InsIde: • Viktor Yanukovych’s drive toward Russia – page 3. • Roots of Ukraine’s status as a non-nuclear state – page 7. • Students stage “Hip Hop Hopak” in Montreal – page 11 THEPublished U by theKRA Ukrainian NationalIN AssociationIAN Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVIII No.19 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2010 $1/$2 in Ukraine Communists in Zaporizhia Ukraine-Russia fleet deal unveil monument to Stalin provokes protest in NYC by Zenon Zawada Kyiv Press Bureau ZAPORIZHIA, Ukraine – T h e C o m m u n i s t s o f Z a p o r i z h i a u n v e i l e d Ukraine’s first monument to the genocidal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on May 5 amidst a cheerful crowd of more than 1,500 admirers, mostly destitute pensioners and Russian chauvinists nos- talgic for the Soviet Union. Though Ukrainian patri- ots vowed a protest, none was visible at the ceremony, particularly after the city’s courts forbid any public demonstrations. Instead, about 100 Svoboda national- ists and Prosvita members Vasyl Lopukh donned embroidered shirts Ukrainian protesters send a message of disgust to Ukraine’s Mission to the United and carried placards to the Nations. City Council. Yurii Hudymenko, a lead- by Matthew Dubas and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia that exten- er of the local Ukrainian ded the basing of the Black Sea Fleet in patriots, led about 15 col- NEW YORK – Carrying placards, dres- Sevastopol, Crimea, for an additional 25 sed in Ukrainian embroidery, and waving Zenon Zawada leagues to the unveiling, but years. they weren’t allowed to get Ukrainian and American flags, hundreds Prior to the extension, the contract was Communists in Zaporizhia unveiled a monument to near the ceremony, which met here on 51st Street (between First and set to expire in 2017. In return for the fleet’s Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin on May 5 at their party was guarded by dozens of Second avenues) in front of Ukraine’s continued basing, Ukraine is to get lower headquarters. Upon the granite pedestal is the police. He said the monu- Mission to the United Nations on Monday, gas prices from Russia. The deal was rati- inscription “To the leader of the Soviet government, May 3, to protest the deal signed between fied last month by both countries’ (Continued on page 4) Generalissimo Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.” Presidents Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine Parliaments. The protest, which lasted from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., was organized by the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) Yanukovych tells PACE Holodomor was not genocide and included participants from branches in PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Addressing the against Ukrainians.” mitted by the Soviet state. Philadelphia, Yonkers, N.Y., New Haven, Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Ukrinform quoted Mr. Yanukovych as Our Ukraine pointed out that Mr. Conn., and Morris County, N.J., in addition Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France, on saying: “It would be incorrect and unjust Yanukovych’s stand opposed the positions to the New York branch. Some of the UCCA April 27, President Viktor Yanukovych of to recognize the Holodomor as genocide of the parliaments of Estonia, Australia, branches organized buses and vans to take Ukraine said the Holodomor of 1932-1933 of any specific nation.” The Holodomor, Canada, Hungary, Lithuania, Georgia, members from their local Ukrainian com- was not genocide committed against the he said “was a result of Stalin’s totalitarian Poland, Peru, Paraguay, Ecuador, munities to the demonstration. Volunteers Ukrainian people by the Stalin regime but rule.” Columbia, Mexico and Latvia, which offi- collected signatures from participants on “a shared tragedy” of all who were part of “We know that there was Holodomor cially acknowledged the Holodomor as petitions calling for scrapping the agreement the USSR. both in Ukraine, in Russia, Stavropol and genocide of Ukrainian people, as well as between Ukraine and Russia. The next day, PACE adopted a resolu- Krasnodar areas, on the Volga banks, in the European Parliament, which called the Protesters spent the first hour in front of tion that refused to recognize the Famine Belarus and Kazakhstan,” Mr. Yanukovych Holodomor a crime against the Ukrainian Ukraine’s Mission to the United Nations. It that took place in the Soviet Union during said to the applause of the Russian delega- nation and all humanity. was expected that Ukraine’s Minister of the 1930s as genocide of the Ukrainian tion. A member of the Russian delegation to Foreign Affairs Kostyantyn Gryshchenko people. The new Ukrainian president’s position PACE, Sergei Markov, said that thanks to would be at the Mission, but he was at a According to Interfax-Ukraine, only 21 coincides with that of Russia, which main- Mr. Yanukovych’s statement in Strasbourg, conference at the United Nations on the PACE members voted for recognizing the tains that the Holodomor cannot be con- the PACE amendment would not pass. non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian sidered an act that targeted Ukrainians, as “The assembly met with applause his Tthe protesters then walked uptown to people, while 55 voted against correspond- millions of people from different ethnic [Yanukovych’s] words... This statement 67th Street, to the corner of Third Avenue, ing amendments to the draft resolution on groups also lost their lives across the will definitely affect the resolution...” Mr. near Russia’s Mission to the United Nations. the issue. Soviet Union. Markov said, according to RIA Novosti. A local police captain on the scene explai- The Associated Press characterized the The Our Ukraine party accused The “provisional edition” of the ned that the protest was contained to the recently elected Ukrainian president’s President Yanukovych of violating a Resolution 1723 “Commemorating the corner because the Russian Mission had remarks as “a major turnabout in Ukrainian law on the denial of the victims of the Great Famine (Holodomor) filed a court order to prevent the protest Ukrainian policy,” noting that Holodomor, reported Ukrinform. Under a in the former USSR,” which is available from being held directly across the street “Yanukovych’s stance is a complete shift law passed by the Verkhovna Rada on on the PACE website, states in part: from its building. from that of his predecessor, pro-Western November 28, 2006, it is an offense to “…3. One of the most tragic pages in In spite of the intermittent rain showers, president Viktor Yushchenko, who sought deny that the Famine, which took the lives students and young adults were represented to have the famine recognized as genocide of millions, was an act of genocide com- (Continued on page 2) (Continued on page 9) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MAY 9, 2010 No. 19 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Gas in exchange for naval base: Putin: merge Gazprom and Naftohaz ate a joint holding company in the sphere of nuclear energy, including the imple- A boon to Ukraine’s weak economy KYIV – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir mentation of energy projects in third Putin proposed to his Ukrainian counterpart, countries. Russian Prime Minister by Pavel Korduban Pravda, April 22). Messrs. Yanukovych Mykola Azarov, a merger of the Ukrainian Vladimir Putin said at a briefing after the and Russian state gas companies. Speaking Eurasia Daily Monitor and Putin agreed that the discount is tan- sixth meeting of the Ukrainian-Russian tamount to $40 billion in assistance from with the news media after the sixth meeting Intergovernmental Commission on Moscow has agreed to lower the price Russia over the next 10 years. Ukrainian of the Ukrainian-Russian Intergovernmental Economic Cooperation in Sochi on April of gas for Kyiv by one-third in exchange Prime Minister Mykola Azarov estimated Commission on Economic Cooperation in 30. “We have presented concrete propos- for extending the lease of the Sevastopol that this is more than the foreign invest- Sochi on April 30, Mr. Putin said, “We talk- als of the Russian side in this sphere base for the Black Sea Fleet (BSF) by 25 ment received by Ukraine since indepen- ed about integration in the nuclear sphere. I regarding the creation of a large joint years. The Ukrainian Parliament ratified dence in 1991 (ICTV, April 25). Ukraine think the same could be done in the gas holding company, uniting the industries the agreement on April 27, despite pro- will save $2 billion in 2010, according to sphere. I propose uniting Gazprom and of nuclear engineering, fuel cycle and tests by the opposition. the government’s calculations national JSC [joint stock company] Naftohaz nuclear generation,” he said. Mr. Putin Both the Russian and Ukrainian gov- (Kommersant-Ukraine April 26). Ukrainy.” The Russian prime minister also said the issue concerned the construction ernments are happy with the outcome: The discount will be at the expense of said that he had signed a government deci- of new nuclear reactors in Ukraine and while Moscow satisfied its geopolitical Russian taxpayers, Prime Minister Putin sion on nullifying an export customs duty on the participation of Ukrainian partners in ambitions, Kyiv expects economic bene- said (Interfax, April 27). At the same gas from Russia to Ukraine. He said that the the development of the Russian energy fits without which the national economy time, Ukrainian taxpayers will benefit. agreements reached by the presidents of the sector, as well as the sale of products to could be jeopardized. While Prime Mr. Azarov said there was no need to two countries had been implemented by third countries. “Russia has formed a seri- Minister Vladimir Putin plays geopolitics, increase domestic gas prices in order to Russia. (Ukrinform) ous package of foreign orders for the con- the former governor of the heavily indus- narrow the deficit of Naftohaz, which in Kyiv to consider Putin’s proposal struction of energy facilities.