www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Dmytro Firtash vs. Kyiv Post – page 3 • Chicago Consulate hosts students from Ukraine – page 8. • “Inside Chornobyl” photo exhibit in New York – page 9. THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXIX No. 16 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2011 $1/$2 in Ukraine Gryshchenko foreign policy speech Visiting Kyiv, Putin presses harkens back to Soviet period Ukraine to join Customs Union “Having the aspirations of a European country, we often think and act like a country that’s pseudo post-Soviet,” the diplomat said, succinctly summarizing Ukraine’s current predicament, which critics say is a direct result of the Yanukovych administration’s neo-Soviet policies that have only worsened the problem. Dozens among Kyiv’s diplomatic corps, including U.S. Ambassador John Tefft, attended the March 18 speech held at the Institute of International Relations at Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv, at which journalists were denied the chance to ask questions. Ukraine’s foreign policy under President Yanukovych has been described by most observers as an indiscernible Zenon Zawada mess plagued by inconsistency, policy Foreign Affairs Minister Kostyantyn gaffes and scandals. Gryshchenko of Ukraine. The most recent scandal involved a Palestinian engineer, Dirar Abu Sisi, who by Zenon Zawada was allegedly kidnapped in February by Kyiv Press Bureau Ukrainian intelligence officers in Ukraine UNIAN/Andrey Mosienko and handed over to Israeli secret service KYIV – In his one-year review of President Viktor Yanukovych greets Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin agents in the country, who immediately Ukraine’s foreign policy under President during their meeting in Kyiv on April 12. deported him to Israel. Human rights offi- Viktor Yanukovych, Foreign Affairs cials have condemned the arrest as illegal. Minister Kostyantyn Gryshchenko deliv- by Zenon Zawada ance, experts said. Yet, listening to Mr. Gryshchenko’s ered a Soviet-style address in which he Kyiv Press Bureau The Russian proposal arrived just as the painted a rosy portrait that had little to do words, one would have thought that Mr. Ukrainian government was expected to with reality. Yanukovych is a foreign policy guru: “No KYIV – Russian Prime Minister finish a critical Free Trade Agreement The gist of Mr. Gryshchenko’s presen- one had tied diplomacy to the needs of Vladimir Putin visited the Ukrainian capi- with the European Union this year. tation – in which he read from a prepared the national economy so strongly and so tal on April 12 to convince the pro-Rus- “There will be two effects if Ukraine text in a stale monotone – was immediate- demandingly controlled the effectiveness sian government led by President Viktor ties itself economically with the Russian ly apparent once its title was revealed, of the ministry’s work in this direction Yanukovych to enter into a Moscow-led Federation, Belarus and Kazakhstan “Ukraine: From Post-Soviet to European like President Yanukovych.” Customs Union in exchange for up to a $9 through the Customs Union: economic State.” Critics of the Yanukovych admin- In this context, the foreign affairs min- billion annual discount on natural gas. degradation with deeper energy dependen- istration, including former Prime Minister ister conveniently overlooked grain The Russian leader’s overture marks cy and political isolation from Europe,” Yulia Tymoshenko, accuse the govern- export quotas that have infuriated the the biggest geopolitical test for the said Andriy Novak, chair of the ment of the reverse: returning Ukraine to European Union (EU) and the decision to Yanukovych administration, as Ukraine’s Committee of Economists of Ukraine. post-Soviet status after having made import buckwheat – one of Ukraine’s future – as either a European nation-state (Continued on page 39) progress towards European integration. (Continued on page 5) or a Russian colony hangs – in the bal- British and French Embassy personnel AP reports FBI thought evidence slate Chornobyl charity walk in Demjanjuk case was fabricated PARSIPPANY, N.J. – “An FBI The newly declassified document, by Nataliya Horban Mr. Roberts came up with the idea for report kept secret for 25 years said the an FBI field office report obtained by a charity walk last winter, while visiting Soviet Union ‘quite likely fabricated’ the AP, questions the authenticity of KYIV – The Chornobyl power plant, Chornobyl and Prypiat, the ghost town in site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster, evidence central to the prosecution of the Trawniki ID card that has been a the 30-kilometer exclusion zone that sur- John Demjanjuk – a revelation that key piece of evidence against Mr. is just a day’s walk from Kyiv. rounds the plant. could help the defense as closing argu- Demjanjuk in past legal proceedings in Soon, workers from the British and “Imagine if the wind was blowing ments resume Wednesday in the retired the United States and Israel, and now French Embassies will cover the 110 south on that fateful day. [Kyiv] could Ohio auto worker’s Nazi war crimes in Germany. The card was considered kilometers from Kyiv to Chornobyl by potentially have been Prypiat, but on a trial in Germany.” That was the lead to proof that the defendant, after training foot to raise awareness and money to larger scale,” Mr. Roberts said. During a sensational story released on April 12 at the Trawniki camp, served as a support those who suffered from the the first days after the reactor’s explo- by the Associated Press. guard at the Sobibor death camp in April 26, 1986, disaster. sion, the wind headed north and west, David Rising and Randy Herschaft Nazi-occupied Poland. There are no “By walking it in one day you show which many believe helped Kyiv escape reported the AP exclusive from Berlin. witnesses who have placed Mr. how close Chornobyl is to a major city of a much worse fate. (It may be read in full at http://abc- Demjanjuk at Sobibor. Kyiv, which I don’t think many people The anniversary of the tragedy brings news.go.com/International/ realize,” said Lee Roberts, a British wireStory?id=13358386&page=1.) (Continued on page 10) Embassy worker. (Continued on page 5) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2011 No. 16 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Leonid Kuchma faces charges Yanukovych on European integration vice of the UOC-KP. Speaking about Church-state relations, the president over journalist’s murder in 2000 KYIV – European integration is and said in Pavlohrad: “The role of the state remains the unchanged priority for is not to interfere in the affairs of the Ukraine, President Viktor Yanukovych by Pavel Korduban plan by President Yanukovych to divert Church… At the same time, we should emphasized during a meeting with Polish Eurasia Daily Monitor the nation’s attention from economic provide equal conditions of develop- Prime Minister Donald Tusk in Kyiv. “We problems (Channel 5, March 27). Mr. ment for all denominations. The state The Procurator General’s Office on certainly expect that during the presiden- Lytvyn suggested this was the start of a policy will always promote this.” March 21 launched an investigation cy of Poland in the second half of this campaign against him personally (Religious Information Service of against Leonid Kuchma, suspecting him year we will seek joint decisions regard- (UNIAN, March 24). Mr. Yushchenko Ukraine) of involvement in the murder of the oppo- said he did not believe that Mr. Kuchma ing the integration into the European sition journalist Heorhii Gongadze in could give orders to kill Gongadze (TVI, Union,” he said, according to April 14 Patriarch Kirill to visit Ukraine 2000, Deputy Procurator General Renat March 31). news reports. Mr. Yanukovych said that, Kuzmin announced on March 22. The The local media also suggested that the due to the joint work of both govern- KYIV – Patriarch of Moscow and All Procurator General’s Office (PGO) on case against Mr. Kuchma could be either ments, the last year was successful in Russia Kirill I will visit Ukraine on April March 24 officially charged Mr. Kuchma, an element of pressure on his son-in-law, terms of trade and economic relations, 25-27, it was reported on April 11 on the president from 1994 to 2004, with abuse steel and media tycoon Victor Pinchuk, by which grew and have a good perspective official website of the Ukrainian of office which resulted in Gongadze’s his business rivals, or an attempt to white- for the near future. In January and Orthodox Church – Moscow Patriarchate. murder (Ukrayinska Pravda, March 22, wash Mr. Kuchma once and for all by February of this year, the surplus of The patriarch’s visit to Ukraine is dedi- 24). proving him not guilty (Ukrayinska Ukraine’s trade with Poland totaled cated to the 25th anniversary of the acci- While Mr. Kuchma insists that he is not Pravda, March 23). $32.150 million (U.S.). The president said dent at the Chornobyl nuclear power guilty, the Procurator General’s Office has Mr. Yanukovych commented on the that Ukraine would welcome the partici- plant and foresees his participation in regularly questioned him and has prohibit- development only on March 28, while on pation of Poland’s President Bronislaw nationwide and religious memorial ed him from leaving Ukraine. The same a visit to Singapore. He said that all the Komorowski in the events to mark the events. (Ukrinform) measure was earlier applied to former “i’s” should be finally dotted in the 25th anniversary of the Chornobyl acci- Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, who is Gongadze case and rejected any political dent, which will be held on April 19-22 in Svitlychna archive returned to Ukraine suspected of corruption. motives behind the new developments Kyiv.