Meeting with leaders of Ukrainian community set stage for Gore visit (08/16/98)

Meeting with leaders of Ukrainian community set stage for Gore visit

by Andrew Fedynsky

WASHINGTON - The day before he left for Ukraine in late July, Vice-President Al Gore and key staff members, including his National Security Advisor Leon Furth, Carlos Pasqual of the National Security Council and Christine Stanek of the White House Office of Public Liaison, met with representatives of the Ukrainian American community to discuss relations between the U.S. and Ukraine relations.

The vice-president began with the assertion that the issue of Ukraine's independence has been settled once and for all, and that there is no going back to the Soviet empire. The central issue now, he said, is Ukraine's economic and political vitality.

Mr. Gore outlined examples of current cooperation in military, economic, energy and international security affairs, giving Ukraine high marks for its contributions toward nuclear non-proliferation. The U.S. considers Ukraine a strategic partner and is prepared to help, he said, pointing to American aid programs, as well as support with international lending institutions, particularly the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Despite his upbeat tone, the vice-president expressed concern over the slow pace of economic reform in Ukraine, indicating it was neither in America's nor Ukraine's interest to subsidize Communist-era institutions.

The meeting lasted two hours, with Vice-President Gore in attendance for an hour. It was characterized by a lively give-and-take between Mr. Gore and Ukrainian American community representatives.

Michael Sawkiw, director of the Washington Office of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, recommended that Mr. Gore bring up the Famine of 1932-1933 during his visit to Ukraine. This topic evoked a great deal of interest from the vice-president, who probed for common elements between the catastrophe at Chornobyl and the Great Famine, suggesting that both had their origins in communism and its callous, totalitarian mindset.

Melanne Starinshak Verveer, assistant to President Bill Clinton and chief of staff to the First Lady, attended the meeting and was introduced by Vice-President Gore as the highest-ranking Ukrainian American in the administration. Ms. Verveer mentioned the administration's initiatives on women's issues and urged Mr. Gore to follow up on those in Kyiv.

Julian Kulas from Chicago brought up the Commercial Law Project and recommended its prompt implementation.

Eugene Iwanciw, former director of the Ukrainian National Association's Washington Office, pointed out the economic and political costs to Ukraine of supporting U.S. non-proliferation policies and recommended measures to compensate for those costs.

The general message presented by the Ukrainian delegation to Vice-President Gore was to give Ukraine treatment equal to that provided Russia and other former Soviet republics. Participants also agreed that most Ukrainian Americans do not support indiscriminate aid to Ukraine. No one, for example, saw merit in subsidizing the collective farm system. Everyone generally agreed with the current U.S. policy of support for Ukraine's independence, while working toward reforms aimed at dismantling Communist political and economic structures.

Key elements of the conversation with Vice-President Gore - particularly the Famine and Chornobyl - found their way into speeches he later gave in Ukraine.

The meeting with the vice-president was initiated by Mr. Kulas and Andrew Fedynsky, both members of the National Democratic Ethnic Advisory Committee. In addition to those already mentioned, the following Ukrainian Americans attended the meeting: Taras Bazyluk, speechwriter to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright; Walter Bodnar of Americans for Human Rights in Ukraine; Paula Dobriansky, Washington director of the Council on Foreign Relations; Anya Dydyk, second vice-president of the Ukrainian National Association; Ihor Gawdiak, director of the Ukrainian American Coordinating Council's Washington Office; Tanya Karpiak, vice-president of the Ukrainian American Bar Association; Anna Krawczuk, president of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America; John Kun of the U.S.-Ukraine Foundation; and Markian Silecky, board member of the Ukrainian American Bar Association.

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