The Ukrainian Weekly, 2015
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INSIDE: Ukrainians among throngs greeting pope in Philly – page 5 Ukrainian women’s groups meet in Stockholm – page 9 Demography: challenges for Ukrainians in U.S. – page 10 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIII No. 42 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2015 $2.00 U.S. offi cials criticize Ukraine’s Dutch report: MH17 downed prosecutors for failure of reforms by Russian-built Buk missile by Zenon Zawada interference, she said in the same testimony. [Unlike the U.S., where prosecutors are KYIV – High-ranking U.S. officials have employed by a particular court, Ukraine’s targeted the Procurator General’s Office of prosecutors are organized under a national Ukraine for criticism in recent weeks for government body, the Procurator General’s actively obstructing government reform efforts. Office, whose head is appointed by the Most recently, U.S. Assistant Secretary of president and approved by Parliament. State for European and Eurasian Affairs “Procurator” is a term for prosecutor.] Victoria Nuland called for an overhaul of Ms. Nuland also recommended that the the body, more than a year after Petro National Anti-Corruption Bureau’s special- Poroshenko assumed the presidency and ly designated anti-corruption prosecutor vowed to support reforms. He has since be appointed as soon as possible in order appointed two procurator generals who to start investigating crimes. The process of have strongly disappointed the public. approving this special prosecutor has been Most of the top officials of the Yanukovych marred by accusations of delays and accu- administration remain at large, while few of sations of corruption against Procurator their subordinates have been brought to General Viktor Shokin. trial, let alone convicted. Corrupt business- Ms. Nuland’s testimony came on the men and politicians remain active in Ukraine, heels of far sharper criticism of Ukraine’s even those widely suspected of supporting PGO offered by U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine the Russian-backed terrorists in Donbas. Geoffrey Pyatt when he addressed the Irina Somer/UNIAN “Like Ukraine’s police force, the Odesa Financial Forum on September 24. The reconstructed fuselage of MH17 as it appeared at the news conference held by the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) has to be He singled out the Procurator General’s Dutch Safety Board in Gilze-Rijen, Netherlands, to report the findings of its investi- gation into the downing of the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane. reinvented as an institution that serves the Office as the “one glaring problem that citizens of Ukraine, rather than ripping them threatens all of the good work that regional RFE/RL a 320-square-kilometer area that was off,” Ms. Nuland said in her October 8 testi- leaders here in Odesa, in Kharkiv, in Lviv mostly under the control of Russian-backed mony to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations and elsewhere are doing to improve the Dutch investigators say that a Malaysia separatists at the time. Committee. “That means it must investigate business climate and build a new model of Airlines passenger plane that crashed in a The missile detonated less than a meter and successfully prosecute corruption and government that serves the people.” conflict zone in eastern Ukraine in July to the left of the aircraft’s cockpit, according asset recovery cases, including locking up “That problem threatens everything that 2014 was brought down by a Russian- to the report, killing the pilots instantly and dirty personnel in the PGO itself.” the [Verkhovna] Rada, the Cabinet, the made Buk surface-to-air missile. causing the aircraft to break apart. The newly created Inspector General’s National Reform Council and others are The report presented by the Dutch Board head Tjibbe Joustra stressed that Office, within the Procurator General’s Office, doing to push political and economic Safety Board on October 13 does not speci- investigators sought to answer the question will have to be able to work independently fy the exact location from which the missile and effectively, without political or judicial (Continued on page 14) that downed MH17 was fired, but identifies (Continued on page 14) UCC unveils logo for 125th anniversary BREAKING NEWS of Ukrainian immigration to Canada Ukraine wins non-permanent seat UCC on United Nations Security Council OTTAWA – The Ukrainian Canadian Congress on PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Ukraine on October “For the first time, we have an abso- September 22 unveiled the official logo for the cele- 15 won its bid for a non-permanent seat lutely unique, unimaginable situation... brations marking the 125th anniversary of that a permanent member of the U.N. Ukrainian immigration to Canada. The logo was on the United Nations Security Council. Security Council is an aggressor in designed by Ukrainian Canadian artist Oleh Lesiuk. Egypt, Japan, Senegal and Uruguay Ukraine, waging a hybrid war against The artist explained that the logo consists of were also elected to non-permanent Ukraine,” Mr. Klimkin said. three parts. The bottom part symbolizes four waves seats for 2016-2017. All five countries To win seats as non-permanent mem- of immigration to Canada. These are the waves of ran unopposed as representatives of bers of the Security Council, countries the ocean to be overcome, the waves of people that their respective regions. Their terms on brought new hopes and dreams to a new land. the 15-member Security Council begin needed to get approval from two-thirds In the central part of the logo, people are trans- on January 1, 2016. of the U.N.’s 193 member countries. formed into three flying cranes. These powerful, Ukraine had been expected to win the Ukraine received 177 votes in the U.N. intelligent and enduring birds, “zhuravli” in seat representing Eastern Europe, which General Assembly. Ukrainian, appear often in Ukrainian music and is currently held by Lithuania. Also being The other members of the Security folklore and are known in Canada as well. They are replaced are Chile, Jordan, Chad and Council for the coming term are: perma- a long-standing symbol of migrating from one’s Nigeria. nent members (with veto-power) own nest to travel to far lands, possibly never to Foreign Affairs Minister Pavlo Klimkin, Britain, China, France, Russia and the The newly United States; and non-permanent mem- return again. The group of cranes symbolizes the unveiled logo, who traveled to New York to campaign family as the foundation of society. Once settled in a for his country’s election, said Ukraine bers (whose terms continue through the designed by Oleh Lesiuk, end of 2016) Angola, Malaysia, New new land they strive to desired heights. for commemorations of the has a broader global agenda but that its 125th anniversary of Ukrainian tone with Russia will “definitely not be Zealand, Spain and Venezuela. (Continued on page 12) immigration to Canada. conciliatory.” Sources: The Associated Press, RFE/RL 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2015 No. 42 ANALYSIS In Ukraine’s east: Russian hybrid war U.S. reacts to MH17 report have recognized the potential danger. “No one at this time...was even aware” of the WASHINGTON – The United States on possibility that Russian-backed rebels had and Euro-hybrid democracy October 13 noted the “milestone” of the obtained highly sophisticated anti-aircraft report by Dutch investigators on last year’s missiles, Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister vailed on Ukrainian President Petro by Vladimir Socor downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The Pavlo Klimkin said, adding that Ukraine’s Poroshenko to accept those steps. Eurasia Daily Monitor following statement by National Security authorities assumed the rebels were using These include adopting a special elec- Council Spokesperson Ned Price was “purely conventional weapons.” Hennadiy PART I tion law, by agreement with the DPR-LPR, released by the White House, Office of the Zubko, head of Ukraine’s MH17 investiga- as a basis for elections in that territory – Press Secretary: “The release today by the Moscow has instructed the Donetsk and tion, said Ukraine followed established pro- different from Ukraine’s electoral legisla- Dutch Safety Board of its investigatory Luhansk “people’s republics” (DPR and cedures. “All the recommendations from the tion, and avowedly outside Ukraine’s report on the downing of Malaysia Airlines LPR) to postpone the local “elections” that [International Civil Aviation Organization] framework of constitutional guarantees; Flight 17 (MH17) over eastern Ukraine on were scheduled for October 18 and were carried out... Ukraine closed its air- completing the enactment of an amnesty July 17, 2014, is an important milestone in November 1 in that Russian-controlled ter- space below 9,750 meters,” he said. (RFE/ law, with immunity for DPR-LPR election the effort to hold accountable those ritory of Ukraine. Those elections would RL, based on reporting by the Associated candidates suspected of crimes; and com- responsible for the shoot-down of the air- Press and Reuters) have been staged separately from Ukraine’s pleting the enactment of the constitutional craft and the killing of those aboard. This own local elections, which are scheduled to status of the Donetsk-Luhansk territory independent investigation has been con- Russia wants new MH17 probe be held country-wide on October 25. ducted in accordance with international ahead of the local elections to be held there. MOSCOW – Russia has appealed to the Germany and France (negotiating with standards and recommended practices in a The items in this package are “frame- International Civil Aviation Organization to Russia over Ukraine in the “Normandy” for- professional manner by the Dutch Safety work” understandings. In other words, the open a new probe into last year’s downing mat) are expressing relief over the Board authorities, and serves as a basis for details remain subject to further negotia- of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Kremlin’s seemingly constructive move to further investigations to identify those tion in the Minsk Contact Group – made up Ukraine.