Turning the pages back... November 2, 1997 (10/30/05)

Turning the pages back...

November 2, 1997

In 1997 at this time of year, our editorial announced: "The election season has begun in Ukraine" and issued a warning to our Ukrainian American community to beware of being used by those who were seeking office. Following are excerpts from that editorial.

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... Even before any major announcements of candidacies were made, Pavlo Lazarenko - once branded as one of the most corrupt officials in Ukraine - arrived in the United States. He said the goal of his October 19-24 visit was to spread "objective information" about developments in Ukraine, but others saw it differently: here was candidate Lazarenko, suddenly a reformer and democrat, preparing the ground for his run at the presidency.

In New York he plugged the platform of his Hromada (Community) party, and said the Kuchma administration has repeatedly harassed him and his party. In Washington he went on the offensive against the Kuchma administration, telling Ukrainian Americans: "There is no democracy in Ukraine. It died with the coming of the current administration, or regime."

Soon after his return to Kyiv, Pravda Ukrainy and Vseukrainskie Viedomosti, two Russian-language newspapers largely controlled by supporters of Mr. Lazarenko, published glowing articles about the visit. Both were replete with errors (some laughable, like references to "Harry" Kissinger, "Stan" Sestanovich, and "Congressmen" Morningstar and Pascual) and falsehoods (these much more serious, such as reporting that Ukrainian Americans support Mr. Lazarenko, that the U.S. government has soured on the Kuchma administration and that the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. is not doing its job). Both disinformed the Ukrainian public by stating that The New York Times and the Washington Post had reported on the visit. ...

... no one organization at this time speaks for all Ukrainian Americans, so it is certainly ludicrous to state that our diverse community supports this particular politician. Since Askold Lozynskyj was the person cited in the articles as saying the Ukrainian American diaspora supports Mr. Lazarenko, we contacted the UCCA president to confirm that statement. He laughed: "The same thing happened after the Marchuk visit" (when former Prime Minister Yevhen Marchuk attended the UCCA convention).

... the UCCA, and perhaps all Ukrainian Americans, have been used by Mr. Lazarenko. And, frankly, we don't like being used. We had better beware, as there certainly is more to come before the 1998 parliamentary elections and the 1999 presidential balloting.

Source: "Beware: elections ahead" (editorial), The Ukrainian Weekly, November 2, 1997, Vol. LXV, No. 44.

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