- Leadership Schisms - Old KGB - Succession Issues - Chaos -
For those who want to know truth
Patriarch Volodymyr Romanyuk
The Independent (London)
July 21, 1995, Friday
Page 16
HEADLINE: Obituary: Patriarch Volodymyr Romanyuk
BYLINE: Felix Corley
BODY:
Volodymyr Romanyuk was for the last two years of his life the Patriarch of one of the competing Orthodox factions in his native Ukraine. A veteran of Stalin's and Brezhnev's labour camps, he had long worked for a Ukrainian church free of control from Moscow but, when it came, it can hardly have been as he desired. By the time he was elected as Patriarch in 1993, the Orthodox Church in Ukraine had descended into chaos and unseemly bickering between the factions.
He was born Vasyl Romanyuk in 1925 into a family of Ukrainian peasants, in Galicia (then part of Poland), growing up in the turbulent times of the 1930s and the Second World War. During the Nazi occupation of his homeland he joined insurgents fighting the invaders. When the Soviets invaded with the retreat of the Nazis and annexed the territory, Romanyuk continued the fight, but was arrested - aged just 18 - in 1944 and sentenced by a military tribunal in Stanyslaviv. His parents were also arrested and exiled to Siberia, where his father died from overwork and hunger. His 13-year-old brother Tanasy fled as the rest of the family was arrested, and was killed. In labour camp in Poltava in 1946, Romanyuk was rearrested and given a further sentence, spending in all 10 years in prison. It was during this time that he met and married Maria Antonyuk, who was also serving a 10-year sentence.
It was soon after his release in 1954 that Romanyuk decided to take up studies for the priesthood, although he had no choice but to do so within the Russian Orthodox Church. After taking short diocesan courses (it was impossible for him to enter a seminary) he became a deacon in 1959, the year he was rehabilitated for his prison sentence, but had to work as a cinema technician as he failed to get permission for religious work. He could not be ordained priest until 1964, after a local official who had blocked his ordination had died. By now the Romanyuks had a son, Taras.
Romanyuk's growing involvement in the Ukrainian nationalist movements, in close collaboration with his friend the historian Valentyn Moroz, soon brought him into conflict with the authorities. As priest of the village of Kosmach, he wrote numerous appeals in the wake of the arrest of Moroz in 1970. Romanyuk himself was arrested in March 1972 and put on trial in June, where he was sentenced on charges of ''anti-Soviet agitation'' to two years in prison, five years in special regime labour camp and three years in exile. After serving the prison term in Vladimir, he was sent to labour camp in Mordovia, where he was assigned to a workshop polishing glass crystal. The damp and hunger seriously damaged his health. At the end of this part of the sentence he was despatched to Yakutia in Siberia to serve his term of exile.
While in camp he conducted several hunger strikes in a vain plea to be allowed a Bible. "What would Communists do," he wrote from camp, ''if in some place or other they were thrown into jail for their beliefs, and were compelled to undertake debilitating hunger strikes demanding the works of Marx or Lenin?''
In 1976 he wrote from camp to declare his renunciation of Soviet citizenship and appealed to be granted American citizenship. His son Taras was expelled from the medical faculty of Lviv university in retaliation.
On his release from exile, he returned to Ukraine, where his wife died in 1985. He had been obliged to write a letter renouncing his desire to emigrate, which was published in a propaganda paper for Ukrainian emigres in April 1983, in order to be allowed to return to the priesthood. But in 1987 Romanyuk renewed his campaign, eventually leaving with his son for Canada in July 1988.
The liberalisation under Gorbachev allowed the Ukrainian Autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Church, independent of the Moscow Patriarchate, to be formed once more, although without the international Orthodox recognition its members craved. Now back in his homeland and with the monastic name Volodymyr, Romanyuk became Bishop of Uzhhorod and Khust in April 1990, with missionary responsibility in Eastern Ukraine. He became Archbishop of Bila Tserkva in 1991 and in March 1993 Archbishop of Lviv.
By now the Autocephalous Church had descended into chaos, with ambitious clerics competing with one another for rank and factions fighting to gain possession of churches and their congregations. Nominally in charge of the Autocephalous Church was Patriarch Mstyslav, based in New York. Scandal was added to confusion in 1992 when Metropolitan Filaret of Kiev, the long-standing head of the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine, changed his tune overnight and joined the anti-Muscovites. But by then Filaret was thoroughly disgraced, his secret wife and KGB collaboration already in the public domain.
With the death of Mstyslav in June 1993, Filaret arranged to have himself reaffirmed as deputy patriarch, with the enthusiastic backing of Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk. This provoked a further schism in the fledgling church, but Romanyuk stuck by Filaret. In the same month he was rewarded by being named acting patriarch, and in December was elected patriarch. With bishops and parishes constantly defecting to the Ukrainian branch of the Moscow Patriarchate (by far the largest Orthodox group in Ukraine) or to the rival Autocephalous Church, Romanyuk presided over a declining rump.
The election last year of Leonid Kuchma as Ukrainian president in place of Kravchuk deprived Romanyuk's church of further support.
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American attenders of Orthodox Churches are often not informed about these power struggles, but sadly - they are routine. This is to be expected in churches where the fact of its centralized bureaucracy becomes the prize in a constant tug-of-war between the various factions and branches, few of which work closely with each other despite official appearances. The Liturgy is a keen & convenient distraction to the politics of the Church.
Yet those who would seek God may find Him in the place where he has always been available: through his Word, in reading The Bible.
Developing Events in Ukraine
Ukraine WHAT BENEFITS HAS YUSHCHENKO PROMISED UKRAINIANS
Feb 4/05 -RFERL - WHAT BENEFITS HAS YUSHCHENKO PROMISED UKRAINIANS? There had been four or five "serious" candidates for the post of the Ukrainian prime minister and at least as many "potential" ones mentioned in the Ukrainian media before President Viktor Yushchenko designated Yuliya Tymoshenko for the job on 24 January, shortly before his trip to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Many have seen this nomination as Yushchenko's gesture of defiance in the face of Moscow's apparent dislike of Tymoshenko (she is still on Russian prosecutors' list of wanted people). However, there were also analysts who argued that Tymoshenko is the best person to run a new Ukrainian cabinet because of her immense working energy and political optimism.
Indeed, judging by the massive load of Yushchenko's election promises, the new government will have to possess first and foremost extraordinary vigor and self-confidence in order to begin delivering on what Yushchenko promised his compatriots in last year's presidential campaign.
To make his election manifesto -- "Ten Steps Toward the People" -- more comprehensible and digestible for ordinary Ukrainians, in November Yushchenko publicized a dozen draft decrees that he pledged to sign immediately after his inauguration. Propagandistically, it proved to be a very good move, which was subsequently emulated by his main presidential rival, then Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych. The texts of these decrees are still available at Yushchenko's personal website (http://www.yuschenko.com.ua). They have also been recently republished or summarized by many Ukrainian media outlets, primarily those unsympathetic to or critical of Yushchenko, with ironic comments suggesting that he now may not be so eager to remember them. True or not, Ukraine's new president indeed seems to be presently concerned more with decrees appointing and sacking state officials than those shaping a new socioeconomic system in the country.
What has Yushchenko pledged to change in the socioeconomic sphere in order to make people feel that his presidency will contribute to a palpable and fast improvement of their lives? First of all, Yushchenko pledged to maintain the lavish increase in pensions made in September 2004 by then Prime Minister Yanukovych. The move, which was clearly intended to win over pensioners, doubled the minimum monthly pension from 137 hryvnyas to 284.6 hryvnyas ($53.6) and appropriately increased all other pensions for more than 11 million people. At that time, the pension jump increased the pension fund's monthly expenses by 1.1 billion hryvnyas ($207 million) to 4.1 billion hryvnyas.
Yushchenko promised that his first presidential decree will establish the subsistence minimum for 2005 at 423 hryvnyas ($80) per month, additionally stipulating that the minimum monthly wage and pension should not be lower than the subsistence minimum. In fact, this promise was already endorsed by the Verkhovna Rada in October, when 250 lawmakers voted to pass a bill increasing the average monthly subsistence minimum from 362 hryvnyas to 432 hryvnyas as of 2005. The bill will put an additional burden on the 2005 budget, comparable to that connected with the pension hike in September.
Moreover, Yushchenko pledged to compensate Ukrainians for their Soviet-era savings that were lost or devalued after the breakup of the Soviet Union. According to one of Yushchenko's draft decrees, the state is to immediately recognize those savings as its internal debt and begin repaying it with "additional budget revenues" and money obtained after a review of some dishonest privatizations. The list of dishonest privatizations is unknown but this review is sure to include the notorious privatization of the Kryvorizhstal metallurgical giant; the state is expected to obtain an additional $500 million either from the current owners of Kryvorizhstal -- oligarchs Viktor Pinchuk and Rynat Akhmetov -- or from new investors if the previous privatization deal is canceled altogether.
Last but not least, Yushchenko promised to increase the onetime social payment to the parents of a newborn child, from the current 725 hryvnyas to 8,460 hryvnyas (that is, almost 12-fold). If Ukraine's Orange Revolution is followed by a baby boom -- as some Ukrainian commentators have already predicted -- the parents are likely to remain sympathetic to Yushchenko for more than one political season.
Where is Yushchenko going to get the money to finance his generous social payments? An exact economic plan of the new government has not yet been revealed but there are some indications to this in his election manifesto. According to Yushchenko, some 55 percent of the country's economy remains in the shadow sector. Therefore, Yushchenko intends to stimulate the process of reducing this sector as much as possible. The stimulation may include extensive tax amnesties and tax-burden reductions. Second, Yushchenko intends to cancel preferences in paying value-added tax by investors in the so-called free economic zones. Yushchenko expects that this move will bring an additional 5 billion hryvnyas ($940 million) into the state coffers annually.
Yushchenko and Tymoshenko have already proven that their cooperation in the government can be fruitful and appreciated by ordinary voters. When Yushchenko was prime minister and Tymoshenko his deputy for energy issues in 2000, they managed to divert some "additional revenues" from the shadow economy by skillful fiscal and administrative management -- the results of this were immediately felt by millions of Ukrainians. They will now have to use their skills, as well as their enhanced political prerogatives, to a much greater extent. The stakes -- which include not only the political fate of a new cabinet, but also the geopolitical destiny of the country as a whole -- are now incomparably higher.
Copyright (c) 2004/05. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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| Yuliya Tymoshenko(file photo) |
Ukraine Ukraine's Yushchenko to Be Sworn in Sunday
KIEV, Ukraine - Jan 20/05 - Viktor Yushchenko will be sworn in Sunday as president of Ukraine, completing his "Orange Revolution" after weeks of political turmoil in which he defeated the Kremlin-backed candidate at the polls and survived a mysterious poisoning plot.
Lawmakers on Thursday hurriedly scheduled the inauguration in a decision that came hours after Yushchenko cleared the last of a series of legal obstacles that had arisen since the Dec. 26 election, including an appeal filed in the Supreme Court by loser Viktor Yanukovych.
Yanukovych, the former prime minister, had been supported by the Kremlin over Yushchenko, who aims to bring Ukraine closer to the European Union
and NATO. But Russian President Vladimir Putin issued quick congratulations to Yushchenko, whose team said he would make a working visit to Moscow on Monday.
On state television, Yanukovych predicted Yushchenko would be unable to maintain good relations with Russia and he declared he would stay in politics to lead the opposition.
"I'll do everything I can to restore justice," he said. "The 'orange nightmare' will not last long."
Ukraine : Powell to Attend Ukraine Inauguration -US Official
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jan 20/05 - Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) will attend the inauguration of Ukraine's Viktor Yushchenko on Sunday in a show of U.S. support for the West-leaning leader.
Powell, who bid an emotional farewell to State Department employees on Wednesday, was expected to end his tenure as the top U.S. diplomat on Thursday. But Democrats delayed a Senate confirmation vote on his intended successor, Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites), until next week.
"We congratulate President-elect Yushchenko on his historic victory and wish him all success for his term in office," State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said in a statement announcing Powell's trip.
"The United States stands ready to strengthen its cooperation with Ukraine and looks forward to working closely with Ukraine's new president," he added.
Yushchenko came to power in the former Soviet republic after the United States backed his calls for a fresh vote following a rigged ballot in November won by his Moscow-supported opponent, Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich.
In a sign of East-West tensions that persist more than a decade after the Soviet collapse, Washington and Moscow wrangled over the election in Ukraine, which Russia views as part of its natural sphere of interest and where it resents U.S. influence.
Powell called the November vote "illegitimate" after hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko supporters protested in the streets. His move angered Russia but galvanized the West to press for a rerun that Yushchenko won Dec. 26 with 51.99 percent of the vote.
The U.S. statement congratulated "the Ukrainian people for the courage they displayed in standing up for their democratic rights."
UKRAINIAN SPEAKER ATTEND CHRISTMAS SERVICE IN MOSCOW
Jan 7/05 - RFERL - Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov, Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov, and other Russian officials attended on the evening of 6 January the Christmas service in Christ the Savior Cathedral in Moscow given by Patriarch Aleksii II. The two-hour service was broadcast on RTR and ORT. Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and Apostolic Nuncio to the Russian Federation Archbishop Antonio Mennini also attended the service. Aleksii wished "peace, concord, and welfare to our country and neighboring Ukraine." President Putin attended Christmas service alone in a small village church, 150 kilometers from Moscow. VY
Copyright (c) 2005. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
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| Viktor Yanukovych steps
down (file photo) |
Copyright (c) 2004/05. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.
www.rferl.org
(AP/AFP)
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Analysis: 'Orange Revolution' Highlights Ukraine's Religious Divide
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As Pope John Paul II greeted thousands of Catholic faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square a week after Ukraine's disputed 21 November presidential election, he noticed some in the crowd were waving orange banners in support of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko.
As he looked out from the window of his Vatican study at the crowd below, the pontiff acknowledged the Ukrainians and although he didn't mention the country's postelection turmoil specifically, made it fairly clear which side the Holy See was on.
"My thoughts go to the Ukrainian pilgrims present in this square," the pope said on 28 November. "I assure you of my prayer for peace in your country."
It was the second time in four days that John Paul made a point of singling out Ukraine. On 24 November, he promised a group of Ukrainians, who were among thousands in the Vatican's Paul VI auditorium for a papal audience, that he was "praying in a special way for your beloved homeland."
Throughout the election campaign, the pro-Moscow branch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church also made its preference clear.
In demonstrations in Kyiv in November, the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods of Ukraine warned of "the expansion of Catholics and sects in Ukraine" should the West-leaning Yushchenko win the presidency. Leaflets distributed in Orthodox parishes called Yushchenko a "partisan of the schismatics and an enemy of Orthodoxy," according to media reports. And opposition leaders and human rights groups allege that some clergy in heavily Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine told parishioners to vote for "God's candidate," the pro-Moscow Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, or be denied the sacraments.
The standoff over Ukraine's election has been characterized variously as a struggle for democracy, a Cold War-style showdown between Moscow and the West, and a cultural conflict between the country's Russian and Ukrainian speakers.
"Obviously, each religious community is trying to gain its own advantage from the result of this election." - Corley
Although Yushchenko and Yanukovych are both Orthodox Christians, the "Orange Revolution" has also highlighted Ukraine's enduring, centuries-old religious schisms that continue to play an important role in the multiconfessional nation of 48 million people.
This is true despite the fact that Ukraine's churches are prohibited from campaigning for either candidate.
"Ukraine, of all the former Soviet republics, is the one that probably has the most religious splits," Felix Corley, a specialist on religious issues in the former Soviet Union, told the BBC World Service. "The religious picture is very fractured [and] this is being reflected in the political arena as well," Corley added.
Clashing World Visions
Approximately 6 million Ukrainian citizens, about 12-13 percent of the population, are Catholic. These include 5 million Greek Catholics (also known as Uniates, a term that today is viewed by some as having negative connotations) -- a church under Vatican authority but which uses Eastern Orthodox rites in its religious services -- as well as 1 million Roman Catholics.
But despite their small numbers, the Catholic denominations have provided bedrock support for the pro-Yushchenko opposition.
"The ecclesiastical authorities are not supposed to take a stand in this crisis," the Reverend Oleksandr Hoursky, a Roman Catholic priest, told the "International Herald Tribune," before proceeding to do exactly that.
"The church supports good against evil, the protection of human rights, and the end of any injustices, corruption, the state abuse of power," Hoursky said. "Personally, I hope Yushchenko becomes president."
Greek Catholics are slightly less inhibited. On Kyiv's Independence Square, young Greek Catholic priests and nuns consistently drew warm cheers when they walked past orange-clad demonstrators, according to press reports.
"At the root of the crisis remains an immoral regime that has deprived Ukrainian people of their legitimate rights and dignity," Cardinal Lubomyr Husar, the head of the Greek Catholic Church, said on 6 December, a day before he met with Pope John Paul in the Vatican. Husar called the electoral standoff "the product of two clashing world visions as well as the selfish protection of personal interest on behalf of those who are currently in government."
And those clashing world visions go back nearly five centuries, reflecting the struggle for influence in Ukraine between Russia and the West.
The Uniate Church was established in 1596 when Metropolitan Mikhail Rohoza of Kyiv and other Orthodox bishops signed the Union of Brest, pledging allegiance to the Vatican but retaining Eastern rites and religious practices. The move was an attempt to move closer politically, religiously, and culturally to the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth, which ruled the western part of Ukraine at the time. But not everybody in the Orthodox Church hierarchy agreed with the union with Rome, and some formed a rival church hierarchy, which by 1686 was formally under the authority of the Orthodox Church's Moscow Patriarchate.
As the Russian Empire expanded its power into the eastern part of Ukraine throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, the incursions were marked by repression against the Uniates and forced conversions to Orthodoxy, as Moscow used the church as an instrument to "Russify" the Ukrainians. Under Catherine the Great, for example, Russia forced over 2,300 Uniate churches to become Orthodox, according to historical accounts.
The western section of Ukraine, however, remained part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Uniate Church became a bulwark of Ukrainian cultural and religious identity. When western Ukraine came under Austro-Hungarian rule in the late 18th century, the Uniates officially became known as Greek Catholics and the church gained equal status with Roman Catholics.
When Stalin annexed the region in 1945, Soviet authorities banned the church and confiscated its properties, and the Greek Catholics went underground for more than four decades. As part of Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms, the Soviet government legalized the church in 1989, allowing them to officially register their parishes; and in 1991, the church's exiled leader, Cardinal Myroslav Lubachivsky returned to Ukraine from Rome.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991, the Greek Catholics reemerged as a political and religious force in western Ukraine. Violence occasionally flared when Uniates attempted to reclaim their properties from the Orthodox Church.
The conflict between Ukraine's Catholics and pro-Moscow Orthodox Christians was clear during John Paul's landmark visit to the country in June 2001. In the run-up to the trip, thousands of Orthodox faithful marched in protest denouncing the pope as the harbinger of "the anti-Christ." Leaflets also appeared in parishes warning of a Vatican plot to encircle and subvert the Orthodox Church, an "invasion of foreigners," and the "profanation of the land of our forefathers.
Orthodox Divisions
While Ukraine's Catholic denominations have been united in their support for Yushchenko, its Orthodox Churches -- which claim the lion's share of the nation's believers -- are deeply divided.
The pro-Moscow branch of the church, officially called the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Moscow Patriarchate (UOC-MP), has tacitly supported Yanukovych. The UOC-MP is the largest Orthodox
denomination in Ukraine constituting approximately 26.5 percent of the population, according to the "CIA World Factbook." With the church
under the centralized authority of Moscow, UOC-MP leaders fear they will lose influence should Yushchenko become president, according to some analysts.
Prior to the election, the Union of Orthodox Brotherhoods of Ukraine, a group affiliated with the UOC-MP, warned that if the opposition leader won, it could spell the beginnings of "persecutions against Orthodoxy." The group also harshly criticized pro-Yushchenko demonstrators after the disputed second round of the election.
"Supporters of [Viktor] Yushchenko, who lost the election, are, by using techniques of manipulation of consciousness and methods of psychological influence, imposing massive psychosis on the youth," the group said in a statement released on 27 November.
In contrast, the two Orthodox denominations that are independent from Moscow support Yushchenko. These are the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP), which split from the Moscow ecclesiastical authorities in 1991 and constitutes 20 percent of the population according to the "CIA World Factbook," as well as the smaller Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church (UAOC).
"We today are witnesses to the process of the rebirth of the Ukrainian nation," Patriarch Filaret, head of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church-Kyiv Patriarchate, said on 27 November, referring to the pro-opposition demonstrations.
And as Ukraine heads for a decisive rerun of its presidential election, analysts say the nation's fractured religious communities are scrambling to benefit from the new balance of power in society.
"Obviously, each religious community is trying to gain its own advantage from the result of this election," Corley told BBC World Service.
"The supporters of Yanukovych in the Moscow Patriarchy hope it will cement their power; it's the largest single denomination and the most powerful one," Corley added. "The opposition supporters of Yushchenko believe -- and he has actually said so -- that he will be a president for believers of all faiths, although he himself is Orthodox."
Copyright (c) 2004/05. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
Ukraine PM Makes Last-Ditch Bid to Keep Power
KIEV (Reuters) - Nov 29/04 - Ukraine's defeated presidential candidate made a last-ditch but seemingly hopeless attempt on Wednesday to challenge the victory of his liberal opponent, Viktor Yushchenko.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, already forced by the opposition to pull out of his own cabinet meeting, has lodged complaints with the Supreme Court and the election commission over Sunday's presidential poll.
"These legal challenges are an attempt to draw the Commission out of its impartial stand and into politics. And that is impossible," Central Election Commission head Yaroslav Davydovich said.
Yushchenko suggested the legal cases would be shortlived and accused his opponent of losing his grip on reality. He also restated his pledge to move toward the West but said Ukraine first had to ensure good ties with Russia.
Yanukovich -- clinging to his prime minister's post by a technicality -- has refused to concede defeat in the re-run of the Nov. 21 poll, when his victory was overturned by the Supreme Court because of massive fraud.
And in a news conference, he said he would not quit as prime minister although it had become difficult to do his job and said his opponents were "quaking in their shoes."
Asked why he had not attended Wednesday's cabinet meeting, he replied: "I am not obliged to account to you where I was or was not at any given moment."
Court spokeswoman Leana Shlyaposhnikova said judges had already rejected one of Yanukovich's appeals because it had been filed too late, but were considering three more.
Myron Wasylyk, an analyst with links to the opposition, said the barrage of complaints by the Yanukovich team were expected.
Putin Makes Abrupt Reversal on Ukraine
Dec 20/21 - KIEV, Ukraine - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites), who openly backed Viktor Yushchenko's rival for president of the Ukraine, said in an abrupt reversal Tuesday that he could work with an administration headed by the pro-Western candidate.
"We have worked with him already and the cooperation was not bad," Putin said during a visit to Germany. "If he wins, I don't see any problems."
Yushchenko was prime minister from 1999 to 2001, and before that he headed the Central Bank for six years.
Putin irritated the West had quickly congratulating Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych, the Moscow-backed candidate, after last month's presidential runoff against Yushchenko, only to see his purported victory canceled because of vote-rigging. A new runoff will take place Sunday.
In eastern Ukraine, a pro-Yushchenko convoy of about 50 vehicles — dubbed the "friendship journey" — was turned back by supporters of Yanukovych after it reached the outskirts of Donetsk, a city that is the prime minister's base.
The presidential campaign has split Ukraine, with the west and Ukraine's cosmopolitan capital backing the reformist, Western-leaning Yushchenko, while the Kremlin-backed Yanukovych has received strong support from the industrial east, which favors closer ties with Russia.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who spoke with Putin at a news conference in the northern German town of Schleswig, said he and Putin agreed that "nobody has the right to meddle and that the result of the Dec. 26 vote will have to be respected."
Ukraine's Opposition Sees Path to Victory
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KIEV (Reuters/Yahoo) - Dec 8/04 - Ukraine's opposition presidential hopeful Viktor Yushchenko said on Wednesday parliament's vote to root out cheating in elections opened the way for him to win a re-run of a rigged poll.
But to secure parliamentary backing for fairer election laws, Yushchenko bowed to demands from outgoing President Leonid Kuchma to curb the powers of the office he may well win after two weeks of mass demonstrations in his support.
He urged supporters to work toward victory in the new ballot on Dec. 26 and said a blockade of Ukraine's main government building was being removed immediately.
Within an hour, a Reuters television reporter said protesters had left the building in the city center. But Yushchenko said a tent camp housing thousands of supporters was to remain in place on Khreshchatyk, Kiev's main street.
"Today's decision opens the way for my victory in 18-20 Ukrainian regions," Yushchenko told reporters outside parliament after the vote. "The main thing is today we managed to achieve what we had hoped for. This is a day of historic compromise."
EU/OSCE - Ukraine dominates security forum
BBC - Dec 6/04 -The European security organisation is meeting to discuss an enlarged election monitoring mission to Ukraine for the re-run presidential ballot.
The head of the OSCE, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy, said the observers would ensure the new poll on 26 December was free and fair.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma said he would accept opposition calls for electoral reform.
But he will only do so if his opponents agree to curb presidential powers.
"I am ready for further steps to lift this unmotivated tension so I propose once again looking at the whole packet of bills to change the election law and on changing the constitution," he said at a government meeting.
Ukraine's 'goddess of revolution'
BBC - Dec 5/04 - Orange-clad protesters call her "Goddess of the Revolution" while outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and some of the oligarchs - Ukraine's business and political elite - are believed to hate her.
Glamorous Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the key figures of the ongoing Orange Revolution in Ukraine, ignites passion on both sides.
She is a close ally of Viktor Yushchenko, the leader of the Ukrainian opposition that believes he won the bitterly disputed presidential run-off on 21 November.
Recent events have elevated Ms Tymoshenko's popularity to new heights, literally. On one occasion, riot police guarding Mr Kuchma's office raised their shields to allow her through to where talks were being held.
On another, she perched on top of a bus, from where she whipped the crowd into a frenzy with her calls for the government's resignation.
"I would even prefer her to be the president," one of the Kiev protesters says.
Ukraine's High Court Sets Dec. 26 Rerun
KIEV, Ukraine - Dec 4/04 - The Supreme Court ordered a rerun of the head-to-head presidential contest between Western-leaning Viktor Yushchenko and the Kremlin-backed candidate on Dec. 26, setting off rejoicing Friday by opposition supporters who waved orange flags and ignited fireworks as they chanted "Yushchenko! Yushchenko!"
The court found that government bodies had "illegally meddled in the election process" and distorted the results of the Nov. 21 runoff. The bold ruling was a rebuke to outgoing President Leonid Kuchma and Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites).
Hundreds of thousands of Yushchenko followers celebrated in the capital, chanting his name, wearing orange headbands that said "YES!" and waving orange balloons. Passing cars blasted their horns three times to sound out the syllables in
"Yush-chen-ko." The crowds were the largest in the 12 days since protesters set up their tent camp in Independence Square.
In pro-Moscow eastern Ukraine, supporters of Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych expressed anger at the decision.
"We have a president — Viktor Yanukovych," said Konstantin Sadalsky, shaking his fist at a TV screen in an Internet cafe in the eastern city of
Donetsk.
Kuchma had initially supported Yanukovych and later — under pressure from the throngs in Kiev and international monitors who called the vote fraudulent — pushed for a completely new election. Critics said he hoped to field a new candidate more popular than
Yanukovych.
The Supreme Court decision also was a slap at Putin, who appeared with Yanukovych during the campaign, congratulated Yanukovych on winning and on Thursday backed Kuchma's call for an entirely new vote.
Protesters Pressure Yanukovych to Concede
KIEV, Ukraine - Nov 29/04 - Beating drums and chanting "resign," supporters of apparent presidential winner Viktor Yushchenko blocked his election opponent from presiding at a Cabinet meeting Wednesday as tensions persisted in this former Soviet republic.
Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych showed no signs of cracking, refusing to surrender his post and telling journalists he would challenge the results of Sunday's runoff vote before the Supreme Court. Parliament passed a no-confidence vote for Yanukovych on Dec. 1, but the law gives him 60 days to submit his resignation, and he has called parliament's move illegal.
"It is a matter of my principles not to submit a resignation," Yanukovych said. "I know why they insist on that ... they are shivering with fear."
Yanukovych was declared the winner of a Nov. 21 presidential vote, but hundreds of thousands wearing Yushchenko's orange campaign color massed in Kiev for day after day to protest election fraud. The Supreme Court eventually annulled the ballot, forcing Sunday's rerun, which preliminary results showed Yushchenko winning easily.
Call for Ukraine poll observers
BBC - Dec 5/04 - Ukraine's opposition leader has urged the international community to help ensure the re-run of last month's presidential vote is conducted fairly.
Viktor Yushchenko said it was essential that observers monitor his rematch with Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
He also blamed the outgoing President, Leonid Kuchma, after parliament failed to adopt changes to the election law.
A top British observer during the fraudulent poll said there was a need for "a large influx of observers".
Bruce George, who headed the mission of the parliamentary assembly of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told the BBC a number of changes must be made to ensure a fair poll.
The emergency parliamentary session debating the changes was adjourned for 10 days after opposition factions failed to reach agreement.
Ukraine's Socialists and Communists had earlier promised to vote for the election law amendments if the opposition supported a constitutional reform aimed at trimming presidential powers.
But the deal collapsed after the Yushchenko camp said they would consider the constitutional changes only after the electoral amendments were approved.
Putin Strongly Opposes New Ukraine Runoff
KIEV, Ukraine - Dec 2/04 - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) injected himself directly into the election crisis in this former Soviet republic Thursday, strongly attacking the opposition's central demand for a new presidential runoff and cautioning the West against getting too involved
Putin made his comments while meeting with Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma at an airport outside Moscow, as tens of thousands of opposition supporters waving Ukrainian flags and wearing orange armbands, sweaters and scarves rallied for the 11th straight day in Kiev's Independence Square.
The protesters, awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on whether to throw out the results of the disputed election, listened to rock bands and watched large-screen televisions broadcasting the court sessions.
They erected a Christmas tree — also bright orange, which is the emblematic color of their movement — in the tent camp they have maintained since shortly after the Nov. 21 runoff. Protesters kept up their blockade of the Cabinet building, banging on drums improvised from metal canisters, the sound echoing off the walls of the imposing Stalin-era building.
Putin issued a warning to the West.
"Neither Russia, nor the European Union (news - web sites), nor international organizations will solve the problems," he said. "They all can play the role of mediators, but the Ukrainian people have the last word."
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski mediated talks Wednesday between the two candidates in the bitter runoff.
East-West standoff in Ukraine hardens, EU seeks to mediate
KIEV (AFP) -
Dec 1/04 - Foreign mediators are to join efforts to resolve Ukraine's deepening political crisis, sparked by a fiercely-disputed presidential vote which has polarised the former Soviet republic along pro-Western and pro-Russian lines.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana arrived in Kiev late Tuesday in a bid to mediate. A Ukrainian opposition spokeswoman said he would be joined by Polish
President Alexander Kwasniewski, as Russian President Vladimir Putin again warned against "foreign pressure" in
defusing the crisis
"I hope that with the good will of everyone, we will make some progress in the coming days," Solana told reporters before going into urgent night-time talks with Ukraine's outgoing President Leonid Kuchma.
Solana told Kuchma that the crisis would have to be resolved legally and without the use of force, Russia's Interfax news agency reported, adding that the European officials aimed only to aid the disputing sides to deal with the crisis
With Ukraine's political deadlock in its ninth day, its parliament voted down a motion of no-confidence in the government of pro-Russian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich put forward by his chief rival for the presidency, Viktor Yushchenko, who has demanded Yanukovich's dismissal.
The assembly agreed to reconvene on Wednesday to debate a similar measure.
Yanukovich floated two ideas for ending the crisis that has paralyzed Ukraine since the November 21 presidential election. Under one, he offered to give Yushchenko the post of prime minister if confirmed as president; under the other, he agreed to a new vote, provided neither man stood again.
Pro-Western Yushchenko rejected both overtures. "I cannot accept these proposals," he told reporters.
Ukrainians Anxiously Watch Court Hearings
Signs of Compromise Seemed to Emerge in Ukraine Conflict -
KIEV (Reuters) - Nov 24/04 - Ukraine's political crisis appeared to ease on Wednesday when both presidential candidates in a disputed election offered ways out of their bitter feud that has taken the country to the brink of violent conflict.
Liberal contender Viktor Yushchenko, who brought tens of thousands of supporters onto the streets after alleging he had been robbed of victory last Sunday by mass cheating, said he was now ready to take part in a new "honest" poll.
Moscow-backed Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich was, as expected, formally declared the winner by electoral authorities.
But earlier, he hinted that he too was open to compromise saying he was not interested in official results that handed him a "fictitious victory."
The signs of a compromise emerged as the United States, the European Union and the U.S.-led NATO
military alliance all urged authorities to review the conduct of last Sunday's run-off which most western powers have said was fraudulently conducted.
Ukraine parliament vote backs opposition claims
KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine's opposition won a symbolic victory in its battle over a disputed presidential election after parliament declared results from the vote invalid in a non-binding resolution.
As thousands of orange-clad, boisterous supporters of opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko massed outside, the Upper Rada passed a resolution that said results of the November 21 poll, which handed victory to pro-Russia Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, were invalid.
The vote came two days before Ukraine's supreme court was to begin hearing the opposition's appeal over the election, which it claims the government helped rig in favor of its candidate.
Yanukovich cannot be inaugurated president until the high court issues its ruling and some said Saturday's parliament vote could influence the judges' ruling.
"The supreme court wouldn't dare to recognize as valid the results of the presidential election after our vote," Socialist Party chief Oleksandr Moroz, who backed opposition standard bearer Yushchenko in last Sunday's presidential runoff, said after Saturday's vote.
After three hours of debate, the deputies also called on outgoing President Leonid Kuchma to disband the central election commission and appealed on supporters of the two rivals to refrain from violence during the ever-growing protests over an election that has split the country into two polarized camps.
Ukraine's opposition has staged massive round the clock rallies for the six days since the vote and demonstrations in support of Yanukovich have picked up in the past couple of days, fanning fears that this nation of 48 million people could break apart.
In the largest pro-Yanukovich rally to date, some 100,000 people massed in the eastern city of Donetsk, authorities warned that they would seek more autonomy if Yushchenko becomes president.
"If someone tries to ignore our opinion then we will lawfully turn to the option of a referendum to change the (regional) constitution and make our region self-sufficient," Anatoly Bliznyuk, the governor of the Donetsk region, told the cheering crowd and a veritable sea of Ukrainian flags.
"No one has ever brought Donbass (as the region is known) to its knees and no one will ever do so," thundered Donetsk Mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko to thundering cheers.
Yanukovich bastions Odessa and Crimea issued similar warnings and, coming after several western regions said they would only recognize Yushchenko as their president, fanned fears that the standoff over the presidential election could tear Ukraine apart.
Late Friday the two rivals failed to resolve the crisis in their first meeting since the election, also attended by Kuchma and European and Russian mediators.
After the three-hour huddle that went late into the night Yushchenko issued an ultimatum for the ruling regime -- either agree to a new round of elections or face street action.
"We will allow only a few days for the negotiation process. If Yanukovich wants to drag things out, we will take active measures," he told a roaring sea of supporters in Kiev's Independence Square, suggesting the new vote take place on December 12.
Bush Says World Watching Ukraine Carefully
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Nov 26/04 - President Bush (news - web sites) said on Friday he hoped the crisis over the Ukrainian elections would be resolved and said the international community was watching closely.
"There's just a lot of allegations of vote fraud that placed their election -- the validity of their elections -- in doubt," Bush told reporters during an outing on his Thanksgiving vacation at his Texas ranch.
"The international community is watching very carefully. People are paying very close attention to this, and hopefully it will be resolved in a way that brings credit and confidence to the Ukrainian government," he said.
Ukraine's feuding presidential contenders sat down on Friday with European and Russian mediators to try to end a crisis over a disputed election that has led to mass street protests and pushed the country toward civil conflict.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovich, backed by Russia, has claimed a narrow victory but West-leaning rival Viktor Yushchenko has refused to give up.
Ukraine Opposition Leader Claims Victory
KIEV, Ukraine - Nov 22/04 - Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko defiantly claimed Ukraine's presidency Tuesday, taking a symbolic oath of office in parliament, as about 200,000 of his orange-clad supporters massed outside in the frigid streets of Kiev demanding the disputed election be overturned
Yushchenko warned of "civil conflict" if he is not recognized as the country's new leader, accusing the government of rigging Sunday's run-off in favor of pro-Kremlin Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych.
On the parliament floor, after a special session, Yushchenko approached the podium and swore an oath on a 300-year-old Bible as lawmakers who backed him shouted, "Bravo, Mr. President!"
Outside, throngs of his supporters massed behind metal barriers, holding a giant orange ribbon over their heads. They chanted "Criminals, go away!" and "Yushchenko!" Some waved signs reading, "Today or Never." Earlier, Yushchenko led the crowds in a march on the building, turning Kiev's narrow, brick streets into a sea of orange — the color of his campaign.
A huge crowd jammed Independence Square for a second straight night. Snow fell as Yushchenko's supporters waved flags and signs and chanted his name.
Ukraine Protests Parallel Georgia's Past
KIEV, Ukraine - Nov 23/04 - Europe/AP No one passing the thousands of protesters crowding Kiev's main street asks why Georgian flags are waving in Ukraine — the parallels with Georgia's "Rose Revolution" are strong, even eerie.
The demonstrations come exactly a year after protesters in Georgia forced their president out of office. The trigger in both cases: allegations of election fraud, confirmed by Western observers, that brought long-simmering resentments to a boil.
Even the main players are variations on the same themes. In Ukraine, as in Georgia, the challenger is a reformer and former government member accused by foes of being an American cat's-paw, with a Western wife. The target, in Kiev as in Tbilisi: a Soviet-schooled apparatchik.
Both times, the protesters' core included people who have received guidance from activists who drove out Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites).
But the analogies, however compelling, are not equivalencies, and the techniques that worked in Yugoslavia and Georgia are not ensured of success in Ukraine.
In this kind of revolution, size historically does seem to matter, but conversely: it generally works better in smaller places. Georgia's total population of 5 million is smaller than that of the greater Kiev area; Yugoslavia, at the time Milosevic fell, had 8 million people — a sixth of Ukraine's population.
If Ukraine's protesters are banking that sheer numbers will prevail — that they'll compile a critical mass that will convince the authorities change is unavoidable — they'll likely need far more than have gathered so far.
Coup in Kiev
Nov 23/04/Wash Post
UKRAINE FACED a fateful choice on Sunday: not just between two sharply opposed candidates in a presidential election runoff, but between two political systems. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko promised a genuine liberal democracy along Western lines, while Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych represented those forces that, backed by a neo-imperial Russia, would rule this large European nation through force and fraud. The outcome of the vote has brought this confrontation to a head. According to exit polls, the democratic opposition won handily, by 54 to 43 percent in one survey. But yesterday the government revealed its intent to steal the election, announcing that Mr. Yanukovych had a decisive lead in the vote count. Tens of thousands of outraged citizens filled the center of Kiev last night to oppose this authoritarian coup. The United States and other Western governments must do everything possible to support them.
For the Bush administration, the responsibility starts with stating the unvarnished truth about what has happened in an election that some -- including those employed by a large Ukrainian lobbying operation in Washington -- have falsely portrayed as flawed but free
Moscow's Ukrainian choice
To understand why Russia is so concerned about who wins Ukraine's election, take a look at a map of Europe
Before 1991, Moscow controlled a huge swathe of land from the Pacific Ocean to the Balkans. It ruled 15 republics directly in the USSR. And, through the Warsaw pact, it held sway across Eastern Europe, too.
But the collapse of communism triggered the collapse of the empire. Since then, the European Union and Nato have enlarged right up to Russia's borders, taking in even former Soviet states like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
One of Russia's other neighbours, Georgia, now has a pro-American government. Kyrgyzstan, another ex-Soviet state, hosts a US military base.
Russia feels vulnerable. Many here are still struggling to come to terms with the loss of empire. But President Putin is determined to restore Russia's sphere of influence.
This is why Ukraine is so important: a country at the crossroads of Europe, bigger than France, and right on Russia's doorstep. Moscow is keen to keep Ukraine looking east.
Analysis: Ukraine's poll drama
Ukraine has not experienced the kind of intense political dramas seen in Russia and some of the other former Soviet states in the last 15 years, but now its turn may have come.
An election widely regarded as falsified, thousands of people on the streets, the official result rejected by a number of cities, parliament going into emergency session - it is a unique situation and no-one can tell how it will end.
The closest parallel is the series of massive anti-government demonstrations in 2000 and 2001, following the murder of the opposition journalist Georgiy Gongadze.
Then, the largest political demonstrations the country had ever seen shook the government, but it did not fall. Eventually the protests died away.
Young and angry
One of the organisers of those protests, Yuri Lutsenko, is involved again this time around.
Ukraine Protesters March on Parliament
KIEV (Reuters) - Nov 23/04 - Up to 200,000 protesters rallied outside an emergency session of Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday demanding authorities admit they cheated in a presidential poll which showed the country's Moscow-backed prime minister had won.
Parliamentary deputies held the session in response to calls from supporters of West-leaning challenger Viktor Yushchenko, who says he was robbed of victory in Sunday's second-round run-off by backers of Prime minister Viktor Yanukovich.
But with the absence of Yanukovich's allies, the session did not muster enough deputies to empower the chamber to make any decision binding on the authorities.
Deputies could still issue a request to the country's leaders expressing concern over the turmoil sparked by the contested poll, though parliament cannot overturn results that award victory to Yanukovich.
"We are sliding toward the abyss. It is amoral and criminal to pretend nothing is happening in the country," parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn told deputies at the debate's start.
"We must act in good time otherwise the people will decide on our behalf tomorrow."
Pro-Yushchenko protesters marched in two columns toward the parliament building, their lines snaking up to three km (two miles) from the city center.
"Our joint action will lead to political success. We are therefore now forming lines and moving toward parliament," Yushchenko told demonstrators gathered in a Kiev square.
BBC- Mar 4/05 - Ukraine's former Interior Minister Yuri Kravchenko has been found dead at his home, ministry officials have said.
Mr Kravchenko had been due to testify on Friday in the case of murdered journalist Georgiy Gongadze. Initial reports say he committed suicide.
President Viktor Yushchenko has pledged to find out who abducted and killed Gongadze, who reported on high-profile corruption scandals, five years ago.
He said those involved had a choice of testifying or "sentencing themselves".
Ukraine's prosecutor general said on Wednesday that investigators knew who had killed Gongadze, but have not made the name public.
The discovery of his headless body in a wood near Kiev triggered a political scandal, especially after the emergence of a covertly-recorded tape that allegedly implicated the former President, Leonid Kuchma.
In the tapes, Mr Kuchma was heard to complain about Gongadze's reporting and allegedly ordered Mr Kravchenko to "get rid of" the journalist.
Mr Kuchma has repeatedly denied the allegations, and says the tapes have been edited to distort his words.
But correspondents say it is difficult to see how the case will not now reach him.
50,000 Join in Kyiv (Kiev) “Jesus March”
Ukraine - Risu - Jun 30/05 - Kyiv— An estimated 50,000 people joined in the “Jesus March” in Kyiv on 12 June 2005. According the Christian Broadcasting Network, Christians marched in the rain praying and worshipping God. The “Jesus March” brought Christians of all backgrounds together to be a witness to the government and the nation about the need to follow the Bible's principles, and so get the good results. The marchers met on Independence Square, site of the massive protests last December that sparked a change in the government. Now, believers say their Christian unity will have an even greater impact.
More on the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
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