Peter Lishchynski, NATO official in Kyiv, killed in car accident (11/23/97)

Peter Lishchynski, NATO official in Kyiv, killed in car accident

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - The Canadian and European diplomatic communities have been stunned by the tragic passing of one of their most outspoken and self-assured members. Peter Roman Lishchynski, a career diplomat recently appointed as chief of the NATO information service in Ukraine, was killed in an automobile accident near the village of Bohdanivka, in the Kirovohrad region (about 160 miles south of Kyiv), on November 13. Mr. Lishchynski was 56.

Born on May 24, 1941, in Zuellichau, Germany, Mr. Lishchynski never saw his father, who was killed in Voronezh that year. His mother, Eda née Antonovych, brought him to Canada in 1949 and settled in Toronto. Active in the Plast Ukrainian Youth Organization, he joined the Vovkulaky fraternity.

After a stab at studies in engineering, Mr. Lishchynski graduated with a major in political science from Waterloo University in 1967, and then earned a master's degree in international relations, specializing in Soviet studies, from the University of Toronto in 1968.

Soon after, Mr. Lishchynski began serving with the Ontario provincial government's Federal-Provincial Affairs Secretariat, and in 1969 secured an appointment as Ontario representative to the Federal Privy Council Office's Constitutional Secretariat.

Mr. Lishchynski joined the Canadian diplomatic service in March 1971, and was initially assigned to the USSR/Pacific Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) in Ottawa.

His first foreign posting came in 1972-1974, when he was placed in Trinidad and Tobago as third and later second secretary of Canada's High Commission there. Back in Ottawa, Mr. Lishchynski's first experience in NATO affairs came with the DFAIT's Defense Relations Division, and until 1977 he also worked at the Bureau of Finance and Management and the Canadian Forces Language School (Russian language training).

In 1977 Mr. Lishchynski arrived in Moscow, posted as the Canadian Embassy's second secretary and vice consul for administrative, security and political matters. He was expelled two years later by the Soviet government as a persona non grata, when the Kremlin retaliated for Ottawa's exposure and expulsion of two Soviet spies.

He was immediately assigned to a similar post in Ankara, Turkey, where he served until 1981. That year Mr. Lishchynski was appointed first secretary and deputy head of mission of the Canadian delegation to the Mutual and Balanced Force Reduction (MBFR) negotiations in Vienna.

In 1985 Mr. Lishchynski returned to the Canadian capital to assume the deputy directorship of the DFAIT's Political Intelligence Division and to head its Soviet section, where he worked until 1989.

In 1989 Mr. Lishchynski was given a front-row seat to history with his posting as head of the public affairs section of the Canadian Embassy in Bonn, Germany, as the Soviet bloc began to crumble.

In September 1992 he arrived in Kyiv to serve as the first counselor in political, security and public affairs, at the mission set up by Canadian Consul General Nestor Gayowsky.

When Canada's first ambassador to Ukraine, Francois Mathys, stepped down from his post in June 1995, Mr. Lishchynski was made chargé d'affaires, effectively serving as Canada's acting ambassador to Ukraine until Christopher Westdal arrived in January 1996 to assume the top job in Kyiv.

On January 6, 1996, Mr. Lishchynski was assigned from the Canadian diplomatic corps to head the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) mission in Ukraine, overseeing operations in Kyiv and establishing an outpost in Symferopol in Crimea.

During his visit to Kyiv on May 7 this year, NATO Secretary-General Javier Solana appointed Mr. Lishchynski as director of the newly established NATO Information and Documentation Center at the Ukrainian Institute of International Relations, whose goal was to inform the broader Ukrainian public about NATO and counter suspicion about the alliance that lingers in Ukraine due to the legacy of Soviet propaganda.

Mr. Lishchynski was en route to Odessa, where a seminar called "NATO as Guarantor of Commerce and Security in Europe" was to have been held. According to a report in the Eastern Economist, "Mr. Lischynski's last act as head of the NATO center was to take part in a 45-minute open line show on Radio Continent in Kyiv in which he answered listeners' questions."

On November 14, Mr. Solana issued a press release stating his regret and shock at Mr. Lishchynski's untimely death. The statement further read: "In the few months Mr. Lishchynski held this office, he showed himself to be a highly professional, skilled and effective NATO official. He was deeply committed to the strengthening of the relationship between Ukraine and NATO and was acknowledged as an excellent spokesman for the alliance in communicating NATO to the Ukrainian people. Mr. Lishchynski will be greatly missed by NATO and all those who knew him and worked with him in Ukraine."

That same day, Canada's minister of foreign affairs, Lloyd Axworthy, issued a statement expressing shock and sadness at the news of the fatal accident. "Mr. Lishchynski made an enormous, enduring contribution to the international community," Mr. Axworthy said.

The minister added: "Peter Lishchynski was a dedicated and highly accomplished servant of Canadian bilateral and multilateral interests. To our relations with Ukraine, the land of his ancestral origin, he brought vision, understanding and energetic competence in the fulfillment of Ukrainian freedom. He played an important role in building Ukraine's relations with international security institutions, one of that country's major foreign policy goals."

A statement from the Canadian Embassy in the Kyiv quoted Ambassador Westdal as praising Mr. Lishchynski for his "great, unique and lasting contribution to the fulfillment of Ukraine's freedom in its foreign relations with Canada and vital international institutions."

Reached by The Weekly on November 19, Canada's former consul general in Kyiv, Mr. Gayowsky, said: "Mr. Lishchynski was delighted to be in Ukraine and very much enjoyed being able to use his training and background to advance Canada's position there and assist Ukrainian officials."

Roman Waschuk, counselor at the Canadian Embassy since 1994 and a long-time family friend, told the Eastern Economist that Mr. Lishchynski was "iconoclastic," adding that "with such an outspoken personality, he clearly had remarkable diplomatic skills. All sides at the OSCE loved him. And it was during his tenure that the situation in Crimea quieted down."

Mr. Lishchynski is survived by his daughter Sonja (currently in London, England), his son Marc (studying in Kingston, Ontario) and their mother in France; his cousin Christina Pochmursky of Toronto; his uncle Volodymyr Antonovych and wife Lina, and nephew Volodymyr Antonovych, also of Toronto.

Mr. Lishchynski's remains were cremated in Kyiv, and a memorial service was held on November 20 at the Canadian Embassy there, but further details concerning funeral arrangements in Canada were not available at press time.

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