INSIDE: • Op-ed column: Learning Ukrainian in Ukraine — page 6. • Olha and Cora: two writers, parallel lives — page 10. • Travels: Volcanology field camp in Kamchatka — page 13. HE KRAINIAN EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXXVI No. 3 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2008 $1/$2 in Ukraine Shevchenko Society grant supports Tymoshenko government begins digital archives of two newspapers returning lost Soviet-era savings PARSIPPANY, N.J. – The state – or by looking through rolls of Shevchenko Scientific Society U.S.A. microfilm is a tedious task. In addition, has awarded a $15,000 grant to full texts of The Weekly’s issues from Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly 1996 through 2006 are also available for their project to digitize the full on the newspaper’s website www.ukr- complement of their issues released weekly.com (2007 issues will soon be since their founding through the pres- available online). ent. Digitization of both newspapers’ The news was announced in a letter issues will not only guarantee broader dated December 17, 2007, from the access to Svoboda’s and The Ukrainian Shevchenko Society signed by Dr. Weekly’s back issues, but will render Olexa Bilaniuk, chair of the society’s these archives searchable. Scholarship and Grants Committee, Furthermore, these digitized archives and Dr. Orest Popovych, Shevchenko can then be made available to universi- Society president; and the funds were ties, libraries, scholarly institutions and received at Svoboda and The Weekly other interested parties around the on January 9. globe. The grant came from the George This mammoth project – which is Kusiw Fund, which supports publish- expected to cost $70,000 – will be ing activity and grants. It will enable invaluable to researchers and scholars, Oleksander Prokopenko/Pool/UNIAN the two newspapers to begin work on as well as the Ukrainian community at Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko talks to depositors in front of an Oschadbank their digital archives project. large. However, the realization of the branch in Dnipropetrovsk on January 14. Currently, issues of Svoboda, pub- project requires a substantial financial lished in the Ukrainian language since commitment that is well beyond the by Illya M. Labunka zens to flock to the branches of the state- 1893, and The Ukrainian Weekly, pub- financial means of the two newspapers, Kyiv Press Bureau owned Oschadbank over the weekend of lished in English since 1933, are avail- which are published as non-profit ven- January 11-13. The crowds continued to able at the newspapers’ home office in tures. KYIV – Prime Minister Yulia gather earlier this week, with many waiting Parsippany, N.J., in the form of bound The editor-in-chief of Svoboda and Tymoshenko’s drive to return $4 billion in in long lines for more than four days to copies of the newspapers, as well as on The Ukrainian Weekly, Roma bank deposits lost during the 1991 break- receive their share of the payout. microfilm. Not all years are available, Hadzewycz, said she is extremely up of the Soviet Union and the accompa- On January 8 Oschadbank, the however. Research by perusing bound grateful for the Shevchenko Society’s nying hyperinflation caused hundreds of copies of the newspapers – some vol- thousands of Ukraine’s mostly elderly citi- (Continued on page 22) umes of which are in a quite fragile (Continued on page 15) Sen. Lugar travels to Ukraine, meets with President Yushchenko Russian statement KYIV – President Viktor Yushchenko met on Tuesday, pendence and Ukraine’s membership in European and Euro- January 15, with a U.S. delegation headed by Sen. Richard G. Atlantic structures. criticizes Ukraine Lugar, co-chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Sen. Lugar expressed hope that U.S.-Ukraine relations Relations. would be strengthened now that the government of Yulia During their meeting the two sides discussed key questions Tymoshenko has assumed power after months of political on language policy of bilateral relations, strengthening Ukraine’s energy inde- deadlock in Ukraine. “Relations are excellent and my guess is by Illya M. Labunka that they will grow even stronger,” Sen. Lugar said, according Kyiv Press Bureau to the Associated Press. Speaking about political dialogue between the two coun- KYIV – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of tries, Mr. Yushchenko said that Ukraine expects that U.S. the Russian Federation on January 9 issued a President George W. Bush will visit Ukraine in April. He also statement critical of Ukraine’s decision to expressed Ukraine’s readiness to welcome U.S. Secretary of screen all films distributed on its territory in State Condoleezza Rice. the Ukrainian language. Referring to bilateral relations, the Ukrainian president The Constitutional Court of Ukraine had reassured the U.S. delegation that Ukraine is interested in the ruled on December 24, 2007, that all of the earliest possible adoption of a draft roadmap for Ukrainian- country’s movie theaters must show both for- American cooperation. eign and domestic films with subtitles, Discussing Ukraine’s European and Euro-Atlantic aspira- voiceovers or dubbing only in Ukrainian. tions, Mr. Yushchenko said: “We aspire to a new ambitious In a clearly provocative tone, the Russian agreement that would open perspectives of association and Foreign Affairs Ministry’s statement, released later on full-fledged membership for Ukraine in the EU,” by its Information and Press Department, adding that such an agreement should exceed the limits of the accused the Ukrainian government of “refus- European Union’s Neighborhood Policy. One of the main ing yet again to fulfill its international respon- aspects of such an agreement, according to the president, is sibilities.” The statement charged that the establishment of a free trade zone with the EU. Ukraine’s cinematic policies “do not adhere to On January 15 President Yushchenko formally requested the European Charter on Regional Languages NATO’s Membership Action Plan for Ukraine – a significant or Languages of Minorities, which, under the step toward eventual membership in the alliance. Sen. Lugar aegis of the government, foresees the develop- UNIAN/Mykola Lazarenko (R-Ind.) said he urged Ukraine to hold a broad public discus- ment of cinematic production in the languages President Viktor Yushchenko greets Sen. Richard Lugar, co- sion on joining NATO. of minorities.” chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, in Kyiv on January 15. (Continued on page 11) (Continued on page 22) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 20, 2008 No. 3 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Georgia between the rule of law Kyiv requests NATO Action Plan co-chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Foreign Relations, said on and ‘geopolitics of Rustaveli Avenue’ KYIV – Ukrainian President Viktor January 15 in Kyiv that “the United Yushchenko, Prime Minister Yulia States is grateful to Ukraine for its impor- Tymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada by Vladimir Socor groups backing Mr. Gachechiladze, have tant support in Iraq.” Sen. Lugar said that Chairman Arseniy Yatsenyuk have sent a Eurasia Daily Monitor demanded at one and the same time a the United States intends to ask Ukraine recount and a runoff. They have not yet request to NATO Secretary-General Jaap for further support “both in Iraq and On January 13 Georgia’s Central settled on one or the other demand. de Hoop Scheffer for Ukraine to be given Afghanistan and other places requiring Electoral Commission (CEC) approved Opposition leaders accuse the authorities a NATO Membership Action Plan at the the interests of peace around the world.” and released the final official results of of having falsified the results. However, NATO summit in Bucharest in April. The The most powerful Republican on the the January 5 pre-term presidential elec- those leaders apparently have very little text of the request was posted on the pres- Foreign Relations Committee also tion. The process took longer than evidence to submit to courts. Instead they idential website (http://www.president. stressed the importance of preserving the expected, largely because of contentious resort to street actions, televised speeches gov.ua) on January 15. Ukrainian leaders Ukrainian gas transportation system, an counting of disputed votes from a number and pressures including physical ones on argue that the policy of integration into important route for energy supplies to of precincts, amounting to decimal points the CEC. They do so both by dint of the Euro-Atlantic bodies is determined by Europe. (RFE/RL Newsline) and thus not affecting the outcome. traditional model of Rustaveli politics Ukrainian legislation, and therefore Mikheil Saakashvili won narrowly with and because their legal case, this time, is should not be seen as directed against Rada approves visa pact with EU third countries. Mr. Yushchenko, Ms. 53.47 percent of the votes cast; runner-up a weak one. KYIV – The Verkhovna Rada on Levan Gachechiladze garnered 25.69 per- Indeed the opposition’s representatives Tymoshenko and Mr. Yatsenyuk assured Mr. de Hoop Scheffer that the Ukrainian January 15 ratified an agreement with the cent; and five other candidates shared the on almost all the precinct and district European Union facilitating the visa remainder. The country-wide turnout electoral commissions had signed the public will be consulted about the coun- try’s possible membership in NATO. regime for Ukrainians entering countries was 56.9 percent. protocols certifying the results on those in the Schengen zone, RFE/RL’s The CEC reached this final tally after levels. Under Georgia’s electoral law, the They anticipated that the alliance will soon acknowledge the country’s progress Ukrainian Service reported. The agree- the results from 18 precincts (out of opposition holds six out of 13 seats on all ment establishes categories of Ukrainians 3,311) were repealed and/or corrected, the local electoral commissions as well as in its “intensified dialogue” with NATO and relevant reforms.