The Ukrainian Weekly 2000, No.23

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Reconstructed historic cathedral is blessed in Kyiv — page 6. • Slain songwriter Ihor Bilozir is mourned in Lviv — page 9. • Humanitarian aid programs benefit Ukraine’s people — pages 10-11. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXVIII HE KRAINIANNo. 23 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2000 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine T U Clinton toW address Kyivans Myroslav Medvid sees his 1985 ordeal Chornobyl shutdown high on agenda of bilateral meetings in Kyiv by Roman Woronowycz tion during the international donor confer- as a positive life-changing experience Kyiv Press Bureau ence scheduled for Berlin on July 5, during by Roman Woronowycz which Kyiv is hoping to raise some $350 KYIV – U.S. President Bill Clinton will Kyiv Press Bureau million in international grants. The speak to an expected 100,000 Kyivans on Ukrainian government has established that KYIV – The name Myroslav Medvid Mykhailivsky Square on June 5 as the high- it needs some $750 million to reconstruct provokes thoughts of geopolitical light of his one-day visit to Ukraine, the the sarcophagus over the reactor that went intrigue, U.S bureaucratic bungling and U.S. Embassy announced on May 29. into a partial meltdown in April 1986. The a young sailor, doped and forced to The U.S. president’s trip to Kyiv will be current covering, which was hastily built by return to a land he had attempted to flee. the final leg of a four-nation tour of Europe, Soviet official in the days after the accident, In 1985 the Medvid affair transfixed which began on May 31 with a stop in is quickly deteriorating. the Ukrainian American community and Lisbon, Portugal, and continues with visits In addition, Ambassador Pifer urged much of America. His plight caused to Berlin and Moscow. Originally Mr. Ukraine to announce a specific date for anger, demonstrations and, finally, tears. Clinton was to spend two days in Kyiv, but the closure of Chornobyl. He explained Like a geopolitical volleyball, his case his stay was shortened to make time for an that the sooner Ukraine sets it, the easier was bumped around at the highest eche- unexpected trip to Tokyo. it will be to raise funds for the sarcopha- lons of the U.S. government until the In Kyiv, Mr. Clinton will meet with gus. President Leonid Kuchma and Prime captains of the game decided that he Minister Viktor Yuschenko to discuss the should go away, for his appearance was shutdown of the Chornobyl nuclear energy a prickly thorn for superpower politics complex, intellectual property rights and and summitry. And thus he was sent Ukraine’s extensive illegal music and video Lazarenko indicted by U.S. back to the Soviet grain ship from which pirating industries, as well as to appraise the PARSIPPANY, N.J. – As The Weekly he had escaped near New Orleans to an state of economic reforms currently under was going to press, Reuters reported that uncertain and perhaps dark future in the way in the country, said U.S. Ambassador Pavlo Lazarenko, who is indicted with Myroslav Medvid, today a priest of Soviet Union, the land that Ronald Steven Pifer. embezzlement in Ukraine and money laun- the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Reagan, the U.S. president at the time, The main focus of the visit, however, is dering in Switzerland, now faces U.S. Church. had dubbed the “evil empire.” to address the Ukrainian nation and lay out charges. A federal grand jury has accused Today Myroslav Medvid is alive and the former prime minister of Ukraine, who Before New Orleans he was hardly a Mr. Clinton’s vision on Ukraine’s future. well and living in Ukraine, a man is seeking U.S. political asylum, of launder- spiritual person, even though his grand- Ambassador Pifer said that a concert of changed by the years – but most dramat- ing $114 million he stole while in office. mother tried to instill in him a Catholic Ukrainian popular and traditional music ically by his tribulations in the United Mr. Lazarenko is being held in federal base. He was a member of the would precede the public event. States. He is a parish priest of the prison pending resolution of a Swiss extra- Communist Youth League, but a disaf- Ambassador Pifer said that in his meet- Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church with a dition request. The U.S. Attorney’s Office fected one, who belonged because that ings with Ukraine’s president Mr. Clinton is wife and children living in the city of for Northern California announced that Mr. was the only path to opportunity for a planning to outline a U.S. government plan Chervonohrad, about an hour’s drive Lazarenko was indicted on one count of person with any ambition whatsoever. on the Chornobyl closure that would pro- north of Lviv. conspiracy to commit money laundering, As he explained during the interview, vide the ability for Ukraine to complete With the 15th anniversary of his seven counts of money laundering and 23 even then he held strong Ukrainian reactors at the Rivne and Khmelnytskyi ordeal nearing and, not coincidentally, counts of transportation of stolen property. nationalist beliefs, at heart a dissident, nuclear power facilities, energy to offset while another asylum debacle, the Elian The Associated Press reported that but had learned to conceal them. power which will be lost when Chornobyl Gonzalez case, lingers in U.S. courts, the defense lawyer Joseph Russoniello denied After he was returned to the Soviet goes off line. One element of the plan is to Rev. Medvid agreed to The Weekly’s that Mr. Lazarenko extorted money, adding: grain ship by local border authorities of develop a new agreement with the “There is a serious question about whether requests for his first exclusive interview the Immigration and Naturalization European Bank for Reconstruction and information coming from the government with a Western publication. Service – who either did not understand Development for credits needed to finish of the [sic] Ukraine against Mr. Lazarenko The mild-mannered 40-year-old that he was seeking political asylum or the reactor projects. was ... the product of a political vendetta.” priest with sparkling blue eyes and an simply wanted to be rid of a difficult sit- Mr. Pifer also said that the United States The indictments were made on May 18 easy laugh said he felt no bitterness, nei- uation – and during a long, probably is preparing to make a substantial contribu- and unsealed on June 1 in San Francisco. ther toward the U.S. officials who sent drug-induced slumber he began having him packing in 1985, nor towards the unusual dreams and at least one appari- Soviet henchmen who intimidated and tion of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He roughed him up during and after his would not give details of his dreams or Ukraine’s ambassador attends U.N. meeting, return. In retrospect, he was thankful, he of the vision, but said only that they explained, because what he suffered had made him reconsider the life he wanted turned him to God and religion. to lead. visits with Ukrainian American community During a one-hour interview in and by Irene Jarosewich Kofi Annan to serve as one of 15 Still haunted by ordeal around the office of The Weekly’s Kyiv UNMOVIC commissioners. NEW YORK – Ukraine’s ambassador to Press Bureau, he said: “I am thankful to Although the ex-merchant marine While in New York, Ambassador everybody, from both sides. I pray for maintained that his life today is normal, the United States, Kostyantyn Gryshchenko Gryshchenko also met with the Ukrainian them daily. What I lived through was my his actions and statements at times made was at the United Nations on May 23-24 to American community on the evening of first step to the Lord.” He then added, “I it clear that what he endured haunts him attend a meeting of the recently established May 23 at the Ukrainian Institute of would like to meet the person who still. At moments during the interview, United Nations Monitoring, Verification America – his first meeting with the com- decided that I must be returned to tell the bitterness he maintained he does not and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC). munity here since his appointment to him that I forgive him.” bear would ooze from a wound that The body is mandated to develop a strategy Washington in February. He noted that The young priest regards what hap- seems not fully healed. In reply to a for the disarmament of Iraq, as an advisory other than Washington, and a brief meeting pened to him in New Orleans as the question on whether he met with U.S. group to the U.N. Security Council. in Philadelphia with Archbishop Stephen moment that changed his life. He said he officials aboard the Soviet grain ship, the Mr. Gryshchenko, who has extensive Sulyk, metropolitan of the Ukrainian likens his travails to the biblical parable Marshal Koniev, after he was returned experience in arms control and disarma- Catholic Church in the United States, he of the wayward son, who returns to his there, the Rev. Medvid explained that ment, having worked on U.S.-Soviet arms hasn’t had the opportunity to visit many father’s home after a long and difficult control treaties and representing Ukraine’s cities or communities, though his plans for time seeking his own fortune. (Continued on page 8) positions on arms control and disarmament, was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General (Continued on page 9) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2000 No.

Load more