www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: • Russian spies and lessons for Ukraine— page 2. • Teaching in Zalischyky — page 5. • Hryvnia, the movie — page 8. HE KRAINI A N EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXV No. 3 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 19, 1997 $1.25/$2 in Ukraine Secretary of state-designate reaffirms Russian letter suggests impeachment need to maintain U.S. leadership role of uncompromising Ukrainian presi- by Michael Sawkiw Jr. Sen. Lugar what ought to be the policy by Roman Woronowycz in a campaign of propaganda in which he Ukrainian National Information Service of assistance at this point of their evolu- Kyiv Press Bureau is accused of involvement in carrying out tionary process, Ambassador Albright the strategic designs of Russia.” WASHINGTON — Appearing before emphasized that assistance to this region KYIV — A letter, allegedly sent by For four years, Ukraine and Russia the Senate Foreign Relations Committee of the world is in part due to U.S. nation- Russia’s deputy foreign minister to a presi- have been negotiating unsuccessfully on on January 8, Madeleine Albright, the al security interests. She elaborated by dential foreign policy aide, that proposes a the future of the Black Sea Fleet and the U.S. permanent representative to the pointing to the fact that the State scheme to have Ukraine’s President strategic port in the city of Sevastopol on United Nations and secretary of state- Department is preparing a “new initia- Leonid Kuchma impeached, appeared in Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. In the doc- designate, explained her vision of tive” to look at the assistance already the Kyiv-based Russian-language paper ument, the impasse that has resulted is American foreign policy for the second provided to the FSU by the U.S. govern- Vsieukrainskiye Viedomosti (All- blamed on President Kuchma’s “uncom- term of the Clinton administration. ment and its future considerations. Ukrainian Herald) on January 13. Its publi- promising policy” that prevents efforts to As the first woman to be nominated to Specifically referring to Ukraine, Sen. cation caused in another major tremor in preserve a united Black Sea Fleet and his the high-ranking Cabinet post of secre- Lugar appealed to Secretary-Designate already shaky Ukraine-Russia relations. refusal to discuss the status of the city of tary of state, Ambassador Albright pre- Albright to focus a special priority on The letter, dated October 30, 1996, Sevastopol. sented the challenges that America must Ukraine, where “President [Leonid] was allegedly sent to the office of The president is also blamed for the inef- undertake to remain internationally Kuchma is very favorable toward reform, President Boris Yeltsin foreign policy fectiveness of the CIS because of his refusal involved, “so that we [the U.S.] can though the economy is very grave.” The aide Dmitrii Riurikov, by Sergei Krylov, to deepen Ukraine’s commitment within the make a difference.” The Senate Foreign ambassador acknowledged the special at that time deputy foreign minister and CIS framework “under Russia’s guidance.” Relations Committee spoke admiringly relationship between Ukraine and the currently the permanent representative to At the outset, the highly classified letter of Ambassador Albright’s qualifications United States, and proposed to continue the U.N. offices in Geneva. What appears explains that President Kuchma, who many and proceeded to question the secretary U.S. support and commitment to this vital to be Mr. Krylov’s signature is found at in Ukraine and Russia thought would devel- of state-designate about various topics, and strategically located country. the bottom of the letter. op an agenda to strengthen ties with Russia, including U.S. obligations to an expand- Freshman Sen. Gordon Smith (R- It calls for a coordinated effort to have has become a “destructive” influence on ed NATO as well as possibilities for an Ore.) began his inquiry with questions President Kuchma made out as a puppet of Ukraine-Russia relations. It notes that increase in the foreign affairs budget. regarding NATO expansion to the for- Russia and to use Russia’s contacts in options must be considered to “counter Being familiar with the need to main- mer Soviet-satellites of the Warsaw Pact, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada to move to President Kuchma’s anti-Russian destruc- tain American leadership throughout the and in particular to countries of the FSU. impeach the president. It states, tive policy, whose aim is confrontation in world, the U.S. representative to the Ambassador Albright pledged to enlarge “Information from Russia’s Embassy in the key areas of Russian-Ukrainian rela- U.N. appealed for increased funding for NATO to include the newly emerged Ukraine tells us that certain influential fac- tions.” It goes on to mention that “the only foreign affairs. “Consider the stakes ... democracies in Central and East Europe, tions in the Parliament have confided that possibility to ensure a change in Ukraine’s We are talking about 1 percent of our the initiation of a process to remove the federal budget, but that 1 percent may (Continued on page 14) head of state from his position could occur (Continued on page 4) well determine 50 percent of the history that is written about our era.” The embodiment of an American Autocephalous Orthodox Church splits amid charges of financial improprieties immigrant’s tale, Ambassador Albright was born in the former Czecho-Slovakia. by Roman Woronowycz who is being investigated on separate Bank of Kyiv. The bank, which was She spoke of her family’s early years as Kyiv Press Bureau charges of fraud.] essentially controlled by the Church, refugees, escaping Nazi and Communist According to Bishop Ioan, who was went bankrupt in the spring of 1996. aggression. KYIV — Amid charges of financial speaking for Metropolitan Vasilii, Her testimony proved all the more improprieties, the Ukrainian Patriarch Dymytrii had resigned during The “second Church” issue inspiring as she noted her arrival in the Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the Sobor in protest against accusations The controversy surrounding a “second United States: “My ambition then [refer- Ukraine has split again, and the patri- of fraud and embezzlement leveled at Church” began on June 5, 1995, when ring to her youth] was only to speak arch has been deposed and accused of him during the conference, but nonethe- Patriarch Dymytrii had the UAOC legal English well, please my parents, study fraud by the remaining bishops. less continued to carry out the duties of counsel Yurii Boyko register the hard and grow up to be an American.” At an extraordinary session of the the patriarch, which is against canon law. Patriarchal Religious Center with the The chairman of the Senate Foreign Archiepiscopal Sobor of the Ukrainian Bishop Ihor, who had worked closely Ministry of Justice. Bishop Ihor explained Relations Committee, Sen. Jesse Helms Autocephalous Orthodox Church, held on with the deposed patriarch, was relieved that the center was the vehicle by which (R-N.C.), emphasized his commitment to October 18-19, 1996, which received lit- of his post because he had visited the the UAOC was registered with the work with the soon-to-be confirmed secre- tle publicity, Patriarch Dymytrii, Bishop Lviv Eparchy without the permission of Ukrainian government and merely an tary of state, though he voiced his opinion Ihor Isichenko of Kharkiv and his assis- its archbishop, Petro Petrus. Bishop administrative arm. The UAOC’s earlier about the “blunders” of the foreign policy tant, Bishop Mefodii, were dismissed. Mefodii was dismissed because of his registration was taken by Metropolitan decisions of the Clinton administration’s Bishop Ioan of Rivne, one of the bish- close association with Bishop Ihor. Filaret when he left to form the Ukrainian first term. ops who voted to dismiss the church On November 26, 1996, the Church Orthodox Church — Kyiv Patriarchate. “It is my hope,” continued Sen. leaders, told The Weekly on December 4 Sobor, which included hierarchy, cler- “The Church itself is not considered a Helms, “that as the president’s most that Patriarch Dymytrii and Bishop Ihor gy and the laity, upheld the ruling legal entity. We wanted to re-register after senior foreign policy advisor, you will were officially fired for “breaking canon Patriarch Dymytrii and Bishop Ihor the Kyiv Patriarchate usurped our status,” devote your strength and courage to law,” but that they are also involved in are defending their actions and call the explained Bishop Ihor. “We decided not bring some coherence, direction and the laundering of Church money through move by the Archiepiscopal Sobor to register the Church as a whole, but only fresh ideas to America’s foreign policy.” a “second Church” they had established, political in nature. the administrative bodies of the Church In that vein, Sen. Helms’ fellow col- and for their involvement in the bank- At the heart of the issue is whether and the statutes as such.” He added, “The leagues addressed issues that were of ruptcy of the Christian Bank, which was Patriarch Dymytrii and his close associ- center is not a Church within a Church.” concern to them and their constituents. founded by the UAOC. ates set up a “second Church” as Bishop Bishop Ioan, however, said the Among the first to question [On December 24, Bishop Ioan was Ioan has alleged. Bishop Ioan spoke for Patriarchal Religious Center was never Ambassador Albright was Sen. Richard appointed head administrator by the Metropolitan Vasilii, who was hospital- approved by the Archiepiscopal Sobor, Lugar (R-Ind.). A known friend of the newly elected locum tenens (in effect, ized and unavailable when The Weekly and the reasons for the establishment of Ukrainian American community, Sen. the acting patriarch) of the UAOC, contacted the UAOC chancery in Kyiv.