Twenty five and counting... (12/29/91)

Twenty five and counting...

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - As The Weekly was going to press, the list of countries extending formal recognition to Ukraine continued to grow. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the resignation of Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev accelerated the recognition of nations which form the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Poland, which was the first country to grant diplomatic recognition to Ukraine on December 2, just one day after the overwhelming majority (90.32 percent) of Ukraine's citizens voted for independence, "welcomed the joy of the results of the referendum, which proved the indisputable right of the Ukrainian nation to a free and independent country," said Andrzej Brzozwski, the consul general of the Republic of Poland based in Canada.

Canada followed Poland's lead and become the first Western country to establish formal diplomatic relations with Ukraine, also on December 2.

The list continued to grow during the first week after Ukraine's declaration of independence and the election of Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk, with Hungary, Russia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria and Czecho-Slovakia reporting recognition of Ukraine.

The Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark - have also declared their recognition of Ukraine, as have Greece and Bulgaria.

Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Germany, the Vatican, Romania, Libya and Iran have also expressed their intention to set up diplomatic relations with Ukraine.

On Christmas Day, December 25, the United States and Israel were added to the growing list of countries recognizing Ukraine, but events have been moving at such a rapid pace that it has been difficult to keep up, reported an official at the Ukrainian Mission to the United Nations, based in New York City.