Ukraine's Cabinet adopts draft bill on UPA veterans
by Zenon Zawada
Kyiv Press Bureau
KYIV - The Cabinet of Ministers on July 19 adopted a proposed bill that would recognize Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) veterans and grant them government benefits, including higher pensions and public transportation discounts.
"For the first time in 15 years of independence, the Ukrainian government examined this matter and reached a positive decision," said Viacheslav Kyrylenko, the acting vice prime minister for humanitarian affairs.
"I believe this is a significant contribution of President Viktor Yushchenko's policies, which are oriented toward reconciling all veterans who fought for our homeland's freedom."
No more than 15,000 UPA veterans and their family members are still alive, Mr. Kyrylenko said. At least half of them receive the appropriate government benefits granted by local city governments in western Ukraine, he said.
The bill, "On social security for the participants of the national-liberation struggle between 1939 and 1956 to achieve Ukraine's independence," will immediately be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for passage.
Mr. Kyrylenko said he didn't foresee any problems passing the bill, given that there is a "patriotic majority" in Ukraine's Parliament.
Despite his optimism, the Communist and Socialist parties of Ukraine are sure to fiercely oppose the historical rehabilitation of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army - Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN-UPA).
It's unclear how Party of the Regions national deputies will vote. However, some Ukrainian political experts said the party is willing to compromise on the issue.
On May 12, pro-Russian youth in Crimea demonstrated at the building of the president's permanent representative against UPA recognition. They burned German National Socialist (Nazi) Party flags, alongside OUN banners.
"UPA rehabilitation is the equivalent of rehabilitating fascism," said Nadiya Poliakova, a leader in the pro-Russian Proryv youth organization. "Its rehabilitation on the government level, as proposed by the president, is an outrage for the whole civilized world."
On October 14 of last year, which is the anniversary of the UPA's founding, a government commission accepted the expert conclusions of a report submitted by historians at the Institute of History at the Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences.
"The OUN-UPA was that military-political factor that directly influenced the Ukrainian people's struggle for a sovereign state," the report stated.
The same government commission recommended changes to the law on UPA veterans' status and benefits that would make them equal to other Ukrainian veterans.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, July 23, 2006, No. 30, Vol. LXXIV
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