The Ukrainian Weekly, 2015
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INSIDE: l Chicago remembers heroes of the Maidan – page 4 l Program on orphans, street children of Ukraine – page 8 l Community: Palatine, Houston, Longboat Key – page 10 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIII No. 10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 $2.00 Rada Vice-Chair Parubiy brings Ukraine’s case to D.C. at the Embassy of Ukraine. “Ukraine has to ascertain: are we alone or not alone. We Stresses that Ukraine have to find out if the country that guaranteed our security needs weapons now in the Budapest Memorandum is willing to back Ukraine at this difficult moment,” he said. Ukraine needs arms assistance now, Mr. Parubiy under- by Yaro Bihun scored, adding that he brought with him a list of the lethal WASHINGTON – The vice-chairman of the Verkhovna and nonlethal weapons Ukraine’s armed forces need, Rada of Ukraine, Andriy Parubiy, came to Washington dur- agreed upon by the ministries of defense and foreign ing the last week of February in an effort to convince the affairs, and other Ukrainian government institutions. United States that it can help his country resolve the con- He said he could not be specific and publicly reveal the flict in its eastern regions with Russian separatists by pro- list of lethal arms requested, but he did acknowledge that viding the Ukrainian armed forces with lethal and defen- anti-tank missiles were at the top of that list. sive weapons. As for the nonlethal arms list, Mr. Parubiy said it includes short-range radar, high-altitude drones to identify During his three-day visit on February 24-26, he pre- the locations and movement of enemy arms and troops, sented his government’s case in meetings on Capitol Hill radio communications equipment for coordinating military with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John operations, night-vision glasses and other equipment. McCain, Speaker of the House of Representatives John “We recognize this as a unique moment, when Boehner and members of the Senate and Congressional Republicans and Democrats are completely united on this Ukrainian Caucuses. He also met with Assistant Secretary issue,” he said, noting that they speak openly about it in the of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland halls of Congress and with the media and public. and senior officials at the Defense Department and “I expect that in the near future this political discussion National Security Council as well as with other leading will come to a positive decision in favor of Ukraine,” Mr. Yaro Bihun Washington foreign policy experts. Parubiy said. But that final decision, of course, will be made On the last day of his visit here, Mr. Parubiy spoke about Andriy Parubiy, vice-chairman of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, briefs the news media at the Embassy of Ukraine what he tried to accomplish during a brief news conference (Continued on page 14) about his talks with U.S. officials in Washington. Savchenko in Moscow court Key Yanukovych ally, facing on 82nd day of hunger strike the deaths of two journalists killed cov- criminal charges, commits suicide RFE/RL Ukrainian Service ering the conflict between the separat- by Zenon Zawada his job to instruct the deputies of the parlia- A Moscow court has refused to release ists and Ukrainian government forces. mentary faction to support or reject a par- jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, She began a hunger strike on December KYIV – Mykhailo Chechetov, a key func- ticular bill under consideration. who has been on a hunger strike in a 13, 2014, to protest the charges and her tionary in the Party of Regions most famous He did this for many years by raising his Russian prison since December. confinement in pretrial detention. for leading the January 2014 vote in the hands as he sat in the front rows of the Ms. Savchenko, who held the rank of Ms. Savchenko’s sister, Vira, said on Verkhovna Rada for what was dubbed the Rada’s session hall. A horizontally extended first lieutenant, appeared in a Moscow March 1 that she was “in a very bad state.” dictatorship laws, was found dead on left arm meant not to vote. An arm lifted court on March 4, the 82nd day of a hunger In remarks on Twitter on March 3, Mr. February 28 outside a Kyiv high-rise build- vertically meant to vote in favor. strike to protest her incarceration in Feigin said his client promised him she ing. He fell from his 17-floor apartment in When the Ukrayinska Pravda news site Russia. The Basmanny district court was would end her hunger strike if her health what was determined by police to be suicide. informed him in 2010 that no civilized hearing her appeal against a ruling that became “completely terrible,” suggesting Just a week earlier, a Kyiv court had country has a Parliament that behaves this barred her from attending a Parliamentary she would halt the protest if her life was ordered that Mr. Chechetov, 61, be placed way, he remarked, “It’s normal. A united Assembly of the Council of Europe in danger. under house arrest following criminal position is produced in this way. We’re ful- (PACE) session in Strasbourg in January. “I got her to say that when it becomes charges filed on February 20 by prosecu- filling our program.” She looked gaunt behind the metal completely terrible, she will take heed tors for leading the illegal vote in the Given his key role in Parliament, Mr. bars of a courtroom cage. and stop. She said this,” Mr. Feigin wrote. Chechetov was privy to many key decisions Her lawyer Mark Feigin said on He said Ms. Savchenko promised “to Verkhovna Rada to impose laws severely restricting the basic freedoms of Ukrainian within the party, political experts said. Twitter that the judge rejected a motion remember that Ukrainians and Russians “He merely fulfilled the will of others, but by prosecutors to hold the hearing are urging her not to die.” citizens amid the Euro-Maidan protest. there are a lot of individuals from the high behind closed doors. But he appeared to step back from Prosecutors determined there weren’t leadership of the previous government who Ms. Savchenko’s lawyers say it was that statement in comments to RFE/RL, enough votes to approve the laws and the were interested in him disappearing and not illegal to bar the military pilot, who won saying only that Ms. Savchenko had vote by show of hands was fraudulent. Mr. telling anything to investigators,” said a seat in Ukraine’s Parliament last year “promised to think about this very seri- Chechetov took part in counting those Oleksandr Palii, a Kyiv political author. and was named a member of its PACE del- ously.” He called that “progress.” votes. Several hours before the suicide, “Chechetov could have been a carrier of egation, from attending the session in Meanwhile, EU foreign-policy chief Procurator General Viktor Shokin said in a information who posed a threat to former France. (She resigned from the military Federica Mogherini said in a statement on television interview that more criminal state officials from Yanukovych’s team.” after her election to Ukraine’s Parliament.) March 4 that Ms. Savchenko “faces per- charges were being considered. Anton Gerashchenko, a spokesman for Ms. Savchenko says she was kid- manent damage to her health, or death,” Yet the notorious January vote was mere- the Internal Affairs Ministry, said Mr. napped by Russian-backed rebels in and called on Russia “to urgently release ly the tip of the iceberg in Mr. Chechetov’s Chechetov could have received threats since eastern Ukraine in June of last year and Ms. Savchenko on humanitarian grounds.” political career serving the Party of Regions illegally transferred to Russia, where she as its deputy parliamentary faction head his release from prison since his corrupt has been charged with involvement in (Continued on page 18) since 2006. He was nicknamed the party’s “dyryhent” (the conductor) because it was (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 No. 10 ANALYSIS 17 dead in coal-mine explosion Hodges said the Russian forces are made up Putin’s ‘hybrid’ great terror of military advisers, weapons operators and KYIV – The spokeswoman for the combat troops. He also said some 29,000 by Brian Whitmore security officer Aleksandr Litvinenko just Emergency Situations Ministry in the self- Russian troops are in Crimea, which RFE/RL to name a few. But none had profiles as proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic has Moscow annexed from Ukraine last year. high as Mr. Nemtsov. confirmed that 17 bodies have been Commander Hodges said in Berlin on March When reporters asked former world Taking out an internationally known for- removed from a coal mine following an 3 that helping Ukraine with weapons would chess champion and Kremlin critic Garry mer deputy prime minister whom Boris explosion. Yuliana Bedilo said late on March increase the stakes for Russian President Kasparov who was behind the assassina- Yeltsin once touted as his potential succes- 4 that the search continued for another 16 Vladimir Putin at home. He added, “when tion of opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, he sor as president suggests that – just as in miners still missing after a blast at the mothers start seeing sons come home dead, dismissed the question as irrelevant. Stalin’s Great Terror of the 1930s – nobody Zasiadko mine earlier in the day. Authorities when that price goes up, then that domestic Whoever did the dirty work, he implied, is immune.