1991: A LOOK BACK: Washington focuses on Ukraine (12/29/91)

1991: A LOOK BACK

Washington focuses on Ukraine

1991 began with a Soviet crackdown in the Baltic States and the other republics of the USSR. In Washington, the Coalition to Promote Democracy in Soviet Occupied Republics called for a meeting with President George Bush and for him to take decisive actions in response to the crackdown including cancellation of the U.S.-USSR summit and U.S. participation in the 1991 Moscow Human Rights conference. At the same time, it was announced that legislation was drafted which would link Soviet conduct vis-a-vis the republics with improved relations with the U.S.

The coalition consisted of the Ukrainian National Association, the Armenian Assembly of America, the Joint Baltic American National Committee, the Lithuanian-American Community, the Congress of Russian Americans, the American Latvian Association, the Estonian American National Council, and Project for Peace (supporting democracy in Georgia).

The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), known as the Helsinki Commission, held three hearings during January and February on the crackdown. The February 6 hearing featured former Carter National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski who outlined nine policy recommendations including that the United States should "formalize our relations with republic governments."

On March 22, Representatives David Bonior (D-Mich.) and Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), introduced H.R. 1603, to "support democracy and self-determination in the Baltic States and the republics within the Soviet Union." On April 18, identical legislation was introduced in the Senate as S. 860 by Senators Bob Dole (R-Kan.) and Paul Simon (D-Ill.). The legislation was drafted by Sen. Dole and Rep. Bonior working with the Coalition to Promote Democracy in Soviet Occupied Republics.

The language of the two bills was modified and adopted by the Senate on July 29 as an amendment to the Department of State Authorization Bill. It was later passed by both Houses of Congress and on October 28, just a month before the Ukrainian independence referendum, President Bush signed the legislation into law (P.L. 102-138). The law contains provisions requiring U.S. government aid to the former Soviet Union to go to republics and U.S. recognition for "all republic-level governments which seek such status."

Early in 1991, the U.S. Department of State dispatched John Stepanchuk, a foreign service officer, to Ukraine to begin the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Kiev. He was soon followed by Jon Gundersen, the U.S. Consul General to Kiev. Later in the year, they were joined by Mary Ann Kruger, a public affairs officer at the U.S. Information Agency as well as an administrative officer. The U.S. presence in Kiev throughout the year proved critical for United States understanding of the dynamics of the independence drive.

On February 15, Administrative Law Judge Robert Barton of the Department of Transportation issued a decision recommending that "a certificate should be issued to American Trans Air authorizing the carriage of persons, property, and mail in foreign air transportation for five years between the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Riga and Kiev, USSR." In the proceedings, three airlines proposed serving Kiev. The Ukrainian National Association, through a 35-page legal brief and the direct testimony of Eugene Iwanciw, strongly supported air service to Kiev. The Department of Transportation later reversed the awarding of the route to American Trans Air and awarded service to Kiev to Baltia Air Lines.

On February 20, Rep. Benjamin Gilman introduced legislation, H.R. 976, which would grant a federal charter to the Ukrainian American Veterans, Inc. (UAV). By year end there were 42 co-sponsors of the legislation and Sen. Howard Metzenbaum (D-Ohio) agreed to introduce identical legislation in the Senate early in 1992.

1991 was a busy year for Ukrainian leaders visiting Washington. In March, Serhij Koniev, Rukh activist and Soviet people's deputy, spent four days in Washington meeting with members of Congress. In April, a U.S. Information Agency (USIA)-sponsored program brought 12 deputies of the Ukrainian Supreme Council to Washington and Indiana to study the workings of the U.S. government on the federal and state level. Among the 12 were Rukh chairman Ivan Drach, Supreme Council Deputy Chairman Ivan Pliushch, and Rukh activists Mykhailo Horyn, Vyacheslav Chornovil, and Laryssa Skoryk. In November a delegation of 8 deputies and staff, led by Deputy Vasyl Ryabokon, attended a similar program sponsored by the Karl Popper Foundation.

May brought Volodymyr Hryniov, second deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Supreme Council, and a delegation of deputies to Washington for meetings. Supreme Council Economic Commission Chairman Volodymyr Pylypchuk visited Washington on numerous occasions in 1991. In June, Mykola Yakovyna, chairman of the Ivano-Frankivske Oblast Council, visited Washington.

November brought Volodymyr Lanovoy, State Minister for Economic Development, and newly-appointed Environmental Minister Yuriy Scherbak to Washington to discuss various issues with U.S. government officials and business leaders.

The highlight of the year was the September visit of Ukrainian Supreme Council Chairman Leonid Kravchuk to Washington. His schedule included meetings with President George Bush, the leadership of the House and Senate, including Senators George Mitchell and Dole and Speaker Foley, and Dr. Zbigniew Brzezinski. This visit followed the August 1 visit of President Bush to Kiev.

Early in the year, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) sponsored a conference entitled "The Unfinished Revolution" which included a panel entitled "Soviet Union: Democracy or Empire?" Mr. Horyn was among the participants on the panel.

On July 11, Rep. Bonior was elected House Majority Whip, the third-ranking leadership post of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives, making him the highest ranking Ukrainian American ever in the U.S. Congress. The congressman's maternal grandparents immigrated to the United States from Lviv.

On July 16, the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations held a confirmation hearing on the nomination of Robert Strauss to be U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. Eugene Iwanciw, representing the Coalition to Promote Democracy in Soviet Occupied Republics and the Ukrainian National Association, testified at the televised hearing. Mr. Strauss was later confirmed as ambassador.

On September 11-12, the Senate Finance Committee held hearings on U.S.-Soviet trade relations. Among the witnesses called before the panel was Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Gennadi Udovenko. During the hearings, Finance Committee Chairman Lloyd Bentsen (D-Tex.) pointed out that the trade agreement with the USSR was negotiated with an entity that "doesn't exist anymore," an early acknowledgment that the empire was defunct.

Representatives Don Ritter (R-Penn.) and Dennis Hertel (D-Mich.) introduced H.Con.Res. 212 on October 1 calling on the President to extend official diplomatic relations to Ukraine immediately after the December 1 referendum. That same day, Senators Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.) and Alfonse D'Amato (R-N.Y.) introduced identical legislation, S.Con.Res. 65, in the Senate. By the end of the session, 27 Senators and 83 Representatives were co-sponsors of the resolutions. In the closing days of the session, Sen. DeConcini offered his resolution as an amendment to the FY 1992 supplemented appropriations bill. The Senate and then the House approved the legislation with the amendment intact.

On November 27, just four days before the Ukrainian referendum, President Bush met with Ukrainian American community leaders and told them that the United States would recognize Ukraine in a "relatively short period of time" reversing a policy of support for the central government in Moscow. That meeting was a turning point in U.S. relations with the former Soviet Union and helped accelerate its demise.

Also in Washington, the U.S. Peace Corps announced plans for a partnership with Ukraine on September 27, making Ukraine the first republic of the former Soviet Union to join the Peace Corps program. U.S. Peace Corps Director Paul D. Coverdell said that a programming team would be traveling to Ukraine in November and that a contingent of some 60 volunteers should be working in Ukraine by June 1992, probably being most active in the areas of English-language training and helping the victims of Chornobyl.

As the year ended, preparations were underway for formal ties between Ukraine and the United States. The coming year will entail a changing of legislative priorities which stressed liberation to one which stresses nation-building. This adjustment will be the first in the history of the Ukrainian American community.

- Eugene M. Iwanciw