KLK holds annual get-together at Soyuzivka

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – The Carpathian Ski Club (KLK) held its annual meeting and elections on Sunday, October 1, at Soyuzivka Heritage Center. Following the acceptance of the president’s, treasurer’s and event coordinators’ reports, elections of new officers took place. Voted into office were: Andriy Hadzewycz, president; Dr. Severin B. Palydowycz, vice-president; Olha Holoborodko, secretary; and Mirka Moroch, treasurer. Members of the outgoing board – including President Vira Popel, Treasurer Adia Fedash and Secretary Christine Klufas – were thanked and commended for the last four years of work. The weekend also included friendly doubles tennis games, an afternoon social and a dinner-dance on Saturday, September 30.

Photographer presents gift as thanks to Soyuzivka

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – Local photographer Charlie Murray recently stopped by Soyuzivka Heritage Center with a surprise. The nature photographer had been given access to Soyuzivka’s property to get to the beautiful Nonkanawha Falls. The 75-foot falls are located on land acquired in 2012 from Soyuzivka by the Open Space Institute, whose mission is to protect scenic natural and historic landscapes in perpetuity for the public good. The falls are accessible by a trail from Soyuzivka’s property. Mr. Murray surprised Marianka Hawryluk, Soyuzivka’s dining room manager, on November 18 when he brought a large framed photograph of Nonkanawha Falls as a gift for the center.

Pumas blaze trails at Soyuzivka Heritage Center

KERHONKSON, N.Y. – This past spring, Plast scouts of Kerhonkson, N.Y., completed a trailblazing project, assisting in the clean-up of hiking trails located at Soyuzivka Heritage Center. Our valiant team, led by scoutmasters Roman Hrab Sr., Roman Wasylyk and Nadia Maczaj, included Roman Hrab Jr., Vera Hrab, Julianna Maczaj and Pavlo Mysak, all members of the Plast scout patrol named Pumas. We contacted the assistant manager at Soyuzivka, Stefko Drabyk (also a member of Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization), to ask if we could help in the springtime clean-up. He replied enthusiastically, supplying us with trail blazes and tools. We also received a trail map, showing the five trails – red, yellow, green, blue and orange.

Chicago and New York events raise more than $500,000 for UCU

CHICAGO – Recent events in Chicago and New York City together raised more than half a million dollars for Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU). Both the spiritual and the secular were emphasized at the events: Bishop Borys Gudziak, president of UCU, shared the New York program with Michigan-born Dr. Ulana Suprun, acting minister of health of Ukraine, while Chicago’s audience greeted Bishop Benedict Aleksichuk and noted international business consultant Adrian Slywotzky. Chicago’s October 29 luncheon was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Bishop Benedict, a graduate of the UCU Lviv Business School and a former UCU senator (member of the board), gave the blessing and then spoke to the gathered supporters. Local friends of UCU also had an opportunity to meet other graduates and students and to see and hear about their accomplishments, starting with a brief video presentation, “Aspire to Greatness.” The film showed the results of the recently completed, seven-year Comprehensive Campaign, “A New Generation for a New Ukraine.” The fund-raising effort gathered donations from 15,000 contributors worldwide for a total of $67.1 million, which were used to build a new campus with four buildings, expand programs and faculty, increase scholarships and student enrollment, including an outreach effort to enroll students from throughout Ukraine, including a young woman, a Crimean Tatar, who was highlighted in the film.

Kyiv concerned Council of Europe might cave to Russian ‘blackmail’

KYIV – Ukrainian officials and politicians have reacted with alarm to reports that the Council of Europe is considering lifting sanctions imposed against Russia over its military intervention in Crimea out of fears that Moscow might otherwise leave the body. “We are extremely concerned,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), told RFE/RL from Strasbourg on November 27. “The issue now goes far beyond interests of Ukraine. It’s in the interests of the entire region to defend the Council of Europe from Russian blackmail and leaning toward Russia.”

Mr. Kuleba’s comments came after the Financial Times (FT) reported on November 26 that Moscow was demanding that its voting rights in PACE – which were revoked in 2014 in response to Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula – be restored, and that the secretary-general of the Council of Europe was lobbying in support of the idea. FT said Secretary-General Thorbjorn Jagland had been touring European capitals warning that Moscow could withdraw from the 47-member Council of Europe, which oversees the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), unless its demands were met.

UWC statement on the centennial of the Kurultai

The Ukrainian World Congress in December 9 extended its congratulations on the 100th anniversary of First Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar People. The Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) congratulates Crimean Tatars on the 100th anniversary of the First Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar People, which proclaimed the Crimean People’s Republic, and adopted a Constitution and national symbolism. Despite the fact that, as a result of the brutal actions of Soviet authorities, the young Crimean People’s Republic was short-lived, the convening of the First Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar People remains a historic event of international consequence that testifies to the long-standing aspiration of the Crimean Tatar people for self-determination and establishes democratic traditions in the history of the Crimean Tatars. Today, Crimean Tatars once again suffer harsh pressure, repression and persecution by the occupying authorities of the Russian Federation. The criminal actions of the Russian Federation are forcing the Crimean Tatar people to defend the right to live freely on their own soil.

Coveting thy neighbor: Russia’s Kerch bridge enabling seizure of Ukrainian oil and gas

In the heat of the spring and summer of 2014, a full-scale Russian invasion to create a land bridge to recently annexed Crimea appeared overwhelmingly likely. Such a move by Russia never materialized, though fears of its imminent possibility continued to crop up as violence and tensions along the Donbas frontline flared up periodically over the past several years (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, March 30). Yet, throughout this time, the Kremlin continued to seek to cement its hold on the Crimean peninsula. The long-dreamed-of Russian bridge to Crimea was seen as the solution, and planning began in March 2014 (TASS, April 21, 2016). The combined road-and-rail bridge that will link Russia proper with Crimea (whose only physical land connection is with Ukraine) is currently under construction.

…The United States recognizes that the war in Ukraine in which people are still dying every day must come to an end. We have repeatedly urged Russia to begin the path to peace by honoring its commitments under the Minsk agreements. Any resolution of the war that does not entail a fully independent, sovereign and territorially whole Ukraine is unacceptable. Russia chose to violate the sovereignty of the largest country in Europe. The United States and Europe have stood shoulder-to-shoulder since 2014 in confronting this Russian aggression with a coordinated sanctions policy. Our trans-Atlantic unity is meant to convey to the Russian government that we will not stand for this flagrant violation of international norms. We hope Russia will take steps to restore Ukraine’s full sovereignty and territorial integrity and fully implement its Minsk commitments, allowing us to begin then the process of restoring normal relations. But let me be clear, Minsk-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia reverses the actions that triggered them.

We are committed to the success of an independent and whole Ukraine. However, Ukraine’s future depends also on winning its internal struggle to implement a broad range of economic, justice, security and social sector reforms. We encourage Ukraine to continue building capable, trustworthy institutions that will reduce and eventually eliminate corruption, strengthen their judicial system and deliver economic prosperity to their citizens. …

– U.S. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, speaking at The Wilson Center in Washington on November 28.