The Ukrainian Weekly 1998, No.50

www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Hrushevsky monument unveiled in Kyiv — page 3. •A new feature: “Focus on Philately” — page 9. • “Treasures from the Ukrainian Steppes” — page 11. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXVI HE No.KRAINIAN 50 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1998 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine BudgetT stalled as RadaULazarenko arrested byW Swiss authorities by Roman Woronowycz ney, Paul Gully-Hart, suggested that his Kyiv Press Bureau client was ready to put up $3 million for makes its modifications his release. A December 8 bond hearing by Roman Woronowycz KYIV – Pavlo Lazarenko, former was rescheduled for December 11, when Kyiv Press Bureau prime minister of Ukraine and current the Geneva investigative judge in charge national deputy, was arrested by Swiss KYIV – Two weeks after it received of the case, Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, authorities on December 3 and is being returns from Kyiv, where he is concluding an amended 1999 budget proposal from held in a Geneva jail as Swiss prosecutors the Cabinet of Ministers, the an investigation into Mr. Lazarenko’s prepare to charge him with money laun- Parliament’s Budget Committee has financial activities. dering. made drastic changes to it, including If Mr. Lazarenko is not allowed bond, Swiss Customs officials detained Mr. raising spending on social programs by he could remain locked up in Switzerland Lazarenko on the French-Swiss border 33 percent and balancing the budget with for up to three months as the judicial near Basel, Switzerland, after he attempt- optimistic revenue expectations. process proceeds. ed to enter the country with a Panamanian The budget proposed by the Budget The arrest of Ukraine’s most controver- passport. He was traveling from Brussels, Committee, which is chaired by National sial politician and perhaps its richest citi- Belgium, where he had attended a meet- Deputy Yulia Tymoshenko, a political zen, has incensed politicians associated ing of the European Commission’s antagonist of President Leonid Kuchma with the Hromada Party that Mr. Parliamentary Assembly as a member of and leader in the Hromada Party’s shad- Lazarenko leads, who have accused the the Ukrainian delegation. He had left the ow government, could not gain sufficient Ukrainian government of failing to come official delegation after the meeting and votes from legislators to pass a first read- to the former prime minister’s aid and of was returning to Kyiv by private automo- ing on December 3. complicity in his arrest. bile. This is not the first time the National Deputy Stanislav Safronov of Some news sources have stated that the Verkhovna Rada has had problems the Hromada Party said the arrest of his former prime minister was carrying as approving a fiscal plan. In 1997 a budget party’s leader was a political act by the many as eight passports at the time of his Efrem Lukatsky was not in place until half the year was Kuchma administration to discredit a arrest. Pavlo Lazarenko over. But this year – with politicians political adversary and clear the presi- Mr. Lazarenko is currently being held keenly aware that 1999 is a presidential dent’s path to re-election. Presidential in Geneva until a determination is made to official information, Mr. Lazarenko election year – the expectation is that elections in Ukraine are scheduled for by Swiss authorities whether he can be showed a Ukrainian passport at the Swiss putting an approvable budget together October 1999. freed on bond. On December 9 the border, and that the Panamanian travel “This was done to destroy perhaps the (Continued on page 8) Ukrainian national deputy’s Swiss attor- document was found on his person after- single strongest opposition in Ukraine,” ward. Asked how he had obtained such a said Mr. Safronov. passport, she replied, “Panama extends Fellow Hromada Party member passports as a means of developing rev- Tatianna Zadorozhna suggested that the enue for its country.” Ukraine’s representatives attend meeting Swiss investigative judge is in Kyiv, not to She accused Ukraine’s Ministry of investigate Mr. Lazarenko, but to consult Foreign Affairs of neglecting to file a with the Kuchma government on how to protest against the arrest of a prominent on assets confiscated during World War II proceed. “It was interesting to see the Ukrainian leader or beginning extradi- by Yaro Bihun survivors, the Ukrainian delegation in judge enter the Presidential Administration Special to The Ukrainian Weekly its presentations tried to broaden the tion proceedings, and of failing to meet building through the doors reserved for with Mr. Lazarenko in his jail cell. Mr. scope to include compensation for non- heads of state,” said Ms. Zadorozhna. She WASHINGTON – Representatives Jewish victims as well. Zadorozhna also said that she was told of 44 countries, including Ukraine, and said that the actions of Swiss officials “are by the Swiss ambassador in Kyiv that Volodymyr Lytvynov, chairman of without precedent in the history of 13 non-governmental organizations the International Movement of Mr. Lazarenko was detained strictly at gathered here on November 30- Switzerland.” Former Juvenile Prisoners of Ms. Zadorozhna also said that, contrary (Continued on page 4) December 3 in a continuing effort to Fascism, said the Ukrainian delega- resolve the problem of assets confiscat- tion made a presentation on behalf of ed during and just preceding World War the more than 600,000 Nazi slave II. labor camp survivors who were being Ukrainian American Coordinating Council Sponsored by the U.S. Department ignored in various negotiations and of State and the U.S. Holocaust agreements about just compensation. holds convention, elects Gawdiak president Memorial Museum, the Washington Recently, he said, there was an agree- Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets ment reached between Jewish organi- by Marianna Liss was a follow-up meeting to an interna- zations and the German government The full list of the UACC executive tional conference on Nazi-confiscated to pay former Jewish prisoners a Special to The Ukrainian Weekly board, auditing committee, arbitration gold held last year in London. The monthly compensation of 250 board and National Council is to be Washington meeting focused on looted WARREN, Mich. – The theme of the released shortly. German marks. fourth convention of the Ukrainian works of art, unpaid insurance claims “You know, on the one hand, we are A special panel discussed “The and restitution of communal property. American Coordinating Council held here Ukrainian Diaspora in the 21st Century.” happy for our Jewish brethren, whose on November 21-22 was change. The dis- Danylo Kurdelchuk, the president of fate was shared by non-Jewish prison- (See sidebar on page 3.) the Ukrainian Foreign Bar Association cussions on the floor, the resolutions of the The convention decided to raise funds ers. We are glad that justice triumphed convention, the panel discussion and the and one of the five members of the in their case,” he said. “But on the for a formal office in Washington to serve Ukrainian delegation, said Ukraine is keynote speech all reflected the shift in the as its national bureau. The UACC’s new other hand, our hearts and souls ache life of the Ukrainian community in the U.S. satisfied with the conference results. over why the non-Jewish victims were president announced that he plans to coop- “The general thrusts were wise, and in Ukraine. erate with The Washington Group’s forgotten.” Ihor Gawdiak, previously chairman of noble and balanced. I would say that There is a danger that this inequali- upcoming Ukrainian organizational confer- the UACC’s National Council and director with such an approach, problems can ty may give rise to feelings of jeal- ence. of the organization’s Washington office, be resolved,” he said. “But this is only ousy and possibly anti-Semitism, Mr. The keynote speech at the convention was elected president of the Ukrainian the beginning of the major task before Lytvynov said. was delivered by Ukrainian National us.” “Try to explain to an elderly woman American umbrella body. He succeeds Deputy Mykhailo Syrota, head of the While the conference focused main- Ulana Diachuk, president of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada’s Constitutional ly on restitution to Jewish Holocaust (Continued on page 4) National Association, who did not seek a third term as UACC president. (Continued on page 8) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1998 No. 50 Hrushevsky monument unveiled in Kyiv NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Land mine campaign marks anniversary percent on November 25 over October fig- ures and equaled 70.2 hrv per person. KYIV – The first anniversary of the According to the State Statistics signing of the Convention on the Committee, the consumer basket was the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, most expensive in the Dnipropetrovsk Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Oblast at 80.13 hrv, cheapest in Ternopil at Mines, and on Their Destruction was cele- 59.64 hrv. Among foodstuffs, sunflower oil brated on December 3 by the 133 countries saw the biggest increase in price by 13.6 that have signed the convention in the percent, and potatoes, beets, carrots, onions, course of the year. According to the eggs and fish increased in the price range of International Campaign to Ban Land 3.3 percent to 8.7 percent. The average Mines, Ukraine, with over 10 million land salary in Ukraine in October equaled mines in storage, has yet to join the conven- 156.07 hrv. (Eastern Economist) tion. In March and April, Ukraine unilater- ally destroyed 101,000 of its mines, which Council of Europe extends Ukraine’s term was seen as the first step in moving toward official acceptance of the convention. With KYIV – The Parliamentary Assembly of the initiative of the Canadian government the Council of Europe extended until July and support from the Canadian Embassy in 1999 the term for Ukraine to fulfill obliga- Ukraine, the International Campaign to Ban tions accepted upon entering the Council of Land Mines is presently conducting activi- Europe.

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