Ukrainian World Congress president meets with bloc leaders in Ukraine

TORONTO - Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Askold S. Lozynskyj met with four of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada bloc leaders on April 17 and April 25 in Kyiv. The leaders, in chronological order of the meetings, were Oleksander Moroz of the Socialist Party bloc, Yulia Tymoshenko of the Yulia Tymoshenko Bloc, Volodymyr Lytvyn of the For a United Ukraine bloc and Victor Yushchenko of the Our Ukraine bloc.

Petro Symonenko of the Communist Party and Victor Medvedchuk of the Socialist Democratic Party (United) did not respond to the UWC's request for a meeting.

The purpose of the meetings was to discuss issues important to the Ukrainian diaspora to be considered by the next parliamentary session.

These issues included:

• Ukrainian national Churches and their support by the government of Ukraine;
  
  
• practical approaches to popularizing the Ukrainian language in Ukraine;
  
  
• recognition of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists/Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Carpathian Sich, 1st Ukrainian Division (Halychyna Division), Bukovynskyi Kurin, Druzhyny Ukrainskykh Natsionalistiv and other formations as Ukraine's freedom fighters and affording their living members certain economic privileges;
  
  
• condemnation of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union;
  
  
• the return of repressed Ukrainians and their descendants from other regions of the former Soviet Union to Ukraine;
  
  
• safeguarding the religious and national rights of Ukrainians residing in the Russian Federation; and
  
  
• adopting a law on rights and privileges of Ukrainians living outside Ukraine.

A memorandum on these issues was forwarded by the UWC to each bloc leader on April 10. Mr. Yushchenko, Mr. Lytvyn and Ms. Tymoshenko agreed to act on all matters, while Mr. Moroz voiced reservations, but expressed a desire to work with the UWC on certain issues.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, May 12, 2002, No. 19, Vol. LXX

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