan thought that a better 2001- public opinion has seemed to be against Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral. Faith and Light is a community of developmentally dis- 2002 winter would have helped the us as well. Nevertheless, we have abled individuals, their familes and friends. Bishop Hlib served as the group’s chap- Ukrainians’ chances this year. proven them wrong before and we have lain for a number of years.The new bishop is a native of Steubenville, Ohio, and a (Continued on page 4) (Continued on page 14) monk of the Studite Order. He will serve as auxiliary bishop of the Lviv Archeparchy. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2002 No. 9 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS National identity and civil society in Ukraine: NEWSBRIEFS Compensation for TU-154 announced ruled Afghanistan were “groundless and based on unchecked information received explaining the Yuschenko phenomenon MOSCOW – Aleksei Sazonov, a coun- from dubious sources.” In January, selor at the Russian Embassy in Ukraine, Ukrainian lawmakers urged prosecutors to by Taras Kuzio Commonwealth of Independent States. told journalists on February 26 that the fam- investigate former Security Service of RFE/RL Newsline The opposition movement that grew up ily of each person who died when a Russian Ukraine Chief Leonid Derkach and his during the Kuchmagate scandal was TU-154 passenger plane was downed on son Andrii, whom Germany’s Der Spiegel Prime Minister Viktor Yuschenko based in the same regions as the anti- October 4, 2001, by a Ukrainian S-200 mis- implicated in illegal arms sales to the entered Ukrainian politics on a national Soviet, nationalist movement of the late sile over the Black Sea will receive at least Taliban. Even before the Der Spiegel scale when he moved from chairman of Soviet era, namely western and central $10,000 in compensation from Ukraine, report was published, Ukrainian lawmak- the National Bank of Ukraine to prime Ukraine. RIA-Novosti reported. According to Mr. ers had persuaded prosecutors to open a minister in December 1999. During his If the Ukraine Without Kuchma move- Sazonov, the agreement was reached last criminal probe into Leonid and Andrii government’s 18-month tenure he over- ment had been able to mobilize country- week when Russian Security Council Derkach, as well as National Security and saw Ukraine’s emergence from a decade- wide support, as Mr. Kostunica did in Secretary Vladimir Rushailo met with Defense Council Chairman Yevhen long slump and paid off wage and pen- Serbia, it is doubtful that President Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma. Marchuk, for alleged illegal arms sales. A sion arrears. A survey of different Kuchma would be still in power today. (RFE/RL Newsline) court in Turin on February 13 opened pre- Ukrainian opinion polls conducted But, as in the late Soviet era, eastern and liminary hearings in a case reportedly between June 2001 and January 2002 southern Ukraine remained passive. Antonov to produce new passenger jet showed that Mr. Yuschenko’s popularity linked to the possible involvement of As Russophile activists Mykhailo KYIV – Ukraine’s Antonov Design Ukrainian officials in illegal arms deals. ratings remained at between 18 and 30 Pogrebynsky and Vladimir Malynkovych percent. Bureau and the aircraft plant in Ulan- (RFE/RL Newsline) bemoaned in a roundtable convened at Ude, in the Russian Federation’s Western commentary has focused pri- the Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Kuchma decrees pay raise for servicemen marily on Mr. Yuschenko’s personal pop- Republic of Buriatia, signed an accord on Gazeta in April 2001, civil society is February 26 on the joint production of ularity and has ignored why this popular- closely linked to national identity in KYIV – President Leonid Kuchma has ity has not been transformed into a the AN-148 passenger jet, UNIAN signed a decree to increase wages for Ukraine.

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