www.ukrweekly.com INSIDE:• Ruslana to perform benefit concert for CCRF — page 3. • Reflections on Yushchenko’s trip to the U.S. — page 8. • Maria Burmaka: from the “maidan” to Manhattan — page 12. Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc., a fraternal non-profit association Vol. LXXIII HE KRAINIANNo. 17 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2005 EEKLY$1/$2 in Ukraine TymoshenkoT cancelsU visit to Moscow, Ukraine’s ministerW of justice demands Russian respect for Ukraine assailed over academic credentials by Zenon Zawada note sent to the Russian Federation’s by Zenon Zawada formal legal education, he also has no Kyiv Press Bureau Ministry of Foreign Affairs and made pub- Kyiv Press Bureau graduate or post-graduate college degree, lic by Vsevolod Shmatkov, an advisor- despite his insistence to the contrary to KYIV – In a demand for respect from envoy of the Russian Embassy in Ukraine. KYIV – For the last eight years, Ukrainian reporters in recent weeks. the Russian Federation, Ukrainian Prime “Due to spring field work and the neces- Roman Zvarych, today Ukraine’s minis- “I received the diploma of a master in Minister Yulia Tymoshenko abruptly can- sity of resolving tasks in order to eliminate ter of justice, has been claiming that he philosophy,” Mr. Zvarych told the popu- celed her first visit to Moscow the day complications arising at their implementa- earned a graduate degree in philosophy lar Russian-language newspaper Fakty i after Russia’s top prosecutor said crimi- tion, the Ukrainian side is forced to post- from Columbia University. Kommentarii in an interview published nal charges were still pending against her. He also has been saying he was a New Russian Procurator General Vladimir pone Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia on March 25. Tymoshenko’s visit to the Russian York University professor between 1983 He repeated that claim as late as April Ustinov said on April 12 that Ms. and 1991. Tymoshenko could visit the Russian Federation,” Mr. Shmatkov quoted. 19 to Ukrainska Pravda, the Internet Within an hour of notification, Russian Yet, officials at both universities have newspaper that first broke the news about Federation without arrest because of verified that neither statement is accu- immunity provided by state leaders, but Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attempted Mr. Zvarych’s deceit on April 14 in a damage control by telling journalists that rate. Instead, they are part of a web of story reported by Washington correspon- that she remains “on the wanted list.” lies woven by Mr. Zvarych that served to The remark angered Prime Minister there are no obstacles to Ms. Tymoshenko’s dent Luba Shara. visit. By then, it was too late. elevate him from a national deputy in the The lies about Mr. Zvarych’s back- Tymoshenko, who immediately stated Verkhovna Rada to the highest echelons her official reason for canceling the trip Hours later, the Cabinet of Ministers ground were disseminated primarily press office issued a second statement, of the Ukrainian government. through the Who’s Who in Ukraine direc- as needing to prepare for Ukraine’s The American-born son of a building spring field work. Days later, however, attributing Prime Minister Tymoshenko’s tory that is released annually by the pub- cancellation to a presidential order contractor who grew up in Yonkers, N.Y., is lisher Kyiv Informatsia Servis (KIS) and she revealed her indignation with Mr. now enmeshed in his second major scandal Ustinov in an April 15 interview with requiring those Cabinet Ministers direct- available electronically. after taking office just two months ago. Mr. British Broadcasting Corp (BBC). ly involved with preparing the nation for The Who’s Who entries are influential Zvarych caused the first scandal of President “I want to believe the statement is just “spring field work,” or the agricultural because they are appear to be the only Viktor Yushchenko’s administration when the stupidity of one bureaucrat and that it sowing season, to refrain from embark- source of biographical information for he threatened to resign and then backed off is not the national politics of Russia,” Ms. ing on any business trips. Cabinet Ministers and Verkhovna Rada Tymoshenko said. “If that is the case, then President Viktor Yushchenko’s press following a controversy over a government employees. that bureaucrat must correct his stupidity.” secretary, Iryna Heraschenko, confirmed ban on the re-export of oil and his wife’s In fact, Ukraine’s government pays She also used the cancellation as an this in a statement on the presidential employment with a firm that resells oil. KIS for the unverified information as opportunity to demand new relations Now it is known that not only does between Russian and Ukrainian govern- (Continued on page 4) Ukraine’s new justice minister lack any (Continued on page 3) ment authorities, criticizing Russian leaders for their attitude toward their counterparts to the west. “I know the Russian political elite has gotten used to Ukraine suffering from an Plast fights for recognition from world scouting movement by Zenon Zawada inferiority complex, but I want this to dis- appear from our relationship,” she said. Kyiv Press Bureau Ukraine’s prime minister was sched- KYIV – Plast, Ukraine’s largest uled to visit Moscow on April 15 and 16. scouting organization, is engaged in one The Russia Procurator General’s of the most significant struggles in its Office alleges that Ms. Tymoshenko 84-year-history: fighting for recognition bribed Russian defense officials while in by the Geneva-based World Organi- charge of United Energy Systems of zation of the Scout Movement Ukraine, the nation’s main gas distribu- (WOSM). tion company at the time. Russian Recognition would enable Plast authorities also accuse her of forgery and Ukrainian Scouting Organization to rep- gas smuggling, according to her website. resent Ukraine on the world arena as the Ms. Tymoshenko has maintained the nation’s premier scouting organization. charges are part of a concerted effort by WOSM allows only one scouting Russian authorities intended to destroy organization from each nation to send her political career. delegates to its World Scout Russian authorities could not have Conference, and Ukraine currently has arrested Ms. Tymoshenko because the no representative. Vienna Convention of 1961 provides WOSM is on the verge of designat- diplomatic immunity to high-ranking ing a group called SPOK (Spilka government officials on foreign visits, Pionerskykh Orhanizatzii Kyieva) as said Kirill Kulikov, acting chief of the Ukraine’s representative, despite objec- Serhii Letenko Ukrainian Interpol bureau. tions from Ukraine’s leading political Yunachky (Plast girls age 11-17) pledge a Plast oath on the Ukrainian flag As a result of her immunity status, and spiritual authorities. during a Day of the Plastun ceremony in Lviv in April. Interpol suspended its international President Viktor Yushchenko, search for Ms. Tymoshenko, Timur Patriarch Filaret of the Ukrainian “I am not indifferent to the fate of the proposition of making an objective Lakhonin, Interpol’s Russia Central Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate Ukrainian scouting organizations that decision. From my end, in the future, Bureau chief, told Interfax on April 14. and Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, primate act according to WOSM principles,” my government and I will assist the “This is not the first decision of Interpol of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic President Yushchenko stated in his let- development of the national scouting to suspend the search for a person enjoy- Church, have each written letters to the ter. movement in Ukraine that truly repre- ing immunity,” Mr. Lakhonin said. WSOM asking that it reconsider He concluded the letter: “I express sents the goals and principles of the Ms. Tymoshenko’s announcement, SPOK’s membership in the 154-mem- deep respect to the political independ- which was first reported as a postpone- ber conference. ence of WSOM, and turn to you with (Continued on page 4) ment, came as a result of a convoluted 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, APRIL 24, 2005 No. 17 ANALYSIS NEWSBRIEFSNEWSBRIEFS Tymoshenko takes on the oligarchs Rice concerned by trends in Russia people demonstrated on April 19 near the by Taras Kuzio plant, Kryvorizhstal, will lead the partici- U.S. Consulate in Yekaterinburg to protest Eurasia Daily Monitor pants at the “extraordinary” congress. EN ROUTE TO MOSCOW – U.S. against U.S. policies in former Soviet states, The plant was privatized for only $800 Secretary of State Rice told journalists Interfax-Ural reported. The demonstration A congress of Ukraine’s oligarchs was million in June 2004 as a pre-election aboard her plane as she flew to Moscow on was organized by the “trade-union of the scheduled for April 13 under the guise of bribe for the Dnipropetrovsk and April 19 that “the centralization of state middle class, PROFI,” which was recently the “Assembly of Ukrainian Donetsk clans, represented by Viktor power in the presidency at the expense of created by Duma Deputy Anton Bakov. Metallurgists” (ukrrudprom.com, April Pinchuk and Renat Akhmetov, respec- countervailing institutions like the Duma or Participants in the rally told Interfax-Ural 11). Representatives from 62 metallurgi- tively. Mr. Pinchuk is also former an independent judiciary is clearly very that the United States is the main source of cal enterprises were to attend the President Leonid Kuchma’s son-in-law. worrying,” according to a State Department instability in the CIS and said it incites and “Extraordinary” congress in Kyiv. Prime The new Ukrainian authorities have press release. She added that “the absence supports “colored revolutions.” The U.S. Minister Yulia Tymoshenko described the stated their readiness to re-nationalize of an independent media on the electronic Consulate responded that “every man has event as an attempt to lobby the govern- Kryvorizhstal and re-submit it for tender.