INSIDE: l Kyiv considers relaxing visa regime with Australia – page 3 l Temerty Foundation gives $10 M to fight COVID-19 – page 4 l Selfreliance FCU’s helping hand during pandemic – page 5 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXVIII No. 24 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020 $2.00 Patriarch Sviatoslav ordains new bishop Protesters demand Avakov’s dismissal, for Australia, New Zealand and Oceania citing evidence of failed police reform Information Department of the UGCC Roman Tymotsko Patriarch Sviatoslav (left) with Bishop Mykola Bychok, who will lead the Ukrainian Protesters in Kyiv demand the resignation of Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov. Catholic Church of Australia, New Zealand and Oceania. by Roman Tymotsko ened him with rape. LVIV – On the feast of the Pentecost, June Australia for a long time. We are grateful The incident at the police station 7, Patriarch Sviatoslav of the Ukrainian that, by the power and action of the Holy KYIV – Fifty-five national deputies on became known when the 26-year-old Greek-Catholic Church (UGCC) performed Spirit, the Lord anointed him today, on the June 5 initiated a move to dismiss the min- woman went to the hospital with injuries the ordination of the Rev. Mykola Bychok as Pentecost. And, as on the Day of Pentecost, ister of internal affairs, Arsen Avakov. and blamed the police. After the SBI the ruling bishop for the Eparchy of the the apostles spoke in different languages, Thirty-six deputies from the Servant of the announcement, the suspects in the crime Holy Apostles Ss. Peter and Paul in today our Church speaks in different lan- People faction, 18 from Holos, and one were dismissed, the unit was disbanded, Melbourne, Australia, which serves guages, preaching the great works of God, from European Solidarity signed a state- Ukrainians in Australia, New Zealand and proclaiming the same Gospel of Christ. In and all personnel are set to be re-certified. ment and transmitted it to the Verkhovna other countries of Oceania. Australia – in English, in Brazil – in New management has already been sent to Rada’s Secretariat. During his sermon to the faithful gath- Portuguese, in Argentina – in Spanish...” the department. ered in St. George Cathedral in Lviv, the “I think the manifestations of the pres- To act on the initiative, Parliament needs Another troubling aspect of the Kaharlyk UGCC primate noted: “We have been look- four times as many votes, so this initiative incident is that none of the police officers ing for a new bishop for Ukrainians in (Continued on page 13) by 55 national deputies has more of an present in the police station did anything to informational impact. An actual dismissal stop the assault; they just ignored the of the powerful and controversial minister woman’s shouting and screams. Civil soci- who has served under two presidents is ety activists, some national deputies and unlikely. experts link this behavior with “police soli- IMF OKs $5 B in aid for Ukraine At the same time, Internal Affairs darity” and the incomplete and flawed Minister Avakov was summoned to the police reform that has been carried out in RFE/RL and budget support, while safeguarding the Verkhovna Rada for a report and a question Ukraine since 2014. country’s achievements to date and and answer session with national deputies. There had been a proposal to carry out The International Monetary Fund (IMF) advancing a small set of key structural The immediate cause was an incident in comprehensive reform of all law enforce- says its executive board has approved an reforms, the IMF said. the town of Kaharlyk, near Kyiv, that hap- ment bodies with continuous re-certifica- 18-month, $5 billion stand-by arrangement Mr. Zelenskyy’s government has touted pened on May 24. It was but the most tion of all their employees. Instead, this for Ukraine aimed at helping the country the agreement as a vote of confidence in its recent incident in a chain of events involv- concept was abandoned in Ukraine, and the cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. ability to deliver reforms, including a bank- ing police officers that point to the failure of so-called “Georgian version” of rapid The approval means Ukraine can receive ing law that prevents the former owners of police reform in Ukraine. reforms was undertaken in response to an immediate disbursement of about $2 insolvent banks from regaining their assets. Two police officers were detained in the public demand and the political will for fast billion, with the remaining amount dis- Securing the IMF funds is also expected Kyiv region on suspicion of rape and beat- change. bursed in phases over four reviews during to unlock financing from the European ing, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) At that time, Ukraine’s first deputy min- the 18-month period, the IMF said in Union and other institutions for the coun- reported. “According to preliminary infor- ister of internal affairs was a young a statement. try, which is not financially powerful mation, on the night of May 23-24, a police Georgian reformer, Eka Zguladze; she was The amount is $200 million more than enough to pass major stimulus measures to officer in his office tortured a woman who joined by her colleague Khatia Dekanoidze, originally planned, Ukrainian President keep its economy afloat amid measures put was summoned to the police station as a who headed the National Police of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter. in place in March to prevent the spread of witness – put a gas mask on her, hand- in 2015-2016. The reform was merely “The new program funding will help us the coronavirus. cuffed her and fired a firearm over her structural: departments were divided and to overcome the challenges caused by Though the measures are being gradual- head. After that, he raped the victim several renamed; a new patrol police force was #COVID19. The #IMF has proven itself to ly lifted, the economic damage has been times,” the SBI said. Also according to the recruited, of which only 20 percent now be a reliable partner to a friend in need,” done. Ukraine’s economy is projected to report, law enforcement officers used phys- remain; and a hasty re-certification was Mr. Zelenskyy said. ical force against a man who was in the The deal provides balance-of-payments (Continued on page 15) police station at the same time and threat- (Continued on page 14) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2020 No. 24 ANALYSIS Hungary looks after its kin Vakarchuk resigns from Verkhovna Rada to Malaysia when it was shot down. All 298 passengers and crew were killed. The vic- Ukrainian rock star and lawmaker tims included 193 Dutch citizens as well as in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast Svyatoslav Vakarchuk, who founded the 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians. Four Holos (Voice) party last year, has dent Andrea Bocskor was elected in 2014 defendants went on trial on March 9 over by Vladimir Socor announced he will give up his mandate in and re-elected in 2019, both times on the the downing of MH17 after nearly six years Eurasia Daily Monitor Parliament but remain in politics. The Fidesz list, in the European elections on of research by international investigators, 45-year-old Vakarchuk, who won a seat in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast is compara- Hungary’s territory. Ms. Bocskor has been accused of arranging the supply of the the Verkhovna Rada in July last year, told ble in certain key respects with Bessarabia particularly vocal on Hungarian and other Russian missile system used to shoot down journalists in Kyiv on June 11 that he had in the Odesa Oblast (see Eurasia Daily national minority issues in European MH17. The four – Russian citizens Igor filed a request to leave the chamber of dep- Monitor, May 28). Zakarpattia is another Parliament debates. Girkin, Sergei Dubinsky and Oleg Pulatov, uties as his mission has been “partially outlying territory where Kyiv’s influence is Hungary’s policy toward its kin in and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko – accomplished” by bringing “a wonderful weak, local power brokers well-entrenched, Ukraine is part and parcel of its systematic, remain at large despite the issuance of faction to Parliament.” Explaining his deci- the infrastructure desolate and ethnic mino- occasionally intrusive, support to international warrants for their arrests. sion, Mr. Vakarchuk said, “In the last three rities – in this case the local Hunga rians – Hungarian minorities in all neighboring Only Mr. Pulatov has appointed defense years there have been persistent attempts left largely to their own devices by an countries. A hallmark of Mr. Orban’s gov- lawyers to represent him at the trial in the to pour dirt and negativity on my name, under-resourced central government. ernment, in power since 2010, this policy Netherlands. The second hearing, which which failed to affect me. That started As a further similitude, Zakarpattia is aims to preserve and strengthen the was held amid the lockdown on March 23, when a thought appeared in someone’s also wedged narrowly between several Hungarian minorities’ national identity as a was immediately adjourned until June 8 in paranoid imagination that I would run for countries. But its strategic location is even core interest of the Hungarian state. As order to give Mr. Pulatov’s lawyers more president.” Mr. Vakarchuk’s statement came more interesting and more promising, sur- such, the support is well-resourced and time to prepare their case. Mr. Pulatov’s exactly three months after he announced rounded as it is by four European Union institutionalized through multi-year assis- defense said on June 8 that the travel he was stepping down from the leadership member countries (Poland, Slovakia, tance programs on the ground.