www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Filmmaker tells story of Bereza Kartuzka concentration camp — page 9. • Ukraine’s Olympic hockey team: a preview — page 11. • The Ukrainian Hopak at the Salt Lake City Olympics — page 12. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXX HE KRAINIANNo. 5 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2002 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine UkraineT sendsU 70 athletes Central ElectionW Commission reports to Winter Olympic Games registration of 23 parties, 13 political blocs by Andrew Nynka Sweden, has looked especially strong as by Roman Woronowycz Candidates are required to pay a regis- of late in the 15-kilometer event leading Kyiv Press Bureau tration fee to run for a parliamentary seat PARSIPPANY, N.J. – When Team up to the Games. – 1,020 hrv, or about $200, per candidate Ukraine parades into the opening cere- Along with Ms. Zubrylova, fans should KYIV – Ukraine’s Central Election in the single mandate districts; while a monies of the 19th Winter Olympic pay close attention to the biathlon relay Commission reported that 13 political political party or bloc must pay 225,000 Games in Salt Lake City on February 8, it squad of Olena Petrova, Nina Lemesh, blocs and 23 parties had managed to reg- hrv, or $43,000 to put up its slate. will mark the country’s third Winter Tetyiana Vodopianova and Ms. Zubrylova ister for elections to the Verkhovna Rada The new law also stipulates that law- appearance competing under its own whose World Cup third place, as well as and to submit their candidate lists before makers are elected in a mixed system, national banner (in 1992 Ukraine’s ath- Ms. Zubrylova’s personal bronze in the the January 29 deadline stipulated by with half the 450 parliamentary seats letes competed under the guise of the 15-kilometer course, in Pokljuka, Ukrainian law. The CEC is still consider- awarded to political organizations that Equipe Unifiée/Unified Team). Slovenia, on December 14, 2001, could be ing 14 applications, some of which were attain at least 4 percent voter support and But this time things are a bit different. a strong indicator of the group’s prospects resubmitted under appeal after initial the other 50 percent awarded to individu- According to the National Olympic for the 2002 Games. problems. als who take a majority of votes in each of Committee of Ukraine (NOC-U), the dele- At the 18th Winter Olympic Games in And while officially the campaign sea- the 225 single-mandate electoral districts gation will consist of 70 athletes – 14 Nagano, Ms. Petrova took second in the son will only begin on February 9, dirty of Ukraine more athletes than competed in Nagano, 15-kilometer race while the biathlon team tricks and mudslinging have already The CEC said on January 30 that Japan, in 1998 and 33 more athletes than took fifth in the 4 by 7.5-kilometer relay. marred another Ukrainian election and set 2,765 individuals had registered as candi- in Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994. Ms. Zubrylova also took gold medals in the tone for this year. dates from party slates, while another With a strong showing by the delega- the 15-kilometer race, mass start and pur- The registration procedure is the first 1,160 hopefuls had filed in single-man- tion’s odds-on medal favorite Olena suit during the 1999 World major step in the process to pick 450 date districts, which works out to an aver- Zubrylova in the biathlon event, Team Championships. national deputies to Ukraine’s Parliament age of 12 candidates per Verkhovna Rada Ukraine can begin its medals hunt early in The group of 70, recently trimmed in elections that are scheduled for March seat. the two-and-a-half week Olympic compe- down from 87 due to economic concerns, 31. The process was greatly simplified in All the candidates will have to deal tition. Ms. Zubrylova, who currently is will compete in 11 of the 15 Olympic win- a new law passed late last year, which no with the fact that the campaign season second in the World Cup Biathlon stand- longer requires a candidate to gather vot- will be hot and controversial, and that ings behind Magdalena Forsberg of (Continued on page 10) ers’ signatures. many contests will be fierce and some run unethically. With the official onset of actual campaigning still days away, maneuvering for political advantage by Ukrainian becomes youngest world chess champion using smear tactics in an attempt to dis- by Dr. Orest Popovych later on. Ukraine, has been Ukraine’s premiere credit the competition already has been Commentators have attributed this to chess player since the late 1980s. He well-established. HOWELL, N.J. – Ruslan time pressure and a case of nerves, a won a string of powerful international The main target thus far has been Ponomaryov, 18, of Kramatorsk on problem that has plagued the 32-year-old tournaments, among them New York Viktor Yuschenko, the ex-prime minister January 23 became the new chess (1988), Linares, Spain (1989, 1991, and former head of the National Bank of champion of the world, after defeating Mr. Ivanchuk sporadically throughout his career. In contrast, his young opponent 1995), Wijk aan Zee, Holland (1996) Ukraine, who heads the political bloc his countryman, Vasyl Ivanchuk of and Lviv (2000), and has been the called Our Ukraine. The political bloc Lviv, by a score of 4 1/2:2 1/2 in the was a model of confidence and coolness under pressure. No doubt, his decisive perennial top board of Ukraine in inter- final match of the world championship, national team competition. (Continued on page 15) staged by the International Chess win in game one had a great psychologi- cal impact on the rest of the match. Mr. Ponomaryov was born on Federation FIDE in Moscow. October 11, 1983,in the city of Nevertheless, it is hard to reconcile The winner went undefeated, posting Horlivka in the Donbas region of this result with Mr. Ivanchuk’s enor- a record of two wins and five draws. Ukraine. He learned chess moves at age Mr. Ponomaryov is the first Ukrainian mous advantage in experience over his 7 and since the age of 12 has been liv- Ukraine’s economy and the youngest player ever to capture opponent. Mr. Ivanchuk, born on the world title. March 18, 1969, in Berezhany, western (Continued on page 11) Immediately following his victory, records major growth the 16th world champion was congratu- by Roman Woronowycz lated in person by FIDE President Kyiv Press Bureau Kirsan Ilyumzhinov and, via telephone, KYIV – Ukraine’s economy expanded by Ukraine’s president Leonid Kuchma. at a 9 percent clip in 2001, making it the President Kuchma issued a decree second fastest growing economy in the bestowing upon Ruslan Ponomaryov CIS region after Kazakstan. the Order of Yaroslav the Wise, fifth Numbers released by the Ministry of degree. Vasyl Ivanchuk has been hon- Statistics and published in the government ored with the presidential Order of newspaper, Uriadovyi Kurier, on January Merit (“Za Zasluhy”), second degree. 24 show that Ukraine’s industrial and Mr. Ponomaryov and Mr. Ivanchuk agricultural production were sharply up in have received cash prizes of $400,000 2001 over the previous year. Only and $200,000, respectively. Kazakstan’s economy, with 12 percent The world championship match GDP growth, grew more quickly. By between Ukraine’s top two grandmas- comparison, Russia, Ukraine’s northeast- ters, which had been described as an ern neighbor and the largest economy of event of epic significance for Ukrainian the region, experienced growth at about a chess, was not as lopsided as the score 6 percent rate. would suggest. In two of the games Mr. AP/Ivan Sekretarev The strong rise in economic indicators Ivanchuk had achieved technically won Ukrainians Ruslan Ponomaryov (right) and Vasyl Ivanchuk during the coupled with an inflation rate for 2001 of positions, only to blunder them away World Chess Championship in Moscow. (Continued on page 3) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2002 No. 5 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Russia keenly interested NEWSBRIEFS Pro-presidential bloc to become party Mr. Bahanets noted that prosecutors are conducting a criminal investigation in Ukraine’s March elections KYIV – Volodymyr Lytvyn, the head against Mr. Melnychenko, who is of the presidential administration and the charged with abusing his office when he by Taras Kuzio 1989 Law on Languages by adding For a United Ukraine election bloc, said served as President Leonid Kuchma’s RFE/RL Newsline Russian as a second “official language.” on January 29 that his bloc will trans- security officer, and with divulging state This Russophile populism did not prevent form itself into a party. “All members of secrets. Mr. Bahanets added that if Mr. Preparations for Ukraine’s parliamentary the SDPU from including the “nationalist” the [For a United Ukraine] coordination Melnychenko is elected to the Verkhovna elections on March 31 are being keenly fol- and pro-NATO former President Leonid board [have concluded] that we have to lowed not only in the West but also in Rada, the Procurator General’s Office Kravchuk among its top five candidates for implement in practice the idea of setting will appeal to the Verkhovna Rada to Moscow. Russia is keen to capitalize upon election. up a political structure. We will tackle its success over the past two years in reori- strip him of his legislative immunity. The SDPU is also the main backer of the this in parallel with the election. Since (RFE/RL Newsline) enting Ukraine’s multi-vectored foreign extreme nationalist, anti-Western, and pro- we are associated with the party of policy eastward.