The Ukrainian Weekly, 2019
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INSIDE: l President Volodymyr Zelensky’s inaugural address – page 9 l Photo report: Inauguration of Ukraine’s president – page 11 l Kyiv Chamber Choir on North American tour – page 12 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association, Inc., celebrating W its 125th anniversaryEEKLY Vol. LXXXVII No. 21 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2019 $2.00 Zelensky inaugurated as Ukraine’s sixth president Dissolves Verkhovna Rada, announces pre-term elections by Mark Raczkiewycz KYIV – President Volodymyr Zelensky has moved swiftly and controversially since being sworn in as the country’s sixth post-Soviet president on May 20 in the Verkhovna Rada. He subsequently dissolved Parliament on weak legal grounds and reached an agreement with lawmakers to have pre-term Rada elections held in two months, on July 21. In the meantime, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman resigned on May 22 in a move that places the sole burden of running the country squarely on the incoming president. At the same time, the newly inaugurated president, a 41-year-old comedian and political neophyte, appointed Andriy Bohdan to head his presidential staff. He is the long- time lawyer of billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky, whose televi- sion channel has broadcast Mr. Zelensky’s comedy shows for the last seven years. The attorney is barred from hold- ing government-appointed positions until 2024 based on a lustration law that was passed in the wake of the Euro- Maidan Revolution. The law prevents certain former officials of disgraced ex-President Viktor Yanukovych’s administration from civil service – it doesn’t apply to elected officials. Mr. Bohdan twice served as the administration’s representative on anti- Press Service of Volodymyr Zelensky Volodymyr Zelensky walks through Mariyinsky Park to the Verkhovna Rada, where his inauguration ceremony (Continued on page 9) took place on May 20. U.N. Security Council rejects Russia’s Metropolitan Epifaniy attempts request for meeting on Ukraine’s law reconciliation with Patriarch Filaret The United Nations Security Council on Under the new legislation, Ukrainian- PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Honorary Patriarch ation, because we united three branches of May 20 rejected a Russian request to hold a language TV and radio programming is Filaret (former head of the Ukrainian Ukrainian Orthodoxy. And His Holiness meeting on a new language law in Ukraine. increased and all citizens have the obliga- Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate) has Patriarch Filaret built the Kyiv Patriarchate Russia managed to garner only four votes tion to learn Ukrainian, which becomes ignited tensions with the primate of the for more than a quarter of a century, and – from China, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, compulsory for civil servants, doctors, new Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), thanks to his work, we succeeded. Moscow and the Dominican Republic – out of the teachers and lawyers, under the threat of Metropolitan Epifaniy. The tensions have has especially emphasized that Patriarch nine it needed from the 15-member council. fines. fueled speculation about the unity of Filaret worked throughout his life for the The United States and five other coun- Russian, which is also widely spoken in Ukraine’s Orthodox Church and the impact sake of the koukoulion [i.e. to become tries – France, Germany, Britain, Belgium the country, is permitted in personal com- they could have on the Tomos of autoceph- Patriarch], that he did not become the and Poland – voted against and four other munications. aly signed in 2018 by Ecumenical Patriarch Moscow patriarch, became patriarch of countries – Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Kuwait Russian Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya Bartholomew of Constantinople. Kyiv, and would never give up power. We and Peru – abstained. said that the Russian language was being The rift’s first major signs were seen on see the opposite, that the patriarch refused, The vote was held on the same day that “pushed out” of Ukraine and accused the May 14 when Patriarch Filaret invited bish- went to the Unification Council. But nobody Ukraine’s new president, Volodymyr council of “censorship.” ops to St. Volodymyr Patriarchal Cathedral brought him to the patriarch’s seat. Some Zelensky, was sworn in. He said that the vote to refuse the meet- in Kyiv to honor holy martyr Makariy, but want to completely eliminate him, [as if] Jonathan Cohen, the acting U.S. ambassa- ing was “a blatant demonstration of double only when the event was made public did Patriarch Filaret did not exist at all, but dor, called Moscow’s request “a clear standards” by members who approved Patriarch Filaret send an invitation to that’s wrong. He remains diocesan bishop, attempt by Russia to distract from the other meetings. Metropolitan Epifaniy. Only four out of 60 and he will continue to work towards the peaceful, democratic transfer of power hap- Ukrainian Ambassador Volodymyr invited bishops attended. building of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. pening today in Ukraine.” Yelchenko said it was “not a coincidence” The event was a major misstep in proto- There is a leader, but he [Filaret] remains France’s ambassador to the U.N., Francois that Russia had asked for the council to col, observers had noted, and showed disre- honorary patriarch. He will continue to Delattre, told the council ahead of the vote meet on the day of Mr. Zelensky’s inaugura- spect by Patriarch Filaret toward have his diocese – the city of Kyiv, but will that the Russian move was “not intended to tion. Metropolitan Epifaniy. However, Patriarch not generally manage the whole Church.” have a constructive discussion” but to “put President Zelensky said after his inaugu- Filaret claims that Metropolitan Epifaniy has However, according to Patriarch Filaret, the new president of Ukraine in the worst ration that his main goal was to bring peace been disrespectful of his recommendations. the Unification Council concluded: “The light.” to eastern Ukraine. In March, Metropolitan Epifaniy primate is responsible for the external rep- Ukraine’s Parliament, the Verkhovna explained the relationship of the OCU and Rada, passed the law in April. (Continued on page 4) Patriarch Filaret: “…We are in a special situ- (Continued on page 4) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 26, 2019 No. 21 ANALYSIS Ukraine’s state language law Lawmakers decline Zelensky’s proposals argued with law enforcement officials. Around 100 people recited prayers at a city Ukraine’s Parliament has defied new park where a small monument stands to the enshrines the lingua franca President Volodymyr Zelensky a day after he tens of thousands who died during the 1944 issued a decree to disband it and hold snap long after 1991. Of all the presidents and deportations. Some participants dressed in by Vladimir Socor elections in July, declining to discuss his pro- prime ministers of this era (21 persons in traditional garb, while others carried the flag Eurasia Daily Monitor posed changes in electoral legislation. At an toto), only one president (Viktor of the Crimean Tatar community. Several emergency session on May 22, lawmakers in Yushchenko) and one prime minister elderly survivors recalled their experiences On May 15, Ukraine’s outgoing presi- the Verkhovna Rada voted against debating (Arseniy Yatsenyuk) are Ukrainophone in - dent, Petro Poroshenko, promulgated the two amendments proposed by Mr. Zelensky, terms of native language and language of sula was annexed by Russia in March 2014. “Law on Ensuring the Functioning of the underscoring the challenge he faces early in first choice. Several of Ukraine’s leaders Thefrom Crimean the deportations. Tatar community Тhe Black has Sea refused penin Ukrainian Language as the State Language.” a five-year term that began with his inaugu- (e.g., Petro Poroshenko, Yulia Tymoshenko, to recognize Russia’s assertion of authority The accompanying communique character- ration two days before. After announcing in Volodymyr Groysman) chose to switch from izes this law as “one of the fundamental his May 20 inaugural address that he would over the region, and many activists have Russophone to Ukrainophone as their pre- acts in the formation of Ukrainian state- dissolve Parliament, President Zelensky been harassed or detained. In May 1944, ferred language. Ukraine’s industrial-finan- hood” (Ukrayinska Pravda, May 15). made it official with a decree the following Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered the cial “oligarchs” are all Russophone, as is the The long-debated language law is a cen- day and declared that a new Verkhovna community deported, accusing them of col- business sphere generally (this language terpiece of Ukraine’s post-Maidan transfor- Rada will be elected on July 21. He has called laboration with the Nazis. Tens of thousands law does not affect the private sphere). mation, alongside such nation-building for that election to be held based entirely on died during the operation and during the This law introduces a state program to gains as the development of the Ukrainian voting for parties, rather than single candi- first severe months in Kazakhstan and other assist in learning the Ukrainian language, to Armed Forces and the establishment of the dates, arguing that the current system in remote parts of the Soviet Union. (Crimea be approved by the Cabinet of Ministers. autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine which some seats are filled in contests Desk, RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service) The state program shall sponsor courses to (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, September 13, between individual candidates favors cor- help achieve Ukrainian language fluency Vakarchuk sets up political party 2018; March 11, 2019). These processes ruption. But at the emergency session, only for adults who did not have such an oppor- consummate Ukraine’s break with the 92 lawmakers voted to discuss that proposal Ukrainian rock star Svyatoslav Vakarchuk tunity until now. Russian metropolis. – far short of the majority, 226 votes, needed has announced that he is setting up a politi- Under this law, foreign citizens who In this perspective, the language law to put it on the agenda.