www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE: l Who are Ukraine’s new foreign-born ministers? – page 3 l Pittsburgh film fest showcases Ukraine’s filmmakers – page 9 l “Ukraine Trunk” at center of D.C. art exhibit – page 10 THEPublished U by theKRAINIAN Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal W non-profit associationEEKLY Vol. LXXXII No. 49 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 $2.00 New bill in House Newly formed parliamentary majority mirrors Senate bill approves Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers on aid to Ukraine Ukrainian American tapped as finance minister PARSIPPANY, N.J. – Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), co- chair of the Congressional Ukrainian Caucus, on by Zenon Zawada cancer plaguing the Ukrainian state. nine out of 20 total posts with his December 2 introduced HR 5782 “to impose sanctions The government will also have to trusted allies (and 12, including three with respect to the Russian Federation, to provide addi- KYIV – Ukraine’s coalition govern- deal with restricted sources of financ- foreigners, falling under his quota). tional assistance to Ukraine, and for other purposes.” ment emerged this week as the nation- ing and falling budget revenue while When it came time to approve the Though the text of the new House bill is not yet al deputies elected in late October fighting a war with Donbas “separat- new Cabinet, the president advocated available, observers have said it is a companion to the formed the parliamentary majority on ists,” who continue to be supported by a single vote for the entire list of candi- Senate’s bill, S 2828, known as the “Ukraine Freedom November 27, then voted to approve the Russian government. dates, rather than a separate vote for Support Act of 2014.” Both bills provide for defensive the new Cabinet of Ministers five days “The new Ukrainian rulers have no each minister. military assistance to Ukraine and would grant later. Five pro-EU factions claimed 302 choice but to act fast and hard because Mr. Hroisman, the president’s close Ukraine major non-NATO ally (MNNA) status. deputies among them, enough to Ukrainians are likely to show very lit- ally leading the Parliament, arranged HR 5782, which has 10 co-sponsors, was referred to amend the Constitution. tle understanding if they do not,” Dr. the single vote on December 2, sealing the Committee on Foreign Affairs, as well as to the Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Anders Aslund, a fellow at the the passage of the president’s most committees on Financial Services, Oversight and 40, was re-elected to his post on Peterson Institute for International controversial proposal – the creation Government Reform, and the Judiciary, for a period to November 27, prompted by his Economics in Washington, comment- of an Information Policy Ministry – be subsequently determined by the speaker. Each com- People’s Front party’s strong perfor- ed in late November. which is drawing fierce criticism from mittee will consider those provisions of the bill that fall mance in the October 26 election. So far, President Petro Poroshenko the nation’s journalists. The ministry within its jurisdiction. Volodymyr Hroisman, 36, was elected has shown little interest in changing will be led by Yuriy Stets, the godson The bill’s original co-sponsors are: Reps. Rodney P. as chair (speaker) of the Parliament the way politics are handled in Kyiv, of Mr. Poroshenko’s wife. Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), Jim Gerlach (R-Pa), Sander M. that same day, representing the Petro according to the Parliament’s most “Instead of creating new ministries, Poroshenko Bloc. (The average age of reform-oriented deputies, who criti- their number should be reduced, such (Continued on page 7) the Cabinet of Ministers is 44.) cized his maneuvers during the coali- as combining the economy ministry Never has a Ukrainian government tion’s formation. with the energy ministry, as it was been faced with such serious challeng- While claiming that the new done in Germany,” commented Dr. es, observers said. It’s expected to Cabinet wouldn’t be formed based on Oleh Soskin, the director of the Canada announces overhaul not only state bodies, but the party quotas, as had been done for the Institute of Society Transformation in way officials approach their work, past decade, that’s precisely how it more non-lethal aid with corruption continuing to be a was handled, with the president filling (Continued on page 3) to Ukraine’s military OTTAWA – Canada’s Minister of National Defense Rob Nicholson, on November 26 announced an addi- Yevhen Sverstiuk, civic activist, writer, tional $11 million in aid to Ukraine’s armed forces. “Our government is committed to supporting the Soviet political prisoner, dies at 85 Ukrainian people as they fight for democracy and the sovereignty of their country in the face of the Putin by Halya Coynash regime’s military aggression. These contributions are a Kharkiv Human Rights clear demonstration of our support for the people of Protection Group Ukraine, and their pursuit of a secure and stable future.” KHARKIV, Ukraine – Yevhen The new assistance includes: $5 million for protec- Sverstiuk, Ukrainian writer, philoso- tive gear, including surplus Canadian Forces cold pher and civic figure, a man who spent weather gear – about 30,000 coats, 30,000 pairs of years in the Soviet labor camps for his pants, 70,000 pairs of Gore-Tex boots and 4,500 pairs commitment to truth and to Ukraine of gloves; $3 million for explosive ordinance disposal and who became a moral beacon for equipment; $1 million for communications equip- very many in Ukraine and beyond, ment; $1 million for night and thermal vision equip- died on December 1 in Kyiv. ment and binoculars; and $1 million for medical train- Mr. Sverstiuk had been suffering for ing, and a mobile field hospital. some time from a serious illness, and The first shipment of equipment and supplies was died in a Kyiv clinic a few days before to arrive in Ukraine by the end of November. what would have been his 86th birth- “The support provided by the government of day. Canada will be of enormous help to the brave men and He had followed all the develop- women in uniform in Ukraine at a critical time. As Roma Hadzewycz ments in Ukraine over the last few Ukraine continues to face invasion by the Russian Yevhen Sverstiuk at the offices of Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly in 1990. years, and in a recent Radio Svoboda Federation, this gear will increase the effectiveness of interview spoke of the “huge social turns of history, which is a test for per- December 1 Initiative, a group formed Ukraine’s military,” stated Paul Grod, national presi- test of strength” that Ukraine was haps all peoples in our Europe. All of of highly respected Ukrainian intellec- dent of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress. “We are undergoing. “Both the struggle with that together makes for an incredibly tuals, including former political pris- thankful to the government of Canada for this latest the authoritarian regime and the vic- responsible test of the freedom and oners and the former primate of the assistance package and their steadfast support of the tory of the Maidan revolution are independence of Ukrainians which Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, people of Ukraine as they continue their brave strug- imbued with the long familiar histori- needs to be passed through with dig- Patriarch and Cardinal Lubomyr gle to protect their country’s independence and terri- cal set-up of foreign intervention. All nity,” he said. torial integrity.” of this is logical and one of the classic He was one of the members of the (Continued on page 13) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2014 No. 49 ANALYSIS Ukrainian Donbas becomes Biden on Ukraine’s new government cized Kyiv’s decision to establish the Information Ministry. The group’s secre- WASHINGTON – U.S. Vice-President Joe tary-general, Christophe Deloire, said in a a Russian protectorate Biden on December 2 commented on the press release on December 2 that “in a formation of Ukraine’s new government. matic representatives of foreign countries, Mr. democratic society, the media should not by Pavel Felgenhauer The full text of his statement reads: “I wel- be regulated by the government.” The gov- Eurasia Daily Monitor Putin declared the annexation of Crimea was come today’s announcement on the forma- “to prevent NATO troops from swiftly deploy- ernment says the ministry is needed to tion of a new Ukrainian government. The counter a steady stream of misinformation In a transcript of a TV interview to ing in Sevastopol, dramatically changing the Ukrainian people demonstrated their clear German journalists published by the regional balance of power and erasing about events in Ukraine by Russia’s power- preference for democracy, political and eco- ful state media. Russian television channels Kremlin in mid-November, President everything Russia has been fighting for since nomic reform and self-determination at the Vladimir Putin declared: “There is war in Tsar Peter the Great” (kremlin.ru, July 1). are easily accessible in many parts of ballot box during the October 26 parlia- Ukraine, where 20 years after the collapse the east of Ukraine. The Ukrainian govern- This week, the Kremlin stated its mentary elections. Today’s announcement ment is using its army and even ballistic demands with utmost clarity: Mr. Putin’s of the Soviet Union most people continue to on the formation of a new government sets understand Russian. Internal Affairs missiles. You [the West] are silent. Do you press secretary Vladimir Peskov told the the stage for the difficult but necessary pro- want the Ukrainian authorities to destroy BBC: “We want to receive 100 percent guar- Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said cess of implementing reforms and deliver- on November 30 that the main task of the everyone there [in eastern Ukraine], all antees that no one is thinking to bond ing results.