www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: “A Ukrainian Summer” – a special 24-page pullout section. THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXI No. 18 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013 $1/$2 in Ukraine Ukraine seeking U.S. help to alleviate European Court of Human Rights rules its orphan adoption problems Tymoshenko jailing was rights violation RFE/RL “The decision of the court fully confirms the political motivation of the arrest and The European Court of Human Rights detainment under guard, the mockery that has ruled that the detention of former was used against my mother,” she said. Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia “And now, on the basis of this decision, I Tymoshenko before and during her trial on think that the [Ukrainian] president has the abuse-of-office charges was arbitrary and a full ability and grounds to make a decision violation of her rights. about her release, no matter who she is.” The court, based in Strasbourg, France, Serhiy Vlasenko, Yulia Tymoshenko’s delivered its ruling on April 30. Ms. Tymoshenko – a key leader of lawyer, said the court found Ms. Ukraine’s 2004-2005 pro-democracy Tymoshenko’s prosecution in Ukraine “had Orange Revolution – was sentenced to nothing to do with the law.” seven years in prison in October 2011 for “This is the first decision [regarding abusing her powers as prime minister Tymoshenko] made by a European legal while negotiating a gas contract with institution, not a political institution,” he Russia. She was convicted of exceeding her said. “Until today, Viktor Yanukovych could powers by ordering Ukraine’s state oil and (Continued on page 5) gas company, Naftohaz Ukrainy, to sign a deal in 2009 with Russia’s Gazprom. Ms. Tymoshenko says her jailing was Presidential Yaro Bihun orchestrated by President Viktor Ukrainian 1+1 TV correspondent interviewing Erika Rogers (right) and her nine chil- Yanukovych and was aimed at keeping her commission votes dren – seven of them adopted orphans, including four from Ukraine – in the out of politics. against pardoning Ukrainian Embassy’s Washington Room just before a briefing by Ukraine’s ‘Supposed hindering’ Commissioner for Children’s Rights Yuriy Pavlenko The court agreed unanimously that she Tymoshenko of organizations interested in such issues, by Yaro Bihun was arrested and held in prison before her KYIV – Ukraine’s presidential par- he spoke about the problems involved and Special to The Ukrainian Weekly conviction for “other reasons” than those don commission has said it is too soon how Ukraine would like to resolve them permissible by law. to consider pardoning jailed former during a briefing at the Embassy of Ukraine WASHINGTON – The future of American The court ruled that “the main justifica- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko. The on April 4. adoptions of Ukrainian orphans came to tion for the applicant’s detention was her commission said that since some crim- He noted that last year persons in the the fore at the end of 2012 when the supposed hindering of the proceedings and inal charges against Ms. Tymoshenko United States adopted 480 Ukrainian Ukrainian government belatedly learned contemptuous behavior. This reason is not are still being investigated and the orphans – more than any other country in about the shooting of a Ukrainian teenager included in those which would justify courts have not yet ruled, the “issue of the world – and that currently there are by his adoptive American father in West deprivation of liberty” under the her pardon is premature.” 8,250 adopted Ukrainian orphans living in Virginia back in 2011. This focused atten- Convention for the Protection of Human The National Radio Company of the United States. tion on the growing problem of American Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Ukraine said the presidential pardon Under Ukraine’s adoption laws, foreign adoptive parents not reporting regularly ​​Ms. Tymoshenko, in her submission to commission unanimously rejected an adoptive parents are obligated to report about their adopted Ukrainian children to the court, also complained that her deten- appeal for pardoning the opposition annually about their status until they reach Ukraine as required by law. tion conditions were inadequate and no leader at its meeting on April 27. The the age of 18, he said. Last year, however, The Ukrainian president’s commission- appropriate medical care was provided for appeal had been submitted by women 60 percent of them did not. And the lack of er for children’s rights, Yuriy Pavlenko, her numerous health problems. national deputies, the commission’s reporting about the shooting death of the came to Washington last month to discuss The court dismissed the accusations of chairman, Hennadii Vasyliev, said. adopted boy in West Virginia brought this possible ways to facilitate that process with ill-treatment. The presidential pardon act can lapse to the forefront. U.S. officials. Ms. Tymoshenko’s daughter, Eugenia, only apply to convicts, whereas Ms. After his meetings with officials of the According to a local newspaper in West hailed the court ruling as “the first victory, Department of Health and Human Services, the first step to her full political rehabilita- (Continued on page 5) the State Department and representatives (Continued on page 5) tion and her immediate release.” Internet tool helps visitors find Ukrainian-friendly restaurants by Zenon Zawada It’s been 21 years since the fall of com- staff continue in Russian when the client speakers in post-Orange Revolution Special to The Ukrainian Weekly munism, but Ukrainians have yet to grasp addresses them in Ukrainian. Ukraine was demonstrated when the Western concept of “The customer is At long last, an Internet tool has Canadians Lada Roslycky and Victor Glasko KYIV – It’s an unpleasant experience that always right.” emerged for Ukrainian speakers – particu- visited the Tanuki Japanese restaurant in diaspora Ukrainians have to endure when Even in the extreme case, when foreign- larly those ethnic Ukrainians from the dias- central Kyiv in early November 2012. They visiting the dining establishments in ers explain that they can only speak pora who don’t speak Russian – to navigate asked their waitress why the service and Ukraine’s capital. Besides the often rude Ukrainian, not Russian, the Kyiv wait staff central Kyiv’s urban jungle of Ukrainian- menus were exclusively in Russian. wait staff and slow, incompetent service, will continue on in Russian, as if they never friendly and Ukrainian-hostile dining estab- The waitress explained that the restau- there’s the “banging your head against the heard the customer. A recent survey lishments. brick wall” of Russian-language service. showed that three-quarters of Kyiv wait Just how nasty it can get for Ukrainian (Continued on page 6) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2013 No. 18 ANALYSIS Polish government sheds light Kozhara on Holodomor Memorial ority issues of Ukraine’s chairmanship of the OSCE, and will hold meetings with KYIV – Ukrainian Foreign Minister members of the U.S. Congress, representa- on Gazprom-EuroPolGaz MOU Leonid Kozhara said he hopes that Ukraine, tives of the business community and the during the revision of the state budget for consented to a price discount on gas sup- Ukrainian diaspora in the United States. He by Vladimir Socor 2013, will manage to allocate money for the plies, in return for PGNiG withdrawing its will also speak at a roundtable organized by Eurasia Daily Monitor construction of the Holodomor Memorial in case from the Stockholm Arbitration Court the National Democratic Institute and meet Washington. “The Ministry of Foreign Poland’s prime minister, Donald Tusk, and entering into a pipeline project with with the president of NDI, former U.S. Affairs is actively working so that the has announced some strong measures in Gazprom bypassing Ukraine via Poland. Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright. In Holodomor Memorial could be built in response to the April 5 Memorandum of According to the investigation, the Polish addition, he will meet with representatives Washington, and there are issues regarding Understanding (MOU) between EuroPolGaz government-controlled PGNiG turned the of the U.S. National Park Service to discuss cooperation between the Ukrainian and Russian Gazprom, negotiated behind pipeline project over to EuroPolGaz, the the construction in Washington of the Embassy and the Washington municipality. the Polish government’s back. The MOU Gazprom-PGNiG joint company in Poland memorial to the victims of the Holodomor We have to finance at least the beginning of envisages joint EuroPolGaz-Gazprom con- (Gazeta Wyborcza, April 20). of 1932-1933 in Ukraine. (Ukrinform) construction work. If we don’t, then this struction of a redundant transit pipeline in While EuroPolGaz’s CEO, Miroslaw land plot may just be taken away... I hope Ukraine marks Chornobyl anniversary Poland that would bypass Ukraine, serve to Dobrut, was signing the MOU with that this money will be found during the pressure the latter country and (as a Gazprom CEO Aleksei Miller in St. KYIV – Ukrainians on April 26 held a Gazprom joint venture in EU territory) Petersburg, Mr. Miller received Polish revision of the state budget for this year,” memorial ceremony in a downtown Kyiv would contravene the European Union’s Deputy Prime Minister and Economics the Ukrainian minister said in an interview church to honor the victims of the 1986 energy market legislation (see Eurasia Minister Janusz Piechocinski in a parallel with the newspaper Den, according to April Chornobyl nuclear-power plant disaster. At Daily Monitor, April 5). but separate meeting, apparently withhold- 24 news reports. According to Mr. Kozhara, the ceremony, Ukrainian Vice Prime Mr. Tusk has dismissed Treasury ing major information, notwithstanding it will also be important for Washington to Minister Oleksander Vilkul paid homage to Minister Mikolaj Budzanowski for over- that the Polish government is an indirect have a memorial that will perpetuate the the “hundreds of thousands” of people who looking the preparation and signing of that shareholder via PGNiG in EuroPolGaz.