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Former advisor to Russian president speaks on Putin’s long preparations for war

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WASHINGTON – Dr. Andrei Illarionov discussed President Vladimir Putin’s long preparation for Russia’s war with Ukraine April 7 at the Atlantic Council think tank in Washington. An economic advisor to President Putin until 2005, Dr. Illarionov now is president of the Institute of Economic Analysis, an independent think tank in Moscow, and a senior fellow at the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank. Asked at the conclusion of his discussion when a resolution to the Ukrainian crisis can be expected, Dr. Illarionov said that it can only be expected when Russia becomes a free, liberal and democratic country. Only then, he said, will it not threaten its neighbors and other countries to the West. And Western countries should strive to achieve that as their ultimate goal that will bring peace and freedom to that part of the world, he said.

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Ukraine Today news channel aims to reach English-speaking world

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WASHINGTON – Ukraine Today, an Internet television news channel in the English language, was formally introduced here March 27 during a special presentation at the Embassy of Ukraine. The independent channel was launched in August 2014 with the primary intent of informing the worldwide English-speaking audience about Ukraine and the dire situation it has been forced into over the past year. Introducing Ukraine Today’s director of strategic communications, Dr. Lada Roslycky, Ambassador Olexander Motsyk said the channel was created to provide the world with objective information about what is happening in Ukraine. And that is especially important today, he said, when it is forced to resist not only military aggression and economic pressure from Russia, but its unprecedented worldwide informational war as well. Dr. Roslycky, a Canadian of Ukrainian descent, is known as a soft-power security expert with 15 years of experience in such fields as international security, Euro-Atlantic integration and democracy-building.

Community Chronicle

Washingtonians honor the “prophet of freedom”

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WASHINGTON – As Ukrainians, and others, began arriving at the Taras Shevchenko monument here on the sunny afternoon of Saturday, March 21, they were taken aback at the first sight of the poet laureate’s statue. It was draped with a gigantic faux chain, from around his neck, surrounding his body and down to his feet. The gathering grew to a crowd of almost 200 when the memorial program – a “cultural exploration into an iconic Ukrainian figure,” its “prophet of freedom” – began with everyone joining with the local SPIV-Zhyttya choir in singing the American and Ukrainian national anthems.

And then, two young girls, Mariia Marchuk and Valeriia Vlasov, began the poetry recitation part of the afternoon celebration with Shevchenko’s “Study Well, My Brothers”  (Учітеся, брати мої). More recitations of Shevchenko’s poetry – in Ukrainian, English, as well as in Georgian, Russian, Belarusian, French and Spanish – continued throughout the program. And so did the singing of some well-known songs set to his words, as well as two recent compositions to Shevchenko’s poems by Victor Morozov: “I Beat a Path through the Field” (Утоптала стежичку) and “The Rapids Roar” (Б’ють пороги), which were performed by SPIV-Zhyttya.

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Ukraine’s minister of finance visits D.C. to seek assistance for Ukraine

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WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s new minister of finance, Natalie Jaresko, came to Washington on March 16-17, seeking U.S. assistance in helping to get her country’s economy working normally during these very difficult and uncertain times for Ukraine. She discussed her government’s needs and plans for recovery with senior officials of the White House, the Treasury and State departments and congressmen, and later talked about them in a packed conference room at the Brookings Institution, a leading Washington think tank. Ms. Jaresko stressed that Ukraine wants a peaceful solution to its conflict in the Donetsk-Luhansk region with Russian-backed separatists, which has killed more than 6,000 and wounded more than 15,000 soldiers and civilians, and displaced more than 1 million residents. In addition, after 70 years of communism, and 23 years of incomplete economic reforms, mismanagement, corruption by previous regimes, she added, “all of this has left the country in a complex and difficult economic situation.” Ukraine’s economy and industrial output has gone down by 20 percent in 2014, the hryvnia has depreciated by 70 percent, which is pushing the public sector debt to “very dangerous levels.”

She noted that the International Monetary Fund’s recent approval of a $17.5 billion loan program is less than half of the estimated $40 billion Ukraine needs for the next four years. Ukraine is very thankful to the United States for the assistance it has provided so far, Ms. Jaresko said, but it needs additional support, in the form of financial and humanitarian assistance, military equipment “to put an end to this conflict,” and sanctions against Russia if the peace agreements are not fully implemented.

Community Chronicle

An annual tribute to Shevchenko in D.C.

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WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s Ambassador to the U.S. Olexander Motsyk and a small group of his Embassy colleagues and Ukrainian Americans braved the rainy weather to honor Ukraine’s poet laureate Taras Shevchenko in front of his monument in Washington on March 10. The brief ceremony began with the ambassador speaking about Shevchenko’s significance to Ukraine, especially during this dangerous time in its history. Afterwards, Andrew Bihun, who heads The Washington Group, an association of Ukrainian American professionals, noted how important Shevchenko has been and continues to be for Ukrainians living abroad, who demonstrate their love and respect for him every year on his anniversary. Taras Shevchenko was born March 9, 1814, and died on March 10, 1861.

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Rada Vice-Chair Parubiy brings Ukraine’s case to D.C.

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Stresses that Ukraine needs weapons now

WASHINGTON – The vice-chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, Andriy Parubiy, came to Washington during the last week of February in an effort to convince the United States that it can help his country resolve the conflict in its eastern regions with Russian separatists by providing the Ukrainian armed forces with lethal and defensive weapons. During his three-day visit on February 24-26, he presented his government’s case in meetings on Capitol Hill with Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner and members of the Senate and Congressional Ukrainian Caucuses. He also met with Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and senior officials at the Defense Department and National Security Council as well as with other leading Washington foreign policy experts. On the last day of his visit here, Mr. Parubiy spoke about what he tried to accomplish during a brief news conference at the Embassy of Ukraine. “Ukraine has to ascertain: are we alone or not alone.

Community

Washington in February: concerts, exhibits, remembrances of the Maidan

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WASHINGTON – February was a cold and weary month in this capital city, especially for Ukrainian American, their minds immersed in the horrific events in eastern Ukraine. And while official and other visits, presentations, meetings and discussions continued to dominate local activists’ calendars here, several Ukrainian cultural events – concerts, art and photo exhibits – managed to find a way into their schedules as well, which helped ease their distress. On the first day of the month, Ukrainian violinist Marc Bouchkov gave his second performance here in two years at the Lyceum in Old Town Alexandria. Under the sponsorship of The Washington Group (TWG) Cultural Fund, as in 2014, and accompanied by pianist Anna Balakerskaia, Mr. Bouchkov’s program included works by Brahms, Ysaye, Chausson and Ravel. But what brought the packed recital hall audience to its feet was his own solo violin arrangement “Fantasy on a Ukrainian Theme,” based on two popular Ukrainian folk songs, “Vziav by ya Banduru” and “Plyve Kacha po Tysyni.”

The following weekend, it was pianist Mykola Suk.

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Mustafa Nayyem honored for efforts to establish democracy in Ukraine

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WASHINGTON – Mustafa Nayyem – journalist, democracy activist and member of Ukraine’s new Parliament – was honored with the 2014 Ion Ratiu Democracy Award for his efforts to establish a true democracy in Ukraine. The award was presented on February 12 here at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars during the 10th annual Ion Ratiu Democracy Award Workshop, which this year focused its accompanying panel discussions on the opportunities and threats to the development of democracy in Ukraine since the Euro-Maidan demonstrations. Mr. Nayyem was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1981. His family moved to Moscow in 1989 and then to Kyiv in 1992. After graduating from the National Technical University in Kyiv, he began working as a journalist, covering the 2003-2004 Orange Revolution for Context Media.

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Patriarch Filaret calls on U.S. to help Ukraine protect itself

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WASHINGTON – While U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande were discussing how to resolve the crisis in Ukraine with Ukrainian and Russian leaders in Kyiv and Moscow during the first week of February, Patriarch Filaret, the leader of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, was in Washington calling on the United States to help his country protect itself against Russian aggression not only with humanitarian assistance but military aid as well. The patriarch came to the U.S. capital at this time – as he did a year earlier – to participate in the National Prayer Breakfast, a large annual gathering of the world’s religious and other leaders. And he used the occasion of his four-day visit here to speak about his country’s critical needs during his meetings with prominent senators and congressmen, State Department officials and representatives of Washington organizations. On the first day of his visit here, February 3, the Embassy of Ukraine organized a press conference for him, at which he presented his “religious and moral point of view” about the developments in his country. He said he came to the National Prayer Breakfast “to pray together for world peace” and to interact and remind American leaders that Ukraine is asking the United States to fulfill its duty as a signatory of the Budapest Memorandum to help Ukraine defend its territory.

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Ukrainian foreign affairs official optimistic that aid will come soon from U.S., Europe

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WASHINGTON – Ukraine’s Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs Vadym Prystayko expressed his optimism that the military and economic aid Ukraine needs to survive its current military and economic crises will soon be forthcoming from the United States, Europe and major international organizations. Speaking with journalists at the Embassy of Ukraine on January 30, at the conclusion of his four-day visit here, Mr. Prystayko said he discussed the situation in Ukraine and the assistance it needs with U.S. officials at the White House and State Department, and at the Atlantic Council and other think tanks. As a result, he said, it was his understanding that the Obama administration will soon come to an agreement with Congress. Military aid is uppermost on Ukraine’s needs list, he said, but an estimated $15 billion financial aid package to help stabilize Ukraine’s currency and balance its budget is also important. He said that the U.S. portion of this sum under discussion now is in the range of $2 billion to $3 billion for the near future.