Month: June 19, 2020 4:48 am

PART I

Kyiv and Budapest have initiated an effort to resolve their differences over the impact of Ukrainian language and education laws on the Hungarian national minority in Ukraine’s Zakarpattia Oblast (see Eurasia Daily Monitor, June 3).

Budapest’s position is based on a sui generis conception of Hungarian national community entitlements in Carpathian Ukraine. Versions of that conception also apply to Hungary’s kin communities in other neighboring countries. Budapest, however, has exacerbated its controversy with Ukraine by injecting this problem into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) high-level deliberations. Since late 2017, Hungary has been blocking NATO-Ukraine meetings at the presidential, ministerial and flag-officer levels, jeopardizing NATO-Ukraine cooperation programs amidst the Russia-Ukraine war. That said, there are no indications of coordination between Budapest and Moscow and no grounds for suspicion in this regard.

U.S. Embassy warns Ukraine on justice system

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv has expressed concerns about Ukraine’s justice system at a time when the State Bureau of Investigations (known by its Ukrainian acronym as DBR) and the Prosecutor General’s Office are considering arresting former President Petro Poroshenko amid a spate of investigations involving him. In a statement posted on Facebook on June 18, the Embassy wrote in a thinly veiled message that didn’t mention Mr. Poroshenko by name that all “citizens in a democracy deserve to be treated equally and fairly under the law” and that “The justice system should not be used for the purpose of settling political scores.” Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office and the DBR have said that Mr. Poroshenko was officially informed that he is a suspect in one of more than 20 cases implicating his possible involvement, adding that they are seeking Mr. Poroshenko’s pretrial arrest. However, on June 18, prosecutors said at the hearing on possible pretrial restrictions for Mr. Poroshenko at the Pechera District Court that they were not seeking the pretrial arrest of the former president, but other restrictions instead. The hearing was then adjourned until July 1.

Kyiv has appointed pro-Ukraine refugees from the Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions to represent those territories in the Minsk Contact Group, the forum that negotiates the implementation of the Minsk agreements.

For the first time in almost six years, pro-Ukraine delegates, acting on behalf of those territories, sat in the Minsk Contact Group’s session (held by video-conference) on June 9-10 and technically continuing today (June 15) (Ukrinform, June 9-15).

Russia’s proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk had, from 2014 until now, monopolized the representation of those territories in the Minsk Contact Group. They will remain entrenched there. Ukraine’s move, however, de-monopolizes those territories’ representation and explicitly challenges those proxies’ legitimacy.

On June 11, the U.S. Congress approved a military assistance package worth $250 million for Ukraine for 2020, and Ukraine received over $60 million in military aid from the United States, which includes Javelin anti-tank missiles.

“U.S. security assistance and cooperation efforts with Ukraine during #COVID19 continue! Yesterday, the U.S. Embassy’s Office of Defense Cooperation received more than $60 million of equipment to transfer to our Ukrainian partners, including radios, ammunition and Javelin anti-tank missiles,” the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Facebook on June 17.

“The United States stands strongly with Ukraine in support of its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of Russian aggression,” the Embassy said.

“I am pleased to see that the North Atlantic Council has accepted Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner. Ukraine’s status as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner is a recognition of the tremendous sacrifices made by the brave men and women of the Ukrainian armed forces in support of NATO operations and the dedication of the Ukrainian government to continue to make serious structural military reforms. I strongly support Ukraine’s NATO integration and eventual full partnership and I will continue to advocate on their behalf. ”

On June 12, the North Atlantic Council recognized Ukraine as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner. This status is part of NATO’s Partnership Interoperability Initiative, which aims to maintain and deepen cooperation between allies and partners that have made significant contributions to NATO-led operations and missions.

Ukraine is now one of six Enhanced Opportunities Partners, alongside Aust­ra­lia, Finland, Georgia, Jordan and Sweden.

In a press release, NATO stated that Ukraine provided troops to Allied operations, including in Afghanistan and Kosovo, as well as to the NATO Response Force and NATO exercises, and that as an Enhanced Opportunities Partner, Ukraine will benefit from tailor-made opportunities to help sustain such contributions. This includes enhanced access to interoperability programs and exercises, and more sharing of information, including lessons learned.

PHILADELPHIA – The Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia announced on June 11 that all its churches in the state of…...

EDMONTON, Alberta – The Ukrainian Diaspora Studies Initiative (UDSI) at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) lost a close friend and supporter with the passing of Doris Kule on March 15. She was 99. The UDSI is but one of many scholarly projects and programs across Canada that she and her husband, Peter Kule, made possible through their generous philanthropy.

Such contributions were recalled in several tributes. Dr. Lesley Cormack, dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, described Mrs. Kule as a “passionate and beloved community leader and a true champion of education,” who, together with her husband, “left an indelible mark on the University of Alberta through their generous support of world class, interdisciplinary research.”

TORONTO – Prof. Oleh Hornykiewicz, internationally renowned brain researcher and one of the world’s leading neuroscientists, passed away May 26 in Vienna, Austria. He was 93. His greatest achievement and contribution to humanity came early in his career, in 1960, when he discovered the cause of Parkinson’s disease. A year later he initiated the first clinical trials of medication to treat this disorder.

His development of L-dopa for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease revolutionized treatment and remains the cornerstone of therapy today. Thousands of patients worldwide have benefitted from his research and discoveries. For his work Prof. Hornykiewicz received numerous prestigious international honors, awards and distinctions.

The Ukrainian National Foundation board and Soyuzivka management have made the difficult but necessary decision to cancel all overnight camps at Soyuzivka for the upcoming summer 2020 Season. This difficult decision was made to comply with the order issued on Friday, June 12, by New York State Commissioner of Health Dr. Howard Zucker, citing the risks of COVID-19 and the difficulty in enforcing social distancing and mask use.

“Overnight camps have congregate settings and sleeping arrangements in close quarters that present too many risks,” Dr. Zucker said in a statement. “In such a setting, even a single positive case in a camper or staff member could create an untenable quarantine situation and overwhelm camp health personnel that may not be able to handle a serious infectious outbreak of this nature.”

It’s late June, and many places here in the United States are beginning to reopen after two and a half to three months of restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus. Back on April 12, in our editorial titled “Hope is not cancelled,” we cited some examples of how our community organizations were continuing their activities despite the pandemic. We also invited readers to inform us, and through us the community at large, about how you’re handling things in your area. To those who have done so: Thank you!

The Ukrainian American Veterans in Philadelphia, wearing face masks, remembered fallen comrades on Memorial Day. Community members in upstate New York, also sporting face masks, came together for their annual clean-up around the Taras Shevchenko monument in Troy. Yara Arts Group of New York scheduled a series of virtual poetry and folk arts events. The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation held an online film screening and discussion related to the anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster. The Ukrainian Bandurist Chorus held virtual streaming rehearsals for its musicians.

Last year, the editorial that appeared in The Ukrainian Weekly in the June 30/July 7 issue noted that on June 25, 2019, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) had voted to reinstate the Russian delegation and its voting rights, which were revoked in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. The assembly voted 116 in favor, 62 against and 10 abstaining. Russia did absolutely nothing to justify its reinstatement, the editorial underscored.

In 2014, PACE declared Russia’s actions a “clear contradiction of the Statute of the Council of Europe.” Russia’s delegation was allowed to continue to attend sessions, and vote in committees, but its members were not allowed to head committees, and Russia was prohibited from participation in various PACE bodies and mission. Russia refused to participate in PACE in 2016, and in 2017 stopped paying its membership dues.