Year in review 2008

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THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 2009 5No. 2

Holodomor. During 2008 the word seemed to beeverywhere as Ukrainians around the globemarked the solemn 75th anniversary of the

Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 and mourned the millionsdeliberately killed by the Soviet regime. The true figure of deaths due to the Holodomor will never be known due tothe cover-up engineered, with great success, by Sovietauthorities and their collaborators. However, it has beenestimated that at the height of the Famine-Genocide some25,000 people died each day.

It was premeditated murder on the grandest scaledirected from Moscow by Joseph Stalin. Indeed, the onlyterm that can properly define what happened on Ukrainianlands in those fateful years is genocide a word coinedonly in the late 1940s and a crime codified in theConvention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crimeof Genocide, adopted by the United Nations in 1948.What the Ukrainians tried to do as part of its commemora-tions of the Holodomor anniversary was tell the story of the Ukrainian genocide to a world that for far too longremained ignorant or has been deceived about the facts.

The major events marking the Holodomor took placein Kyiv in November 22. The day began with PresidentViktor Yushchenko and First Lady Kateryna Yushchenkolaying flowers at the Famine monument erected in 1993on St. Michaels Square and a memorial service concele-brated by the hierarchs of all of Ukraines major Christiandenominations at the historic St. Sophia Cathedral.

The International Holodomor Forum, which includeddramatic presentations and speeches by heads of state, fol-lowed at the Shevchenko National Opera and BalletTheater. In attendance were official delegations represent-ing 44 countries, the European Parliament, theParliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe andUNESCO. The U.S. delegation was led by Ambassador toUkraine William B. Taylor, Marilyn Ware, former U.S.ambassador to Finland, and Lorne Cramer, president of the International Republican Institute.

President Yushchenko expressed his gratitude to the 13countries and several international organizations that hadrecognized the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainianpeople, and he called on all nations to condemn the crimesof the totalitarian Communist regime and all attempts torehabilitate or justify the crimes of Joseph Stalin. Heunderscored: Ukraine has withstood and persevered, andUkraine has prevailed. Truth has overcome, and historical justice has prevailed. My people live. My people will liveforever.

Other heads of state who spoke at the ceremonial gath-ering were Presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia,Valdis Zatlers of Latvia, Valdas Adamkus of Lithuaniaand Lech Kaczynski of Poland. Canadas top representa-tive at the Kyiv commemorations was Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism JasonKenney, who addressed the forum. In addition, lettersfrom world readers were read at forum, among them mes-sages from President George W. Bush and President-electBarack Obama.

The days events concluded with the dedication of Kyivs new memorial to the Holodomor, called theCandle of Memory. Braving sub-freezing temperatures,wind, snow, sleet and rain, hundreds of onlookers gath-ered at the future site of the National HolodomorMemorial Historical Complex for the monuments unveil-ing. Once the new memorial was blessed, Ukraines lead-ers and citizens representing every region of Ukraineplaced lit candles in memory of the Holodomors victims.

Commenting on the dedication ceremony, UlanaMazurkevich of Philadelphia, a member of theInternational Holodomor Commemorative CoordinatingCommittee, said: As snowflakes and then drops of sleetwere coming down, it seemed as if the sky had opened upthat day and began shedding tears as if heaven was cry-ing for the 10 million victims.

Also in late November, to coincide with the majorcommemorations in Kyiv, Ukraines diplomatic represen-tations around the globe, whether in the United States orin Uzbekistan, held Light a Candle memorial ceremo-nies.

In London on November 22 the Ukrainian communityof Great Britain marked the Holodomor anniversary withservices at Westminster Central Hall and WestminsterAbbey. As decreed by President Yushchenko, the Order of Freedom was presented posthumously to journalistsGareth Jones, a Welshman, and Malcolm Muggeridge, anEnglishman, for their courageous reporting of the Famine

of 1932-1933. The ceremonies were organized by theAssociation of Ukrainians in Great Britain and theEmbassy of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, in Rome on November 23, Pope BenedictXVI prayed for the victims of the Holodomor during anoontime blessing and addressed the throng gathered onSt. Peters Square in Ukrainian. I express the strong hopethat no longer will any political order, in the name of anideology, deny the rights of the human person and hisfreedom and dignity, and I assure my prayers for all theinnocent victims of this tremendous tragedy, the pontiff

said.From Constantinople came Ecumenical PatriarchBartholomew Is November message on the Holodomor. there was no tragedy in human history when morerepresentatives of a single nation were destroyed in onepeaceful year than during the several years of war. And nomatter what anyone says or if they try to belittle the evil,this is the clear sign of genocide.

Speaking in Kyiv on November 18 at a press briefingheld just a few days before the major commemorations,Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Yurii Kostenko reportedthat the parliaments of 14 counties had recognized theHolodomor as genocide. He listed Australia, Georgia,Estonia, Ecuador, Canada, Columbia, Latvia, Lithuania,Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, the United States andHungary, as well as the Vatican.

It is a matter of some controversy, however, whetherthe United States has recognized the Famine as genocide.Although there are references to the Famine as genocidein several congressional resolutions, in fact there has notbeen any legislation which specifically stated that theUnited States recognizes the Holodomor as genocide. (OnJune 26, for example, Rep. Sander Levin introduced a res-olution remembering the 75th anniversary of theUkrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 and extendingthe deepest sympathies of the House of Representatives tothe victims, survivors and families of this tragedy; theresolution was passed on September 23.) Moreover, U.S.administrations continue to avoid the term genocide. Inhis November 13 message on the occasion of the Famines75th anniversary President George W. Bush did, however,refer to it as a crime against humanity.

Mr. Kostenko also noted that many international orga-nizations recognized the Holodomor as genocide of theUkrainian people. Resolutions were passed by UNESCOand the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization forSecurity and Cooperation in Europe. In addition, he saidthe Holodomor has been qualified as a crime againsthumanity in a very important document adopted inOctober of this year by the European Parliament. Mr.Kostenko also underscored that Canada established acertain precedent it became the first country in the worldto adopt a law establishing a Day of Memory of theHolodomor Victims in Ukraine.

Significantly, Canada officially recognized theHolodomor in Ukraine as an act of genocide via a billpassed by the House of Commons on May 27 and by theSenate the next day. The bill received royal assent on May29, thus making it law. The legislation, Private Members

Bill C-459, was the initiative of Member of ParliamentJames Bezan (Selkirk-Interlake, Manitoba). It also estab-lished a Ukrainian Famine and Genocide (Holodomor)Memorial Day that is to be marked annually on thefourth Saturday in November, coinciding with theNational Day of Remembrance observed in Ukraine inaccordance with a presidential decree issued in 1998.

The bill noted that the Ukrainian Famine andGenocide of 1932-1933 known as the Holodomor wasdeliberately planned and executed by the Soviet regimeunder Joseph Stalin to systematically destroy the

Ukrainian peoples aspirations for a free and independentUkraine, and subsequently caused the death of millions of Ukrainians in 1932 and 1933, and points out that infor-mation about the Ukrainian Famine and Genocide of 1932-1933 was suppressed, distorted or destroyed bySoviet authorities.

Russia, meanwhile, continued to reject the historicaltruth about the Holodomor. In March, the UkrainianForeign Affairs Ministry condemned a statement byRussian envoy to the United Nations Valery Loshchinin inwhich he called on governments not to recognizeUkraines Great Famine of 1932-1933 as genocide. OnSeptember 26 Ukraine was once again compelled to offi-cially respond to Russias efforts to undermine interna-tional recognition of the Holodomor. Ukraines Ministryof Foreign Affairs (MFA) reacted with indignation to astatement of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairsreleased to the media on September 24, in which it com-mented in a contemptuous manner on Ukraines aspira-tions to inform the international community about theHolodomor.

It is hard to believe, Ukraines MFA noted, that Russiaallows itself to mock Ukraines attempts to commemo-rate victims of this great tragedy in order to prevent [sucha tragedy] from happening again. Instead of paying tributeto the common past of our peoples, the Russian leader-ship, on the contrary, is making significant efforts to dis-credit the Holodomors tragedy. Kyiv called on Russianleaders and politicians to stop rejecting the truth andattempting to justify and whitewash the crimes of theStalin regime.

At the same time, Sergei Lavrov, Russias foreignaffairs minister stated: We can hardly agree with thepseudo-historical treatment by Kyiv of the events con-nected with the famine of the 1930s in the USSR as somekind of genocide of the Ukrainian people, an approachwhich slanders the memories of millions of famine vic-tims of other nationalities.

Russian authorities also made it eminently clear theywould not stand for commemorations on their territory of the Ukrainian nations genocide. They pressuredUkrainian communities in Russia to cancel events plannedto mark the Holodomors 75th anniversary, including thearrival in various cities of the International HolodomorRemembrance Flame the very same RemembranceFlame that had already traveled to 29 countries throughoutthe world, including those in North and South America,Europe and asAustralia. As a result, the Holodomor com-memorations took place in Moscow at the Embassy of

Holodomor: 75thanniversary year

Official Website of Ukraines President

2008: THE YEAR IN REVIEW

A view of the ceremony in memory of Holodomor vicitms at Kyivs St. Michaels Square on November 22.


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THE UKRAINIAN WEEKLY SUNDAY, JANUARY 11, 20096 No. 2

Ukraine (technically, Ukrainian territory), and of necessitywere scaled down in scope.

Although November was the month of the majorHolodomor memorial events in Ukraine and elsewhere,the 75th anniversary commemorations actually beganearly in the year.

Some events including the dedication of the site forthe Ukrainian Famine-Genocide Memorial to be erectedin Washington with funding by the Ukrainian government(December 2), and the presentation in Ukraine of thelandmark report of the U.S. Commission on the UkraineFamine (August 20 and November 28) were the resultof cooperation between the United States and Ukraine.

The National Committee to Commemorate the 75thAnniversary of the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933 onOctober 6 announced that a site for the U.S. nationalmemorial to the 10 million victims of the 1932-1933Ukrainian Famine-Genocide had been approved. Thememorial will be located in Washington at the intersectionof North Capitol Street, Massachusetts Avenue and FStreet, in the northwest quadrant of the District of Columbia, five blocks north of the U.S. Capitol. OnOctober 13, 2006, President George W. Bush had signedinto law the authorization for a Holodomor memorial inWashington. Over the next two years the national commit-tee and the Embassy of Ukraine negotiated with the U.S.National Park Service and numerous other federal andlocal agencies to select a prominent site on public land onwhich to memorialize the Holodomor. Several public

hearings before the National Capital Memorial AdvisoryCommission examined the suitability of 24 potential sitesthroughout the city before the final site was approved.

The future site of the Ukrainian Genocide Memorialwas dedicated on December 2 with First Lady KaterynaYushchenko of Ukraine as the featured speaker. The bless-

ing of the site was conducted by Metropolitan Constantineof the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Archbishop-Metropolitan Stefan Soroka of the Ukrainian CatholicChurch, assisted by clergy. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor DavidKramer noted in his remarks that the Famine was theconsequence of cruel calculation, the deliberate use of food as a tool of totalitarian oppression, and stressed thatthis memorial should be used as symbol that this willnever be allowed to happen again and that Ukraine canhonor the victims memory by strengthening its democra-cy.

The Ukrainian translation of the four-volume report of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine was present-ed in Kyiv on August 20 and November 28. At the Augustevent, the three-volume oral history project initiated bythe Ukrainian American Professionals andBusinesspersons Association of New York and New

Jersey and then taken up by the Famine Commission waspresented. In November the fourth volume of the commis-sions report was presented at the U.S. ambassadors resi-dence.

The Ukrainian version of the four volumes was pub-lished by the Institute of History of the National Academyof Sciences of Ukraine and printed by the Kyiv MohylaAcademy publishing house with funding from both theUkrainian and American governments.

A companion booklet to the four volumes noted thekey roles played by Ukrainian American community orga-nizations and institutions, such as Americans for HumanRights in Ukraine and The Ukrainian Weekly, and indi-viduals, including Ihor Olshaniwsky and Sen. Bill Bradley(D-N.J.), in securing the establishment of the U.S.Commission on the Ukraine Famine. The booklet repub-lished Bozhena Olshaniwskys article about the history of the commission, The Ukraine Famine Commission: the

commission that almost wasnt, which was originallypublished in The Weekly in 1993. Mr. Bradley was pres-ent at the November presentation of the report in Kyiv. Headdressed the gathering, stating: I have always believedthat the truth will set us free. As a result, in the Senate Iattached an amendment to a bill which created the com-mission, in order to publish what really happened. It is forme a great feeling of renewal to be able to have this docu-ment finally issued in the Ukrainian language. TheHolodomor speaks to any human being. It is a terriblehorror and it should never be forgotten.

The Ukrainian government also had a hand in prepar-ing books about the Holodomor in various languages,Croatian and French among them, as well as in organizingexhibits about the Holodomor in various countries, suchas Sweden, Germany and the United States.

Meanwhile, Lithuanias national film company, it wasreported in October, began the filming in Ukraine of a

Kyivs new memorial to the Holodomor, called theCandle of Memory, which was unveiled on

November 22.

Nobody Wanted to Die, 1932-1933 by Mykola Chervotkin (1989) was among the works on display onOctober 24-November 30 at the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago.

documentary about the Holodomor, and researchers werestudying the archival materials of the Security Service of Ukraine and speaking with historians in Kyiv.

Another major accomplishment was the publication byUkraines Institute National of Memory of the NationalBook of Memory of Victims of the Holodomor of

1932-1933, organized into oblast volumes.Rutgers University in Newark, N.J., held the firstscholarly conference of 2008 that was dedicated to theHolodomor. Titled The Ukrainian Famine-Genocide:Reflections after 75 Years, the April 10 conference exam-ined the systematic starvation of Ukrainians by the Sovietregime under Joseph Stalin in 1932-1933. The conferenceattracted a standing-room-only audience of students,scholars and community leaders. Dr. Alexander Hinton,associate professor of anthropology and global affairs atRutgers University-Newark and director of the Center forthe Study of Genocide and Human Rights, gave the open-ing remarks; Dr. Alexander Motyl, professor of politicalscience, was conference moderator. Historians Dr. TarasHunczak, Dr. Frank Sysyn and Dr. Henry Huttenbach, aswell as Dr. George Grabowicz, professor of literature, andValery Kuchinsky, former ambassador of Ukraine to theUnited Nations, were among the speakers.

A major conference was held in Koncha Zaspa, outsideof Kyiv, on September 25-26. About 50 Holodomor schol-ars attended the conference called The 1932-1933Holodomor in Ukraine: Reasons, DemographicConsequences and Legal Evaluation, which was hostedand financed by Ukraines Institute of National Memoryled by Dr. Ihor Yukhnovskyi. Among the leadingHolodomor authorities in attendance were Drs. StanislavKulchytskyi and Vasyl Marochko of the Institute of Ukraines History at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU); Dr. Ella Libanova of the Institute forDemography and Social Studies at NASU; Prof. StephenWheatcroft of the University of Melbourne; Dr. RomanSerbyn, professor emeritus of the University of Quebec atMontreal; and Judge Bohdan Futey of the U.S. FederalCourt of Claims.

Back in the United States, Kean University in Union,N.J., hosted an educational conference on the UkraineFamine-Genocide of 1932-1933 that featured presenta-tions by historians, educators and Holodomor survivors.Billed as a human rights conference, the programs statedaim was to preserve the dignity of all human beings, topromote human rights around the world and to ensure thatfood is never again used as a weapon. The conferencecoordinator was Dr. Ruth P. Griffith, who teaches a gradu-ate course titled Ukrainian Famine-Genocide and is thegranddaughter of a Holodomor victim and the daughter of a survivor, Mary Horbatiuk-Demsyn Piatnochka. Thekeynote address was delivered by Prof. Taras Hunczak.Kean Universitys president, Dr. Dawood Farahi, notedthat the school has one of the best Holocaust resourcecenters in the nation and that courses in its program inHolocaust and Genocide Studies are filled through 2013.The universitys goal is to educate the world about geno-cide, to do research to uncover the facts and to dissemi-nate that research, Dr. Farahi explained. Middle and highschool teachers attending the conference were eligible toreceive professional development credits, while KeanUniversity students could apply for co-curricular credits.

Three experts on Ukraine and the Famine spoke at theall-day symposium at the University of Denver onOctober 11 titled Politics of Food: Past and Present. Thespeakers were Dr. Mark von Hagen, chairman of thedepartment of history at Arizona State University and for-mer director of the Harriman Institute at ColumbiaUniversity; Dr. David Marples, director of the StasiukProgram on Contemporary Ukraine at the University of Alberta; and Dr. Roman Serbyn of the University of Quebec at Montreal.

The Great Famine in Ukraine: The Holodomor and itsConsequences 1933 to the Present was the title of theinternational conference held at Harvard University onNovember 17-18. The goal of the conference, accordingto its organizer, the Ukrainian Research Institute atHarvard, was to investigate the impact of the Holodomorin a framework examining its short-, mid- and long-termconsequences, which continue to affect society and poli-tics even today. Conference sessions also took a look atthe dynamics of the Holodomor and its demographicimpact. Speakers included scholars from Ukraine, Italy,the United States, Canada, France, Poland, theNetherlands, Austria and Russia, and the keynote addresswas delivered by Nicholas Werth, research director of theNational Center for Scientific Research in Paris. Openingand concluding remarks were given by Andrea Graziosi,professor of history at the University of Naples FedericoII, and Harvards Michael S. Flier, Oleksandr Potebnja




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Professor of Ukrainian Philology and director of HURI.In conjunction with the conference, HURI hosted a

preview performance of selections from Red Earth(Hunger), a new opera by Ukrainian American composerVirko Baley, with a libretto by Ukrainian American writerBohdan Boychuk. The concert was held at the CambridgeSwedenborg Chapel. The full opera is slated to premierein Boston in the spring of 2010.

Also at Harvard, the film The Living (Zhyvi) bySerhiy Bukovsky had its New England premiere onDecember 3 at an evening co-sponsored by HURI and theUkrainian Film Club of Columbia University. The screen-ing was followed the next day by a public discussion of the film, its making and its reception by critics and themedia in Kyiv.

Columbia University on December 2 was the venue foran international conference titled Visualizing theHolodomor: The Ukrainian Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933 on Film that was organized by the universi-tys Ukrainian Studies Program. The program includedthe North American premiere of The Living, andbrought together speakers who focused on film and film-making as a means of understanding the Holodomor andits consequences. Speakers included filmmaker SerhiyBukovsky, film expert Dr. Yuri Shevchuk, historian Dr.Roman Serbyn, Dr, Crispin Brooks, curator of the VisualHistory Archive at the Shoah Foundation Institute, as wellas film student/filmmaker Natasha Mikhalchyk.

The Shevchenko Scientific Society sponsored sessionsfocusing on the Holodomor at the national convention of the American Association for the Advancement of SlavicStudies held in Philadelphia on November 20-23. Sessionsdealt with The Holodomor in Ukrainian Literature,The Year 1933 and Soviet Acts Regarding the UkrainianLanguage and Soviet Famines and the UkrainianHolodomor of 1932-1933.

To mark the solemn anniversary the ShevchenkoSociety also made available to all researchers, historiansand students its archive Collectivization Documents:Kamianskyi Region, Krynychanskyi Region,Solomianskyi Region, Vasylkivskyi Region of theDnipropetrovsk District, 1928-1935 (Artificial FamineDocuments). This body of material was also placed onthe societys website, www.shevchenko.org. Plus, thesociety informed the public that its library in New YorkCity has one of the largest collections of books and othermaterials dealing with the Famine-Genocide: under thesubject Famine, 1933 it lists over 240 entries inUkrainian, English and German.

In Toronto, the Ukrainian Canadian Research andDocumentation Center held an open doors day onOctober 26, inviting friends and the community to comeand hear about its work in studying and disseminatinginformation about the 1932-1933 Holodomor in Ukraine.The UCRDCs projects comprised documentary films,books, exhibits and oral history preserved on video andaudiotape and published in Ukraine as part of a compila-

tion titled Ukrainian Holocaust 1932-1933: Testimoniesof Survivors as well as a website containing a varietyof materials about the Holodomor.

In Kyiv, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)announced on October 2 that it had launched its DigitalArchives Center, which included much information aboutthe Holodomor. The SBU published and placed on itswebsite the first list of high-ranking Communist Party andSoviet state officials who were heads of the punitive bod-ies OGPU (United State Political Department) and GPU(State Political Department) in 1932-1933, as well as thedocuments signed by these officials that formed a legaland organizational base for perpetrating the Holodomorand massive political repressions. The documents are con-clusive evidence of the fact that the 1932-1933 Holodomorwas deliberately engineered by the totalitarian Communistregime.

Several curriculum guides about the Holodomor werein the news during 2008. On September 18 the TorontoDistrict School Boards Program and School ServicesCommittee voted unanimously that a secondary curricu-lum teaching guide and curriculum resource materials onthe Holodomor be developed for use beginning inSeptember 2009, and that this guide be made available to

every secondary school at that time. At its meeting onSeptember 24, the Toronto District School Board unani-mously approved the proposal that a teaching unit on theHolodomor be prepared for use in its schools by 2009.The Holodomor Committee at the Toronto branch of theUkrainian Canadian Congress had initiated the process to

include the Holodomor in the school boards curriculumback in January.In Pennsylvania, Ukrainians acting under the aegis of

the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America had suc-ceeded in having the states 500 school districts receiveduring the 2007-2008 academic year a teacher-studentworkbook on the Holodomor that was titled Genocide Never Again. The UCCA urged Ukrainian educators inother states to get involved in having similar curriculumsadopted in the high schools of their districts. The materi-als are ready and can be readily adapted to each and everystates requirements, wrote Larissa Kyj, the UCCAsexecutive vice-president, in a commentary published inThe Weekly on October 12.

Award-winning Montreal filmmaker Yurij Luhovy,member of the Canadian Film and Television Academy,was at work on a new documentary about the Holodomortentatively titled Genocide Revealed. The documentaryis based on newly released archival material revealing thegenocidal intent of the man-made Famine; interviews withvarious historians and specialists in Holodomor research;and survivors in Ukraine. The filmmaker noted that heintends his documentary to capture the broad scope of Stalins policies aimed at destroying Ukrainians as anation.

Among other films in the news was Holodomor:Ukraines Genocide of 1932-1933, a feature-length docu-mentary being produced by Bobby Leigh and MartaTomkiw. Excerpts of the work in progress were shown ata number of community events as fund-raising for theventure continued. Mr. Leigh, a rock music producer,traveled to Ukraine in the spring to shoot the documentaryand interview survivors in the Kyiv, Mykolayiv andKharkiv oblasts. It had been hoped that the film would bepremiered in November in Ukraine; the movies websiteindicates that a 2009 release is now planned.

During 2008 our Ukrainian community reached out tothe broader public more than ever and enjoyed some mea-sure of success in disseminating the truth about theHolodomor.

Community events commemorating the Holodomorwere held, it seemed, in every Ukrainian community.Among the ones covered in stories published in TheWeekly events ranging from memorial services to com-memorative concerts, exhibits and dramatic presentations were those in: Chicago (September 12-13, November15), Denver (October 10-12), Philadelphia (October 26),Whippany, N.J. (November 7-9), Detroit (November 9),Yonkers, N.Y. (November 9), Boston (November 15),New York (November 15), Winnipeg (November 16-22),Rochester, N.Y. (November 23), Houston (November 16),Clifton-Passaic, N.J. (December 7) and North Port, Fla.

Camera operator Adriana Luhova (right) with film director Yurij Luhovy (center), and historian NinaLapchinska (back right), film Famine-Genocide survivor Fedir Perederii in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Dr. Ihor Yukhnovsky, acting director of the Institute of National Memory, presents Sen. Bill Bradley with thePoltava Oblast volume of the Book of National Memory of the Holodomor on November 28 in Kyiv, as U.S.

Ambassador to Ukraine William B. Taylor looks on.

Illya M. Labunka



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(December 10).Many communities and institutions held exhibits about

the Holodomor that ran for days or weeks.In New York City, The Ukrainian Museum put up an

exhibit titled Holodomor: Genocide by Famine, whichconsists of 100 panels of photographs, documents, gov-

ernment reports, eyewitness accounts and other archivalmaterial detailing virtually every aspect of the tragedy.The exhibit, which lasted from May 27 through November30, was produced by the League of Ukrainian Canadians(LUC), with the assistance of the Museum of SovietOccupation of the Kyiv Memorial Society in Ukraine andthe cooperation of The Ukrainian Museum.

In Boston, the traveling poster exhibition about theUkrainian Holodomor, which was shown in cities aroundthe world thanks to the efforts of Ukraines Institute of National Memory and the Ukraine 3000 InternationalCharitable Fund, was on view in the Massachusetts StateHouse on June 16-20.

In Washington, the U.S. Department of States Ralph J.Bunche Library was the venue for an exhibit about theFamine-Genocide that was on view from September 16through October 31. The exhibit was made possible by thecooperation of the State Department and the Embassy of

Ukraine in the U.S. Earlier in the year, Ambassador OlehShamshur spoke at George Washington University onApril 29 on the topic Stalins Policy Between the TwoWars: Genocide of Ukrainians, and the Library of Congress hosted a noted historian of the Holodomor,Stanislav Kulchytskyi, on May 30 for a lecture that wasamong the events associated with the HolodomorRemembrance Torchs last stop in the U.S.

The Ukrainian Institute of America in New York Cityhosted a Holodomor exhibit on October 4-5, during thecitywide Open House New York weekend. The displaywas seen by more than 1,000 persons.

In Winnipeg, the Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural andEducational Center on October 5-November 29 presentedan exhibit of drawings by Olexander Wlasenko, son of aHolodomor survivor. Called As We Slept, the exhibitconsisted of six large-scale drawings of images appropri-ated from Soviet propaganda sources that depict Socialistimages of progress, prosperity and contentment.Juxtaposing this illusion were seven intimate scaledwhitewashed wall drawings of Famine victims in SovietUkraine in 1932-1933. These represented the horrific real-ity that was consistently denied by the Soviet regime andbecame expunged from human memory.

In Chicago, an exhibit of artworks commemorating theHolodomor, which was titled Our Daily Bread, was onview at the Ukrainian National Museum on October24-November 30. The 54 works displayed are only a por-tion of U.S. businessman Morgan Williams collectionHolodomor: Through the Eyes of Ukrainian Artists.

In addition, Penn State University (State College, Pa.)and Boston College sponsored memorial events. PennStates commemoration on November 9, co-sponsored by

the universitys Ukrainian Society and the ByzantineCatholic Student Ministry, included a divine liturgy cele-brated by Archbishop-Metropolitan Stefan Soroka of theUkrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, followedby an educational program and a panakhyda. It was thelargest Ukrainian event in the universitys history. BC on

December 4 hosted a one-man performance by the Rev.Edward Evanko of Vancouver, British Columbia, thatconsisted of readings of Holodomor eyewitnessesaccounts interspersed with folk and religious songs. FatherEvanko, a former actor who was ordained at the age of 66,has taken his dramatic presentation about the Famine-Genocide to cities throughout Canada and the UnitedStates.

A more unusual observance occurred in Auckland,New Zealand, where the Ukrainian community plantedover 1,200 trees on May 10 in Shakespeares OrewaNational Park to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Holodomor in Ukraine.

But the event that truly united Ukrainians around theglobe while at the same time gained worldwide visibilityfor the 75th anniversary of the Famine-Genocide was the journey of the International Holodomor RemembranceTorch. The torch relay, which began in Australia and ended

in Ukraine, visited 33 countries. It all began on April 6 inCanberra, Australia, where the torch was blessed by localclergy and was officially lit by Stefan Romaniw, chair of the Ukrainian World Congress International CoordinatingCommittee of the 75th Anniversary of the Holodomor, andUkraines ambassador to Australia, Valentyn Adomaytis.The torch was then passed to survivors of the Famine-Genocide, and then on to youth representatives of theUkrainian community and Sen. Gary Humphries of theAustralian Parliament. From Australia the torch traveled toCanada, with Toronto as its first stop, traveling westward toVernon, British Columbia, and then completing its tour inthe east with Ottawa as its last stop during PresidentYushchenkos visit to the Canadian capital. The HolodomorRemembrance Torch was in the United States during theperiod of May 4-31, heading roughly eastward from Seattleto Washington, D.C., and visiting cities that are home tomajor Ukrainian communities, as well as several Ukrainianyouth camps and Soyuzivka.Along its long route, the Remembrance Torch was wel-comed by Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Holodomorsurvivors and their descendants, political and religiousleaders, members of Ukrainian youth organizations andstudents, and many, many others who came to pay hom-age to the Holodomors victims.

It concluded its journey in Ukraine, visiting all 25 of itsregions, before arriving in Kyiv, where the flame from thetorch was used to light the inextinguishable candleinside the Hall of Memory that is part of the newlyunveiled Holodomor memorial called the Candle of Memory.

There its flame will continue to burn in memory of themillions killed during those fateful years of 1932-1933.

In New York on May 27, Consul General of Ukraine in New York Mykola Kyrychenko, Ira Lehun andRomanka Zajac light symbolic candles from the International Holodomor Remembrance Torch.

Lev Khmelkovsky

Ukraine: cold warof Viktor vs. Yulia

For those who support Ukraines integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, the year 2008 began with renewedhope that President Viktor Yushchenko and newly

appointed Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko would setaside personal differences and ambitions to work on behalf of national interests. The view was widely held that the twoleaders who led Ukrainians through the Orange Revolutionwould recognize the opportunity that was squandered dur-ing their first term working together, and take advantage of the new chance they earned, offered by the September pre-term parliamentary elections and the emergence of theDemocratic Forces Coalition.

To the disappointment of many, Ukraines warring lead-ers werent able to rise above their personal differences andambitions, and the Presidential Secretariat, led by ViktorBaloha, spent the entire year battling with the Cabinet of Ministers, led by Ms. Tymoshenko. The two institutionsundermined and sabotaged many of each others initiatives.Although Ms. Tymoshenkos second term as prime ministeroffered a unique chance for Ukraine to gain a MembershipAction Plan (MAP) in the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization (NATO), the two leaders active opposition toeach other became a source of deep concern for Europeanleaders, already worried by the Russian Federations oppo-sition. The lack of stability in Ukrainian politics, even witha pro-Western government, postponed any MAP forUkraine beyond 2008.

Internal politics

For the first weeks of Ms. Tymoshenkos second term asprime minister, which began officially on December 18,2007, it already became apparent that the PresidentialSecretariat and the Cabinet of Ministers were bracing them-selves for potential conflict, as reflecting in their personnelselection.

The Presidential Secretariat used the National Securityand Defense Council as its counterweight to the Cabinet,appointing Party of Regions of Ukraine member RaisaBohatyriova on December 24, 2007, as the councils secre-tary. Ms. Bohatyriovas appointment was intended to allowthe Donetsk business clan, led by industrial king RinatAkhmetov, to act as a formidable counterbalance to Ms.Tymoshenkos influence, experts said. (The Party of Regions expelled Ms. Bohatyriova later in the year aftershe said on August 29 in Washington that party leaderViktor Yanukovychs position on South Ossetia andAbkhazia is that of one individual and not the party view.)

Meanwhile as her counterpart to Foreign Affairs MinisterVolodymyr Ohryzko, Ms. Tymoshenko tapped HryhoriiNemyria as vice prime minister for Euro-integration. Sheimmediately proposed replacing State Property Fund ChairValentyna Semeniuk-Samsonenko with her own ally, AndriiPortnov, who served as a lawyer for Ukrainian oligarchViktor Medvedchuk. Indeed, Ms. Tymoshenko had alreadybeen establishing relations with Mr. Medvedchuk. As thepresident and prime minister prepared to compete with eachother, it only remained to be seen who would strike the firstblow.

As her first policy decisions, Ms. Tymoshenko wastedno time in extending her pursuit of what her critics allege isa populist agenda, consisting of immediate gratification ini-tiatives, mostly social payments, in order to secure the loy-alty of voters. The day after Parliament elected her primeminister, Ms. Tymoshenko ordered Oschadbank, the statecommercial bank, to begin preparing the funds to compen-sate Ukrainians for the millions in savings they lost duringthe Soviet Unions collapse in 1991 and the subsequenthyperinflation. A January 9 Cabinet resolution ordered 6billion hrv, or $1.2 billion (U.S.), to be distributed byOschadbank the first tranche of $4 billion that was ear-marked.

Indeed, the program was immensely popular, particular-ly among elderly citizens desperate for any additionalsource of income. Soon enough, thieves began stalking andattacking mail carriers delivering the payments, after whichthe government decided to restrict their payouts toOschadbank outlets. Within 100 days Ms. Tymoshenkoreported $700 million was successfully distributed. Hersubsequent gains in popularity, among a Ukrainian publiceasily swayed by government handouts, began irking thePresidential Secretariat, which began its criticisms in lateJanuary. The president repeatedly warned that the paymentswould increase rising inflation. While some economistssupported the Presidential Secretariats view that not onlythe influx of more money, but the mere perception of moremoney, would trigger inflation, other economists insisted



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the payments wouldnt significantly affect inflation.To finance the compensation of lost bank deposits, Ms.

Tymoshenko hoped to aggressively privatize many of Ukraines largest state-owned assets, which were underval-ued and lacked competitiveness. Among such assets wereUkrtelekom, the state telephone monopoly, and the Odesa

Portside Plant, Ukraines second-largest nitrogen fertilizerfactory. She also proposed privatizing six oblenergos, orregional energy distribution companies. Getting Mr.Portnov to assume the State Property Fund chairmanshipwould have furthered such a privatization drive, butthroughout the year the Presidential Secretariat stood inobstruction, which critics alleged was to prevent financingof the prime ministers initiative. The PresidentialSecretariat also attempted to replace the Oschadbank chairwith its own ally. Soon enough, the battle for Oschadbanksnowballed into the battle for the Ukrainian presidency.

Tensions between Mr. Yushchenko and Ms. Tymoshenkowere growing by the end of January when Dr. Taras Kuziopenned a column criticizing the Presidential Secretariat forobstructing Ms. Tymoshenko, particularly a planned visit toMoscow and her attempts to eliminate the RosUkrEnergonatural gas intermediary, widely suspected of massive cor-ruption in the gas trade. On January 29 in Brussels, Ms.

Tymoshenko presented her vice prime minister, Mr.Nemyria, before European Commission leaders, informingthem that he was in charge of Ukraines consolidatedwork on European integration. Her announcement, inwhich she essentially announced that she was taking a sig-nificant piece of foreign policy away from the president andthe Foreign Affairs Ministry, became widely viewed as there-ignition of conflict between the two Orange leaders.

The cold war became official on February 6, whenMs. Tymoshenko announced that the Cabinet decided torelieve Ms. Semeniuk-Samsonenko of her post as chair of the State Property Fund while a special group performed anofficial investigation to determine whether she had violatedlaws or the Constitution or had engaged in corruption.Within hours, Presidential Secretariat Chair Baloha said theCabinets decision was unconstitutional and geared towardfinancing the bank deposit compensation campaign, whileMs. Semeniuk-Samsonenko insisted she would remain inher job, labeling the attempt to dismiss her as a raider attackon the state organ. The next day, the president halted theCabinet resolution with his own decree.

By mid-February the Presidential Secretariat was criti-cizing Ms. Tymoshenkos attempts to suppress the possibleinflation caused by her compensation program, particularlyrestricting producers from increasing prices by more than 1percent and proposing a stricter monetary policy to theNational Bank of Ukraine.

Among the biggest battles between the PresidentialSecretariat and the Cabinet was the one over the govern-ments contract with the oil and natural gas exploration firmVanco Energy Co. to drill in the Black Sea shelf. TheCabinet of Ministers passed a resolution on May 21rescinding the governments agreement with Vanco to drillin the shelf. Ms. Tymoshenko alleged that her predecessorsin the Yanukovych government had surrendered too muchin oil and gas rights to the drillers, also alleging the busi-ness venture was set up in an opaque, corrupt manner.Vanco Chief Executive Officer Gene Van Dyke expressedoutrage over Ms. Tymoshenkos decision, filing a lawsuitwith the international arbitration courts in Stockholm.

The international community was surprised by Ms.Tymoshenkos action against Vanco, expecting the primeminister to fulfill promises of establishing stable and friend-ly business conditions. However, the prime minister insist-ed she was acting in Ukraines best interests because theVanco deal was corrupt, as the company later revealed thatits partner in the joint venture was Donbas Fuel and EnergyCo., owned by business kingpin Mr. Akhmetov, a closeassociate of former Prime Minister Yanukovych, whosegovernment approved the deal.

Along with the Presidential Secretariat, most internation-al investors rallied to the defense of Vanco, including theU.S.-Ukraine Business Council led by American business-man Morgan Williams, voicing their concern about onceagain inhospitable investment and business conditions inUkraine.

For the first time in her political career, Ms. Tymoshenkosuffered some significant embarrassments in 2008. Mostnotably, she forced a mayoral election in Kyiv with aMarch 18 parliamentary vote, without appearing to havecalculated whether the candidate from her political blocwould actually have a chance at winning. Kyiv election lawdidnt provide for a second round in case no single candi-date won 50 percent of the vote in the first round.Subsequent attempts by the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc to ini-tiate a second round were duly blocked by PresidentYushchenko, who guaranteed his veto on any such legisla-

Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatsenyuk waits for national deputies to unblock the Presidium on January 13 .Oleksander Kosarev/UNIAN

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko talks to depositors in front of an Oschadbank branch in Dnipropetrovskon January 14.

Oleksander Prokopenko/Pool/UNIAN

The U.S. and Ukrainian presidents during their press conference in Kyiv on April 1.



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tion. The Tymoshenko Bloc didnt have enough support tooverride the presidents veto.

The presidents clear support for incumbent MayorLeonid Chernovetskyi, as a counterbalance to Ms.Tymoshenkos attempts to widen her influence overUkrainian politics, signaled that the battle between thePresidential Secretariat and Cabinet of Ministers was nowout in the open, without any subtleties. Meanwhile, theKyiv electorate was essentially divided into two camps those who supported Mr. Chernovetskyi and those against.Though Mr. Chernovetskyis name is synonymous withcorruption, he managed to find significant support amongthree key constituencies in the capital: pensioners, the poordependent on social payments and government workers.The incumbent rallied support among these constituencies

with the same tried-and-true formula employed, ironically,by his opponent Ms. Tymoshenko exchanging votes forfavors or payments. Meanwhile, the anti-Chernovetskyivote was split across a handful of serious candidates,including Vitali Klitschko and Ms. Tymoshenkos right-hand man, Oleksander Turchynov.

It came as no surprise then that Mr. Chernovetskyi hand-ily won re-election with 38 percent of the vote, comparedto 19 percent for Mr. Turchynov and 18 percent for Mr.Klitschko. Mr. Chernovetskyis victory was in fact morewidely viewed as a defeat for Ms. Tymoshenko, whoreceived a barrage of criticism for wasting governmentfunds on an election that changed nothing. Any plans toremove from office the corrupt Kharkiv Mayor Mykhailo

Dobkin, who was suspecting of drug dealing among othercriminal offenses, were suddenly trashed after Mr.Chernovetskyis handy victory.

The domestic scandal of the summer didnt involve Ms.Tymoshenko, but President Yushchenkos conflict withDavid Zhvania, a Georgian immigrant to Ukraine whomade his millions in dealing nuclear fuel rods, among otherthings, as part of his business enterprise, Brinkford, withMykola Martynenko. Mr. Zhvania was among the topfinancers of Mr. Yushchenkos presidential campaign in2004, and he earned enough of the future presidents trustto become selected as godfather to the presidents youngestson, Taras. Yet, Mr. Zhvania fell out of the presidents favorafter he dismissed the entire government in 2005, in whichMr. Zhvania had served as emergency situations minister.

Eventually, Mr. Zhvania, with Yurii Lutsenko, formed thePeoples Self-Defense, which began to favor Ms.Tymoshenkos policies in 2008 after getting into Parliamentby merging with the pro-presidential Our Ukraine in theSeptember 2007 election. In May the Procurator Generalbegan investigating how Mr. Zhvania had gained hisUkrainian citizenship in the 1990s, and began an effort tostrip him of his citizenship and deport him.

During this time, Mr. Zhvania went public to accusePresident Yushchenko of persecuting him in a vengeancecampaign. He also stunned the world in a sensational June3 interview with the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC),claiming the president wasnt poisoned by Russian agents,but merely suffered food poisoning at that fateful dinner

that resulted in an inflammation of the pancreas. His facialdisfigurement, he alleged, only happened after PresidentYushchenko was receiving treatment at an Austrian hospi-tal, where the pancreatic effects were removed. However,medications administered at the Austrian hospital loweredthe presidents immunity, resulting in shingles and the

inflammation of the trigeminal nerve, from which thefacial asymmetry emerged, Mr. Zhvania said in an inter-view with the Russian-language tabloid newspaper,Komsomolskaya Pravda.

Whether or not Mr. Zhvania was lying, his claims drewa livid response from President Yushchenko, who in turnaccused him of conspiring in the plot to poison him. Thepresident specifically noted that it was Mr. Zhvania whoorganized the September 5 meeting at the home of SecurityService of Ukraine Vice-Chair Volodymyr Satsiuk.

Meanwhile, as tensions mounted with Ms. Tymoshenko,Presidential Secretariat Chair Baloha was maneuveringbehind the scenes to collapse the parliamentary coalitionand give President Yushchenko the ability to dismiss thegovernment and call new elections. On June 6 NationalDeputy Ihor Rybakov of the Tymoshenko Bloc and YuriiBut of the Peoples Self-Defense announced they wereabandoning the parliamentary majority, thus denying it the

slim majority of two votes that it had and rendering it impo-tent. Though never proven, its accepted that Mr. Balohaoffered the two lawmakers a deal in exchange for their res-ignations.

What made the situation particularly tricky was that Mr.Rybakov and Mr. But stated they were leaving the coalition not their respective factions. While the Constitution of Ukraine provides for a parliamentary factions ability toexpel and replace rogue deputies should they abandon thefaction, it doesnt address declarations of leaving a coalition(as opposed to a faction). For three months, Parliamentdidnt have a majority coalition, giving PresidentYushchenko the ability to dismiss it and call new elections,which he did on October 8.

Not only was the parliamentary coalition inactive, butthe Tymoshenko Bloc cast a historic vote with the Party of Regions and Communists on September 2 to strip theUkrainian presidency of all its remaining authority over theForeign Affairs Ministry, the Defense Ministry and theSecurity Service of Ukraine. The possibility emerged thatthe Tymoshenko Bloc would try to form a coalition govern-ment with the Party of Regions in the interest of nationalstability, and indeed negotiations occurred.

But less than a month later, after failed negotiations withthe Party of Regions, the Tymoshenko Bloc re-united withthe Our Ukraine faction to entirely rescind the legislationthat decimated the presidents authority. But the damagewas done, and President Yushchenko used it as a pretext todismiss the government a month later.

If President Yushchenko had his way, 2008 would havefeatured the third parliamentary election in three years. ButMs. Tymoshenko often manages to get things her way,

During the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting on April 4, President Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine listensas NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer speaks.


Verkhovna Rada Chairman Arseniy Yatsenyukattempts to open a parliamentary session on July 9as members from the Yulia Tymoshenko faction

block the rostrum.

UNIAN

Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko led her parliamentary faction in teaming up on September 2 with theParty of Regions of Ukraine led by Viktor Yanukovych (right) in passing legislation that observers said would

reduce the Ukrainian presidency to a figurehead post.

Oleksanrdr Prokopenko/UNIAN



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which was the case in her desperate and rambunctious cam-paign to delay any parliamentary election past the NewYear, and prevent it from taking place at all. TymoshenkoBloc deputies stormed the Kyiv courts, whichever werehearing their appeals, and barged into the offices of judges,threatening and bullying them. When judges ruled in their

favor to block the election, President Yushchenko respond-ed by liquidating a court, dismissing its judges and estab-lishing new courts, which made rulings that favored thePresidential Secretariats position.

However, the game that the Tymoshenko Bloc succeed-ed in playing was creating enough chaos in the courts andconfusion in the media and among government officialsthat the Central Election Commission would not be able toorganize the parliamentary election before the holiday sea-son. Despite repeated claims that the election would indeedoccur, President Yushchenko eventually gave up afterrepeated statements from CEC official Andrii Mahera thatthe election couldnt be organized in time.

When pressed against the wall, Tymoshenko Bloc depu-ties proved quite willing to stoop to sinister and underhand-ed tactics to maintain political power. And PresidentYushchenko once again demonstrated he is more than will-ing to bend the rules, by meddling in the courts, if it means

holding onto power.Ukrainian politics had its fair share of follies, soap operasand embarrassing episodes. Newly appointed InternalAffairs Minister Yurii Lutsenko, who is supposed to beresponsible for the police force and law and order inUkraine, attacked Kyiv Mayor Chernovetskyi following aNational Security and Defense Council meeting on January18.

At the council meeting, Mr. Chernovetskyi accused Mr.Lutsenko of threatening to arrest his son, Stefan, if he didnot offer land favors, apparently drawing the ministersrage. However, Mr. Lutsenko said it was Mr. Chernovetskyiwho attacked first, targeting his knee. Mr. Yushchenko saidtheir conflict served to discredit the nation, both domesti-cally and internationally.

At the February 5 parliamentary session, Party of Regions national deputies locked Rada Chair ArseniyYatsenyuk in his office, partly in revenge for his signing theLetter of Three, a document sent by Mr. Yatsenyuk, Ms.Tymoshenko and President Yushchenko to NATO request-ing that it grant Ukraine a MAP. One week later, the Partyof Regions deputies led by Andrii Klyuyev again locked upMr. Yatsenyuk, this time in the hall in front of his office.

By years end, Mr. Yatsenyuk was ousted as chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and the Rada plunged into deeperinstability. During a tense November 12 session highlightedby shouting matches, fistfights and broken glass, 233 mem-bers of Parliament out of the 350 registered voted to oustMr. Yatsenyuk. The votes came from an alliance consistingof the Party of Regions of Ukraine, the Volodymyr LytvynBloc, the Communist Party of Ukraine and Single Center, aspin-off faction of the Our Ukraine Peoples Self Defense(OU-PSD).

On December 9, Volodymyr Lytvyn of the eponymousbloc returned as Rada chair after the Tymoshenko Bloccobbled together 244 votes to support his candidacy from abroad range of political forces, including the Lytvyn Bloc,the Peoples Self-Defense wing of OU-PSD and even theCommunist Party.

Upon seating himself, Mr. Lytvyn immediately declaredthat a new government coalition agreement had emergedbetween the Tymoshenko, Lytvyn and OU-PSD blocs.

Foreign policy

With Ms. Tymoshenkos return as prime minister, theWest had high hopes for the Ukrainian government makingprogress toward Euro-Atlantic integration. The vicious con-flict between president and the prime minister however,ruined much of these hopes and undermined the ForeignAffairs Ministrys goals and efforts.

Initially, the Orange leaders were on the same page. OnJanuary 15 President Yushchenko, Prime MinisterTymoshenko and Verkhovna Rada Chair Yatsenyuk signedand sent the now-famous Letter of Three addressed to theNATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer inBrussels, requesting consideration for MAP at NATOsApril summit in Bucharest. The Letter of Three wasorganized and dispatched covertly, leading the Party of Regions to launch a political scandal once its lawmakersgot wind of it. Many Regions lawmakers felt betrayed byMr. Yatsenyuk, whose candidacy for the Rada chairman-ship they had supported in the prior year. Its deputies begana drive to dismiss Mr. Yatsenyuk from his post.

A few weeks later, on February 12, the Party of Regionsand Communists staged a creative protest against NATOinside the Verkhovna Rada, filling the session hall withdozens of blue and yellow balloons. Each was filled with

helium and read, NATO No! They also blocked theparliamentary rostrum and sounded sirens and horns, pre-venting Mr. Yatsenyuk from leading the session.

By the time the Bucharest summit rolled around on April2, Ukraines MAP denial was already foreseen. But nothingserved to drive a greater wedge in Ukrainian politics, par-ticularly between President Yushchenko and Prime MinisterTymoshenko, as war between Russia and Georgia eruptedon August 8. Although political observers and the publicalike had thought the two Orange leaders had virtuallyidentical foreign policy positions, the war in South Ossetiaproved that wasnt the case. Three foreign policy positionsemerged in Ukraine as a result of the war the Russianview held by the Party of Regions, the European view heldby the Tymoshenko Bloc and the American view held bythe Presidential Secretariat and Our Ukraine (Peoples Self-Defense at this point was entirely aligned with theTymoshenko Bloc). Most notably, Ms. Tymoshenko didntmake a statement on the conflict until more than a weekafter it began.

On December 3, at the meeting of NATO foreign minis-ters, known collectively as the North Atlantic Council,Ukraines and Georgias eventual accession to the alliancewas postponed yet again. NATO decided that, instead of granting the two troubled countries Membership ActionPlans, it would develop Annual National Programs for each.The ANP is described as a performance-based process;Ukraine was told NATO would use the NATO-UkraineCommission that has existed since 1997 as an instrument indrafting and implementing the reforms needed on the roadto NATO membership (whenever that might be) and thatprogress would be reviewed on an annual basis.

Meanwhile, back on September 9, European Union lead-ers decided to delay Ukraines integration efforts by at leasthalf a year due to the conflict between the countrys presi-dent and prime minister, as well as the expected collapse of the pro-Western coalition government (which indeed hap-pened exactly a week later). Ukraine was to have signed anAssociation Agreement with the EU during the Ukraine-EUsummit.

Foreign policy failures overshadowed some very signifi-cant gains, particularly Ukraines entry in the World TradeOrganization (WTO) as its 152nd member. PresidentYushchenko traveled to the organizations General Councilheadquarters in Geneva on February 5 to witness the voteand engage in a signing ceremony with WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy.

The country inherited a weighty list of requirements ithad to fulfill during its five-year transition into member-ship. Though the Ukrainian president promised to allowfree trade of Ukraines agricultural land and a new tax code,neither was fulfilled by the years end. Other requirementsinvolved changes to customs policy, export subsidies, tariffsand quotas.

Soon after Ukraines WTO membership was approved,the Yushchenko administration officially launched negotia-tions with the European Union on creating a deep free tradezone, which was announced on February 18 during the visitof EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson to Kyiv. Weexpect that 2008 will be the most active year in conductingthe negotiations to form a deep free trade zone, President

Yushchenko said.Russian-Ukrainian relations in 2008 consisted of much

of the same threats of cuts in natural gas supplies, threatsof cuts in diplomacy should Ukraine join the NATOMembership Action Plan, threats to keep the Black SeaFleet stationed in Crimea beyond 2017, criticism of the

Ukrainian recognition of the Holodomor, criticism of theYushchenko governments pro-Ukrainian language and cul-tural policies, and a lack of progress in border delineationalong the Kerch Strait and Azov Sea.

In mid-February, President Yushchenko and RussianPrime Minister Vladimir Putin met for three hours inMoscow, at which time they signed a Russia-Ukraine Planof Action through 2009, consisting of resolving licensingagreements and intellectual property rights and beginningpractical work to demarcate the Russian-Ukrainian bor-der, among many other projects.

Foreign visitors

During 2008, Ukraine was visited by several foreignleaders, among them U.S. President George W. Bush,German Chancellor Angele Merkel and United KingdomForeign Secretary David Miliband. Other prominent visi-tors included U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar and Vice-President

Dick Cheney. As these Western leaders visited Ukraine insuccession, the infighting in Ukraine got worse andUkraines chances for acceptance by the EU and NATOdecreased.

Sen. Lugar, co-chairman of the powerful SenateCommittee on Foreign Relations, was the first of the groupto visit Kyiv, leading a U.S. delegation on January 15 todiscuss key questions of bilateral relations, strengtheningUkraines energy independence and Ukraines membershipin European and Euro-Atlantic bodies. Sen. Lugarexpressed hope that U.S.-Ukraine relations would bestrengthened now that the government of Yulia Tymoshenkohas assumed power after months of political deadlock inUkraine. Relations are excellent and my guess is that theywill grow even stronger, Sen. Lugar said.

President Bush and his wife, Laura, arrived in Kyiv onMarch 31 for a two-day visit on what was the two-termpresidents first official visit to Ukraine. The trip cameahead of the crucial NATO summit in Bucharest at whichUkraines MAP was to be considered, and Mr. Bushs visitwas aimed at underscoring the full support of the UnitedStates for Ukraines next steps toward NATO. This weekUkraine seeks to strengthen its trans-Atlantic ties through aNATO Membership Action Plan. The United States strong-ly supports your request. We are proud to stand with you inBucharest and beyond, declared President Bush. He alsonoted that the United States and Ukraine share a commonvision for the future and seek to advance the cause of free-dom by helping all Europeans live together in security andpeace.

The American delegation also included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, White House Chief of Staff JoshuaBolten, U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley,Deputy White House Chief of Staff Joe Hagen, AssistantSecretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs DanielFried and Staff Secretary Raul F. Yanes. During the visit,Ukraine and the U.S. signed a bilateral action plan for2008-2009, referred to as a Roadmap, that foresees thestrengthening of cooperation in trade, development of alter-native sources of energy, humanitarian aid, improved weap-onry utilization, aviation, nuclear energy and the implemen-tation of joint high-tech programs.

In addition to his meetings with President Yushchenko,Mr. Bush met one-on-one with Prime Minister Tymoshenkoin what was an unscheduled meeting. While Mr. Bush metwith Mr. Yanukovych, leader of the opposition, SecretaryRice met with Ms. Tymoshenko.

President and Mrs. Bush later joined President and Mrs.Yushchenko for a wreath-laying ceremony at theHolodomor memorial in St. Michaels Square.

Chancellor Merkel met with Ukraines feuding leaders onJuly 21. While in Kyiv she spoke of Ukraines NATO mem-bership and hinted at a potential future bid for entry into theEuropean Union. She also underscored Germanys commit-ment to maintaining close dialogue with Ukraine, as well asits willingness to assist the country along the path to fullNATO membership. Ukraine will join NATO one day,Chancellor Merkel said during a joint press conference withPresident Yushchenko. We will work out a plan accordingto which Germany will help Ukraine to join NATOsMembership Action Plan. Ms. Merkel and Mr. Yushchenkoalso discussed in further detail the increasing level of part-nership between Ukraine and the European Union.

Mr. Miliband, who arrived in late August, noted: I havecome to Ukraine today for one reason above all others: inthe midst of the Georgia crisis, I want to re-affirm the com-mitment of the United Kingdom to support the democratic

Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Viktor Yushchenkoin Paris on September 9.




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Washington and Kyiv in 2008 witnessed the furtherstrengthening of the U.S.-Ukraine relationship. Itwas advanced during an exchange of presidential

visits and other high-level meetings on bilateral ties,Ukraines entry into the Euro-Atlantic community and otherissues, and culminated in the signing of the United States-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership in December.

The year also saw expanding cooperation in marking the75th anniversary of Ukraines 1932-1933 Holodomor whichclimaxed in November with the dedication of the futureUkrainian Famine-Genocide Memorial site in the U.S. capi-tal.

U.S.-Ukrainian business and economic ties also grew in2008, helped along with the activities and expansion of theU.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), as the groupintensified its activities and reached its end-of-the-year goalof accepting its 100th member the software giantMicrosoft Corp.

The year concluded on a sad note, however, when on thevery last day of the year, the Voice of America stopped itsradio broadcasts in Ukrainian.

Presidential visits

U.S. President George W. Bush, in what was viewed as asign that Washington was backing Ukraines desire to joinNATO, made an overnight visit to Kyiv on March 31-April1 on his way to the April NATO summit in Bucharest. It washis first state visit to Ukraine.

Following a one-on-one meeting with President ViktorYushchenko, the two heads of state continued their discus-sions in an expanded meeting that included senior govern-ment officials of both countries, among them Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Minister of Foreign AffairsVolodymyr Ohryzko.

Afterwards, senior officials of both parties signed a bilat-eral Action Plan for 2008-2009 (informally referred to as theRoadmap) which calls for increased cooperation in suchareas as trade, development of alternative sources of energy,humanitarian aid, improved weaponry utilization, aviation,nuclear energy and joint high-tech programs. They alsosigned a separate agreement on expanding bilateral spaceexploration for peaceful purposes.

During a press conference that followed, PresidentYushchenko said Ukraine received the full support of theUnited States to begin the process toward accession to aNATO Membership Action Plan (MAP) at the Bucharestsummit. Later, during a luncheon in honor of the visitingpresident, he also thanked the United States for its support ingetting Ukraine into the World Trade Organization.

In turn, President Bush expressed his admiration of Ukraines peaceful Orange Revolution and its role in con-tributing to every mission of the NATO alliance. This weekUkraine seeks to strengthen its trans-Atlantic ties through aNATO Membership Action Plan, he said, adding that theUnited States strongly supports your request.

Later that afternoon the two presidents and their wivestook part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the HolodomorMonument on St. Michaels Square in honor of the millions

choices of the Ukrainian people. We offer this support bilat-erally, following the highly successful visit by your presi-dent to London, and his agreement with our prime ministerto deepen the wide-ranging partnership between the U.K.and Ukraine, from energy to Euro 2012. An important partof the joint statement by the president and the prime ministerwas agreement that together we would remember theHolodomor. I am glad that today I will have had the chanceto pay my respects to the millions who died in this appallingman-made tragedy. Mr. Miliband also stated that Ukraine clearly a European country should be accepted into theEuropean Union once it fulfills the criteria for membership.As regards Ukraines membership in NATO, he said, AtBucharest NATO said it would welcome you if you wantit. Now we should use the NATO-Ukraine Commission tochart the route to a choice about membership.

The U.S. vice-president also arrived in Kyiv in the after-math of the Russian-Georgian war as part of a four-nationtour that included Azerbaijan, Georgia and Italy. He metwith both President Yushchenko and Prime MinisterTymoshenko on September 5, and stated publicly:Ukraines support for Georgia, and especially your[President Yushchenkos] dramatic visit to Tbilisi in the cri-sis first days, showed a courageous example for others,adding that The free world must follow this example deci-sively and patiently. Russias actions cast doubt on itsdependability as an international partner not only forGeorgia, but the whole region. Mr. Cheney re-affirmed theU.S. governments support for Ukraines Euro-Atlanticintegration efforts, and stressed the importance of maintain-ing political stability in Ukraine. The partners agreed inBucharest that Ukraine will be a NATO member, and thatstatement remains valid today, he said.

Other prominent visitors to Kyiv included the board of directors of the European Bank for Reconstruction andDevelopment, which held its 17th Annual Meeting andBusiness Forum in the Ukrainian capital on May 18-19, anda delegation of representatives of NATO member-states ledby Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, who were intown on June 16-17 to assess the progress made by Ukrainesince NATOs April summit in Bucharest. The secretarygeneral stated that he would do everything possible to

enable Ukraine to receive a NATO Membership Action Planin December and he vowed that Russia would not influencethe decision. He told an Austrian newspaper that coopera-tion between Ukraines president and prime minister wouldplay a decisive role in NATOs decision in December.

Economic crisis

Ukraines economic woes, in the view of PresidentYushchenko, began immediately after the New Yearthrough Ms. Tymoshenkos program to return $4 billion in

bank deposits lost during the Soviet collapse and subse-quent hyperinflation. After repeated warnings about howthe increased money supply would accelerate inflation,President Yushchenko declared on February 7 that pricesrose 2.9 percent in January, or an annual inflation rate of 19.4 percent, noting the situation, in my view, is very seri-ous. He blamed Ms. Tymoshenkos compensation pro-gram, as well as rising energy prices, to which he said theTymoshenko government offered no solution despite hisrequests for proposals.

By the end of the first quarter, it was clear the govern-ment was in no way going to succeed in meeting its inflationprojection of about 10 percent for the year. Inflation becamethe biggest economic problem confronting Ukraine with,largely due to external forces, such as rising global com-modity prices. Nonetheless, President Yushchenko wasinsisting at the end of July that it was Ms. Tymoshenkoseconomic mismanagement and populist programs, not somuch global tendencies, that were causing the acceleratinginflation.

In the fall, with the global financial crisis hitting Ukrainehard, warring leaders each proposed their own anti-crisismeasures and Ukrainian lawmakers attempted to pass legis-lation to deal with the economic implosion. On November5 the IMF approved a $16.4 billion loan to the Ukrainiangovernment its biggest ever credit to stabilize Ukrainesshaken financial system and restore public confidence inthe countrys banks. The first tranche of the loan wasreleased when the Verkhovna Rada finally approved anti-crisis legislation that was signed by President Yushchenkoon November 3.

Strategic partnershipof U.S. and Ukraine

Volodymyr Lytvyn, leader of the eponymous political bloc, takes his seat as the newly elected chair of theVerkhovna Rada on December 9. He previously served as Rada chair in 2002-2006.

UNIAN/ Oleksander Kosariev

Ukraines Vice Prime Minister Hryhorii Nemyria, anally of Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, spoke at

the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council on January 31.

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of victims of the Great Famine.In September President Yushchenko visited the United

States twice within a week. The first visit, September22-24, was for the opening session of the United NationsGeneral Assembly and other meetings in New York City;the second was a one-day visit to Washington for a meetingwith President Bush to discuss their countries developingbilateral relationship and other important issues of sharedconcern, including Ukraines problematic domestic politicalsituation.

While in New York, President Yushchenko also met withthe Republican Party presidential and vice-presidential can-didates John McCain and Sarah Palin, as well as with repre-sentatives of the Ukrainian American community and othergroups interested in Ukraine.

In Washington, he held a news conference at the NationalPress Club, attended a working breakfast with members of the U.S. Ukraine Business Council and laid a wreath at themonument to Taras Shevchenko.

At the Press Club, journalists asked him about Russiasmilitary incursion and occupation of Georgian territory andits potential future affect on Ukraine, especially in suchareas as Crimea. He said that, as far as Ukraine is concerned,Crimea was not a problem. Like any other area of Ukraine,Crimea is an integral and inseparable part of Ukraine, hestressed, adding that Ukraine will not take part in any nego-tiations about its territorial integrity.

Among those accompanying President Yushchenko onhis visit was his national security advisor, Raisa Bohatyriova,who was thrown out by the opposition Party of Regionsbecause of her remarks about its leader, Viktor Yanukovych,

during her earlier visit to Washington on August 29-20, andForeign Minister Volodymyr Ohryzko, who would return toWashington in mid-December to sign the United States-Ukraine Charter on Strategic Partnership.

A strategic partnership

Foreign Minister Ohryzko and Secretary of State Ricesigned the charter on December 19, following their meetingat the State Department. The document affirms the deepen-ing of security, economic, energy and other aspects of theU.S.-Ukraine bilateral relationship and states that the partiessupport for each others sovereignty, independence, territo-rial integrity and inviolability of borders constitutes thefoundation of our bilateral relations.

The two countries affirm that they share a vital interestin a strong, independent and democratic Ukraine, thatUkraines integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions is amutual priority, and that they plan to enhance their securitycooperation in order to strengthen Ukraines candidacy forNATO membership. And, in the last paragraph they notethat Ukraine welcomes the United States intention toestablish an American diplomatic presence (AmericanPresence Post) in Symferopol in Crimea.

State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack laterexplained that an American Presence Post consists of one ortwo diplomats working on such things as cultural exchangesand events, and political reporting, among other duties.When some of the journalists at the briefing suggested thatRussia could see this as yet another American incursioninto Russias historic sphere of influence, Mr. McCormackadded that if the Russian government chooses to be upset

by this, well, theres not much I can do about that.On the eve of his meeting with Secretary Rice, Minister

Ohryzko discussed some of the elements of the charter at ameeting with representatives of Ukrainian-American organi-zations at the Embassy of Ukraine. He told them that thepresence of the Russian Black Sea Fleet is a destabilizingfactor in Crimea. And while Ukraine cannot demand itsremoval before 2017 because of the its bilateral agreementwith Russia, he said, it will insist the fleet leave when theagreement expires.

NATO membership

As for the U.S. administrations backing of Ukrainesearliest entry into NATO, it has the full support of the U.S.Congress. On February 14, the U.S. Senate passed by unani-mous consent Senate Resolution 439, expressing the strongsupport of the Senate for the North Atlantic TreatyOrganization to enter into a Membership Action Plan withGeorgia and Ukraine.

The resolution was introduced at the end of January bySen. Richard Lugar (R- Ind.). Among the co-sponsors of theresolution were the future Democratic president and vice-president of the United States, Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)and Joseph Biden (D-Del.), as well as their defeatedRepublican presidential rival, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.),and one of his leading backers, Joseph I. Lieberman(I-Conn.).

A similar resolution, sponsored by Rep. Robert Wexler(D-Fla.), was passed by the House of Representatives onApril 1.It should also be noted that the U.S. Commission onSecurity and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki Commission)held a hearing on NATO enlargement on March 4. The threespeakers all supported a Membership Action Plan forUkraine, albeit in varying degrees, with former U.S.Ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer emerging as the stron-gest proponent.

Holodomor commemoration

Ukraine and Ukrainians living abroad last year weremarking the 75th anniversary of the Holodomor Famine-Genocide of 1932-1933. In this context, there were two suc-cessful projects involving U.S.-Ukraine cooperation during2008.

One was the publication of the Ukrainian translation of the multi-volume Oral History Project of the U.S.Commission on the Ukraine Famine, established in the mid-1980s by the U.S. Congress. The other was the successfulcompletion of the process of getting U.S. authorization forthe construction of a monument commemorating theHolodomor and getting an appropriate site for it in thenations capital.

In 1986, the U.S. Congress appropriated $100,000 for thecreation of the U.S. Commission on the Ukraine Famine. Itspurpose was to conduct a study of the 1932-1933 GreatFamine in Ukraine in order to expand the worlds knowl-edge of the Famine and to provide the American public witha better understanding of the Soviet system by revealing theSoviet role in the Holodomor. Hundreds of survivors of theFamine testified before the governmental commission, com-Raisa Bohatyriova with Ukraines Ambassador to the U.S. Oleh Shamshur in Washington on August 29.

Oleksiy Synelnychenko

Ukrainian Catholic and Orthodox clergy offer prayers as they bless the future site of the Holodomor memorial in Washington on November 3.Yaro Bihun



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Its taken 20 years, but in 2008 the government of Canadafinally settled the matter of redress for Canadas nationalinternment operation of 1914-1920. The issue seemed to

have been resolved on November 25, 2005 when the Act toacknowledge that persons of Ukrainian origin were internedin Canada during World War I and to provide for recognitionof this event received royal assent. Although an agreementin principle providing for the funding of various educationaland commemorative projects was signed between theUkrainian community and the Liberal government, no resti-tution payments were made before the Liberal governmentfell.

On May 9, 2008, the problem of government redress forthe internment was finally resolved. Jason Kenney, secretaryof state for multiculturalism and Canadian identity,announced that the Canadian government will provide $10million to the Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of TarasShevchenko to establish an endowment fund to support ini-tiatives related to World War I internment operations. Thefund will be available to Ukrainian and other East Europeanethnic communities to undertake meaningful commemora-tive and educational activities.

The funding is being provided under the CommunityHistorical Recognition Program, first announced by PrimeMinister Stephen Harper in June 2006. The document estab-lishing the endowment was signed by Dr. Lubomyr Luciuk(Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association), AndrewHladyshevsky (Ukrainian Canadian Foundation of TarasShevchenko) and Paul Grod (Ukrainian CanadianCongress).

The Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association(UCCLA) continued its project to mark all internment sitesacross Canada. The 21st memorial was unveiled on October25 at the site of the Sault Ste. Marie Museum, a location inOntario where individuals were processed before being sentto internment camps. The plaque is inscribed in English,

French and Ukrainian.Canada-Ukraine relations

Canada-Ukraine relations during the year developed onboth official government levels and between the UkrainianCanadian community and Ukraine. On January 5, the newlyelected Ukrainian Canadian Congress (UCC) President PaulGrod met with Arseniy Yatsenyuk, chairman of UkrainesParliament. Mr. Grod explained the UCCs YouthDevelopment Initiative whereby the UCC would develop avariety of internship opportunities for Canadian youth inboth Canada and Ukraine to provide Canadians with domes-tic and international experience in government and interna-tional affairs. The Verkhovna Rada chairman made a com-mitment to work with the UCC to establish a parliamentaryinternship program for Canadian students in UkrainesParliament.

On April 2, the Ukrainian Canadian Congress welcomedthe stand taken that day at the NATO summit in Bucharestby Prime Minister Harper, who expressed Canadas strongsupport for Ukraines request to join NATOs MembershipAction Plan and for Ukraines eventual membership in theNATO alliance. UCC President Grod commended the primeminister for urging other leaders to support Ukraines bid formembership.

The UCC has consistently presented its position to thegovernment of Canada that bringing Ukraine into NATOwould accelerate the countrys pace of democratic reformand economic development, while strengthening geopoliti-cal stability in the region. Member of Parliament Joy Smith,who chairs the Canada-Ukraine Parliamentary FriendshipGroup, expressed similar praise for the prime ministers sup-port of Ukraine.

The most important event of the year in Canada-Ukrainerelations was the official state visit of President VictorYushchenko. President Yushchenko arrived in Ottawa onMay 26 to begin a three-day visit. He was welcomed toCanada by Governor General Michalle Jean.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Harper, PresidentYushchenko discussed the further development of politicaland commercial ties between the two countries, Ukrainesfuture in NATO and Canadas firm support for Ukraines bidfor a Membership Action Plan. They also agreed on cooper-ation in the U.N.-mandated mission in Afghanistan andsigned a joint statement confirming their commitment to theactive development of special partnership relations betweenUkraine and Canada.

President Yushchenko addressed a joint session of theCanadian Parliament. During his well-received speech, the

Canadas Ukrainiansin the headlines

posed of two senators, four members of the House and sixpublic members. The staff director of the commission wasDr. James Mace, who edited the resulting three-volumereport containing the transcripts of these eyewitnessaccounts, which was published in 1988.

More recently, the Ukrainian Human Rights Committee,

headed by Ulana Mazurkevich (who was a public memberof the Famine Commission), undertook the project of hav-ing the report translated and reprinted in Ukraine. With theactive support of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv and Sen. ByronDorgan (D-N.D.), who had served on the commission, fundswere appropriated for the translation and printing of 5,000copies of report. This was done in August by the Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine asthe publisher and printed by the Kyiv Mohyla Academypublishing house in Kyiv. A fourth volume, a summaryaddition to the report, was added in November.

November also served as a milestone in the long coopera-tive effort of Ukraine and the Ukrainian-American commu-nity to have a Holodomor monument erected in Washington.The site of the future Ukrainian Famine-Genocide Memorialin the center of the U.S. capital was dedicated on the brisk,sunny morning of November 2.

The ceremony was held on the grassy triangle at the

intersection of two of the capitals main thoroughfares Massachusetts Avenue and North Capitol Street locatednear Union Station and a short walk from the Capitol build-ing.

Ukraines First Lady Kateryna Yushchenko was the fea-tured speaker at the hourlong event, which includedUkrainian Orthodox and Catholic Church leaders, Ukrainianand U.S. government and diplomatic officials, and aHolodomor survivor.

Mrs. Yushchenko described her and PresidentYushchenkos families sufferings in the Famine and praisedand thanked all those who worked on bringing this crime tothe attention of the world, singling out U.S. Rep. SanderLevin (D-Mich.) for his hard work and moral consciencein this effort.

Congressman Levin, in his remarks, called on theUkrainian American community to ensure that the monu-ment that will be erected there is fitting of the tragedy it

commemorates and in terms of this location.The Ukrainian government is responsible for selectingthe monument design and erecting it on the site, for whichno firm date has been set. Ukraines Ambassador OlehShamshur said that it can be expected in the nearest future,after the design competition is conducted in 2009. TheNational Committee to Commemorate the 75th Anniversaryof the Ukrainian Genocide of 1932-1933, chaired byMichael Sawkiw, the former president of the UkrainianCongress Committee of America, will assist in this effort, asit has in getting U.S. government approval for memorial andthe site.

The USUBCs 100th

The U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC), an asso-ciation devoted to enhancing trade and investment relationsbetween the two countries, reached its goal of having 100member-companies and institutions by the end of 2008when it accepted into its membership the worlds leading

At the annual meeting of the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council on December 17 (from left) are: Iryna Teluk(USUBC), Dorothy Dwoskin (Microsoft, the USUBCs 100th member) and Morgan Williams (USUBC President).

Oleksiy Synelnychenko

developer and producer of computer operating systems andprograms the Microsoft Corp.

That announcement was made by USUBC President andCEO Morgan Williams during the organizations annualmeeting on December 17 at Washingtons MetropolitanClub. Founded in 1995, the USUBC is the largest Ukraine

related business trade association outside of Ukraine. Itsmembership roll includes such leading companies asBoeing, Coca-Cola, General Dynamics, Halliburton, KraftFoods, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Pratt &Whitney-Paton, Proctor and Gamble and 3M, as well asmany smaller less-recognizable companies and such non-commercial institutions as the Kennan Institute, theWoodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, theU.S.-Ukraine Foundation and the Ukrainian-American BarAssociation. It has also served as a forum for discussingpressing issues on the U.S.-Ukrainian bilateral agenda, aswell as a host for visiting dignitaries from Ukraine, amongthem President Yushchenko and other key members of theUkrainian government, such as Vice Prime MinisterHryhorii Nemyria, who addressed an overflow crowd of USUBC members and guests on January 31.

Ukraines highest awards

Two prominent Americans received Ukraines highestawards for their significant contributions to strengtheningand developing Ukraine-U.S. relations: ZbigniewBrzezinski, national security advisor to former PresidentJimmy Carter, and Steven Pifer, former ambassador toUkraine. The awards were presented by AmbassadorShamshur during a special ceremony at the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington November 8.

Dr. Brzezinski, now the chief advisor and member of board of directors of the Center for Strategic andInternational Studies and co-chairman of the U.S.-EuropeanUnion joint committee on Ukrainian affairs, was awardedthe Order of Yaroslav Mudryi, third degree.

Ambassador Pifer, now the chairman of the workinggroup on political and economic reforms of the U.S.-EU joint committee on Ukrainian affairs, was presented theOrder of Merit, second degree.

VOA broadcasts cut

One effective avenue of U.S.-Ukraine communication,albeit unidirectional, came to an end at exactly 30 minutesbefore 2008 gave way to 2009. It was 11:30 p.m. on NewYears Eve in Kyiv and 4:30 in the afternoon in Washingtonat the Voice of Americas Studio 3 when Anya Dydyk-Petrenko, the anchor of the VOAs Ukrainian evening newsradio program, bid her listeners Goodnight, and IhorHulawyj, the producer, cued the studio engineer to