INSIDE: l Community: Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Michigan – page 9 l Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus and “Sounds of Spring” – page 11 l UKELODEON for the next generation – pages 18-19 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXI No. 15 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 $1/$2 in Ukraine FOR THE RECORD Yanukovych pardons Lutsenko U.S. reacts to pardons Opposition activist released after more than 2 years in prison by Zenon Zawada Following is the text of a statement on Special to The Ukrainian Weekly President Viktor Yanukovych’s pardon of two former Cabinet ministers that was KYIV – Ukrainian President Viktor released by the White House Office of the Yanukovych on April 7 signed a decree par- Press Secretary on April 8 and transmit- doning former Internal Affairs Minister ted by the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. The state- Yurii Lutsenko and releasing him from pris- ment was made by National Security on after intense pressure from Western Council Spokesperson Caitlin Hayden. leaders, who condemned his conviction and incarceration as selective justice in a The United States is encouraged by campaign of political persecution. President Yanukovych’s decision to par- Mr. Lutsenko, 48, served 27 months out don former Interior [Internal Affairs] of a four-year prison sentence after being Minister Yurii Lutsenko and former convicted in February 2012 of abusing his Environment Minister Heorhii authority when illegally arranging a Filipchuk. This is an important step 215-square-foot studio apartment for his toward addressing concerns about driver at state expense and for illegally democracy and the rule of law in spending $80,500 on Police Day festivities Ukraine, however much more remains in alleged violation of budget restrictions. to be done. We urge Ukrainian authori- In comparison, Mr. Yanukovych is ties to end all politically motivated pros- alleged to have illegally privatized the 346- Oleksander Kosariev/UNIAN ecutions, undertake comprehensive acre Mezhyhiria estate on the Dnipro River and spent $9.4 million in state funds just on Former Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko (third from left) smiles upon his judicial reform to ensure such selective release from prison on April 7, accompanied by his wife, Iryna, elder son, Oleksander building materials in the renovation of its justice does not recur, and fully imple- (second from left), and younger son, Vitalii. ment the OSCE recommendations made five-story Honka residence, which includes after the 2012 parliamentary elections. interior doors costing $70,000 a pop. Accompanied by his wife, Iryna, and wrath of the Donetsk mega-millionaire The United States strongly supports the The disparity between the Lutsenko and their two sons, Mr. Lutsenko told reporters Borys Kolesnikov when arresting and aspirations of the Ukrainian people for a Yanukovych cases prompted critics to gathered outside of the penal colony where incarcerating him for about four months in democratic, prosperous and European allege the government had applied selec- he was held: “A person who thinks of 2005, following the Orange revolts. future, which can only be realized tive justice. revenge wastes his days and years. The Upon his release, Mr. Kolesnikov – who through continued democratic reform Upon his release, Mr. Lutsenko said he’d state took away from me more than two enjoys close ties to Messrs. Yanukovych years and I don’t intend to waste a single and adherence to the rule of law. We remain active in Ukrainian politics with the and Ukraine’s top oligarch, Rinat Akhmetov day on revenge.” remain dedicated to strengthening our goal of returning Ukraine to its democratic – vowed to banish the Orange leaders to As internal affairs minister, Mr. Lutsenko bilateral relationship on the basis of our path, stressing that he would work to sup- prison. commanded Ukraine’s national police force shared trans-Atlantic values. port the current opposition forces and not compete with them. of more than 200,000 officers. He drew the (Continued on page 4) Symposium at Harvard focuses on language politics in Ukraine by Volodymyr Dibrova the highly controversial new law on the principles of state language policy. The pri- CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Since gaining its mary purpose of this law, according to Prof. independence in 1991, Ukraine seems to have Michael Flier, director of the Harvard been preoccupied with the language issue. Ukrainian Research Institute, “is not to pro- At every critical juncture, opposing forces tect the Russian language, but cynically to have tried to challenge or affirm the consti- elevate its status in Ukraine while simulta- tutionally guaranteed position of Ukrainian neously undercutting the status of as the sole state language of the country. Ukrainian as the sole state language.” Perhaps, that was to be expected. For the In light of the latest political develop- lack of other identity-defining markers, the ments in Ukraine and the 150th anniversary Ukrainian language has become the rallying of the internal issuance of the infamous point or “the ethno-consolidating factor” Valuev Circular of 1863, Ukrainian language for Ukrainian national aspirations. Yet, for a politics was a timely topic to explore in large segment of the population, their iden- greater detail at the biennial Petro Jacyk tity remains an unresolved issue, no matter Memorial Symposium, held in February of what the explanation of this situation could this year at the Harvard Ukrainian Research be – the long and tragic legacy of subjuga- Institute (HURI). Titled “Politics of Language HURI tion, frequent population shifts, or relent- in Contemporary Ukraine: Practices, A group of symposium participants with honored guest Nadia Jacyk, daughter of less brain-washing. Petro Jacyk in whose memory the symposium is held: (seated, from left) Alla Identities, Ideologies,” the symposium Last year, President Viktor Yanukovych Nedashkivska, Volodymyr Kulyk, Debra A. Friedman, Laada Bilaniuk, (standing) rushed through the Parliament and signed Lubomyr Hajda, Michael S. Flier, Ms. Jacyk, Curt Woolhiser and Aneta Pavlenko. (Continued on page 4) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 No. 15 ANALYSIS Ukraine imports gas from Germany Opposition rallies in Kyiv Commissioner for Human Rights Valeria Lutkovska asked the head of state to pardon via Hungary and Poland KYIV – A rally in Kyiv organized by the the former minister. On April 6, the presi- parties Svoboda, Batkivshchyna and UDAR dential commission on pardons held a meet- on April 7 adopted a resolution containing a Hungarian FGSZ (Foeldgazszallitasrol ing and decided to propose that Mr. by Vladimir Socor number of demands. The opposition [Natural Gas Transmission], independent Lutsenko be pardoned. (Ukrinform) Eurasia Daily Monitor demanded the release of all political prison- transmission operator unbundled from ers in Ukraine and the calling of elections of EU welcomes ministers’ release Denting Russian Gazprom’s monopoly, MOL) is handling these gas shipments the Kyiv City Council and Kyiv mayor in Ukraine is procuring small but growing vol- under a technical agreement with its coun- June. Also, opposition national deputies are KYIV – The European Union on April 8 umes of natural gas from Europe. The terpart Ukrtranshaz (Naftohaz Ukrainy’s demanding the abolition of pension reform welcomed Ukrainian President Viktor German Rheinisch-Westfaelisches gas transmission subsidiary). and a re-vote of all the laws and regulations Yanukovych’s decision to pardon former Elektrizitaetswerk (RWE) is providing the According to Naftohaz officials, the trans- adopted on April 4 at the so-called offsite Internal Affairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko and volumes through its subsidiary, RWE Supply mission capacity from Hungary to Ukraine former Environment Minister Heorhii & Trading. Ukraine’s neighbors Hungary currently stands at 3 million cubic meters session of the Verkhovna Rada on Bankova Street. The opposition also welcomed the Filipchuk. European Commissioner for and Poland are providing the transit servic- (mcm) per day, and is scheduled to increase Enlargement and European Neighborhood es. The three countries have recently made to 15 mcm per day in the second quarter of president’s decision to pardon Yurii Lutsenko, but at the same time condemned Policy Stefan Fule wrote this on his page on technical arrangements to use their pipe- 2013. In annualized terms, this would Twitter: “I welcome very much President lines in the reverse mode for pumping these translate into an increase from 1.1 billion the continued imprisonment of Batkivshchyna leader Yulia Tymoshenko. Yanukovych’s decision to pardon Lutsenko limited volumes. cubic meters (bcm) to some 5.5 bcm. and Filipchuk. This is the first but important On March 28, Ukraine began importing Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard The rally was attended by Arseniy Yatsenyuk, the leader of the Batkivshchyna step to deal with the problem of selective natural gas from RWE through Hungarian Stavytsky says that Naftohaz is purchasing justice.” President Viktor Yanukovych pipelines. Prime Ministers Viktor Orban and gas from RWE at the spot market price of parliamentary faction, National Deputy Serhiy Sobolev, UDAR leader Vitali Klitschko signed a decree pardoning six prisoners, Mykola Azarov announced the start of gas $380 per 1,000 cubic meters at this time. including former ministers Lutsenko and transmission via Hungary, effective that day, This is significantly below Gazprom’s sale and Svoboda