No. 50, December 13, 2020
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INSIDE: l New research examines Ukraine’s image in Europe – page 4 l Interview with Ukraine’s ambassador to Isreal – page 9 l Metropolitan-Archbishop Gudziak’s 60th birthday draws hundreds – page 10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXVIII No. 50 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020 $2.00 Selfreliance N.Y. office closes Ukraine adopts key anti-corruption in aftermath of neighborhood fire law amid criticism that it is too weak by Mark Raczkiewycz did not restore some of the powers that the National Anti-Corruption Protection Agency KYIV – The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine lost after the ruling, Ms. Kaleniuk noted, fast-tracked the adoption of a bill on including “the ability to assess the veracity December 4 that reinstates an integral law of asset declarations” of public officials. designed to combat graft, safeguard finan- Combating graft on a systemic level has cial transparency and hold public officials been a precondition for Ukraine to receive and lawmakers accountable regarding their foreign lending and assistance from the asset holdings. IMF, the European Union, the World Bank, An uproar ensued as corruption watch- as well as bilateral funding from the United dogs and think tanks criticized the bill for States and other countries. being too soft on Ukraine’s international Hlib Vyshlynskiy at the Kyiv-based commitments to fight graft on a systemic Center for Economic Strategy told The level as Kyiv faces a budget deficit of more Weekly that the wording of the current law than $2.7 billion for the end of the year and brings into question whether “it’s a remedy questions regarding whether a stalled and whether it’s enough” to honor Kyiv’s FDNY multi-billion dollar lending program from previous commitments to the IMF to reju- Firefighters try to extinguish the fire in the Middle Collegiate Church and the adje- the International Monetary Fund (IMF) venate a $5 billion lending program to help cent building. The main office of Selfreliance N.Y. is located in the grey building on would be renewed. the country’s struggling economy. the right. The new version of the law does not Ukraine has promised to maintain the stipulate imprisonment for “falsifying or independence of its anti-corruption institu- by Matthew Dubas access the credit union’s roof in their effort not filing an asset declaration,” Daria tions, as well as the central bank’s, he to extinguish the six-alarm inferno, which Kaleniuk, the executive director of the added. NEW YORK – A massive fire that destroyed was first reported just before 5 a.m. Anticorruption Action Center, told The “It all depends whether the Ukrainian a historic church in the heart of the Ukrainian “The problem for us was that, while the Ukrainian Weekly. authorities provided enough critical mass neighborhood in the East Village here on building didn’t burn, the fire department President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has yet of actions that prove it will restore institu- December 5 also resulted in physical damage did have to break into our building,” said to sign the bill. tions that fight corruption and are under no to the Selfreliance New York Federal Credit Mr. Kurczak, noting that the credit union’s The previous law also made asset decla- risk for their independence to be under- Union’s main office at 108 Second Avenue. main branch suffered water and physical rations public, which the Constitutional mined,” Mr. Vyshlynskiy said. Bohdan Kurczak, president and CEO of damage as a result of firefighers running Court ruled to eliminate and which the When the new law was passed, Mr. the credit union, said that the fire did not hoses from the street up to the roof of the National Security and Defense Council Zelenskyy expressed disappointment in a spread to the building at 108 Second decided to keep in force. Avenue. However, firefighters needed to (Continued on page 5) Still, the watered down version of the law (Continued on page 5) Kyiv-Budapest diplomatic spat escalates over treatment of ethnic Hungarians by Mark Raczkiewycz Budapest subsequently summoned the Ukraine as the Day of Dignity and Freedom. Hungarians. In 2018, another video went Ukrainian ambassador on December 1 to On this day, Ukrainians commemorate the viral in which a Hungarian consular in KYIV – This week members of the Party protest the raid and Hungarian Foreign beginning of the Euro-Maidan protests, Berehove – a town that borders Hungary of Hungarians walked out of the inaugural Minister Péter Szijjártó raised the investi- which erupted in late 2013 and led to then- and whose population is 76 percent ethni- session of the newly elected Zakarpattia gations the same day during a videoconfer- President Viktor Yanukovych abandoning cally Hungarian, according to the Eurasia regional council in Uzhhorod over what ence with NATO foreign affairs ministers. office and fleeing to Russia the following Daily Monitor – is seen presiding over a they called political persecution. In response to the dramatic measures, year. swearing-in ceremony for Ukrainians to By doing so, they abstained from voting Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro In a Facebook post earlier this month, receive Hungarian passports. for a council head in the westernmost Kuleba called for Hungary to avoid steps the Hungarian Embassy said the local “Don’t tell the Ukrainian authorities,” the Ukrainian oblast where some 80 percent of and statements that “don’t reflect reality councillors first sang the Ukrainian anthem Hungarian consul can be heard saying the 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in the and create destructive emotional tensions and then sung “the national prayer” of while giving a champagne toast to the new country. in Ukrainian-Hungarian relations.” Hungary, which has been sung for centu- passport holders. It was the latest flare up of tension Prompting the investigations was a ries and only later became the country’s Dual citizenship is illegal in Ukraine and between Ukraine and Hungary, the latter of video that went viral showing elected national anthem. Hungary also has consulates in Zakar- which took issue with a raid on a Hungarian councillors of the Siurte United Territorial Still, Kyiv has accused Budapest of med- pattia’s regional capital of Uzhhorod, the charity in the region late last month by the Community in the region singing the dling in Ukraine’s internal affairs, including western regional capitals of Ivano- Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Hungarian national anthem as their oath in the October nationwide local elections Frankivsk and Lviv, as well as in Kyiv, where The counterintelligence agency said on swearing-in session convened. for mayoral council seats in villages, com- its embassy is located. its website that the raid on the Hungarian National lawmakers from both the pro- munities, cities, towns and regional capi- The ongoing diplomatic spat between Cultural Association in Transcarpathia was presidential Servant of the People party tals. Kyiv and Budapest intensified in 2017 part of several investigations in the region and the opposition party Holos suggested Two Hungarian government officials when Ukraine enacted an upgraded educa- related to “information about the involve- the act was disrespectful and infringed on were barred from entering the country the tion law that elevated the status of the ment of foreign funding in activities aimed Ukraine’s territorial integrity. same month based on the Ukrainian Ukrainian language and which Russia, at violating the state sovereignty of Ukraine.” Local council members in Siurte said the Foreign Affairs Ministry allegations that Romania and Hungary said restricted the The charity in turn called on authorities video did not accurately depict what hap- they had encouraged Ukrainians living in to end what it alleged was a “witch-hunt.” pened on November 21, which is known in Zakarpattia to vote for the Party of (Continued on page 2) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2020 No. 50 Ukraine celebrates Armed Forces Day Prominent Crimean Tatar is sentenced in absentia Moscow and Kyiv have been tense since 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine’s The Russian-controlled Supreme Court Crimean peninsula and began backing sep- in Crimea has sentenced the owner of the aratists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, ATR Crimean Tatar television channel, which has left more than 13,200 people Lenur Islyamov, to 19 years in prison in dead. (RFE/RL, with reporting by RIA absentia. The court in the Russia-annexed Novosti and Interfax) Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula found Mr. Islyamov guilty on December 10 of organiz- Suspect in Sheremet’s case remanded in custody ing sabotage, creating an illegal armed group, and publicly calling for Russia’s ter- A court in Kyiv has upheld an extension ritorial integrity to be violated. He was sen- of the pretrial detention of one of the sus- tenced the same day. Mr. Islyamov’s lawyer, pects in the high-profile 2016 killing of Nikolai Polozov, told RFE/RL that his client journalist Pavel Sheremet in the Ukrainian does not recognize the court’s legitimacy capital. The appeals court on December 7 and added that the court’s ruling will be ruled that the decision of the Shevchenko appealed. Mr. Islyamov, who has resided in district court in Kyiv in October to hold Kyiv since 2015, told RFE/RL earlier that Andriy Antonenko in pretrial detention he would not take part in the trial, and until December 19 is valid. Dozens of Mr. Presidential Office rejected the charges against him while call- Antonenko’s supporters rallied in front of Ukrainian President Volodymy Zelenskyy honors servicemen killed during the ing the judicial process a mockery of jus- the court on December 7. Mr. Sheremet, a Russian-Ukrainian war.