www.ukrweekly.com Published by the Ukrainian National Association Inc.. a fraternal non-profit association rainian Weekly Vol. LIX No. 1 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 6,1991 50 cents Canada announces Chornobyl disaster aid Oksana Meshko dead at 85 as part of broadening activity in Ukraine Was veteran of Ukrainian human rights movement by Andrij Hluchowecky to be conducted in the affected areas. KIEV — After years of leading the Ukrainian Information Bureau Mr. Clark also announced that Nes­ human rights movement in Ukraine, tor Gayowsky, a career diplomat of labor camp terms and exile, Oksana OTTAWA - Secretary of State for Ukrainian heritage, will be Canada's Yakivna Meshko died on the morning External Affairs Joe Clark announced first consul general in Kiev. of January 2 in a Kiev hospital after on December 28,1990, Canada's inten­ "I am particularly pleased to an­ suffering a stroke less than a week tion to broaden its activities in the nounce the appointment of Nestor earlier. She was 85 years old. Ukrainian republic. Gayowsky as Canada's first consul Born on January 31, 1905, in the In his media communique, Mr. Clark general in Kiev, at a time when we are village of Stari Sanzhary in the Poltava announced Canadian assistance to help celebrating the centennial of the Ukrai­ region, Ms. Meshko was drawn into with the aftermath of the 1986 nuclear nian community in Canada," Mr. Clark nationalist activity by members of her disaster at Chornobyl. The assistance said. family who fought both the Nazis and will encompass the following: The Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Soviet forces. Her late husband Fedir ^ The government task force on as an umbrella council for close to 1 Serhiyenko was persecuted from 1925 Central and Eastern Europe will pro­ million Canadians of Ukrainian des­ until his death in 1958, while her eldest vide 500 radiation detectors costing cent, has been pressing the Canadian s6n, Yevhen, was killed during an air 525,000 to be distributed in the conta­ government to accelerate its plans in raid in 1941. minated areas. They will be supplied by opening the Kiev post. The planned Shortly after the arrest of her sister the Canadian company Bubble Techno­ opening of the Consulate General in Vera in 1946, Ms. Meshko was arrested logy. Kiev in the summer of 1991 reflects the in February 1947 and both women were ь The Canadian government and the close cooperation between the govern­ sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in Canadian Red Cross Society have ment of Canada and the Ukrainian the infamous Beria camps. After Sta­ donated 515,000 to the Humanitarian Canadian community. lin's death in 1954, Ms. Meshko was Assistance and Rehabilitation Program Patrick Boyer, parliamentary secre­ released and in 1956 she was officially for Chornobyl of the International Red tary to Mr. Clark, worked directly with rehabilitated. Cross and Red Crescent Societies. the community in locating the premises Ms. Meshko's rehabilitation served ^ Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. has for the Canadian Consulate. as an awakening for her younger son, provided an expert cost free to the The Ukrainiah Canadian Congress Oleksander, to Ukraine's national International Atomic Energy Agency, recently held high-level talks with problems and he too became an active which is continuing work on deter­ External Affairs officials at a Decem­ participant in the national renewal of mining the consequences of the nuclear ber meeting of the Canada-Ukraine the 1960s. As a result of his activities, power plant explosion. Foreign Policy Forum organized by the Mr. Serhiyenko was arrested in 1972 Hadzewycz ^ Atomic Energy of Canada and the Ukrainian Information Bureau in Ot­ and sentenced XQ 10 years in prisons and Oksana Meshko during her 1988 visit to Atomic Energy Control Board are tawa. labor camps for "anti-Soviet agitation the United States. identifying scientific research projects At the meeting, Mr. Gayowsky was and propaganda." the persecution of her son and other officially introduced to Ukrainian During the 1970s the vibrant and Canadian community representatives. political prisoners, which led to her energetic Ms. Meshko openly criticized becoming one of the co-founders of the Khmara trial set Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group in November 1976. for January 10 CHRIST IS BORN - What followed were years of perse­ cution in the form of house searches and KIEV - The trial of Ukrainian SSR confiscations and forced psychiatric People's Deputy Stepan Khmara will - ХРИСТОС РОДИВСЯ examinations. She became leader of the begin on January 10, reported the Ukrainian Helsinki Group in 1979 after Respublika press agency. the arrests of Mykola Rudenko and Dr. Khmara, a'dentist from Cher- (Continued on page 12) vonohrad, has been imprisoned since November 17, 1990, on charges of abusing his authority in an incident UNA fund tops involving an officer of the Interior Ministry. He had been on a hunger strike in 1150,000 Lukianivka Prison until December 13, JERSEY CITY, N.J. - The U- when he was persuaded to end his fast krainian National Association's by Metropolitan Volodymyr Sterniuk Fund for the Rebirth of Ukraine, after his health had deteriorated. created by the fraternal organiza­ Democratic bloc activists have la­ tion's 1990 convention, topped belled the Khmara affair a KGB provo­ 5150,000 as of December 31, 1990. cation against one of the most out­ On that date, the fund reached spoken members of Parliament. Pre­ 5150,000.11 thanks to UNA mem­ viously, in the spring of 1990, Dr. bers and others who sent in 5,865 Khmara had served a 15-day term of donations in order to help Ukraine administrative arrest for taking part in a during this period of political, social public gathering and resisting the and cultural renewal. militia. Donations may be sent to: Ukrai­ In a tetter dated December 15, Rep. nian National Association Fund for David Bonior (D-Mich.) urged Soviet The golden-domed Cathedral of St. Michael in Kiev, as depicted by the Rebirth of Ukraine, 30 Mont­ President Mikhail Gorbachev to "per- artist K. Krychevsky-Rosandich. (Copyright 1990, "Chwyli Dnistra.") gomery St., Jersey City, N.J. 07302. (Continued on page 12) 2 THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 6, 1991 No. 1 Vv Press review Newsbriefs iHealth, environment in (7SSfl| from Ukraine at the point of disaster 9 LVIV - In a recently conducted kraine in an effort to keep the party extraordinary session of the Lviv Oblast afloat in the overwhelmingly anti-Com­ JERSEY CITY, N.J. -Thehealth included the cost of AIDS treatment Council, special powers to be used in munist region. The December 5 issue of of the Soviet people is deteriorating, (about 575,000 a year per patient in "extreme situations" were given to the Radianska Ukraina notes that party and the environmental conditions of America) in their projections of council head, Vyacheslav Chornovil, cells in Lviv are being formed in private numerous republics within the Soviet health spending. Legislation pub­ Radio Kiev reported on November 30. residences in response to threats to their Union are at the point of disaster. lished in May and due to take effect During their meeting the Lviv deputies existence at the workplace. (RFE/RL According to a recent issue of The January 1991 will impose criminal also established a Committee of Public Daily Report) Economist, "The three main (health) sanctions on people who, knowing Accord composed of representatives of issues — there are many others — are they have AIDS or the HIV virus, various public organizations, without 9 KIEV - Oleksander Piskun, a infant mortality, AIDS and the knowingly place someone else in whose approval any strikes, meetings member of the Ukrainian Commission aftereffects of the Chornobyl dis­ danger of infection. Anyone sum­ and picketing would be considered a on State Sovereignty, has stated that the aster." moned by letter to be tested for "provocation," TASS reported on draft version of the union treaty is infection cannot refuse undergoing December 1. (RFE/RL Daily Report) "even worse" than the treaty of 1922 "Infant mortality anywhere is a ah examination. during an interview broadcast on Radio good measure of health and medical As for the aftereffects of the Chor­ .e MUNICH - The Party of the Kiev-3 on December 11, and following a condition," stated The Economist. In nobyl catastrophe. The Economist Democratic Rebirth of Ukraine, ori­ report that petition, signatures against the United States, infant mortality noted: ginated by adherents of the Democratic Ukraine's endorsement of the union has fallen to slightly below 10 deaths "It was the medical establishment Platform in Ukraine and numbering treaty have begun to be collected. Mr. in the first year of life per 1,000 live — whether under order or just some 3,500 supporters, concluded its Piskun maintained that the motion of births. The officially admitted Soviet following past practice — that lied to founding congress December 2, accord­ "a union of states" is "absolute non­ national rate was nearly 23 in 1989. the people immediately affected by ing to a TASS report. The party will sense." In Turkmenistan alone, a republic in Chornobyl about that accident's true work through legal means towards the The Supreme Soviet, despite a push Central Asia, the officially reported health hazards and consequences. liquidation of Soviet statehood and the by conservative forces for a rapid infant mortality rate was 55. A Not until Pravda, in March 1989, signing of a collective inter-republican conclusion of the treaty, has resolved leading Western expert, Murray revealed the extent of residual radia­ treaty on the invalidity of the Soviet not to sign the document until after a Feshbach of Georgetown University tion from cesium 137 fallout did Constitution.