INSIDE: • U.S. ambassadors receive honors from Ukraine — page 3. • More on Yulia Tymoshenko’s U.S. visit — pages 4-7. • Music in North America, contemporary art in Kyiv — centerfold. HE KRAINIAN EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXXV No. 10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2007 $1/$2 in Ukraine Foreign policy objectives Tymoshenko tells U.S. that Ukraine remain frozen in Ukraine is in “deep constitutional crisis” by Zenon Zawada Russia’s Black Sea Fleet Kyiv Press Bureau The MARS-75 radio-navigation sta- KYIV – Though the Ukrainian winter tion is the latest in repeated refusals by was unusually mild, the country’s foreign the Russian Federation to adhere to policy remained largely frozen in recent Ukrainian court orders requiring that its months, characterized by ongoing government transfer Black Sea Fleet Russian interference and Ukraine’s mini- property to the Ukrainian government. mal progress Westward. Last year, the Sevastopol Economic Russian soldiers on March 5 refused to Court ordered the Russian Federation to allow Ukrainian government officials to transfer control of 77 lighthouses and enter the MARS-75 navigation station in navigational sites to Ukraine’s Ministry the Kherson Oblast in order to deliver a of Defense. Russia never compiled. court order that the soldiers withdraw, in At the MARS-75 station in Henichesk, adherence with Ukrainian law. Russian soldiers are violating the Black Meanwhile, in Brussels, European Sea Fleet arrangement with their pres- leaders continued to keep Kyiv at arm’s ence on Ukrainian territory 200 kilome- length, stressing the need for Ukraine to ters away from their Sevastopol base, join the World Trade Organization, estab- said Oleh Yatsenko, leader of the Student lish a free trade zone and engage in fur- Brotherhood (Studentske Bratstvo). ther reforms before serious prospects Mr. Yatsenko has led a citizens’ moni- toring campaign of Black Sea Fleet sites could emerge. Khristina Lew “We gave the understanding that the and bases on Ukrainian territory, and also leads the Student Brotherhood’s active Opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko meets with Rep. Marcy Kaptur (left) and European Union (EU) is in a stage of protests and attempts to raise public Rep. Maurice Hinchey (center) on Capitol Hill on March 1. National Deputy digesting its expansion,” said Angela awareness of Black Sea Fleet violations. Hryhorii Nemyria, an advisor to Ms. Tymoshenko, is on the right. Merkel, the federal chancellor of Escorted by law enforcement authori- Germany and EU president. ties and Student Brotherhood activists, by Khristina Lew March 26, 2006. Members of Ukraine’s With a bipolar government that is State Executive Service officials on Special to The Ukrainian Weekly Parliament, or national deputies, serve unlikely to agree on a more aggressive March 5 delivered an April 11, 2003, five-year terms. course toward Euro-Atlantic integration, court order issued by the Kherson Oblast WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s charis- Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), co-chair let alone on a foreign affairs minister to Economic Court ordering the soldiers’ matic opposition leader Yulia of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, replace Borys Tarasyuk, Ukraine remains Tymoshenko met with Vice-President said after her March 1 meeting with Ms. stuck under a fierce Russian boot. (Continued on page 10) Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Tymoshenko, “if the Constitutional Court Stephen Hadley and Secretary of State and Ukraine’s leaders approve, then it’s Condoleezza Rice during her four-day probably within reason” for Ukraine to visit to the nation’s capital that mirrored hold new parliamentary elections. Ukrainian Canadians press an earlier visit by Ukrainian Prime State Department spokesman Sean Minister Viktor Yanukovych last McCormack on March 2 sidestepped a government on redress issue December. reporter’s question about U.S. support for Unlike Mr. Yanukovych’s official new elections in Ukraine, saying, “I’m by Matthew Dubas fact that the government has acknowl- working visit on December 3-7, 2006, not going to get too deeply into the edged that “persons of Ukrainian origin Ms. Tymoshenko’s February 28-March 3 details here. The secretary has met with PARSIPPANY, N.J. — Representatives were interned in Canada during the first trip was a private one in which she open- Ms. Tymoshenko several times before, of the Ukrainian Canadian community – world war” and agreed to provide ly discussed Ukraine’s constitutional cri- and including in Ukraine. They talked including Paul Grod of the Ukrainian sis and called for new parliamentary recognition of this event. about the domestic political situation Canadian Congress, Andrew elections as a means to resolve it. In honoring this pledge and as a within Ukraine. They talked about Hladyshevsky of the Ukrainian Canadian “Ukraine is in deep constitutional cri- condition of the Agreement in Ukrainian energy needs and the various Foundation of Taras Shevchenko and Dr. sis,” she told a standing-room only gath- Principle signed in Regina, Manitoba, sources that Ukraine might tap into for Lubomyr Luciuk of the Ukrainian ering at the Center for Strategic and in August 2005, the Conservative gov- their energy needs. They talked a little bit Canadian Civil Liberties Association – International Studies on February 28. ernment’s solution was to establish the about the Millennium Challenge Corp. met on February 16 with Jason Kenney, “The president has said it. The prime Acknowledgement, Commemoration The [sic] Ukraine has qualified for con- secretary of state for multiculturalism and minister has said it. We can no longer and Educational Fund program (ACE). sideration of Millennium Challenge Canadian identity to discuss the status of ignore the fact that Ukraine is losing ele- Currently referred to as the Corp. grants. They talked about regional redress for Canada’s World War I intern- ments of stability every day, and the Community Historical Recognition issues as well, regional international poli- ment of persons deemed “enemy aliens.” standoff between the two branches of Program (CHRP), the program is a tics. That’s really about it.” Mr. Kenney said that the govern- government is ruining our well-being, the three- to four-year general fund of $25 ment knows it has a legal responsibility investment climate and Ukraine’s posi- Washington meetings million managed by bureaucrats that is to make right on a pledge to Ukrainian tion as a stable partner.” earmarked for approximately a dozen Ms. Tymoshenko, President Viktor Canadians who are continuing their Ms. Tymoshenko said her country’s Yushchenko’s prime minister until he dis- ethnic groups, including Ukrainians, democratic forces have asked Ukraine’s fight for recognition of the fact that who were told they could apply for missed her in September 2005, arrived in previous generations were interned in Constitutional Court to rule on whether Washington three days after formally cre- project funding. grounds exist for the president to call camps between 1914 and 1920. Additionally, a National Historical ating a single opposition in Parliament Conservative MP Inky Mark’s Bill new parliamentary elections, and that with the president’s party, Our Ukraine. Recognition Program (NHRP), which they anticipate an answer by the end of C331 – Internment of Persons of is to be administered by civil servants She was scheduled to visit New York Ukrainian Origin Recognition Act, March. prior to arriving in Washington, but within the Ministry of Canadian Ukrainians voted in parliamentary which received royal assent in Heritage, distributes the funding of an abruptly cancelled appearances at the November 2005, is a major leverage elections, hailed by international Council on Foreign Relations and point for the Ukrainian effort, due to the (Continued on page 16) observers as the most free and fair in Ukraine’s history, one year ago, on (Continued on page 4) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 11, 2007 No. 10 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Ukrainian-Russian steel merger Yushchenko hails opposition unity Ukrainian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Veselovskyi. “I want to has top-level political ramifications KYIV – President Viktor Yushchenko reiterate that this enhanced agreement told a press conference in Chernivtsi on will be drafted within the framework of by Vladimir Socor ous hands of Gazprom-connected Russian March 6 that he “approves and appreci- European Neighborhood Policy,” Ms. Eurasia Daily Monitor companies, from Itera to Metalloinvest, in ates” the unification of opposition forces Ferrero-Waldner noted, adding that the notoriously opaque transactions. A certain in the Verkhovna Rada. “I am happy to say new agreement will not prejudge any The Industrial Union of the Donbas Austro-Ukrainian Hares Group, named that a congress of the Our Ukraine Bloc, (IUD), Ukraine’s second-largest steel-mak- possible developments in relations after Yushchenko’s Arab businessman- which is scheduled for March 31, will be between Ukraine and the EU. She said ing group, is negotiating a merger with the friend Yusuf Hares, acquired 90 percent held to unify several bloc members and to Russian Metalloinvest group controlled by the new cooperation agreement could ownership of Ribnita in 2004, then sold an create one party with one statute,” he said. help lead to a deal on free trade between Alisher Usmanov, who also heads undetermined portion of that to the current The president said it would help “mini- Gazprom’s investment arm for assets other the EU and Ukraine. But she added that owners, some of them hidden under unde- mize formal problems” which “impede talks on this issue will begin only after than gas, Gazprominvestholding. An IUD- cipherable acronyms (Moldpres, Olvia political progress.” He said the unification Metalloinvest merger could generate far- Ukraine is accepted into the World Trade Press, January 29, 30). of the pro-presidential bloc and ex-Prime Organization. (RFE/RL Newsline) reaching political and business repercus- The IUD includes the Alchevsk coke Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s bloc “gives sions in Ukraine and beyond.