INSIDE: l Biden on cooperation with Russia, war in Ukraine – page 3 l Soyuzivka Heritage Center: a progress report – page 5 l “Conflict Zone: Ukraine” photo exhibit in Chicago – page 11 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIII No. 23 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015 $2.00 NEWS ANALYSIS Out with a whimper: Poroshenko appoints Saakashvili to lead Odesa by Zenon Zawada Novorossiya, 2014-2015 KYIV – In an unexpected move, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko appointed for- by Daisy Sindelar mer Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili RFE/RL as head of the Odesa Oblast State Administration to lead the president’s initia- Novorossiya has a flag, an anthem tives in the region, as well as oversee the and a news service. But it may no lon- spending of funds earmarked by the central ger have a future, if it ever did. Kyiv budget. The project – to combine breakaway Though he was placed under arrest in regions of Ukraine into an indepen- his native Georgia, Mr. Saakashvili is among dent, pro-Russian state known as New the most popular post-Soviet politicians in Russia, or Novorossiya – appeared to Ukraine and the West after leading reforms breathe its last this week with an that turned Georgia into a competitive announcement by a top separatist offi- economy. He has a long history in Ukraine, cial. having studied alongside Mr. Poroshenko in Oleg Tsarev, speaker of what sepa- Kyiv and learned the Ukrainian language. ratists call the “joint parliament” of the A key supporter of the maidans in Kyiv, Mr. self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk Saakashvili spent recent months criticizing “people’s republics,” announced on the Ukrainian government for failing to president.gov.ua May 20 that the activity of all quickly carry out needed reforms. In appoint- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko presents former Georgian President Mikheil Novorossiya structures had been “fro- ing Mr. Saakashvili, Mr. Poroshenko is forcing Saakashvili as the new head of the Odesa Oblast State Administration to local resi- zen” in apparent compliance with the him to either show what he can do or back dents on May 30. Minsk peace accord aimed at ending down from the criticism, observers said. hostilities in eastern Ukraine. “Saakashvili simply couldn’t be an out- with success at that, as he’s likely hoping.” dent referred to him as an “independent, “We’re doing this because we don’t side observer of Ukraine’s reforms process, Mr. Saaskashvili will have his work cut decisive person” and assigned him the pri- want to be blamed for the breakdown or just a top advisor at that. It’s not in his out for him as Odesa is among the main orities of deoligarchization, fighting corrup- of the Minsk agreement,” Mr. Tsarev active nature,” said Volodymyr Fesenko, the sources of corruption in the Ukrainian tion, ensuring transparency in the state cus- told the Russian News Service. “The director of the Penta Center for Applied economy, being the nation’s biggest port toms and tax-collecting services, and document stipulates that the Donetsk Political Research in Kyiv. “His hyper-ener- and having a reputation for contraband for defending the rights of citizens. and Luhansk republics will be an getic nature requires applying himself to a decades, dating back to the Soviet era. In turn, Mr. Saakashvili said he’d make autonomous part of Ukraine. But there concrete matter. He doesn’t even know how Odesa is also the nation’s third-largest city, reducing contraband a priority and ensure was nothing said about Novorossiya.” long he will have to wait until he returns to behind Kyiv and Kharkiv. Mr. Tsarev’s words appear to close Georgia. Yet he can return from Ukraine In presenting Mr. Saakashvili, the presi- (Continued on page 8) the curtain on a yearlong existentialist threat that, as originally conceived, would have ended with an enormous territorial patchwork – stretching from Canadian defense minister: Door is open to Ukraine to join NATO Kharkiv to Odesa – breaking free of Ukrainian rule. by Christopher Guly When were you last in Ukraine? What did you observe? The Novorossiya project, inaugurated Special to The Ukrainian Weekly on May 24, 2014, in Donetsk – with rep- March of 2013. This was before Euro- resentatives from the Dnipropetrovsk, OTTAWA – From sanctions to military Maidan. Zaporizhia, Odesa, Luhansk, Mykolayiv, and financial support, Canada’s position What I saw and heard was a great deal of Kharkiv and Kherson regions – delight- regarding Ukrainian sovereignty amid frustration with the [Viktor] Yanukovych ed the Kremlin with its evocation of the Russian aggression is best summarized in a administration. I felt it myself in meeting Russian Empire’s reach. post on the Department of Foreign Affairs, with his ministers and senior officials. I felt It dovetailed with Moscow’s increas- Trade and Development Twitter account: like I had gone back in a time machine to ingly assertive articulation of its vision “Canada will never recognize the illegal the Soviet period. They could never seem to of a “Greater Russia” that began with annexation of Crimea #CrimeaIsUkraine.” give a direct answer to any question. I was the already-annexed Crimean Peninsula And one of Ukraine’s staunchest asking for the simplest things. and would eventually expand to include Canadian defenders is Jason Kenney, I was there partly asking Ukraine to par- the South Caucasus, Central Asia and Canada’s 47-year-old minister of national ticipate in the International Holocaust Moldova’s breakaway Transdniester defense and minister for multiculturalism, Remembrance Alliance to help do impor- (also known as Transnistria). who makes his fourth trip to Ukraine in tant work on the graves of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian Jews – and I The word “Novorossiya” had already June to greet about 200 Canadian Armed couldn’t even get them to say yes to that. crept into the Russian media around Forces personnel who will provide training One just felt a sense of a government that the time of the takeover of Crimea, and for combat, improvised explosive device Jason Kenney, Canada’s minister of detection and detonation, first aid and was corrupt to the core and indifferent to President Vladimir Putin began using it national defense and minister for multi- what the international community thought. in public statements. medical and flight safety as well as for culturalism. Nominally, he was referring to the Ukrainian military police. Had you been to Ukraine when it was separatist-held section of eastern Mr. Kenney, who has also held the Minister Stephen Harper, whom he previ- under Soviet rule? ously served as parliamentary secretary. Ukraine, but the implicit threat was Employment and Social Development, and No, my first trip was in November of Canadian correspondent Christopher Citizenship and Immigration cabinet portfo- 2008 and I had just become minister of Guly recently spoke to Mr. Kenney. (Continued on page 5) lios in Canada’s Conservative government, is considered a potential successor to Prime Following is his transcript of the interview. (Continued on page 13) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JUNE 7, 2015 No. 23 ANALYSIS Russia curtails population’s access Zakharchenko pledges to retake towns Donetsk a group of armed men wearing uniforms marked with the insignia of DONETSK – A self-proclaimed leader of Russian army units, as well as military the pro-Russian separatists in eastern to publicly available information equipment with Russian license plates, the Ukraine has pledged to take control of cit- head of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring ru, May 29). ies controlled by Ukraine’s government. by Pavel K. Baev Mission in Ukraine (SMM) Michael What aggravates Western worries is not Aleksandr Zakharchenko said on May 29 in Eurasia Daily Monitor Bociurkiw said on Ukrainian radio station only the incessant war-mongering of official the rebel-controlled Ukrainian city of Radio Vesti on June 3. “I want to note an Russia’s deteriorating economic situa- Russian propaganda but also Moscow’s Donetsk that separatist forces will regain important point, that last week, on May tion is exacerbating the various social prob- increasingly harsh suppression of internal control over Sloviansk, Kostiantynivka and lems in the country, and the authorities are dissent. In fact, President Putin’s decree on 28-29, in the area of Donetsk our observers Krasnoarmiysk, which were briefly held by came across three armed men in camou- apparently finding no other way to deal criminalizing any disclosure of casualties the rebels last year. He said “as soon as we with such issues but to shut down all out- fits into the larger picture of banning debate flage uniforms with the stripes of Russian realize” that retaking the towns by political army units,” he said. In addition, Mr. lets for public debate. On May 28, President on any themes deemed corrosive to “nation- means is not possible, “a decision will be al unity” – as measured by Mr. Putin’s dubi- Bociurkiw said the observers also spotted Vladimir Putin expanded the definition of made to liberate these territories.” Mr. ously high approval ratings (Gazeta.ru, May military equipment with license plates information constituting state secrets to Zakharchenko, who calls himself the head include data on casualties sustained by the 28). The sharp increase in mortality in from the Russian Federation. As UNIAN of state and prime minister of the self- armed forces in the course of “special oper- Russia in the first quarter of 2015 is reported earlier, Assistant Secretary- styled Donetsk People’s Republic, has pre- ations” in peacetime (Kommersant, May explained away as a fluke in demographic viously pledged that rebel military forces 29). statistics, and no discussion of this data in said that the United Nations had recorded would retake areas in Ukraine’s Donetsk The immediate reason appears to be the the context of the deteriorating health care moreGeneral signs for ofHuman Russian Rights involvement Ivan Šimonović in the region not currently held by the separat- need to silence the voices that raise the sen- system is allowed (Grani.ru, May 29).