NEWSBRIEFS (06/22/03)

NEWSBRIEFS

Moscow weekly recalls Duranty

MOSCOW - Reporting about the recent departure of the executive editor of The New York Times and the episode involving former reporter Jason Blair, Yezhenedelnyi Zhurnal (No. 73) recalled the career of The New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty. The weekly noted that Duranty, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1932 for his "dispassionate and objective reporting" from the Soviet Union, labeled reports about a famine in Ukraine "baseless." According to the weekly, people who knew Duranty recall that he in fact knew that at least 7 million people had died. The weekly speculates that Duranty was a paid agent of the Soviet secret police. It wrote that many of his articles "were clearly prepared with the assistance of the [secret police's] foreign department." Another possibility, according to the weekly, was that Duranty's work was an expression of "ideal amorality." Duranty was a close associate of satanist Alistair Crowley. At one point, Crowley reportedly wrote to Duranty suggesting that in order for the Soviet regime to be "truly modern," Stalin should proclaim a law of Satanism. The Pulitzer Prize committee is currently reviewing Duranty's award as a result of international pressure calling for its revocation. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Presidents to attend reconciliation event

WARSAW - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Polish counterpart, Aleksander Kwasniewski, will take part in a reconciliation ceremony commemorating the Poles of Volyn, western Ukraine, who were murdered by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and local Ukrainians 60 years ago, the PAP news service reported on June 11. The decision was confirmed by Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Yevhen Marchuk and the chief of the Polish National Security Bureau, Marek Siwiec, during their meeting in Kyiv on June 11. The ceremony will be held on July 11 in Pavlivka, where more than 100 Poles were herded into a local church and burned alive on July 11, 1943, the agency reported. Polish historians estimate that some 60,000-80,000 Poles died as a result of the UPA operation, intended to drive them out of Volyn. Ukrainian historians estimate that up to 30,000 Ukrainians were killed in reprisals by the Polish Home Army. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Shkil urges caution re Volyn issue

LVIV - Lawmaker Andriy Shkil of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc told journalists in Lviv on June 17 that Ukraine must be very careful in signing any statements in connection with the planned Polish-Ukrainian commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the so-called Volyn massacres, the UNIAN and Interfax news services reported. According to Mr. Shkil, documents signed by the Ukrainian side on this occasion should avoid providing grounds for lawsuits by Poles who suffered as a result of the tragedy. Mr. Shkil was in Warsaw last week with a delegation of Ukrainian lawmakers who prepared a joint statement by the Sejm and the Verkhovna Rada on the Volhynia massacres. "The text of the joint resolution by the parliaments of both countries was drafted to prevent [such lawsuits]," Mr. Shkil said. "Regarding another document that was prepared by the Foreign Affairs Ministry and is to be signed by the presidents of Ukraine and Poland, it may have such legal consequences, since in it Ukraine actually acknowledges its responsibility for ethnic cleansing against the Polish population in Volyn." (RFE/RL Newsline)

Churches comment on Volyn tragedy

LVIV - The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations released a statement reflecting on the 60th anniversary of the tragic Polish-Ukrainian conflict in northwestern Ukrainian Volyn. The statement, dated May 12, (source: www.uaorthodox.org) noted in part: "During the centuries of history, the fates of Ukrainians and Poles have intertwined more than once, sometimes joining them in a single empire, sometimes separated by borders, sometimes in peace, sometimes in conflict ... Today, before the anniversary of the tragic events in Volyn and eastern Halychyna, we, the descendants of these terrible bad times, have to raise up prayers to the Lord for these Ukrainians and Poles. Defending their countries, their peoples, their families, they left this world with faith in their hearts for peace and a bright future. We should have the bravery to acknowledge the mistakes of previous generations, to bend low and ask forgiveness for the pain and hurt that was done to one another. We remember these past tragic events in Ukrainian-Polish relations. Our peoples, especially the younger generation who will build their future, need this memory and historical knowledge. This is necessary so that facts not fully understood will not become a source of mistrust and prejudice, so that they will not burden our relations as good neighbors. We, members of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, together with all our people, pray to the Lord for the souls of the victims of these sad and tragic years. And we call all to pray that the uncorrected mistakes of the past not be repeated in the future. So that mutual forgiveness, peace and understanding rule in the relations of our Christian peoples, Ukrainian and Polish. So that wars cease their existence in the whole world." In 1943 and continuing into 1944, Poles and Ukrainians in Volyn killed each other in a bloody interethnic conflict, with an estimated 75,000 Poles and 35,000 Ukrainians dying. (Religious Information Service of Ukraine)

Grain-import duties may be dropped

KYIV - Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych said on June 14 that Ukraine is going to import grain this year and the government has already allocated funds for grain purchases, UNIAN reported. According to Mr. Yanukovych, bad weather has damaged some 60 percent of winter-crop grain areas in Ukraine. Agricultural Minister Serhii Ryzhuk suggested the same day that Ukraine cancel duties on imports of some 2.5 million tons of grain in order to ensure a sufficient supply of grain in the country. As reported earlier, the government expects that Ukrainian farmers will harvest 25 million to 27 million tons of grain this year, compared with nearly 39 million tons in 2002. (RFE/RL Newsline)

New deputy to join Verkhovna Rada

KYIV - The Central Election Commission has registered Oleksander Yaroslavskyi as a Verkhovna Rada national deputy, Interfax reported on June 13. Mr. Yaroslavskyi, president of UkrSibbank, won a by-election in Chernihiv Oblast on June 8 with 27.1 percent of the vote. With Mr. Yaroslavskyi's swearing in, the Verkhovna Rada will reach its constitutionally prescribed membership figure of 450. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Canada urges Ukraine to cancel visas

EDMONTON - Canada's Ambassador to Ukraine Andrew Robinson recently made a statement urging Ukraine to cancel visa requirements for Canadian citizens, reported Ukraine Observer. In his presentation titled "Ukraine-EU: on the way to four liberties," he said: "Why does Ukraine demand no visas from a number of countries, and at the same time demands visas from Canadians?" Mr. Robinson called the system, whereby Ukraine demands visas from Canadians because Canada demands visas from Ukrainians, obsolete. "Ukraine should build its visa policy from the point of view of an open state," the ambassador noted. At the same time the diplomat did not specify Canada's intentions to cancel or loosen visa requirements for Ukrainians. As previously reported by Ukrainian News, Ukraine and Poland agreed that visas for citizens of Ukraine for entry into Poland will be issued cost-free, and Ukraine will introduce a visa-free regime for Poles. Ukraine has reached agreement concerning a similar regulation with Slovakia, while Hungary and Lithuania stated the possibility of introducing the "Polish option." Serbia and Montenegro introduced cost-free tourist visas from June through September for Ukrainian tourists buying tours through tourist agencies. (Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Alberta Provincial Council)

Kyiv urged to use pipeline in 'reverse'

MOSCOW - Russia's Tyumen Oil Company (TNK) proposed to the Ukrainian government on June 11 the creation of a working group to study the possible use of the Odesa-Brody oil pipeline in "reverse mode" - that is, for pumping oil from Brody to an oil terminal in Odesa - Interfax reported, quoting TNK Executive Director German Khan. Mr. Khan said the proposal was made jointly with British Petroleum (BP), a stakeholder in TNK, during BP Executive Director John Brown's meetings with President Leonid Kuchma and other Ukrainian officials in Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Stratfor commercial-intelligence group reported on June 11 that Mr. Kuchma approves of the idea of pumping Russian oil from Brody to Odesa until it becomes possible to pump Caspian oil to Europe through the pipeline. The use of the Odesa-Brody pipeline for pumping oil in the "reverse mode" reportedly could bring Ukraine an estimated $60 million in annual revenues. (RFE/RL Newsline)

Ukraine, Romania agree on land border

CHERNIVTSI - Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma and his Romanian counterpart, Ion Iliescu, on June 17 signed an agreement in Chernivtsi in southwestern Ukraine concerning their mutual land border, Ukrainian news media reported. The accord confirms the border that was fixed in 1961 but leaves unresolved a dispute over the precise border along the continental shelf of the Black Sea, in the vicinity of Serpent Island (Zmiinyi Ostrov). The dispute flared when Ukrainian geologists found oil deposits near the island in 2001. According to Ukraine's State Border Protection Committee, the Ukrainian-Romanian land frontier stretches for 608.8 kilometers. (RFE/RL Newsline)

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