Part 1 of THE YEAR IN REVIEW pages 7-15 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXXIX No. 3 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2021 $2.00 New twist in Sheremet murder case as audio U.S. sanctions more Ukrainians suspected recording allegedly implicates Belarusian KGB of interfering in 2020 presidential election by Mark Raczkiewycz repeated public statements to advance dis- information narratives that U.S. govern- KYIV – The U.S. Treasury Department on ment officials have engaged in corrupt January 11 sanctioned several Ukrainian dealings in Ukraine.” individuals and entities linked to a Verkhovna In a separate statement, Secretary of Rada lawmaker that a Washington intelli- State Mike Pompeo said that Mr. Derkach gence agency says is a Russian agent who “has been an active Russian agent for more allegedly attempted to influence the 2020 than a decade, maintaining close connec- U.S. presidential election. tions with Russian intelligence services.” Joining lawmaker and suspected Russian A graduate of the Soviet Union’s KGB agent Andriy Derkach, who does not belong academy, Mr. Derkach was sanctioned in to a political party, on the department’s August for “spreading claims about corrup- “Specially Designated Nationals List” is tion – including through publicising leaked Oleksandr Dubinsky, who leads the party phone calls – to undermine former Vice- Servant of the People. President Biden’s candidacy and the Mr. Dubinsky previously worked for bil- Democratic Party,” Director of the National RFE/RL lionaire oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky’s 1+1 Counterintelligence and Security Center television channel, which provided favor- A sign asking “Who killed Pavlo?” in front of the new memorial to Pavlo Sheremet in (NCSC) William Evanina said in a news Kyiv. The case has yet to be solved. able coverage of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s release at that time. successful presidential campaign in 2019. Mr. Derkach has rejected the sanctions Andriy Telizhenko, a former diplomat imposed on him as part of “Ukraine being by Roman Tymotsko with his subordinates to assassinate Mr. Sheremet. who briefly worked at the Ukrainian managed by foreign actors.” KYIV – Belarusian President Alyaksandr Also discussed on the recordings are the Embassy in Washington, was included on Four websites were also sanctioned and Lukashenka allegedly ordered the coun- slayings of three other Belarusians in the list, as were former high-level prosecu- labeled “media front companies in Ukraine try’s security agency to plot the assassina- Germany on orders of the Belarusian tor Kostyantyn Kulyk and fugitive ex-law- that spread disinformation.” All are tied to tion of journalist Pavlo Sheremet with an authoritarian leader, whose re-election as maker Oleksandr Onyshchenko. Mr. Derkach. explosive device in 2012, according to president in 2020 has been disputed and The four allegedly “have publicly The remaining three sanctioned individ- audio recordings that a former Belarusian has led to protests that have continued to appeared or affiliated themselves with uals are Petro Zhuravel, who is a member spy chief released to a European news this day. Numerous Western countries have [Mr.] Derkach through the coordinated dis- of Mr. Derkach’s media team; Dmytro outlet. not recognized the legitimacy of Mr. semination and promotion of fraudulent Kovalchuk, who is a long-time supporter of Per those recordings, which were given Lukashenka’s election. and unsubstantiated allegations involving a Mr. Derkach; and Anton Simonenko, who to the EU Observer, Vadzim Zaytsau, who Mr. Sheremet, a Belarusian-born journal- U.S. political candidate,” the Treasury “served as [Mr.] Derkach’s assistant for headed the Belarusian State Security Department said in a news release. Committee in 2008-2012, discussed a plan (Continued on page 3) It further said that “they have made (Continued on page 18) Ukrainian government adopts COVID-19 vaccination plan to combat pandemic by Roman Tymotsko tions, local authorities, doctors, and the public,” Mr. Kuzin said. KYIV – Ukraine’s Ministry of Health The plan will be updated every two recently approved a plan to immunize the weeks in response to developments with country’s population against COVID-19. the pandemic in Ukraine. The purpose, tar- The program, developed by experts from get groups, logistics routes, medical train- the Public Health Center of Ukraine togeth- ing, communication, and deployment of er with experts from WHO and UNICEF, mobile teams are all part of the country’s will provide Ukrainians with a vaccination plan to fight the pandemic. funded by the state. The goal of the plan is According to the Public Health Center, to ensure that at least half of Ukraine’s pop- the plan will change only in the case of rad- ulation of about 42 million people receive a ically new information. However, the plan COVID-19 vaccine in 2021-2022. Per the will be continuously reassessed and updat- plan, the first vaccines are expected in ed based on any new information that Ukraine in February 2021. emerges during different stages of new “This plan will be flexible. It will be vaccine development. updated depending on the situation with “We are ready to receive the vaccine in COVID-19, updated data on vaccines, the the first quarter of 2021. Vaccination of availability of the vaccine itself,” said Ihor medical workers will be a priority, especial- Kuzin, the director general of the Public ly those who work in hospitals that provide Health Center. Cabinet of Ministers treatment for COVID-19,” said Mr. Kuzin, the “The success of plan’s implementation Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (fourth from the right) and Ambassadors director general of the Public Health Center. directly depends on partnership and close of the G-7 States and the European Union met on December 22 to discuss the fight cooperation with regional health institu- against COVID-19. (Continued on page 19) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 17, 2021 No. 3 ANALYSIS Stolen Childhood: Russian Propaganda Court will hear case on rights violations in Crimea sometimes states ignore them. (Reuters, with reporting by Pavel Polityuk and The European Court of Human Rights Andrew Osborn) and Militarization of Youth in Crimea (ECHR) will hear part of a case brought by Ukraine alleging Russian human rights vio- Darknet marketplace servers seized in Ukraine identity of children and deprives them of by Alla Hurska lations in the Crimea peninsula annexed by the opportunity to freely choose their iden- Eurasia Daily Monitor Moscow in 2014, the court said on January German authorities have shut down “the tity. Orphans and children from low-income 14. Abuses alleged by Ukraine – including world’s largest” illegal online marketplace On December 7, the General Assembly of families are particularly vulnerable. One of enforced disappearances, unlawful deten- as part of an international operation against the United Nations (UNGA) adopted the res- the examples of propaganda work target- the darknet. The so-called DarkMarket was olution “Problem of the militarization of the ing this category of children is a special tion and suppression of non-Russian media – had been deemed admissible and would taken offline and more than 20 servers, Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the “Yunarmia Mentoring” program launched located in Ukraine and Moldova, were city of Sevastopol, Ukraine, as well as parts by the eponymous Yunarmia (“Youth be followed by a judgment at a later date, an ECHR statement said. The court said there seized as part of an ongoing investigation of of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov,” initiat- Army”) military-patriotic movement in users of the illegal platform, Europol said ed by Ukraine (Mfa.gov.ua, December 16, Crimea. This project also aims to promote was not enough evidence for Ukrainian alle- gations of a pattern of killings and shoot- on January 12. “The stored data will give 2020). The declaration indicates that the military service among these children (Arc. investigators new leads to further investi- transformation of the peninsula into a huge construction, December 20, 2020). ings and detentions of foreign journalists or the alleged confiscation of Ukrainian sol- gate moderators, sellers, and buyers,” the Russian military base “represents a threat According to information collected joint- European police agency said. An Australian to peace and security well beyond the Black ly by the Office of the Prosecutor General of diers’ property. Relations between Ukraine and Russia collapsed after Moscow’s annex- citizen alleged to have been the operator of Sea region” (Un.org, December 7, 2020). Ukraine and the CHRG, the Russian DarkMarket was arrested near the German- This was the third year in a row that the Federation introduces and implements ation of Crimea and support for separatists Danish border over the weekend. Around a UNGA raised such concerns, but this time, complex compulsory programs of military- in the Donbass conflict in eastern Ukraine half million users and more than 2,000 sell- new key elements were included in the doc- patriotic education in all educational insti- that has killed 14,000 people since 2014. A ers used the website to sell illegal drugs, ument. Solomiya Bobrovskaya, the secre- tutions in occupied Crimea for children statement from the Russian justice ministry counterfeit money, stolen or falsified credit tary of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on from preschool age to adults. In particular, focused on the allegations thrown out by cards, anonymous SIM cards, and malware. Foreign Policy and Inter-Parliamentary Russia has established numerous paramili- the court, including the most serious, that More than 320,000 transactions were con- Cooperation, mentioned that for the first tary and cadet classes in secondary schools civilians had been murdered. The Kremlin- ducted via the website using cryptocurren- time, the U.N. resolution includes informa- (including cadet classes of the Russian backed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, tion regarding the militarization of Crimean National Guard and the Investigative wrote on social media that Ukraine’s allega- cy amounting to around $170 million.