INSIDE: • Washington’s overtures to Moscow – page 2. • The post-Soviet generation in Kyiv – page 3. • Composer Vasyl Ivasiuk remembered in Kyiv – page 8. THEPublished U byKRAINIAN the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW associationEEKLY Vol. LXXVII No.11 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2009 $1/$2 in Ukraine Lydia Krushelnytsky, renowned director Verveer named U.S. ambassador of Ukrainian Stage Ensemble, dies for women’s issues worldwide PARSIPPANY, N.Y. – Melanne Verveer, a Ukrainian American known for her work with emerging women leaders of the world, has been tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as ambassador-at- large for global women’s issues. The announcement of the appointment to this newly created position within the State Department headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came on March 6. The official announcement from the White House provided the following information: “Melanne Verveer is co-founder, chair and co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international non-profit that invests in emerging women leaders – pioneers of economic, political and social progress in their countries. “Prior to founding Vital Voices, Roman Iwasiwka Verveer served as assistant to the presi- Lydia Krushelnytsky in 2005 at a luncheon celebrating 40 years of her work with dent and chief of staff to the first lady in the Ukrainian Stage Ensemble. the Clinton administration, and was chief assistant to then First Lady Hillary Clinton in her international activities. NEW YORK – Lydia Krushelnytsky, matriculating from the “Ridna Shkola” Verveer also took the lead in establishing gymnasium in Stanislaviv, she studied née Karatnytsky, renowned director of the the President’s Interagency Council on music and drama at the Lviv Conservatory, Yaro Bihun Ukrainian Stage Ensemble, died March 4 Women, which serves as a model for gov- where in 1939 she received her diploma as Melanne Verveer at the age of 93. ernments to address issues of concern to a student of the renowned basso and pro- She was the widow of Leontij women. fessor Adam Didur. landmark civil rights bills. She was coor- Krushelnytsky, a co-founder and conduc- “Previously, Verveer served as execu- tor of the Dumka Choir. After having been forced to leave dinator for civil rights and urban affairs Ukraine during World War II, she and her tive vice-president of People for the for the U.S. Catholic Conference, field Mrs. Krushelnytsky was born on May husband became active participants in the American Way, a civil rights and consti- manager of Common Cause, and worked 1, 1915, in Kuty, Stanislaviv (now Ivano- tutional liberties organization where she Frankivsk) Oblast, western Ukraine. After (Continued on page 4) played a key role in the passage of several (Continued on page 4) John Demjanjuk faces Ternopil residents protest cancellation of oblast elections by Zenon Zawada mates of 16 to 19 percent for the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc new charges in Germany Kyiv Press Bureau and 6 to 13 percent for Our Ukraine. (Oblast council elec- tions are based on a closed-list system, in which voters PARSIPPANY, N.J. – John Demjanjuk of Seven Hills, TERNOPIL, Ukraine – First they supported Viktor select a party or bloc of parties, which offer a pre-selected Ohio, was charged by German prosecutors on March 11 Yushchenko, then they flocked to Yulia Tymoshenko. list of candidates.) with 29,000 counts of accessory to murder for his But turbulent times demand radical steps, and nationalist As of March 12, it remained unclear whether the Ternopil alleged role as a guard at the Nazi death camp in Oleh Tiahnybok, leader of the Svoboda All-Ukrainian Oblast Council election would be held. The previous day, a Sobibor, Poland. Union, has emerged as the most popular politician in the Ternopil district court ruled the local election commission German authorities, who say the retired autoworker Ternopil region. had illegally halted the elections and ordered them restored. was a guard at Sobibor between March and September Svoboda nationalists were expected to win the pre-term Shortly afterwards, Tymoshenko Bloc national deputies 1943, will seek Mr. Demjanjuk’s extradition from the elections to the Ternopil Oblast Council scheduled for defiantly said they would appeal the decision to a higher United States. March 15, alarming Prime Minister Tymoshenko so much court, which would prevent the ruling from taking effect. Spiegel Online reported that experts from the that her parliamentary faction helped the Party of Regions of Furthermore, they insisted no one show up. Bavarian State Office of Criminal Investigation recently Ukraine sack Foreign Affairs Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko However, the Rating Sociological Group in Lviv reported verified the validity of an ID card, which puts Mr. at the March 3 session of Parliament in exchange for support that only 8 percent of Ternopil residents said they wouldn’t Demjanjuk in Sobibor during the period when the crimes in canceling the Ternopil vote. show up for the election; of those who said they would turn took place. Political observers said it’s the first time Parliament can- out, 33 percent said they would vote for Svoboda. (The poll The JTA news service quoted Efraim Zuroff, the chief celed an election before it was scheduled to be held, a dan- surveyed 1,000 Ternopil residents between February 21 and Nazi hunter for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and direc- gerous and illegal precedent set by the prime minister who 28; it had a margin of error of plus/minus 3 percent.) tor of its Israel office as saying, “We are extremely stood on Independence Square just four years ago to demand Around its core nationalist platforms that support pleased that the decision was made.” He added, “We are a fair presidential election. Ukrainianization policies, Svoboda positions itself as a party only hoping the process can now be expedited. The lon- “It’s ridiculous for Parliament to vote to cancel an elec- that represents the interests of villagers and middle-class ger it goes on, the greater the chances he will be able to tion just 12 days away,” said Ivan Lozowy, president of the Ukrainians, challenging the nation’s oligarchs who control escape a worthy punishment.” Institute of Statehood and Democracy in Kyiv. “It shows the the political system through their commercialized parties JTA also reported that the Munich court that issued an Tymoshenko Bloc is running scared with its drop in the rat- and blocs. arrest warrant for Mr. Demjanjuk had relied heavily on ings. It also shows an anti-democratic streak in her, but she’s Mr. Tiahnybok is a handsome, charismatic speaker capa- material provided by the U.S. Office of Special always had that.” ble of stirring the passions and resentments of ethnically Various polls leading up to the election projected between (Continued on page 15) 23 and 33 percent of the vote for Svoboda, compared to esti- (Continued on page 10) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 15, 2009 No. 11 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFS Washington’s overtures Nalyvaichenko appointed SBU chief Ex-judge Ihor Zvarych detained KYIV – The Verkhovna Rada on KYIV – Officers of the Security Service fail to impress Moscow March 6 approved Valentyn of Ukraine (SBU) brought ex-judge Ihor Nalyvaichenko as chief of the Security Zvarych to Kyiv late on March 10. The by Pavel Felgenhauer nuclear and ballistic missile programs Service of Ukraine. A total of 230 nation- Procurator General’s Office (PGO) reported (Kommersant, March 2; The New York Eurasia Daily Monitor that Mr. Zvarych arrived in Kyiv under Times, March 3). al deputies from the ruling coalition cast police escort. The ex-head of the Lviv President Barak Obama’s administration The Russian response was unenthusias- their votes for the president’s appointee. Administrative Appeals Court, who was on has been preparing a set of wide-ranging tic. Speaking at a press conference in The Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc supported the wanted list on charges of bribery, was initiatives to “reset” U.S.-Russian relations. Spain, President Medvedev ruled out any Mr. Nalyvaichenko’s appointment despite detained in Lviv. On December 2, 2008, the Nuclear arms control talks are planned to deal to “swap” Iran for missile defense. his firm loyalty to President Viktor Procurator General’s Office had instituted resume; NATO officials have told reporters The Kremlin acknowledged a letter from Yushchenko. Observers say the YTB did that meetings of the NATO-Russia Council, the U.S. president that “contained different so because the alternative was Valerii criminal proceedings on large-scale bribery which stopped in August 2008 after the offers, but no concrete proposals” Khoroshkovskyi, who has partnered with against the former judge. During searches of Russian invasion of Georgia, will resume (Interfax, March 3). Mr. Yushchenko and Dmytro Firtash in Mr. Zvarych’s place of work and residence soon; and Washington has hinted that it may In turn, Mr. Obama admitted that his let- the gas war against Prime Minister Yulia and six judges of the Lviv Administrative reconsider plans to deploy a missile defense ter did not contain a specific proposal for a Tymoshenko. On March 10 Mr. Appeals Court, SBU and the PGO officials system in Eastern Europe. The Russian deal: “What I said... was that, obviously, to Yushchenko introduced the new SBU seized $1 million (U.S.) and 2 million hrv. response to these overtures was overall posi- the extent that we are lessening Iran’s com- chief to the service’s personnel. The pres- On December 15, 2008, the SBU of the tive but guarded (ITAR-TASS, March 4). mitment to nuclear weapons, then that ident pointed to the need for more reso- Lviv region placed Mr. Zvarych on the This week the first train carrying a cargo reduces the pressure for, or the need for a lute action against manifestations of sepa- wanted list after he disappeared from a pri- of non-military supplies to the U.S.