The Ukrainian Weekly 2010, No.5
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www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Analyses of Ukraine’s presidential election – pages 2, 3 and 4. • Canadian Bandurist Capella has ambitious season – page 13. • Community chronicle: Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania – page 17. THEPublished U by theKRA Ukrainian NationalIN AssociationIAN Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No.5 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Yushchenko honors Bandera As runoff nears, election battles erupt with Hero of Ukraine title between Tymoshenko,Yanukovych forces “What was hoped for for decades has finally happened,” Mr. Bandera said after accept- ing the award. “The Ukrainian state has recognized the heroic deeds of Stepan Bandera and the hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian patriots who died for this country. This order is a brave act towards historical justice which affirms the truth and a new era of a Ukraine that we dream of.” As the end of his presiden- tial term approached, ethni- cally conscious Ukrainians pleaded with the president to bestow the honor upon Bandera, recognizing the Offi cial Website of Ukraine’s President nation won’t likely have a president in the next five to 10 President Viktor Yushchenko presents the Hero of Dmytro Korabliov/UNIAN Ukraine order to Stepan Bandera, grandson of the years with the political will to Police on January 25 confront national deputies from the Party of Regions who nationalist leader Stepan Bandera. take the controversial step. Deputies of the Ternopil were guarding the Ukrayina Polygraphic Plant, where election ballots are printed. City Council, as well as the Lviv and Ivano- by Zenon Zawada by Zenon Zawada key appellate court to search its comput- Frankivsk oblast councils, made such Kyiv Press Bureau ers the next day. appeals last year after the 100th anniversary Kyiv Press Bureau The next act of retaliation was a KYIV – President Viktor Yushchenko of Bandera’s birth was commemorated in KYIV – Election battles erupted January 28 extraplenary session of fulfilled the hopes of patriotic Ukrainians Staryi Uhryniv on January 1, 2009, along between Prime Minister Yulia Parliament, during which the Party of by posthumously bestowing the nation’s with the 50th anniversary of his assassina- Tymoshenko and pro-Russian leader Regions collected 231 votes to oust highest honor, the title Hero of Ukraine, on tion in Munich. Ukraine’s much-criticized police chief, Stepan Bandera, the nationalist hero who The appeals were repeated by the Viktor Yanukovych as their campaigns Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko, Svoboda All-Ukrainian Union, the coun- launched aggressive raids and attempted led the Ukrainian liberation movement for whose role in coordinating the raid three decades against Polish, Nazi and try’s leading nationalist party. The presi- to sack officials in key government posts dent issued an official decree on Unity in their fight to influence the vote. became the last straw for his opponents. Soviet oppression. “We truly have chaos in Ukraine and Stepan Bandera, the hero’s Canadian- Day on January 22, which commemorates About 300 private soldiers, escorted by the 1919 unification of the Western police, on January 25 stormed the Kyiv we truly have a political circus,” Mr. born grandson who has lived in Kyiv for Lutsenko said at a press conference a few Ukrainian National Republic and the factory where election ballots are printed 12 years, accepted a certificate and medals hours after his dismissal. Ukrainian National Republic. in order to install a director loyal to Ms. from the president at a January 22 ceremo- As the February 7 presidential runoff ny at the Shevchenko National Opera Tymoshenko. In turn, Party of Regions draws nearer, the competing candidates House commemorating Unity Day. (Continued on page 18) national deputies forced their way into a are attempting to gain or maintain control of government bodies that play a central role in the elections, observers said. “Both sides feel the need to intervene “Freedom in the World 2010”: A global erosion of freedom because the normal system doesn’t work,” said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Freedom House Institute of Statehood and Democracy in WASHINGTON – For the fourth consec- Kyiv. utive year, global declines in freedom out- Already in December, the Yulia weighed gains in 2009, as measured by Tymoshenko Bloc was fighting to gain Freedom House’s survey of political rights control of the Higher Administrative and civil liberties, “Freedom in the World Court, which reviews the Central Election 2010.” This represents the longest continu- Commission’s final results. Tymoshenko ous period of decline for global freedom in supporters tried but failed to replace the nearly 40-year history of the report. Judge Oleksander Paseniuk, who is loyal In a year marked by intensified repres- to the Party of Regions of Ukraine sion against human rights defenders and (PRU). civic activists, declines for freedom were But the battles weren’t violent until 6 registered in 40 countries in Africa, Latin a.m. on January 25, when soldiers with America, the Middle East and the former the Schyt security firm broke the front Soviet Union – representing 20 percent of glass façade of the Ukrayina Polygraphic the world’s total polities. Plant and released tear gas in their attempt Authoritarian states including Iran, to install the director appointed by the Russia, Venezuela and Vietnam became Cabinet of Ministers a week earlier, more repressive. Declines in freedom also Volodymyr Khomko. (Continued on page 12) Freedom House (Continued on page 18) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 31, 2010 No. 5 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Russia reflects on ramifications Russian envoy arrives in Ukraine January 1, we removed some trade barri- ers with Russia and we drafted a very of presidential election in Ukraine KYIV – Ambassador Extraordinary positive scenario that will be implement- and Plenipotentiary of the Russian ed after February 7,” he said. Mr. by Pavel K. Baev as “pro-Russian” (Ekspert, January 14). Federation to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov Poroshenko offered his opinion that it is Eurasia Daily Monitor This impartial attitude reflects the on January 25 handed in his letters of cre- not only Ukraine that is to blame for the dence to Ukrainian Foreign Affairs January 19 gradually matured acceptance of the worsening of Ukrainian-Russian rela- political reality of a Ukrainian state that Minister Petro Poroshenko. Mr. tions. He said that Russian policy is in The outcome of the first round of the pursues its own interests and cherishes its Poroshenko commented to the news many respects based on emotions, where- presidential election in Ukraine is fairly vision of becoming a part of Europe rath- media that the huge potential of Ukraine- as it should be pragmatic and mutually clear, despite the usual procrastination er than reintegrating with Russia. Ukraine Russia relations had obtained a new beneficial. (Ukrinform) with confirming the results, but it could is still seen as culturally too close to be impetus with the arrival of Mr. Zurabov. have more impact on Russia’s stalled just another foreign country, yet the dis- He also said one of the main tasks is to Tymoshenko speaks on Unity Day improve trade and economic relations, political modernization than the misan- appointment in building a “union state” KYIV – Ukrainian presidential candi- and reach the 2008 level of trade turnover thropic political elite in Moscow expects. with Belarus, poisoned by endless eco- date and Prime Minister Yulia – over $40 billion (U.S.). In turn, the Taking a lesson from their utterly nomic quarrels and political scandals, Tymoshenko, during her working visit to Russian diplomat noted that Ukraine and counter-productive involvement in the informs a progressively sober perspective Lviv on January 22, called the Day of Russia are the countries that, with a good previous elections in fall 2004, the on the Slavic “post-brotherhood” (www. Unity a landmark event in Ukrainian his- relationship between their leaders, may Russian leadership has remained demon- gazeta.ru, January 11). tory because on January 22, 1919, west- convert bilateral cooperation into higher stratively indifferent to the political bat- The feature of the elections that gains ern and eastern Ukraine united thanks to living standards. Mr. Zurabov also noted tles in its most important neighboring the most attention within the Russian political leaders’ will. “This was possible that the two countries need to deepen state. media is the bitter acrimony and tilt because political leaders managed to put President Dmitry Medvedev has sin- towards negative campaigning, which is cooperation during the global economic their own ambitions aside. And I as a gled out President Viktor Yushchenko as presented as a consequence of a protract- slump. When Ambassador Zurabov presidential candidate cannot but say the a man he could not do business with, ed political crisis created by the Orange arrived in Ukraine on January 25, the following: I will also do the utmost to anticipating his imminent political fiasco. Revolution (Rossiyskaya Gazeta, January staff of the Russian Embassy in Ukraine strengthen Ukrainian state, so that our Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, on the 15). Still, the express-poll by Moscow and representatives of the Ukrainian people would not be separated either by contrary, has conducted a lot of business Echo radio showed that 90 percent of its Foreign Affairs Ministry met him at language or history,” Ms. Tymoshenko with his counterpart Yulia