INSIDE: l Miss Soyuzivka 2019 is crowned – page 11 l 18th annual Lemko Vatra held in Ellenville – page 15 l Ukrainian Catholic University graduates 270 – page 17 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXVI No. 33 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018 $2.00 Kremlin rejects mother’s request Movie about last days of dissident for pardon of Oleh Sentsov Vasyl Stus’s life mired in controversy RFE/RL The deputy speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, Iryna Herashchenko, criticized The Kremlin has rejected a request by the Kremlin’s response to Ms. Sentsova’s the mother of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh request, calling it “cynical” and noting that Sentsov to pardon her son and release him other prominent Ukrainian citizens jailed from a Russian prison. in Russia – Nadiya Savchenko, Akhtem Ukraine’s Hromadske TV showed the Chiygoz and Ilmi Umerov – were pardoned Kremlin’s written answer to Lyudmyla and released without officially requesting a Sentsova late on August 14 – revealing that pardon. her July 13 request for a pardon was reject- “The Kremlin is lying!... [Russian ed on the grounds that Russian law requires President Vladimir] Putin knows that Oleh that “a convicted individual must ask for [Sentsov] will never ask for clemency,” Ms. clemency personally.” Herashchenko said. “The Russian Mr. Sentsov has previously said that he Federation is implementing the scenario will not ask for a pardon because he for the eventual murder of Oleh.” believes he was jailed on politically motivat- ed charges and has not committed a crime. (Continued on page 10) stusfilm.com.ua Ukrainian actor Dmytro Yaroshenko during a scene in which he portrays Ukrainian poet and human rights defender Vasyl Stus for a movie that is scheduled to premiere “Glory to Ukraine” to become on February 28, 2019. by Mark Raczkiewycz statement published on August 12 on the civic group Ukrainian Choice’s website. official greeting of armed forces KYIV – Controversy is swirling over a Mr. Medvedchuk, a current arbiter in the biopic film about the last days of Ukrainian failed Minsk peace process that seeks to poet and human rights activist Vasyl Stus, end the Donbas war that Russia started, is who died in 1985 at the age of 47 in a under U.S. sanctions for “threatening the forced labor camp, where he was impris- peace, security, stability, sovereignty or ter- oned for defying Soviet authorities and ritorial integrity” of his country. advocating Ukraine’s self-determination. Activists, including members of the legal Civic and governmental pressure fol- community, assert that Mr. Medvedchuk lowed after August 10, when the wider pub- failed to properly defend Stus during his lic discovered that the filmmakers of the second show trial in 1980. The political movie, “Stus,” had excluded courtroom prisoner died five years later in the Soviet scenes with the dissident’s Soviet-appointed gulag. public defender, Viktor Medvedchuk, that Oleg Babanin, the spokesman for Mr. were initially part of the screenplay. Medvedchuk’s Ukrainian Choice group, Ukrainian actor Genadii Popenko, who which also played a prominent role in unsuccessfully tried to be cast for the role of advocating for the Kremlin’s illegal take- the poet, learned that the scenes had been over of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in Mykola Lazarenko/Presidential Administration of Ukraine removed after talking to the movie’s actors 2014, didn’t respond to a request for com- During a visit to the state enterprise Artem in Kyiv, President Petro Poroshenko and shared the information on his Facebook ment. announces that “Glory to Ukraine – Glory to the Heroes” will become the official timeline the same day. (Actor Dmytro Meanwhile, the dissident poet’s son, military greeting of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Yaroshenko was given the lead role.) Dmytro Stus, reneged on his February The social-media post garnered more KYIV – The words “Glory to Ukraine – duction of the words “Glory to Ukraine” promise to the film’s co-producer, Artem than 13,000 shares in less than three days. Denisov, and director, Roman Brovko, to not Glory to the Heroes” will be used as mili- and the response “Glory to the Heroes” Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman tary greetings for the first time on August (Slava Ukraini – Heroyam Slava) as an interfere with the movie about his father subsequently ordered the Ministry of after the revelation that the scene depicting 24 – Ukraine’s Independence Day – dur- official military greeting was thoroughly Culture and state-run movie company ing the parade in honor of the 27th anni- discussed with servicemen and veterans Mr. Medvedchuk would be included. Derzhkino to ensure that “the history of my versary of the re-establishment of the of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) As the copyright owner of his father’s fellow countryman – a true patriot and fight- country’s independence, President Petro before the decision was made. written works, Dmytro Stus said in an er for Ukraine’s freedom, Vasyl Stus, is con- Poroshenko informed the news media. Mr. Poroshenko noted that the greet- August 15 telephone interview with The veyed honestly, truthfully and without dis- “We have consulted with the minister of ing will be enshrined officially in docu- Ukrainian Weekly that now he won’t give tortion.” defense, the National Security and Defense ments to be approved by the Verkhovna permission to cite his father’s poetry in the The next day, “Stus” filmmakers Council, the government, and I have decid- Rada once it begins its next session in movie. ed that starting from August 24 these early September, as this requires changes announced that they would shoot the cour- “It’s because of moral and ethical rea- words will be heard for the first time as to the statutes of all the troops of the toom scenes that were omitted, according sons,” he said without offering an explana- part of the official military parade ceremo- Armed Forces of Ukraine. After the com- to their official Facebook page. tion. ny on the Independence Day of Ukraine,” pletion of the proper procedures, “these Concurrently, through his lawyer, Mr. In 2013, Dmytro Stus was a jury member Mr. Poroshenko said during his visit on words and this greeting will become the Medvedchuk – a political heavyweight who for a poetry contest that Mr. Medvedchuk’s August 9 to the state-owned joint-stock official military greeting of the Armed boasts Russian President Vladimir Putin as Ukrainian Choice had organized, according company Artem, part of Ukroboronprom, Forces of Ukraine,” President Poroshenko the godfather to his daughter, and who to a YouTube video published on March 27, which unites enterprises of Ukraine’s stated. headed Ukrainian ex-President Leonid 2013. In the clip, Mr. Stus is seen criticizing military-industrial complex. Source: Presidential Administration of Kuchma’s staff in 2002-2005 – threatened a poetess who critiqued Mr. Medvedchuk The president added that the intro- Ukraine. to sue the film’s makers should the scenes misrepresent him. His reaction came in a (Continued on page 22) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, AUGUST 19, 2018 No. 33 ANALYSIS NATO summit puts Black Sea strategy U.N. experts: release Sentsov Maidan protesters by riot police in Kyiv. The pro-European Union protests were trig- United Nations experts have called on the gered by Mr. Yanukovych’s decision to scrap on hold for another year Russian government to “immediately and plans for a landmark trade accord with the unconditionally release” Oleh Sentsov, a composition and contributing countries, EU. Dozens of people were killed when the by Vladimir Socor jailed Ukrainian filmmaker who has been on authorities attempted to clamp down on Eurasia Daily Monitor equipment, training and readiness, or the hunger strike in a Russian penal colony for scale and frequency of exercises. the protests. Shortly after he fled, Russia more than three months. In an August 15 seized Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula and Part I The communiqué helps to illuminate statement, the U.N. experts expressed “grave some of those differences. Allied forces in fomented opposition to the central govern- concern” for Mr. Sentsov’s “physical and ment in eastern Ukraine – leading to an The North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are mental integrity.” The statement said: (NATO) recent summit in Brussels (July “combat-ready, battalion-sized battle- ongoing war between Ukrainian govern- “Sentsov’s life is in imminent danger. His ment forces and Russia-backed separatists 11-12) was a landmark event whose agenda groups, able to operate alongside national hunger strike follows a trial and a conviction and decisions clearly identified Russia as the home defense forces,” numbering more that has killed more than 10,300 people. that has fallen short of international law. We After closing arguments on August 16, main source of threats and challenges to the than 4,500 troops drawn “from across the urge Russian authorities to unconditionally alliance. The summit’s balance sheet is a alliance.” Whereas, in the Black Sea region Judge Vladyslav Devyatko adjourned the release him as a matter of urgency.” The call Yanukovych trial until September 13. (RFE/ mixture of significant accomplishments and (Romania), “a multinational framework from the U.N. experts came a day after unfinished business left over from years past, brigade for training allies’ land forces is RL, based on reporting by Gordon.ua and Ukrainian Hromadske TV showed the Ukrayinska Pravda) notably in the Black Sea region and NATO’s now in place, and work is under way to fur- Kremlin’s written answer to a pardon eastern neighborhood. ther develop the brigade’s capacity” (Nato. request made on July 13 by Mr.