INSIDE: • House committee holds hearing on aid to NIS — page 2. • Ethnic coalition supports ancestry question for 2000 Census — page 3. • Visa extension denied to family of child of Chornobyl —page 4. HE KRAINI A N EEKLY T PublishedU by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profitW association Vol. LXV No. 11 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 1997 $1.25/$2 in Ukraine Romania to review Humanitarian airlift is culmination of Chornobyl anniversary efforts previously agreed upon Dignitaries send off medical relief from U.S. Three oblasts in Ukraine to receive aid by Irene Jarosewich by Roman Woronowycz Kyiv Press Bureau treaty with Ukraine NEWARK, N.J. — The Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund’s 18th airlift of humanitarian aid to Ukraine left Newark KYIV — Culminating a year of fund-raising and charitable by Roman Woronowycz International Airport on Monday, March 10, carrying 42 tons of work dedicated to the 10th anniversary of the explosion at the Kyiv Press Bureau cargo valued at $1.7 million. Recognized as the largest Chornobyl nuclear power plant, the 18th airlift of the Children provider, public or private, of aid directed at the victims of the of Chornobyl Relief Fund (CCRF) landed in Ukraine on March KYIV — Less than two weeks disastrous 1986 explosion at Chornobyl, the CCRF has provid- 11 carrying $1.7 million in medicine and medical equipment for after Romania and Ukraine agreed ed $41 million worth of aid over the past seven years. hospitals in Lviv, Chernihiv and Dnipropetrovsk. in principle to a treaty on friendship On hand to send off the plane were supporters and dignitaries “Today there are children and pensioners whom no one is and cooperation, part of which including Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the United helping and for whom aid like this is desperately needed,” said entailed the settlement of a long- Nations Anatolii Zlenko, Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Verkhovna Rada National Deputy Volodymyr Yavorivsky, who standing territorial dispute, Romania Yuri Shcherbak, New Jersey Sens. Frank Lautenberg and has long worked closely with the CCRF and was at Boryspil has backed down. Robert Torricelli, Frank Masci from Gov. Christine Todd Airport outside Kyiv to greet the plane. On March 11 Romania’s Whitman’s office, the Rev. William Diakiw and the Rev. This effort supports the Women’s and Children’s Health Ambassador to Ukraine Ion Bestreanu Bohdan Zelechivsky of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Initiative, a program active in the Dnipropetrovsk, Luhansk and officially informed Ukraine’s U.S.A., and Bishop Nicholas Dimarzio of the Roman Catholic Vinnytsia oblasts of Ukraine, which was organized through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that his Archdiocese of Newark. efforts of the CCRF and the St. Louis-based Monsanto Corp. government would like to review ele- On hand as well was Vova Malofienko, a 12-year-old child The program’s honorary chairman is Liudmyla Kuchma, the ments of the proposed treaty. of Chornobyl being treated in the U.S. for leukemia, whose wife of Ukraine’s president Leonid Kuchma. However, Mrs. In a press release issued on family faces deportation as a result of the new immigration law Kuchma did not attend the airport ceremonies due to a schedul- March 11, the Romanian Embassy that takes effect on April 1 (see story on page 4). ing conflict; she and the president had flown to Moldova on an stated that the agreement has only Key support for the airlift came from the Ukrainian official visit that morning. been agreed to by experts and that Orthodox Church of the U.S.A., which raised funds for equip- On hand to greet the IL-74 MD Ukrainian military cargo plane further discussions are required at the highest political levels of both (Continued on page 13) (Continued on page 4) foreign ministries to reach an “opti- mal level of agreement.” Ambassador Bestreanu, speaking with Interfax-Ukraine a day later, Udovenko-Albright meeting confirms continuity of U.S. policy said all that is needed is to “balance by Yaro Bihun faction “that today we received the sup- Foreign Affairs Minister Lloyd Axworthy the wording on some of the issues port of the United States on this issue.” and Hungarian Foreign Minister Laszlo discussed.” He explained: “We wish Special to The Ukrainian Weekly Minister Udovenko came to Washington Kovacs. Two days later, Russian Foreign to dot the ‘i’s and cross the ‘t’s of WASHINGTON – Foreign Affairs following talks on NATO and other issues Affairs Minister Yegenii Primakov dis- our four-year preparation of the Minister Hennadii Udovenko of Ukraine with Canadian officials in Ottawa; he will cussed NATO expansion with NATO agreement so as to lay the ground- paid a brief but important visit here on continue talks on the charter with the work for the development of good Secretary-General Solana in Moscow. March 7 to discuss NATO expansion and NATO Council and NATO Secretary- neighborly relations between While NATO’s negotiations with other issues on the U.S.-Ukraine agenda General Javier Solana on March 20 in Ukraine and Romania.” Ukraine appear to be on track, its talks with Secretary of State Madeleine K. Brussels. He said the proposed charter Mr. Bestreanu’s words were a with Russia thus far have left some key Albright. He came away expressing satis- includes “increased cooperation” between diplomatic flip-flop from what he issues unresolved. The Russian news faction with the results of his first minister- NATO and Ukraine and “political consul- had stated after the completion of agency TASS quoted a Russian Foreign ial meeting with President Clinton’s new tations in crisis situations.” the talks in late February. At that Affairs Ministry official as saying fol- secretary of state, and said it underscored Mr. Udovenko’s Washington visit came time he said the two provisions were lowing the March 9 Primakov-Solana the post-election continuity of the U.S. amid a flurry of other diplomatic meetings yet to be settled, but that would meeting that “divergence of opinion over “strategic partnership” with Ukraine. on the subject. Earlier in the week, occur “through diplomatic chan- As well, Minister Udovenko said the Secretary Albright had talks with Canadian (Continued on page 6) nels” without the need for another meeting expressed support for the NATO- meeting. Ukraine charter that is being formulated in Volodymyr Yatsenkivski, direc- conjunction with the Western alliance’s tor of the press office of Ukraine’s planned expansion into Eastern Europe. Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Welcoming Minister Udovenko at the expressing his disappointment with State Department, Secretary Albright the two-steps-forward, one-step- stressed that the United States and Ukraine back approach that the Romanians “are strategic partners in building our were taking, said the two delega- shared vision: a Europe at peace, fully tions had resolved all the major integrated and fully free.” She said she points of disagreement and that only expects that the charter outlining NATO’s minor details were to be worked out relationship with Ukraine will be ready and the agreement written up. before NATO’s July summit in Madrid. Volodymyr Ohrysko, foreign pol- At that meeting, NATO is expected to icy advisor to President Leonid extend membership to the three Central Kuchma, speaking at a press brief- European countries formerly associated ing called the Romanian move “an with the Moscow-led Warsaw Pact: alarming and dangerous signal.” Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. Expressing his frustration with At the same time, NATO plans to sign Romanian’s backtracking, he said, separate agreements establishing special for all that Romanian officials are Yaro Bihun saying, in essence their decision has relationships with Ukraine and Russia. While the NATO-Ukraine charter Ukraine’s Foreign Affairs Minister Hennadii Udovenko meets with U.S. (Continued on page 14) negotiating process is not yet finished, Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright on March 7. In the recent past, both Minister Udovenko expressed his satis- were representatives of their countries to the United Nations. 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 16, 1997 No. 11 House committee hears testimony on aid to new independent states British secretary on Ukraine, NATO Oleksander Moroz on March 10 spoke out Special to The Ukrainian Weekly on to comment that the “Ukrainians say in defense of Mr. Lazarenko, saying there the right things,” but do not implement WASHINGTON — British Foreign WASHINGTON – The House are few real changes when prime ministers them. Affairs Secretary Malcolm Rifkind said in are replaced. (OMRI Daily Digest) International Relations Committee on The committee’s ranking minority Washington on March 11 that NATO March 11 heard testimony on the Clinton member, Lee Hamilton (D-Ind.), inquired should expand to Ukraine’s eastern borders, Yeltsin, Lukashenka sign joint declaration administration’s Fiscal Year 1998 NTV and Intelnews reported. He said the which countries are furthest along on MOSCOW — President Boris Yeltsin request for $900 million of assistance to reforms and which countries are disap- move would give the alliance the opportuni- the new independent states (NIS). The ty to prevent the development of ethnic con- and his Belarusian counterpart, Alyaksandr pointing in their efforts. Mr. Morningstar Lukashenka, signed a joint declaration request is an increase of 44 percent over said reforms are good in Georgia, flicts. This is the first time a high-ranking FY 1997 levels. The proposed level of official from a NATO member-country has “covering the entire sphere of bilateral rela- Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and tions,” ITAR-TASS reported on March. 7 spending for Ukraine is $225.5 million raised the possibility of Ukraine’s inclusion Russia, which is furthest along in eco- Opening the meeting, Mr.