The Ukrainian Weekly 1996, No.25
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www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Ukraine reacts to reports of Libyan connection — page 2. • Ambassador convenes meeting of Ukrainian American leaders — page 4. • Ukrainian carries torch in Olympic relay — page 5. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXIV HE KRAINIANNo. 25 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 1996 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine CabinetT shake-up UDeputies make little progress Win adopting constitution by Marta Kolomayets reported that the left-wingers have agreed In the afternoon of June 19, however, Kyiv Press Bureau to about 80 percent of the articles in the the deputies did reach a compromise on in Ukraine continues constitutional draft; however, they intend to procedure, voting 218-80 with 11 absten- by Marta Kolomayets KYIV — Although the Parliament pose problems on articles that deal with tions to begin examining the draft article registered a quorum on June 19 for the Kyiv Press Bureau such issues of principle as language, by article beginning on Friday morning, second reading of the draft constitution, Ukrainian national symbols (flag and tri- June 21. The morning session (10 a.m. to KYIV – Vasyl Durdynets was named the deputies did not make much progress dent) and private ownership. noon) is scheduled to be a plenary meet- first deputy prime minister by President toward adopting a new fundamental law Another member of the left, Natalia Leonid Kuchma on June 18, continuing for the citizens of Ukraine. ing, with deputies breaking up into parlia- Vitrenko, argued that the deputies will the promised government shake-up that However, they promised to start exam- mentary groups and factions from 12:30 to have to take at least eight days to famil- began last week. Mr. Durdynets succeeds ining the document on June 21. 2 p.m. At 4 p.m. the council of factions — iarize themselves with a comparative Pavlo Lazarenko, who was appointed The legislators spent the morning ses- representing members of each group — is table of the draft constitution adopted in prime minister on May 28. sion on June 19 discussing the procedure to meet to discuss the draft document. Mr. Durdynets, 58, is no stranger to the for adopting the constitution in the second the first reading on June 4 and the ver- However, national-democratic and cen- Ukrainian political scene, having served as reading, with right-wing and centrist forces sion prepared for the second reading. trist forces place little faith in the Supreme a deputy in Parliament since 1991. He was insisting that the draft law be examined as a This newly revised version takes into Council’s power to adopt a new constitu- a member of the legislature’s presidium “whole,” which would enable the draft to account comments, remarks and recom- tion and, according to Serhiy Teleshun, (heading the Committee on Defense and be adopted in one day. Left-wing forces, mendations made by parliamentary head of the domestic policy service of the State Security until 1994) and later the including Communist Party leader Petro deputies and incorporated into the draft presidential administration, deputies may Parliament’s first deputy chairman Symonenko, advocated adopting the con- by members of the ad hoc committee turn to President Leonid Kuchma with a (March-December 1994). He was also the stitution article by article (161 articles), headed by Mykhailo Syrota. request that the draft document be submit- deputy minister of interior of the which would enable them to discuss each Mr. Syrota said his committee had ted to a national referendum. Ukrainian SSR from 1978 to 1991. point separately, and drag out the process received more than 5,700 comments from He did underscore, given Ukraine’s eco- Since December 1994, Mr. Durdynets, for weeks, if not months. the deputies; he noted the principles of nomic problems, that it would be preferable who was educated as a lawyer at Lviv Parliament Chairman Oleksander Moroz, the draft constitution, as adopted in the for the Supreme Council to adopt a new University and later became a colonel gen- who has used clever tactics to try to block first reading, remain the same, adding constitution, because a national referendum eral in the Soviet Army, was the deputy the adoption of the new constitution, told that most changes were in regard to would mean that the government would prime minister for security and emergency Interfax-Ukraine on June 18 that he thinks wording and style. need to spend funds it does not have. situations and headed the presidential coor- the constitutional process will take “another The ad hoc committee also submitted to During a press briefing at the presidential dinating committee on combating corrup- few weeks and will end in the adoption of the Supreme Council a draft resolution on administration on June 19, Mr. Teleshun tion and organized crime. the constitution by Parliament.” However, the procedure to review the draft constitu- told reporters that there are “about three or Also ousted from the government on he added, that is providing the Supreme tion, which provides for daily debates from four articles in the draft that may cause dif- June 18 was Finance Minister Petro Council’s work is not hampered in any way. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day except ferences among the deputies.” He said these Hermanchuk, who had held this post Uryadoviy Kurier (Government Cour- Sundays until the document is adopted. since the final days of President Leonid ier), the Ukrainian government newspaper, This suggestion did not pass in Parliament. (Continued on page 18) Kravchuk’s administration. He was appointed on July 6, 1994, just days before Mr. Kravchuk lost to Mr. Kuchma in the presidential run-off. Mr. Elections in Russia portend Kyiv to build memorial Hermanchuk was recently reprimanded by President Kuchma for mishandling tough times for Ukraine for Orthodox patriarch the government wage debt crisis. KYIV — Acting Kyiv Mayor Mr. Hermanchuk has been replaced by by Marta Kolomayets that often the devil you know is safer than Oleksander Omelchenko has pledged Valentyn Koronevsky, 46, who until his Kyiv Press Bureau the devil you don’t. to build a memorial on the sidewalk new appointment served as the head of the Ukrainian government officials – outside the walls of St. Sophia Zaporizhzhia Oblast State Administration KYIV – No matter who wins the pres- though cautious in their statements – Cathedral where Patriarch Volodymyr Financial Department. idential race in Russia, Ukraine is headed continue to support Mr. Yeltsin for presi- of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church- A relative unknown in national poli- for some tough times with its northern dent. President Leonid Kuchma, who had Kyiv Patriarchate was buried nearly a tics, Mr. Koronevsky is a native of the neighbor, according to political observers declared his support of President Yeltsin year ago, Reuters reported on June 18. Odessa region (Izmail) and is an econo- in Kyiv. months before the election and endorsed Mr. Omelchenko has ordered city mist by profession. “It may become another watershed for Mr. Yeltsin at the recent CIS meeting in funds to be used for a marble monu- Mr. Koronevsky’s team has been joined Ukrainian-Russian relations,” said Petro Moscow, told reporters during a June 19 ment with a cross and columns on by Mykhailo Honcharuk, who was named Matiaszek, the director of the Council of news conference with Kyrgyz President the late patriarch’s grave in the pave- first deputy finance minister, succeeding Advisors to the Ukrainian Parliament, Askar Akayev in Kyiv that “it is good ment, according to Reuters. Mykola Sivulsky, who had worked in the who worries that even if President Boris that elections did take place in Russia, Approximately $71,000 (in karbo- Finance Ministry since late 1994. Yeltsin wins the run-off scheduled for despite all the forecasts.” vantsi) has been allocated. This Cabinet shuffling appears to be early July, Aleksandr Lebed, his new “This fact in itself is a great achieve- Mourners and church activists an attempt by Prime Minister Lazarenko secretary of the security council, may ment of Russian democracy,” he noted. were denied permission by the to get rid of former Prime Minister turn the tide in Russia from reforms and But, he did go on to say that “for national government last year to lay Yevhen Marchuk’s advisors and assis- democracy to national chauvinism. Ukraine, it would be better if the current the patriarch to rest on cathedral tants and replace them with his own peo- “The alliance between President Yeltsin policy was continued in Russia.” grounds, and riot police beat and ple in order to get economic and political and retired Gen. Lebed will increase the Crimean Prime Minister Arkadiy tear-gassed funeral participants, reforms moving. imperial pressure of the Russian leadership Demidenko told Interfax-Ukraine that Mr. among them members of However, as pointed out in a recent on Ukraine,” added Rukh Party leader Yeltsin’s victory is more favorable for Parliament and elderly women. article in the Eastern Economist, despite Vyacheslav Chornovil. Ukraine, explaining that “certain relations Mr. Omelchenko said the monu- President Kuchma’s claim that he is giv- “And this presents a great danger to have been developed and agreements have ment would be ready for the first ing Mr. Lazarenko a free hand in form- Ukraine, but the danger presented by been reached. If a new President comes, anniversary of the patriarch’s bur- ing the government, the president him- Gennadiy Zyuganov, the Communist they will have to start anew.” ial. “This is not an honored location self is deciding ministerial fates. leader (who captured 32 percent of the “Gen. Lebed’s third-place finish testifies for a Ukrainian patriarch,” he said.