The Ukrainian Weekly 1997, No.48
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www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Follow-up on independent Ukraine’s first cosmonaut— pages 2-3. • Ukrainian Canadians protest possible hiring of former OSI chief— page 5. •A look at Ukrainian church architecture — page 8. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXV HE No.KRAINIAN 48 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1997 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine Pledging conference raises $36.25 million for Chornobyl SupremeT Court JusticeU W by Khristina Lew ECU, approximately $2.75 million, will ference in order to assist Ukraine in the be given a vote in the Contributors shutdown of Chornobyl by 2000. Forty- John Sopinka dies at 64 NEW YORK — A pledging confer- Assembly. Countries that contribute less five countries were invited to participate, ence organized by the United States col- by Christopher Guly will be allowed to join the assembly with- and representatives from countries such as lected $36.25 million from the interna- out a vote. At the November 20 pledging Switzerland, Russia, Indonesia and OTTAWA — John Sopinka “was one tional community on November 20 to of the good guys,” said former Canadian conference held at the Roosevelt Hotel in Ireland heard Vice-President Al Gore and begin rebuilding the sarcophagus encas- New York City, all but two of the 13 Attorney General Ramon Hnatyshyn in ing damaged reactor No. 4 at the Ukraine’s President Leonid Kuchma, who recalling the man he had named to the countries — Israel and Luxembourg — served as the conference’s honorary co- Chornobyl nuclear power plant in contributed 2.5 million ECU or more. country’s highest court nine years ago. Ukraine. International experts put the cost chairmen, address the gathering at its con- “He was not reticent about expressing As chair of the G-7 this year, the of securing and rebuilding the sarcopha- United States initiated the pledging con- (Continued on page 4) and dealing with important issues,” said gus at $760 million, $300 million of Mr. Hnatyshyn, Canada’s former gover- which was contributed by the Group of nor general. “He had boundless energy, Seven industrial countries and the and it was pretty hard to match him. He European Commission at the G-7 summit was always available and accessible.” in June. Supreme Court of Canada Justice U.S. Secretary of Energy Federico Sopinka died of complications from a Pena, who co-chaired the pledging con- rare blood disease in Ottawa at 6:30 a.m. ference with Ukraine’s Minister for the on November 24. He was 64. News of Environment and Nuclear Safety Yurii his death sent shock waves from Kostenko, called the outcome “terrifically Canada’s capital city, where flags at the successful,” and announced that work on Supreme Court building were flying at the sarcophagus can begin immediately. half-staff, to the Ukrainian Canadian Norway was the largest contributor at community across the country. the conference, donating $5 million to the According to the Toronto-based daily Chornobyl Shelter Fund, a special account Globe and Mail’s front-page story, created by the European Bank for “Friends first noticed Judge Sopinka’s Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) energy begin to falter early this autumn, to collect funds contributed by govern- upon his return from a trip to Ukraine. ments and the private sector. The EBRD An emergency blood transfusion in will administer the entire reconstruction recent days failed to arrest the advance project, called the Shelter Implementation of the disease.” Plan (SIP), and establish a Contributors Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, hosting Assembly that will meet annually to vote Khristina Lew the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation on project implementation. Vice-President Al Gore speaks at the Chornobyl pledging conference as President leaders’ meeting in Vancouver, hailed Countries that contribute 2.5 million Leonid Kuchma looks on. Justice Sopinka as an “exceptional jurist,” while the remaining eight justices publicly mourned losing a “loyal” friend and colleague. The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Chornobyl conference at United Nations Ukraine’s government Liberties Association issued a news release calling Mr. Sopinka an “irreplace- initiates fund-raising for humanitarian aid reorganizes program able advocate and friend.” He did, after by Irene Jarosewich ence sponsored by the U.N. focused on all, work with the UCCLA, when it was a status reports on the current medical and federation within the Ukrainian Canadian UNITED NATIONS — More than 11 environtmental situation, the coordina- for privatization Congress, in representing the community years after the largest nuclear disaster in tion of resources as well as the appeal by Roman Woronowycz at the 1985 Commission of Inquiry on history, several dozen representatives for and identification of sources of fund- Kyiv Press Bureau from U.N. member-states and non-gov- War Criminals headed by Justice Jules ing for humanitarian aid, containment KYIV — After completing the initial Deschênes. ernmental organizations on November 25 and clean-up of environmental damage, attended a conference on Chornobyl, the phase of privatization with only partial Three years later, Mr. Sopinka was and medical research. success, the Ukrainian government is serving as lead counsel at an International first step in a series of programs pro- The president of the U.N. General posed by the U.N. to alleviate the conse- reorganizing its effort as it prepares to sell Commission on the Ukrainian Famine Assembly, Hennadii Udovenko, opened off its largest factories and plants. when Mr. Hnatyshyn invited him to join quences of the Chornobyl explosion in the conference, and reports were present- Ukraine, Russia and Belarus. On November 24 the acting chairman the Canadian Supreme Court. ed by Volodymyr Kholosha, Ukraine’s of the State Property Fund, Volodymyr It was the second time Mr. Hnatyshyn The United Nations, under the aus- vice minister for emergencies and protec- pices of the office of the undersecretary Lanovyi, announced after a meeting of the had offered him a judicial appointment, tion of the population affected by the Council on Privatization, which is headed Justice Sopinka recalled in an interview of humanitarian affairs, is planning a Chornobyl disaster, and representatives series of pledging conferences to fund by President Leonid Kuchma, that in the with The Weekly two years ago. The from the International Atomic Energy second phase of the privatization program these programs in the future. The next first came in the mid-1980s, when Mr. Agency. The U.N. report was presented stated to begin in 1998, the government conference is tentatively scheduled for Sopinka was asked to sit on Ontario’s by Yasushi Akashi, undersecretary for would cease privatizing enterprises April 1998, to coincide with the 12th highest judicial body, the Court of humanitarian affairs. through the issuance of stock certificates anniversary of the explosion, and will Appeal. Mr. Sopinka declined, preferring According to Mr. Kholosha, who to Ukrainian citizens and legal entities. focus on obtaining direct monetary com- to continue his Toronto law practice. spoke also at a press conference at the Instead medium and large businesses mitments from public, as well as private “Not to look too disrespectful, I told U.N. on November 24, teams appointed would be auctioned through sealed cash institutions for U.N. programs. Ray that if he offered me a spot on the by the U.N. visited Ukraine, Belarus and tenders. Supreme Court, maybe I would take a Unlike the pledging conference orga- Russia last year to evaluate the environ- “The certification process has not had different view,” said Mr. Sopinka. nized by the United States and held sev- mental and medical consequences of the the effect we expected,” said Mr. Lanovyi When a vacancy occurred on the high eral days earlier at the Roosevelt Hotel in nuclear explosion. Based on their find- after the meeting. He said rising govern- court in 1988 and the hole that needed to New York, which sought international ings and recommendations, several pro- ment debt due to shortfalls in projected be filled had to come from a candidate in financial support to rebuild the crum- grams were developed. Between eight receipts and defaults on government- bling sarcophagus that covers the dam- (Continued on page 6) aged reactor at Chornobyl, the confer- (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 4) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1997 No. 48 NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS FOLLOW-UP: Cosmonaut’s long journey into space by Philip Chien Yeltsin hails improved ties with Ukraine Special to The Ukrainian Weekly MOSCOW — In a nationwide radio CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Leonid Kadenyuk became address on November 21, Russian the 19th person born in Ukraine to fly into space last week President Boris Yeltsin hailed improved aboard the space shuttle Columbia. But he was the first space bilateral ties with Ukraine, which had traveler from the independent country of Ukraine. soured after the collapse of the Soviet The previous 18, starting with Pavlo Popovych in August Union in 1991, ITAR-TASS and Reuters 1962, had flown as Soviet citizens aboard Soviet spacecraft. reported. Mr. Yeltsin said ties between the Col. Kadenyuk had wanted to become a cosmonaut since age two Slavic neighbors had been plagued by 10 when he watched Yuri Gagarin fly in to space in 1961. “mutual reproach and misunderstanding” After graduating from the Chernihiv Higher Aviation School over the past six years. He acknowledged in 1971 he went to Russia for test pilot training. He was that differences remain, namely over the selected as a cosmonaut in 1976 and was trained as a crew division of the Black Sea Fleet, Ukraine’s commander for the Soyuz spacecraft for long-term space sta- Crimean peninsula and recent Ukrainian- tion missions. In addition he trained for the Soviet space NATO military exercises in the Black Sea.