INSIDE:• Bishop Losten responds to comments that malign Eastern Catholics — page 3. • Obituary: Patriarch Dymytrii of UAOC in Ukraine — page 9. • Shevchenko and Ichkeria, present-day Chechnya — page 10. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXVIII HE KRAINIANNo. 10 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2000 EEKLY$1.25/$2 in Ukraine NATO-UkraineT UPatriarch Dymytrii mourned atW funeral services in Lviv by Roman Woronowycz Commission Kyiv Press Bureau KYIV – The Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church buried its second patri- meets in Kyiv arch on February 29 in a modest ceremony by Roman Woronowycz in Lviv. Kyiv Press Bureau More than 2,000 mourners gathered at KYIV – In an effort to better acquaint Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church on a Ukrainians with the defense alliance that bright and warm late winter day in this his- was considered the enemy here for more toric city to pay their respects and a final than 45 years, the 19 permanent ambassa- farewell to Patriarch Dymytrii. The patri- dors who comprise NATO’s ruling body arch had served as pastor of the Church for met in Kyiv on March 1-2 to further expand more than 20 years before being catapulted NATO-Ukraine relations. to the leadership of the UAOC in 1993 after It was the 16th meeting of the NATO- the death of Patriarch Mstyslav, the first Ukraine Commission, formed after Ukraine head of the Church who spurred the signed a charter on distinctive partnership Church’s rebirth in Ukraine in 1989. with the North Atlantic alliance in Madrid Patriarch Dymytrii, 84, died in his sleep in July 1997, but the first time that the on February 25, while visiting his son, who North Atlantic Council, the organization’s lives in this city. The patriarch had been in highest body, met in a country with which declining health and had long suffered from Mykhailo Markiv NATO has a special partnership. heart problems. Even so, the UAOC While Ukraine-NATO relations stood at A priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church pays his last respects to Patriarch Chancery said he had remained active in his Dymytrii during the funeral ceremony in Ss. Peter and Paul Church in Lviv. the top of the agenda, the ambassadors also last days, and as recently as January had sought to change perceptions still held by a chaired a meeting of the UAOC’s covered. After a procession that circled the along with bishops of the UAOC. majority of Ukrainians that NATO is a mili- Patriarchal Council. Church three times and brief speeches by Archbishop Vsevolod of the Ukrainian tary threat. Surveys show that some 60 per- As mourners and onlookers crowded the several official dignitaries from both the Orthodox Church of the United States of cent of Ukrainians either do not fully under- church grounds and spilled out onto the spiritual and political worlds, the casket America (UOC-U.S.A.) led the funeral stand what NATO is or do not trust its streets that surround Ss. Peter and Paul was lowered into a grave on the grounds of services and performed the final anointing intentions. Church, more than 100 clergy and hierar- the church, where Patriarch Dymytrii had of the remains, while UAOC Archbishop “Our joint meeting here in Kyiv was not chy of the UAOC, as well as leaders of requested that he be buried. Ihor of the Kharkiv-Poltava Eparchy led the just to demonstrate NATO’s friendship and other religious confessions and the patri- The remains of the Church leader had divine liturgy in concelebration with the solidarity with our distinctive Ukrainian arch’s family, assembled inside for funeral arrived at Ss. Peter and Paul after three days partner, but also to serve a very simple pur- five other bishops who make up the UAOC services. of viewing at the neighboring Assumption Patriarchal Council. pose: allowing you, the people of this coun- Although the services were long, they of the Blessed Virgin Church, where during try, to understand what NATO is and how Archbishop Vsevolod, who also deliv- were simple and modest. The patriarch’s the evening prior to the funeral Bishop ered the eulogy, came as the emissary for we can interact for the benefit of all the body lay in an unadorned wooden casket, Lubomyr Husar of the Ukrainian Greek- people of this region,” explained NATO surrounded by scores of wreaths, his face Catholic Church had served a panakhyda (Continued on page 8) Secretary General George Robertson after the commission meeting ended. On March 2 seven of the ambassadors traveled to outlying regions of Ukraine – Rada abolishes death penalty the oblasts of Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Odesa and Kharkiv – where they met with KYIV – The Verkhovna Rada voted on ed into life sentences, noted the world- Clinton taps Pascual university students, schoolchildren and February 22 to abolish the death penalty wide human rights organization Amnesty members of oblast governments. in Ukraine, thus meeting the country’s International. as envoy to Ukraine Meanwhile, Secretary General Robertson 1995 pledge to the Council of Europe. Although Ukraine had introduced a de WASHINGTON – President Bill and other members of the North Atlantic Provisions for capital punishment facto moratorium on executions in March Clinton on March 1 announced his Council held a roundtable at the Center for were stricken from the criminal and 1997, it had continued to pass the death intent to nominate Carlos Pascual to International Relations in Kyiv for about 40 reformatory codes. Interfax-Ukraine sentence. On December 30, 1999, the be U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. representatives of non-governmental organ- reported that a total of 229 deputies voted Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled The Office of International izations to broadly discuss the areas that in favor and 15 against amending that the death penalty was unconstitution- Information Programs, U.S. NATO is accenting in its relationship with Ukraine’s legal codes. al, both violating the principle of the Department of State, provided the Ukraine. The Verkhovna Rada also ratified right to life, which is enshrined in the following information about the The centerpiece of NATO’s two-day Protocol No. 6 to the European Constitution of Ukraine, and contraven- ambassador-designate. presence in Ukraine was the plenary ses- Convention for the Protection of Human ing the constitutional provision that no Mr. Pascual is a career member sion of the NATO-Ukraine Commission, Rights and Fundamental Freedoms one should be subjected to torture or to of the Senior Foreign Service, class attended by the 19 NATO ambassadors and (European Convention), which provides cruel or inhuman treatment or punish- of minister counselor. He was Secretary General Robertson and with the for the abolition of the death penalty ment. appointed as special assistant to the participation of Ukraine’s Minister of except in time of war or the imminent The cancellation of the death sentence president and senior director for Foreign Affairs Borys Tarasyuk. threat of war. The vote on that measure meets the prerequisites for Ukraine’s Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian After the two-hour session Mr. Tarasyuk was 228 for and six against. entry into the Parliamentary Assembly of affairs at the National Security said the group had analyzed and assessed the Council of Europe. The president of Council (NSC) in July 1998. According to the UNIAN news serv- the state of relations between Ukraine and PACE, Lord Russell Johnston, said that He has been responsible for ice, Communist Party and Progressive NATO, and had approved new policies that “Ukraine has now fulfilled its obligations advancing U.S. security interests Socialist Party deputies did not partici- would “foster even better relations” in the to the PACE.” with Russia, supporting Ukraine’s pate in any of the voting. future. London-based Amnesty International transition to a market democracy Life imprisonment will now replace “The members of the commission welcomed the decision of an overwhelm- and its integration with Europe, and emphasized that we should move from the death penalty in Ukraine. Ratification ing majority of members of the of Protocol No. 6 effectively means that (Continued on page 3) (Continued on page 8) existing death sentences will be commut- (Continued on page 8) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2000 No. 10 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS New pro-majority caucus emerges Ukrainian market,” she said. (RFE/RL The Russian language in Ukraine: Newsline) KYIV – A new parliamentary caucus a look at the numbers and trends called Solidarnist (Solidarity) emerged on Party calls for more Russian schools by Roman Solchanyk The Ukrainian Foreign Affairs February 29, Interfax reported. The group is composed of six deputies from the KYIV – The Slavic Party in Ukraine Ministry said that 1,195 newspapers are has called on the authorities in Moscow Official Moscow is concerned about published in Russian, constituting 49.7 Social Democratic Party (United), five the fate of the Russian language in from the Peasant Party, and three each and Kyiv to protect Russian-language percent of the “overall number of speakers in Ukraine, ITAR- TASS reported Ukraine. Ukrainian periodical publications.” It is from the Fatherland, Independence and At the end of January, the Ministry of National Democratic Party caucuses. on February 23. The party called for more not clear, however, whether these figures Russian-language schools in Ukraine and Foreign Affairs of Russia handed a note refer to Russian-language titles, single- Solidarnist leader Petro Poroshenko to the Embassy of Ukraine in Moscow in declared that his caucus will join the said the country’s language policy is based issue print runs, or annual circulation, on “Russophobia.” It also said that which it expressed the hope that Kyiv and whether periodicals also include Coordinating Council of the parliamentary would observe the terms of the bilateral majority.