www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: Analysis: Putin’s war for “Novorossiya” – page 2 Flashmobs demonstrate diaspora unity with Ukraine – page 5 Over 2,500 at Ukrainian Folk Festival at Tryzubivka – page 11 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXII No. 36 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 $2.00 Europe’s leaders frustrated Paslawsky honored as hero with burial at Askold’s Grave in their failure to halt Putin by Zenon Zawada by Zenon Zawada KYIV – The way his friends and acquaintances tell it, you couldn’t find KYIV – If Europe’s leaders needed a splash of anyone more devoted to Ukraine than cold water to realize just what kind of force they’re Mark Paslawsky, 55, who grew up in New up against, Russian President Vladimir Putin pro- Jersey, settled in his ancestral homeland vided it on August 27, when his soldiers took con- upon its independence and followed in trol of the strategic port city of Novoazovsk in the his father’s footsteps to defend its land Donetsk region that was invaded three days earlier. from Muscovite occupation. Until that point, the Russian armed forces Only a week had passed since he covertly supported pro-Russian separatists in was killed on August 19 in the Donbas Donbas with unmarked mercenaries. With the dis- war, yet Paslawsky was already being organized separatists facing imminent defeat, how- spoken of as a Ukrainian legend at his ever, the Russian military resorted to an open inva- funeral in Kyiv on August 26. sion, amid persistent denials of doing so and Enshrining that legendary status was despite evidence gathered by Western govern- the Ukrainian government’s approval of ments. his burial on the grounds of St. Nicholas Serhij Marchenko In response to the escalated warfare, Western Ukrainian Catholic Church at Askold’s Relatives of Mark Paslawsky, including his mother, brother and sisters, mourn leaders expressed their shock and exasperation at Grave, considered to be the second-most their inability to halt Mr. Putin’s military aggres- alongside Donbas Battalion soldiers during the soldier’s August 26 funeral at sacred mount in Ukraine (after Kaniv), Askold’s Grave in Kyiv. sion with their efforts thus far, which have largely situated on Kyiv’s Pechersk Hills over- consisted of economic and individual sanctions. looking the Dnipro River. will occur here to commemorate our who simply wanted to pay their “The fact that this conflict developed is a failure “We won’t reach you with our great victory against these dog-headed respects to a man they’d never met but of European institutions,” Council of Europe shouts, we won’t return you anymore. monsters that you fought,” he said. admired from what they’d heard. Secretary General Thorbjorn Jagland said on You crossed that boundary where [Dog-headed monsters appear fre- The procession was led by armed September 2 after meeting in Kyiv with Ukrainian begins our tragic, bloody but beautiful quently in Ukrainian mythology as National Guardsmen – one carrying President Petro Poroshenko. “European institu- Ukrainian history. You belong to it,” said devourers of raw human flesh and sym- Paslawsky’s framed photo – and a mili- tions were set up after the second world war in Volodymyr Yavorivskyi, a national dep- bols of exceptional savagery.] tary vehicle towing his coffin, which order to create peace and prevent new wars in uty of the Batkivshchyna party who Paslawsky was honored with a descended down Heroes of Kruty Alley Europe, but we haven’t been able to fulfill that spearheaded the effort for Paslawsky’s National Guard funeral, attended by to the quaint, yellow, circular church, mandate.” burial at Askold’s Grave. members of his Donbas battalion, as where the panakhyda (requiem ser- [The Council of Europe is an organization dis- “I am convinced that great demon- well as several hundred friends, tinct from the European Union. It has 47 member strations, gatherings and panakhydy acquaintances and other mourners states and acts as an informal structure to pro- (Continued on page 4) mote Western values, whereas the EU has 28 member states and acts as a supranational govern- ing structure with judicial, legislative and execu- tive branches.] Echoing that frustration was Herman van Demonstrators call for stronger sanctions, Rompuy, the outgoing president of the European Council, a structure that consists of the EU heads of state and acts as a collective presidency. He said military equipment, assistance for Ukraine the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has no solution in sight and is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War. “This conflict doesn’t have a military solution, but neither does it have a political solution at this stage because there’s no political will from Russia,” he told EU diplomats on September 2, as reported by the UNIAN news agency. “If Ukraine surrenders its Association Agreement, the conflict will con- clude very quickly. But they won’t do that. After the Maidan, this has become a clash of values.” Russia’s occupation of Crimea became the turn- ing point of its relations with the West, Mr. van Rompuy said. Mr. Putin’s actions since have ruined his relations with the EU, violating agreements reached in Geneva, Normandy and Berlin this year, said Federica Mogherini, the EU’s newly appointed foreign policy chief. WASHINGTON – For the second time in August, a large group of Ukrainian Americans assembled in front of the White “These partner relations don’t exist anymore: House in Washington to protest Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine. The hour-long protest demonstration on August from this moment, Russia isn’t a strategic partner 31, organized by Razom under the slogan “Stop WWIII Now,” called on the United States to apply stronger sanctions of the EU,” she told an Italian newspaper in an against Russia and provide military equipment and other assistance Ukraine needs to fight this Russian aggression. A (Continued on page 16) similar Razom-organized White House demonstration in mid-August also included a march to the Lincoln Monument. – Yaro Bihun 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2014 No. 36 ANALYSIS France suspends warship delivery at the summit that they should step up Putin’s war for “Novorossiya” sanctions if Moscow does not pull its sol- PARIS – French President Francois diers back. (RFE/RL, based on reporting by dislodge Ukrainian forces in order to open a by Roger McDermott Hollande says the government will not The Telegraph, Der Spiegel, La Repubblica fresh re-supply route from Russia. The sec- Eurasia Daily Monitor deliver the first of two Mistral-class war- and Reuters) ond, Volnovakha, would sever the link to the ships to Russia because of Moscow’s After recent successes by Russia-backed Azov group of forces. Others mentioned are: aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine. Mr. Yatsenyuk rejects Putin peace plan rebel forces in southeastern Ukraine, Donetsk (especially the airport), Debaltsevo, Hollande’s office said in a statement on increased reports of Russian regular troops the Lysychansk-Rubizhne-Severodonetsk September 3 that the “conditions” were not KYIV – Ukrainian Prime Minister involved in the conflict and belligerent area, which Ukrainian forces have allegedly in place to deliver the warship, a controver- Arseniy Yatsenyuk has rejected Russian statements by the Russian leadership, spec- fortified, and Luhansk and the surrounding sial deal that has led to criticism from many peace proposals for eastern Ukraine as an ulation mounts in Moscow as to the nature areas to alleviate pressure on separatist of Paris’s Western allies. Russian Deputy attempt to deceive the West about of the Kremlin’s “war aims.” Some clues as forces. The article concluded that over a Defense Minister Yury Borisov was quoted Moscow’s real intentions. In a statement on to Moscow’s evolving tactical and strategic two-month timeframe, the aim would be to as saying the French decision “is unpleas- September 3, Mr. Yatsenyuk described the aims in Ukraine have emerged from presi- allow separatists to “hold out” and thus ren- ant” but “not a tragedy” for Russia’s “rear- Russian peace plan as another attempt to dential statements, Russian military activi- der Kyiv less of a problem for Moscow and mament” and reform plans. The U.S. State “pull the wool over the eyes” of the interna- ty in Ukraine, the continued deployment of Novorossiya (Voyennoye Obezreniye, Department said France had made a “wise” tional community on the eve of a NATO combined-arms forces near the border and accessed August 31). decision. The first warship was to have summit in Wales and an attempt to avert the assembling of peacekeeping forces that Given the article’s stress on Novorossiya been delivered to Russia in October. French Western sanctions against Moscow. “The appear ready to commence an operation. – the term used in tsarist Russia to refer to officials said the issue would be reviewed best plan for ending Russia’s war against On August 31, President Vladimir Putin southeast Ukraine – it is worth recalling Mr. in November. France had resisted pressure Ukraine has only one single element: for called for substantive talks on possible Putin’s use of the word in his “annexation from its allies to stop the delivery of the Russia to withdraw its troops, its merce- “statehood” for southeastern Ukraine, and speech” on Crimea and, more pointedly, his warships, saying that halting the multibil- naries, and its terrorists from Ukrainian added that the conflict remains “unpredict- use of it on August 29 to praise the separat- lion-dollar deal would hurt Paris more than territory,” he added. Mr. Yatsenyuk also told able.” Far from implying nearing an end- ists.