INSIDE: l EU includes Ukraine on ‘green zone’ list – page 4 l Festival kicks off Soyuzivka summer season – centerfold l Ukraine sends 155 athletes to Summer Olympics – page 17 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal Wnon-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXIX No. 30 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2021 $2.00 NEWS ANALYSIS U.S., Germany green light deal on NS2, leaving Ukraine takes a big step toward judicial reform Kyiv exposed to further Russian aggression by Olena Halushka and potential international investors who might Tetiana Shevchuk otherwise have entered the Ukrainian mar- Ukrainian presidential advisor says separate U.S.-Ukraine UkraineAlert ket. security agreement is “hopeful but not certain” Ukraine’s judiciary is governed by two Ukraine took a potential landmark step bodies. The HCJ is the main body in the sys- toward judicial reform in mid-July when tem of judicial governance of Ukraine. It members of parliament adopted two laws has full control over the appointment and that should establish credible foundations dismissal of Ukrainian judges. Key respon- for the reboot of the country’s legal system. sibilities include protecting judges from On July 13, the Ukrainian parliament unlawful interference by other agencies backed legislation to relaunch the deeply and holding judges accountable for profes- compromised High Qualification Commis- sional misconduct, including the granting sion of Judges (HQCJ) and the High Council of permission to pursue criminal prosecu- of Justice (HCJ). Crucially, independent tions against individual judges. international experts will participate in the The HQCJ is often referred to as the envisaged future selection process. human resources department for the For the past seven years, Ukraine’s flawed Ukrainian judiciary. It is responsible for the judicial system has been the Achilles heel of selection of future judges and it vets cur- the country’s reform efforts. Since the 2014 rent judges who do not meet professional- Euro-Maidan revolution, Ukraine has ism and integrity criteria during re-attesta- achieved progress in a range of reform areas tion processes. including government procurement, corpo- Both of these bodies have long been seen rate governance, banking industry transpar- as under the sway of existing interest groups ency and the fight against corruption. within the judiciary. Instead of cleansing the However, the dysfunctional Ukrainian court judiciary of tainted judges, they stand https://www.facebook.com/POTUS system has hung over this entire reform pro- accused of providing cover for them and German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Joe Biden met at the White cess like a sword of Damocles, threatening successfully blocking all prior attempts to House on July 16. to reverse anti-corruption gains and under- overhaul the Ukrainian court system. mine Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic aspirations. Between 2014 and 2019, the HCJ and the by Mark Raczkiewycz to allow its completion, leaving Ukraine In addition to damaging the country’s HQCJ stand accused of securing the appoint- vulnerable to further Russian military reform efforts, this has resulted in signifi- ment of politically controlled and dependent KYIV – Ukraine is still pursuing a last- aggression. cant economic costs. Ukraine’s inability to judges to Ukraine’s new Supreme Court. gasp effort to halt a Kremlin pipeline The efforts come as a White House invi- provide genuine rule of law reform has project to Germany despite an agreement served to stunt GDP growth and scare away (Continued on page 12) reached between Washington and Berlin (Continued on page 3) Svoboda awarded 2020 Antonovych prize by Andrew Nynka Ivan Drach (1991), Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak and Lina of Ukrainian culture. Since then, it has donated nearly $5 Kostenko (1989), Robert Conquest and Leonid Plyushch million to help finance the development of many aca- WALTHAM, Mass. – Svoboda, the oldest continually (1987), and Orest Subtelny and Vasyl Stus (1982). demic and cultural institutions and monuments in published Ukrainian-language newspaper in the world, The 2020 Antonovych prize was to be given last year, Ukraine, among them, the reconstruction the National has been awarded the 2020 Antonovych prize, accord- but as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy’s main library, the ing to the Omelan and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation. because officials from the Antonovych Foundation did renovation of the Vasyl Stefanyk Library and Artists The prize – the Omelan and Tatiana Antonovych not want to bestow the award virtually, they decided to Palace in Lviv, and the building of the Boykivshchyna Foundation Award – is given for literary works written wait until they could hold the award ceremony in per- Museum in Dolyna, in western Ukraine, where Omelan in Ukrainian or about Ukraine and for research on son at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington. Ukraine’s Antonovych was born in 1914. The foundation also pro- Ukrainian studies. It includes a monetary award. This Ambassador to the United States, Olena Markarova, is vided $100,000 to help finance the building of the year’s award will be bestowed during a ceremony in the expected to take part in the ceremony. Ukrainian Holodomor Memorial in Washington. Ukrainian Embassy in Washington on October 30, Svoboda was founded on September 11, 1893, by the Omelan Antonovych spent his early adult years as a according to officials from the Antonovych Foundation. Rev. Hryhory (Gregory) Hrushka. It was adopted by the Ukrainian national activist and spent some time as a Ihor Voyevidka, president of the board of the Omelan Ukrainian National Association (UNA) on February 22, political prisoner in Polish and Nazi prisons. Later, he and Tatiana Antonovych Foundation, contacted Svoboda 1894, and has been published by the UNA continuously received a law degree at the Ukrainian Free University on July 13 and informed its editor-in-chief that the news- since that date. In 1933, the UNA began publishing The in Prague in 1943. After World War II, he married paper had been chosen for the annual award, which is Ukrainian Weekly, a sister publication to Svoboda and Tatiana Terlecky, a physician who later became a world- the 40th anniversary of the first award given and only the oldest English language newspaper of the Ukrainian renowned kidney specialist. the second given to an organization. In 1992 the award diaspora in North America. Svoboda became a bi-week- After the war, the couple emigrated to the United was given to the publication “Literaturna Ukrayina.” ly on March 1, 1894, a tri-weekly on August 8, 1914, States, settling in Washington, where Dr. Tatiana The first award was given to famed Ukrainian writer and a daily newspaper on January 3, 1921. It became a Antonovych worked as a scholar and taught in capital Vasyl Barka in 1981. Previous laureates include Alexander weekly again on July 3, 1998. area medical schools, while Mr. Antonovych focused on Motyl (2019), Anne Applebaum (2017), Timothy Snyder Omelan and Tatiana Antonovych established their ranching and real estate. She passed away in 2001, and (2014), Borys Gudziak (2005), Zbigniew Brzezinski and foundation in 1980, with the goal of advancing the study he died in 2008. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JULY 25, 2021 No. 30 NEWS ANALYSIS Defining America’s ‘national Relationship of ‘paramount importance’ important work done.” (RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service) The current U.S. administration is eager interest’ in Ukraine’s security to deepen and strengthen ties with U.S., Germany reach deal on NS2 Ukraine, as the two countries’ military which have a far more direct claim on U.S. by Eugene Z. Stakhiv relationship is of “paramount importance” The United States and Germany say national interests, have been terminated for Kyiv’s goal of establishing a closer rela- they have reached an agreement to allow There are several ominous signs for because of the specter of fighting “endless tionship with NATO, a senior State the completion of Nord Stream 2, the con- Ukraine’s desire to gain security guarantees wars.” What is America’s interest in defend- Department official has told RFE/RL. U.S. troversial Russian gas pipeline to Europe from the U.S. and its main allies in NATO, ing Ukraine against Russia? Who defines State Depart ment Counselor Derek Chollet that opponents say undermines the energy Germany and France. None of the ‘big that “national interest” – the president, also said there would be “a lot of mutual security of Ukraine and other Eastern and three’ are ready to support NATO member- Congress or both? Finally, what sort of interest at stake” when the U.S. and Central European countries. The Biden ship or even a Membership Action Plan security agreement would best suit the Ukrainian presidents meet at the White administration is expected to face strong (MAP) for Ukraine. Ukrainian President purposes of both the U.S. and Ukraine? House, a visit that Washington on July 21 pushback over the deal from Congress, Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with German Ukraine has been in a state of war against announced would take place on August 30. which has twice passed sanctions legisla- Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on July Russia for seven years now. Understandably, Mr. Chollet was in Kyiv on July 21 to dis- tion to stop the project with overwhelming 12 and walked away with no guarantees of it is difficult for Ukrainian-Americans to cuss ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine, bipartisan support. In a joint statement on military support, NATO membership, nor of separate U.S. national interests from those efforts to counter Russian actions in the July 21, the United States and Germany reversing the Nord Stream 2 pipeline deci- of Ukraine’s national interests, particularly region and economic and anti-corruption said they have agreed on a package of sion.