The Ukrainian Weekly 2014, No.13
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www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: l Increased U.S. cooperation with Ukraine – page 3 l Online documentary on Cardinal Lubomyr Husar – page 9 l Ukrainian Heritage Night hosted by N.J. Devils – centerfold THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXII No. 13 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2014 $1/$2 in Ukraine BREAKING NEWS • Aid package advances in Congress Ukraine-EU Association Agreement is signed At midday on March 27 the Senate unani- by Zenon Zawada mously approved, via voice vote, an aid package for Ukraine that includes $1 billion in loan guar- KYIV – Prime Minister Arseniy antees and some $150 million in direct assis- Yatsenyuk of Ukraine joined the tance. At the same time, the House of European Union leadership on March 21 Representatives approved a similar package by a in Brussels in signing the Ukraine-EU vote of 399 to 19. The Washington Post reported Association Agreement, a historic event that Senate and House leaders “were expected to that marked Kyiv’s first return to Western civilization since the late 18th sort out remaining minor differences before century, when it was part of the Polish- sending the final deal to President Obama for his Lithuanian Commonwealth. signature either Thursday or Friday [March 27 The agreement closes the door to or 28], according to senior aides.” Kyiv’s membership in the Eurasian • IMF announces $18 B in assistance Economic Union being launched by the Earlier on March 27, the International Russian government. Yet the signing was Monetary Fund announced it would provide up an anticlimactic event that drew little to $18 billion in assistance to Ukraine over the celebration in Ukraine given that it next two years as part of an effort to keep the required a violent overthrow of a dicta- country from defaulting. “The financial support torial president and the death of more from the broader international community that than 100 Euro-Maidan activists. The EU and Ukrainian leadership also the program will unlock amounts to $27 billion deliberately played down the signing over the next two years,” the IMF said. Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine ceremony in light of the Russian inva- Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk of Ukraine and Herman von Rompuy, presi- • U.N. General Assembly passes resolution sion of Crimea that could lead to further dent of the European Council, at the signing of the Association Agreement At the United Nations, the General Assembly unrest in the southeastern oblasts of between Ukraine and the European Union on March 21 in Brussels. approved a non-binding resolution on March Ukraine, which are tightly integrated 27 that said Crimea’s vote to secede from with the Russian economy, experts said. “In Ukrainian society, there are more Center for Market Reforms in Kyiv. “The Ukraine was not valid and the annexation of Indeed, the signing of the Association significant events that are troubling, agreement isn’t the end of Ukraine’s Crimea was illegal (the resolution did not name Agreement came on the same day that such as the Russian invasion, as well as integration process into Europe. It’s only Russia). The vote was 100 to 11, with 58 coun- Russian President Vladimir Putin signed building the new government and how the beginning, which hasn’t even deter- tries abstaining. laws on the incorporation of Crimea into citizens will be involved,” said the Russian Federation. Volodymyr Lanovyi, president of the (Continued on page 9) The Hague Declaration reaffirms Western support G-7 leaders exclude Moscow, for Ukraine’s sovereignty warn of ‘clear choice’ over Ukraine RFE/RL our participation in the G-8 until Russia will be very difficult to overcome a deep The document below, titled “The Hague changes course.” internal crisis in Ukraine without it. This Declaration,” was released at The Hague in the Leaders from the Group of Seven The group remains “ready to intensify is, by the way, what I told acting Netherlands, where leaders of the Group of (G-7) major industrial powers have sus- actions” that would have a negative Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Seven (G-7) on March 24 held a crisis meeting pended their participation in the G-8 effect on Russia’s economy, they said. Deshchytsia who asked me for a meet- on the sidelines of a nuclear summit. The text with Russia and expressed support for The statement came after Russian ing. We told him what steps, in our opin- was released in the United States by the White the Ukrainian government, warning of Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov ion, the leaders appointed by the House, Office of the Press Secretary. “significant consequences” for Moscow’s and acting Ukrainian Foreign Affairs [Ukrainian] Rada ought to take in order actions and adding that Russia “has a Minister Andriy Deshchytsia met on the to finally establish a proper pan-Ukraini- 1. We, the leaders of Canada, France, clear choice to make.” sidelines of the same Hague summit. an dialogue.” Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the A strongly worded statement follow- The meeting was said to have been Mr. Lavrov said President Vladimir United States, the president of the European ing the group’s crisis meeting on March requested by the Ukrainian side, which Putin had instructed him to meet with Council and the president of the European 24 on the sidelines of a nuclear summit Moscow accuses of being illegitimate fol- Mr. Deshchytsia. Commission met in The Hague to reaffirm our in The Hague demanded that Russia lowing the ouster of pro-Moscow Ukrainian authorities have been support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial “respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych requesting a meeting with Mr. Lavrov integrity and independence. and sovereignty, begin discussions with in late February. since Mr. Yanukovych fled Ukraine and 2. International law prohibits the acquisition the government of Ukraine, and avail Mr. Lavrov said he and Mr. pro-Russian forces occupied large of part or all of another state’s territory through itself of offers of international mediation Deshchytsia discussed “contemporary swaths of Crimea ahead of the unrecog- coercion or force. To do so violates the princi- and monitoring to address any legiti- events and tasks, which... need to be con- nized annexation by Russia of the penin- ples upon which the international system is mate concerns.” sidered in order to overcome the inter- sula. built. We condemn the illegal referendum held It poured criticism on Russia for its nal Ukrainian crisis.” A hastily prepared referendum was in Crimea in violation of Ukraine’s Constitution. “illegal attempt to annex Crimea in con- “A wide-ranging constitutional reform held under Russian occupation on We also strongly condemn Russia’s illegal travention of international law.” – and let me stress, with the participa- March 16 that showed strong support The leaders of Canada, Britain, attempt to annex Crimea in contravention of tion of all regions – must be launched [in for secession from Ukraine and joining France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the international law and specific international Ukraine],” Mr. Lavrov said. “We cannot with Russia, sparking the current crisis United States agreed to move a planned impose that on Ukrainian figures. between Russia and the West, which (Continued on page 15) G-8 summit this summer from Sochi, Nevertheless, this is our assessment of Russia, to Brussels, saying, “We suspend the situation that has unfolded there. It (Continued on page 18) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 30, 2014 No. 13 ANALYSIS With Crimea secure, Russia’s focus U.S. confirms Budapest Memorandum States and Europe remain united, he added, Russia’s people will realize that “brute force” KYIV – The United States confirmed its cannot win. Earlier on March 26, during a shifts to Ukrainian mainland commitments to the government and peo- visit to EU headquarters in Brussels, Mr. ple of Ukraine to respect the independence, Yanukovych, strongly supported by Obama said that “Russia stands alone” after by Pavel Felgenhauer sovereignty and existing borders of Ukraine, Moscow, fled Kyiv, while the opposition, Moscow’s recent conduct in Ukraine’s Eurasia Daily Monitor as envisaged by the Budapest Memorandum Crimean Peninsula. “Russia’s actions in supported by street protests – the Euro- of 1994. This was stipulated in a joint state- The last remnants of the Ukrainian mili- Maidan – gained a majority in Parliament Ukraine are not about just one country,” he ment by Ukraine and the United States on said. “They are about the kind of Europe and tary have been unceremoniously pushed and formed a new interim government. In the occasion of the third Nuclear Security out of Crimea by Russian forces, who are no Crimea on February 27, up to 120 heavily the kind of world that we live in.” Mr. Obama Summit in The Hague, the press service of said the U.S. and Europe are united on this longer posing as unidentified local self- armed gunmen, reportedly a Russian the Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Ministry defense militias. Some Ukrainian service- Special Forces unit, arrived from issue: “We are united in our support for reported on March 25. “The United States Ukraine and for the need to provide eco- men have been detained while a marines’ Sevastopol and occupied the regional legis- government reaffirms that commitment base in Feodosia was captured on March lature and government buildings in nomic assistance to help stabilize its econo- today to the new Ukrainian government and my. We are united in our commitment to 24; shots were fired, but apparently there Symferopol. Under the control of these the people of Ukraine, including in Crimea,” were no fatalities. The local pro-Moscow gunmen, who had hoisted Russian flags Europe’s security, we are united in our reads the statement.