GW ISSN 0001 — 0545 ABN B 20004 F CORRESPONDENCE Freedom for Nations! Freedom for Individuals! Verlagspostamt: Miinchen 2 January-February 1988 Vol. XXXIX No. CONTENTS: Eric Brodin 7 Decades Of Soviet Russian Empire.................................4 Glasnost And The Summit...................................................5 Bohdan Nahaylo Ukrainian Association Of Independent Creative Intelligentsia Formed............................................ 7 The Tragic Fate Of Vasyl Stus...........................................9 Mykola And Raissa Rudenko In The West....................... 13 Communique Of The VII Supreme Assembly Of The Organization Of Ukrainian Nationalists..........................18 Gregory Udod What Has Christianity Given To Ukraine During The First Millennium?....................................................... 22 Joint Communique Of The WACL And APACL Executive Committee Meeting..........................................31 Linda Shapiro The Victims Of Communism............................................. 33 Cao Thang Tran Denouncing The Viet Cong Extortion Scheme................ 35 News & Views.....................................................................37 From Behind The Iron Curtain..........................................42 Cover: Volodymyr the Great by Gregor Kruk. Freedom for Nations! Freedom for Individuals! ABN CORRESPONDENCE BULLETIN OF THE ANTI-BOLSHEVIK BLOC OF NATIONS Publisher and Owner (Verleger und It is not our practice to pay for contribut­ Inhaber): American Friends of the Anti- ed materials. Reproduction permitted only Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (AF ABN), 136 with indication of source (ABN Corr.). Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10003, USA. Annual subscription: 18 Dollars in the Zweigstèlle Deutschland: A. Dankiw, USA, and the equivalent of 18 US Dollars in Zeppelinstr. 67, 8000 München 80. all other countries. Remittances to Deutsche Editorial Staff: Board of Editors Bank, Munich, Filiale Depositenkasse, Neu­ Editor-in-Chief: Mrs. Slava Stetsko, M.A. hauser Str. 6, Account No. 3021003, Anna Zeppelinstr. 67 Dankiw. 8000 München 80 Schriftleitung: Redaktionskollegium. West Germany Verantw. Redakteur Frau Slava Stetzko. Articles signed with name or pseudonym Zeppelinstraße 67 do not necessarily reflect the Editor’s opinion, 8000 München 80 but that of the author. Manuscripts sent in un­ Telefon: 48 25 32 requested cannot be returned in case of non­ Druck: Druckgenossenschaft “Cicero” publication unless postage is enclosed. e.G., Zeppelinstraße 67, 8000 München 80. THE UKRAINIAN MILLENNIUM In 1988 Ukrainians around the world will be celebrating the millennium of the official adoption of Christianity in Rus’-Ukraine. In 988 Volodymyr the Great, the ruler of the mediaeval state of Rus’, had the inhabitants of his capital, Kyiv, baptised. This has traditionally been taken to represent the birth of the Kyivan Church, even though Christianity had established a presence in Rus’-Ukraine several centuries earlier. The Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Churches of today are true successors of the Church established in Kyiv a thousand years ago. Meanwhile, also in 1988, Russians will aspire to observe the thousandth anniver­ sary of Russian Christianity. To the Westerner, unless he is steeped in the history of Eastern Europe, this may be perfectly understandable, since he probably regards Ukraine as just a part of Russia. But Ukrainians and Russians are two different na­ tions. Furthermore, Russia, and even its predecessor, Muscovy, had not yet come into existence in 988... So whence the “Russian Millennium”? The period of Kyivan Rus’ is an integral part of the history of Ukraine. It is, however, often misrepresented as being the first chapter in the history of Russia, as a result of Muscovite and Russian claims to the Kyivan heritage made over the last five centuries or so. Russia, in fact, has its origins in an independent political formation which emerged on the north-eastern periphery of Rus’. At that time, this region was inhabited predominantly by Finns, as distinct from the Slav population of Rus’ proper and of the Byelorussian principalities and Novgorod republic in the north. In the 12th century the main city of the region, Rostov, became the hereditary property of one branch of the dynasty which ruled Rus’. The first independent local ruler, Yuri Dolgoruky, began to colonize his lands with Slavs, who settled and intermarried with the indigenous Finns. His son, Andrei Bogoliubsky, intensified the separate development of the area and finally broke completely with the Kyivan tradition. During the 14th century Moscow became the dominant city in the region and gain­ ed control over most of the north eastern territories, thus forming the state of Musco­ vy. In subsequent centuries the expansion of Muscovy continued in all directions. In 1713 the state was officially renamed “Rossiya” (English: “Russia”) and eight years later the Russian Empire was proclaimed. Since then, the terms “Rus”’ and “ Russia” have often been confused — unknowingly by some, intentionally by others. Parallel with the evolution of Muscovy-Russia in the north, the Ukrainian nation was formed as the embodiment of the Kyivan heritage. The name “Ukraine” gradually replaced the term “Rus”’ and now denotes the territorial and national entity of which the 9th to 13th century Kyivan state was a historical predecesor. During the Mongol invasion of Europe in the 13th century, Kyiv lost its position of pre-eminence, but the Rus’ traditions and institutions were preserved in the Western Rus’ principality of Halych-Volhynia. Later, Kyiv flourished once more and regained its place as the political and cultural centre of Rus’-Ukraine. Later in the 15th century, however, Muscovite publicists be­ gan to propound the theory that the Kyivan legacy had, in fact, been inherited 1 by Muscovy. This theory was further elaborated in Imperial Russia and now forms part of official Soviet doctrine. It is ironic that the Russian millennium celebrations in 1988 will be based on such a claim to the Kyivan heritage when, in fact, Muscovy-Russia itself was born precisely as a result of the rejection of this heritage in the 12th century. Persecution of Ukrainian Churches The irony underlying the “Russian millennium” is compounded when one considers the fate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic (Eastern-rite) Church, descendants of the Kyivan Church established in 988. In 1654 Bohdan Khmelnytsky, head of the Ukrainian state at that time, entered into a military alliance with Muscovy. The latter, however, exploited this agreement in order to gain control over Ukraine. Turmoil ensued, and eventually Ukraine was partitioned: the lands to the west of the river Dnipro (Dniepr) fell to Poland, those to the east — to Muscovy. Since then the independence of the Ukrainian Churches has gradually been eroded: ■ In 1685 the Orthodox Church in Eastern Ukraine was subordinated to the Muscovite Church, which had previously separated itself from the Kyivan Church. 0 During the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, most of the Western half of Ukraine was ceded to Russia, while the province of Halychyna (Galicia) came under Austro-Hungarian rule. Whilst the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Halychyna enjoyed relative freedom, in the lands newly acquired by Russia, it was officially dissolved. 0 Towards the end of the First World War, Ukraine won a brief period of independence, during which an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church was restored. By the middle of the 1930s, however, this Church had been annihilated by the Moscow-based Soviet regime. ■ Following the German occupation of much of the Soviet Union during the Second World War, Ukrainian Orthodox bishops restored an independent Orthodox Church. But when Ukraine was reoccupied by the Red Army in 1943, the independent parishes were incorporated into the Russian Orthodox Church and many of the Ukrainian Orthodox clergy and lay Church leaders were executed or deported to labour camps. ■ Between the two world wars, the Ukrainian Catholic Church continued to func­ tion in the Western Ukrainian lands which were occupied mainly by Poland. During the Second World War these lands were incorporated into the USSR. After the war, the Soviet authorities, in collaboration with the Russian Orthodox hierarchy, dissolved the Ukrainian Church and ordered its clergy and faithful to join the Russian Church. Those who refused were subjected to ruthless persecution, imprisonment, exile or execution. Despite the devastating experiences of the last 300 years, the Ukrainian Church still exists in Ukraine, albeit clandestinely..! and its faithful will undoubtedly find their own ways of celebrating the millennium along with their compatriots in the free world. A theme constantly stressed in this short exposition has been the distinction between Ukraine and Russia. Owing to the centuries old misrepresentation of the 2 histories of these two nations, the world at large is often unaware of this distinction, and Ukraine is often regarded as a part of Russia. It is true that Ukraine today is part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, but the USSR is not synonymous with Russia: Ukraine is not a part of Russia, and Ukrainians are not Russians. The Soviet Union consists of 15 republics, of which Ukraine and Russia are but two. According to the 1979 census, only 52% of the USSR’s population of 260 million was Russian, and this proportion is decreasing. Ukraine has a population of around 50 million