INSIDE: l House leaders support lethal defensive arms for Kyiv – page 3 l Zissels calls for united effort against Russian aggression – page 4 l Photo exhibit in Ottawa marks Maidan anniversary – page 5 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIII No. 11 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015 $2.00 NEWS ANALYSIS: The plot to seize Crimea Ukrainian American activists demand by Robert Coalson bring Crimea back into Russia,’ ” a confi- implementation of Freedom Support Act RFE/RL dent-looking Mr. Putin says in the promo- tional clip. In early 2014, the world was caught off Saying “begin the work,” Mr. Putin seems guard by one event after another in a crisis to be implying that no preparation had that culminated with Russia’s annexation of been made for this contingency. However, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of other evidence suggests that detailed plans Crimea. had been drawn up and that Mr. Putin’s Moscow also claimed to be caught up in order to “begin the work” more likely events beyond its control. meant to start the process of implementing On March 13, just eight days before the those plans. annexation, Russian President Vladimir Russian security analyst Andrei Soldatov Putin told a meeting in Moscow that “we told The Moscow Times in March 2014: cannot ignore the situation evolving “The Kremlin always has several plans on around Ukraine, Crimea.” various issues that may not be in use for “I want to emphasize that this crisis is not years. But then when some trigger appears, of our making,” Mr. Putin said. “Nevertheless, Putin asks to put one of the plans into one way or another we are being dragged into it.” A bit earlier, on March 4, Mr. Putin action. So the Crimea operation may have told journalists that the idea of annexing been prepared long ago, but the decision Crimea “is not being considered.” on it was made very quickly.” But a year later, new revelations, includ- The medals that the Russian military Recently elected Rep. Ryan Costello (fourth from left), Republican of Pennsylvania, ing disclosures from Mr. Putin himself, are awarded to service personnel – which Mr. meets with Ukrainian American constituents from his district in Pennsylvania. Putin initially denied were involved in the reshaping this part of the Kremlin’s Crimea mentation of the law. On March 4, UNIS Crimea annexation at all – says the opera- Ukrainian National Information Service narrative and other key aspects as well. organized a Ukrainian Day advocacy event A new documentary that is to be aired tion “for the return of Crimea” began on WASHNGTON – Since President Barack on Capitol Hill to express concerns about by Russian state television in the coming February 20, 2014. Putin advisor Vladislav Obama signed the Ukraine Freedom the negligible implementation of the law, as days is being teased with clips of Mr. Putin Surkov was in Crimea the week of February Support Act (UFSA) into law on December well as to establish better contacts with claiming he made the decision to annex 14, and the first pro-Russian demonstra- 18, 2014, the Ukrainian Congress Ukrainian Americans’ elected representa- Crimea in the early morning hours of tions on the peninsula materialized on Committee of America (UCCA) and its tives in Washington. February 23. February 21. Washington public affairs bureau, the Nearly 50 community activists from “When we were parting, I told all my col- Ukrainian National Information Service leagues, ‘we are forced to begin the work to (Continued on page 17) (UNIS), have been monitoring the imple- (Continued on page 9) Refugees, now in Kramatorsk, recall their experiences in war-torn east by Yana Sedova Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, an international NGO.) KRAMATORSK, Ukraine – Nikita Suprun Their harrowing stories of violence, is a lucky boy, having survived three proven by their bodies damaged by armed months of artillery fire that rained down attacks or rape, make it all the more appar- upon his hometown of Artemivsk in the ent that a full-scale war is under way, which Donetsk region in the autumn. is not tangibly felt in the relatively peaceful At the same time, he is burdened with streets of Ukraine’s capital. having seen more tragedy at the age of 8 The Kramatorsk shelter is a two-story, than most people do in their entire lives. He Soviet-era building that belongs to saw how his school was destroyed before Pentecostals, who have taken upon them- he himself was wounded by shrapnel and selves the sometimes risky task of evacuat- shell-shocked. Doctors were pessimistic, ing refugees from the hot spots of the war expecting that he would have to learn to zone. Their entire building is now being walk normally again. transformed into a refugee camp. At a refugee camp in Kramatorsk (a sec- On a late January afternoon, there are ond city that was freed from the separatists 45 people in the camp, mostly women with in the northern Donetsk region), there was kids. The youngest is only 7 weeks old, nothing unusual in Nikita’s behavior. He is while the eldest is 92, a blind and deaf man. more interested in the packages of food Nikita Shulyagin Both are unaware of what is going on brought to the camp from Kyiv than in At a Kramatorsk shelter, Donbas war refugees – mostly women and children – gather around them. recalling the details of that awful day he at a table with donated food. The children have already grown accus- was wounded. tomed to their situation, and resemble little About 100 bright bottles of yogurt, more Pentecostal Christians, but rarely do they ing into the protected cities and towns of Spartans who rarely show any sorrow. But than 30 kilos of chicken and 1,000 eggs see milk or meat. the northern Donetsk region, which is still their mothers cry as they share their suddenly placed on the kitchen table also In the weeks leading up to the February under Ukrainian control. accounts of a world turned upside-down. attract the undivided attention of the other 12 Minsk 2 ceasefire, war in the Donbas (The total number of refugees is estimat- Yana Suprun, Nikita’s mother, lifts his shirt kids. They have plenty of cereal and canned region escalated to unprecedented levels, ed at 1.04 million since the start of the food, thanks to the generosity of local resulting in a fresh wave of refugees pour- Donbas war in April, according to the (Continued on page 8) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2015 No. 11 ANALYSIS Free rein of special services NATO says Russia ‘still in Ukraine’ the exception, for many at risk groups there.” Ms. Nuland said the United States MONS, Belgium – NATO Secretary- had begun initial conversations with makes Russia ungovernable General Jens Stoltenberg has said that European allies on more sanctions should “Russia is still in Ukraine” and urged It was Alexei Navalny, an anti-corruption Russia fail to implement the ceasefire or by Pavel K. Baev Moscow to withdraw all its forces and to take more land. She said there was “incom- Eurasia Daily Monitor blogger and outspoken leader of the demo- end its support for separatists in eastern cratic opposition, who first concluded that plete compliance” by Russia on the Minsk Ukraine. Mr. Stoltenberg said on March 11 agreements. Brian McKeon, deputy under- It took a week for the Russian Federal the murder was nothing other than an that NATO “has seen and still sees a strong Security Service (FSB) to produce a pair of operation by the special services (Rbc.ru, secretary of defense, said it was “correct” Russian presence and strong support for that the United States has not been success- plausible suspects in the shocking murder March 3). On March 6, he was released separatist forces in eastern Ukraine.” U.S. from his two-week-long detention and told ful in getting Russia back into compliance of Boris Nemtsov on February 28 (see General Philip Breedlove, the supreme Eurasia Daily Monitor, March 2). On March a small crowd of journalists that the act of with the Minsk agreements. He said that allied commander of NATO troops, said at 7, FSB Director Aleksandr Bortnikov terror that was the Nemtsov murder would the United States was still “trying” to get the same press conference in Mons, reported to President Vladimir Putin that not scare the opposition from doing its Russia to comply with the ceasefire. two men implicated in the crime were work (Novaya Gazeta, March 6). Belgium, that the alliance has “seen some Ukraine’s army said on March 10 that under arrest; on the following day, another The conclusion about a professionally success” with a ceasefire deal agreed in Russian-backed separatists violated the man killed himself with a hand grenade in executed special operation is logical and Minsk last month that has greatly reduced ceasefire by shelling government positions Grozny (Newsru.com, March 7). The consistent with the proposition that the exe- fighting and led to the withdrawal of some in eastern Ukraine, including attacks near authoritative statement put an end to the cutioners were too arrogant and confident heavy weapons. But Gen. Breedlove said it the city Mariupol. (RFE/RL, with reporting flurry of wild speculations in the main- in their status as “untouchables” to prepare was “difficult to know” where the heavy by the Associated Press) stream media, which had been eager to mix in advance a workable cover story (Slon.ru, weapons moved from the front line have rumors about Mr. Nemtsov’s private life March 5).