KERHONKSON, N.Y. \u2013 The Executive Committee of the Ukrainian National Association met on December 4 at the UNA estate Soyuzivka during the annual meeting of the General Assembly.

President Ulana Diachuk, presided over the quarterly meeting of the committee. Present at the meeting were: Stefko Kuropas, first vice-president; Anya Dydyk- Petrenko, second vice-president; the Rev. Myron Stasiw, director for Canada; Martha Lysko, national secretary; Stefan Kaczaraj, treasurer; and William Pastuszek, chairman of the Auditing Committee.

The reports for the last quarter were not presented since they were topics for the General Assembly meeting in progress at Soyuzivka on December 3 to 5, which was attended by the entire governing body of the UNA. (See The Weekly, December 12.)

the Executive Committee. The UNA\u2019s Canadian accountant Bohdan Mocherniak was appointed the fraternal organization\u2019s new chief agent for Canada since he is able to comply with more stringent Canadian requirements now demanded by the Canadian insurance authorities. President Diachuk expressed sincere thanks to Yaroslava Zorych who for many years served as the UNA\u2019s chief agent and worked diligently in that capacity.

The major topics of discussion during this abbreviated meeting of the Executive Committee were UNA investments and UNA investment policy. The motion to approve the new investment policy was tabled until the next meeting of the commit- tee, which is scheduled for March of next year.

The Executive Committee is looking into the possibility of hiring an investment man- ager to handle its investments. The three companies contacted for information on

investment management were reviewed. One replied that they handle only compa- nies with assets of $1 billion or more, while the others sent in proposals for review. Mr. Kuropas agreed to review the proposals and report to the committee at the next meeting.

It was noted that during all of 1999 the Executive Committee struggled to develop a sound investment policy that would con- form to industry standards but still give the best yields possible.

As mandated annually by insurance authorities, all members of the Executive Committee signed a conflict of interest statement.

Members of the Executive Committee voted unanimously that the President Diachuk should represent the UNAand par- ticipate in the Council of Presidents of Ukrainian American Organizations. This body was formed on September 15 after the Joint Conferences of Ukrainian American Organizations held in June in Washington.

majority to support campaign promises to accelerate the pace of Ukrainian eco- nomic reforms.

The former Soviet republic has lagged well behind neighbors Poland and Hungary in shifting its economy over to a free market. One of the biggest barriers to implementation of more radical Ukrainian economic reform has been a long-standing impasse between Mr. Kuchma, who advertises himself as a business-friendly centrist, and largely leftist parliamentary deputies.

Mr. Kuchma nominated the 45-year- old Mr. Yuschenko after the Verkhovna Rada shot down Mr. Kuchma\u2019s first nomination, long-time political ally and sometimes hatchet man Valerii Pustovoitenko on December 14.

But on December 22 politicians across Ukraine\u2019s political spectrum were regis- tering their support in favor of President Kuchma\u2019s second choice for prime min- ister, a man best known for a strict mone- tarist policy and facile, if not always suc- cessful, handling of Ukraine\u2019s national currency, the hryvnia.

\u201cViktor Yuschenko is the kind of pro- fessional Ukraine needs right now,\u201d said National Deputy Stepan Havrysh, a Revival of Regions faction member. \u201cWith our financial problems we need someone who can deal with Ukraine\u2019s foreign debt.\u201d

Mr. Yuschenko made clear that his short-term goal as prime minister is pre- cisely that, via stabilization of Ukraine\u2019s shaky finances. Ukraine faces $3 billion worth of foreign obligations coming due in year 2000 alone, and commercial

KYIV\u2013 For once, Ukraine\u2019s President and Parliament were on the same sheet of music, and economic reform was playing in the background. While President Leonid Kuchma looked on approvingly, national deputies across the political spectrum joined December 22 to give their overwhelming approval to National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) boss Viktor Yuschenko\u2019s nomination as Ukraine\u2019s next prime minister.

Mr. Yuschenko received 296 votes in favor of his candidacy for the nation\u2019s second-highest government job, out of 316 deputies present. Twelve deputies cast their ballots against Mr. Yuschenko, while four registered themselves as pres- ent but abstained from voting. The remaining 136 deputies, some absent, did not vote.

Debate was almost completely lauda- tory, but Mr. Yuschenko responded sharply to one Communist deputy\u2019s alle- gation he had become personally wealthy while running the NBU.

\u201cIf you don\u2019t believe me, tomorrow there will be a bus at the front door of the Parliament,\u201d Mr. Yuschenko said. \u201cAny deputy who wants to check can drive to my house and see how wealthy I am.\u201d

But, perhaps significantly, even three members of the usually rabidly leftist Progressive Socialist Party \u2013 headed by Leninist Natalia Vitrenko \u2013 broke party ranks to join the heavy majority support- ing Mr. Yuschenko\u2019s candidacy.

The lopsided legislative victory marks a critical success in President Kuchma\u2019s efforts to build a working parliamentary

WASHINGTON \u2013 Ukraine\u2019s ambas- sador to the United States, Anton Buteiko, has been recalled to Kyiv along with Ukraine\u2019s two consuls gen- eral in this country \u2013 Yuriy Bohaievsky in New York and Borys Bazylevsky in Chicago.

No specific reason was given for cut- ting short Ambassador Buteiko\u2019s assignment in Washington, which began in November 1998. (His prede- cessor, Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak, who now serves as foreign affairs advi- sor to the president, had spent four years in Washington.) Mr. Bohaievsky had served in New York for one year, after serving for a year and half as Ukraine\u2019s deputy permanent representa- tive to the United Nations), and Mr. Bazylevsky arrived in Chicago four months ago. The three diplomats reportedly were instructed to vacate their posts by January 5.

A number of Ukrainian diplomats serving in other countries also were recalled home following President Kuchma\u2019s re-election in November.

Dr. Buteiko\u2019s impending departure was not completely unexpected. Rumors to that effect had been circulat- ing here since before President Kuchma\u2019s Washington visit on December 8. The recall letter arrived a few days later.

Washington Post writer Nora Boustany, who broke the story in her \u201cDiplomatic Dispatches\u201d column on

December 17, suggested that the first- round presidential election absentee voting results in Washington, New York and Chicago had \u201cdisappointed\u201d President Kuchma and that the \u201cpoliti- cal fallout is roiling Ukrainian diplo- matic ranks.\u201d

Immediately following the first round, the Kuchma administration had sacked the governors of three oblasts that voted decisively for his opponents.

In an interview for The Ukrainian Weekly, Ambassador Buteiko said that, personally, he could not comprehend any kind of a link between the election results at the Embassy and his recall.

\u201cI know that the election process at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington was democratic, as witnessed by American observers,\u201d he said. \u201cThe president received a plurality of the votes in the first round, and more than 70 percent of the votes in the final round.\u201d (About 160 Ukrainian citizens cast their ballots at the Embassy.)

\u201cTherefore, it\u2019s very difficult for me to conclude that this recall is somehow connected with the election results,\u201d he said. \u201cOnly those who made the deci- sion know the real reason,\u201d he added.

Asked if there was any mention of the election in the recall letter, Dr. Buteiko said, \u201cNo. The letter I received notified me that it was decided that I return to Ukraine, expressed apprecia- tion for my effort in expanding our eco- nomic, political, military and humani- tarian relations with the United States,

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 unleashed great expectations that the world was entering a new period of democracy, free markets, peace and sta- bility. But despite the undeniable progress almost everyone has made, the decade since that time has brought even greater disappointments, both in the countries that languished under Communist domi- nation as well as in those that had active- ly fought that political system.

Such a sequence, of course, is typical of periods of massive change. As the Polish writer Adam Michnik points out in the current issue of the American journal Dissent, \u201cany great social change unleashes great expectations. And there- fore, of course, it leads to great disap- pointments.\u201d

This particular decade of disappointed expectations has had the unintended con- sequence of focusing attention on three aspects of the Communist experience in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe that many participants in and analysts of these developments have until now been large- ly unwilling to confront.

First, communism was far more insidi- ous, pervasive and evil than even many of its sharpest critics have been prepared to acknowledge. As a result, overcoming its consequences requires a far greater effort over a longer period than many had earlier assumed.

The Communist regimes of the region killed millions of people and destroyed their physical environment in the name of a supposedly higher good \u2013 something even former Communists now acknowl- edge. But these regimes also deformed the mental and moral make-up of the peo- ple living under them.

The Communist authorities were ulti- mately unsuccessful in reducing everyone to the status of \u201chomo Sovieticus.\u201d Had they been able to achieve that objective, these regimes might have survived far longer than they did. Nonetheless they did have a major impact on those over whom they exercised their power, as any compari- son of pre-Communist and post-Communist periods in these countries shows.

Many of the most committed anti- Communists, however, had assumed that formally replacing communism as the rul- ing ideological system with democracy and free market economics would be suf- ficient to overcome up to seven decades of Communist indoctrination.

Second, Soviet domination of this region was never only about communism, and resistance to that domination was never only about communism. Instead, it was about nationalism and patriotism \u2013 values that the Soviet system sometimes actively exploited and at other times even more actively opposed.

There remain enormous differences between those countries where indigenous groups imposed communism and those where a foreign occupying power did so. In the former, many people viewed the Communist government as somehow their own, even if they hated it for what it did. In the latter, far more people viewed it as what it was, an occupying force that they would ultimately overthrow.

During the Communist period this dif- ference helped explain the pride many Russians took in the achievements of the Soviet state, even if they were suffering as much as anyone else from its rule. And it explains some of the impetus behind East European resistance to Communist occupation, not only in 1956 and 1968, but in the struggle to overthrow commu- nism a decade ago.

But as important as these differences were in Soviet times, they have become even more significant in the post- Communist period. It has proved far less difficult for those societies that always viewed communism as something foreign to turn away from it than it has been for those that saw communism as part of their own national patrimony.

To a large extent, this national dimen- sion of communism and its collapse has been either ignored or downplayed by all involved. Any mention of it inevitably reopens the question of just what the Cold War was about. And, any discussion of this dimension of that conflict opens a variety of broader historical issues that political leaders in both the East and the West believe are best resolved by being ignored.

PRAGUE \u2013 Over the past two weeks, the Ukrainian Parliament saw a number of \u201cdeputy transfers.\u201d Some 20 national deputies left their former caucuses to join others or to have no parliamentary affilia- tion whatsoever.

Ukrainian commentators and politicians suggest that regrouping is due to the antici- pated creation of a pro-government majority in the Verkhovna Rada.

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing, don\u2019t worry, they will come back as soon as all [Cabinet] portfolios are distributed,\u201d Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko told the Verkhovna Rada on December 1, as he announced a list of deputies who decided to change their parlia- mentary colors on that day.

Mr. Tkachenko\u2019s Peasant Party caucus has lost four deputies and now has only 10. According to the parliamentary regulations, a caucus must consist of at least 14 deputies (if it is unable to replenish its ranks within two weeks, it must be dissolved). Mr. Tkachenko said the Communist Party has

decided to \u201cdonate\u201d seven communist deputies to prop up the Peasant Party cau- cus, reportedly to reciprocate for the support Mr. Tkachenko gave to Petro Symonenko in the presidential election campaign.

Some Ukrainian newspapers, mean- while, reported that some deputies allegedly were bribed to change caucuses.

As of December 2, the line-up in the Parliament was as follows: the Communist Party, 122 deputies; the Social Democratic Party (United), 33; Fatherland, 31; the Popular Democratic Party, 29; the Popular Rukh led by Yuriy Kostenko, 28; the Revival of Regions, 28; Labor Party, 27; the Left Center bloc (Socialists and Peasants), 25; Green Party, 19; Rukh led by Hennadiy Udovenko,16; Reforms-Congress, 15; Independent, 15; the Progressive Socialist Party, 14; Hromada Party, 12; Peasants\u2019 Party,10.

Twenty-one deputies have no affiliation (the Verkhovna Rada currently has 445 deputies out of the 450 provided in the Constitution of Ukraine).

KYIV \u2013 Some 740 delegates on December 18 took part in the \u201cconstituent and unifying congress\u201d of Rukh, which was organized by the Rukh faction head- ed by Yurii Kostenko, Interfax reported. However, the Rukh faction headed by Hennadii Udovenko did not participate in the congress. Rukh\u2019s split into two groups this spring was followed by bitter enmity and court litigation over which group has the right to inherit the movement\u2019s histor- ical name \u2013 Narodnyi Rukh Ukrainy, or the National Movement of Ukraine. From a legal viewpoint, Mr. Udovenko remains head of both Rukh and its parliamentary caucus. (RFE/RLNewsline)

KYIV\u2013 Communist Party leader Petro Symonenko said on December 16 that his caucus will boycott the session unless the Verkhovna Rada includes on its agen- da a discussion of the presidential decree abolishing collective farms, Interfax reported. The Progressive Socialist Party caucus walked out in protest after deputies failed to approve including that issue on the December 17 agenda. Leftist caucuses oppose the abolition of collec- tive farms in Ukraine, while some 100 deputies have asked the Constitutional Court to declare the decree unconstitu- tional. (RFE/RL Newsline)

KYIV \u2013 President Leonid Kuchma on December 20 praised the strong showing of centrist parties in the Russian parlia- mentary elections, Mr. Kuchma\u2019s spokesman Oleksander Martynenko told Interfax. According to the Ukrainian president, such results mean the success of forces oriented toward introducing further democratic and market transfor- mations. Mr. Kuchma noted that a major- ity of Russians demonstrated their belief that the political and economic processes in their country are irrevocable. Meanwhile, Verkhovna Rada Chairman Oleksander Tkachenko said the electoral victory of Russian Communists will pos- itively influence the development of Ukrainian-Russian relations. (RFE/RL Newsline)

KYIV \u2013 The International Monetary Fund\u2019s Kyiv mission chief, Mohammed Shadman-Valavi, said on December 16 that the IMF\u2019s new loans will depend on the country taking concrete steps toward imple- menting reforms, UNIAN reported. The

IMF\u2019s permanent representative in Ukraine, David Orsmond, said the fund expects Kyiv to introduce a program of reforms that are \u201clarge-scale and quite ambitious,\u201d accord- ing to Interfax. So far, Ukraine has received $965 million from the IMF\u2019s $2.6 billion loan package. (RFE/RLNewsline)

KYIV \u2013 President Leonid Kuchma has signed a decree reducing the number of ministries and other central executive bod- ies from 89 to 35, Interfax reported, quoting presidential administration chief Volodymyr Lytvyn. The number of ministries has been reduced from 18 to 15 and the number of Cabinet members from 24 to 20. Administrative reform was one of the International Monetary Fund\u2019s key demands for resuming its loan program for Ukraine. (RFE/RLNewsline)

MOSCOW\u2013 Russia has suspended its supplies of oil and electricity to Ukraine after accusing the country of stealing Russian gas from pipelines crossing its territory, Interfax reported on December 10. The Russian government approved disconnecting supplies when Kyiv report- edly failed to respond to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin\u2019s letter to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, in which the former accused Ukraine of siphoning off Russian gas bound for Europe. Russian Energy Minister Viktor Kaliuzhnyi said on December 10 that Ukraine is stealing some 150 million to 200 million cubic meters of Russian gas a day. He added that the oil and electricity supplies can be resumed only if Ukraine takes a \u201cconstructive stand\u201d on repaying its debt to Russia for gas supplies, according to ITAR-TASS. (RFE/RL Newsline)

KYIV \u2013 First Vice Prime Minister Anatolii Kinakh on December 13 said neither the Russian Federation nor Gazprom has taken any measures against Ukraine in connection with the accusa- tions that Ukraine siphons off Russian gas from transit pipelines, Interfax reported. Responding to the Russian energy minister\u2019s statement that Russia halted oil and electricity supplies to Ukraine, Mr. Kinakh said Ukraine has not imported electricity from Russia in 1999 so \u201cthere is nothing to halt.\u201d He added that Russian oil supplies are han- dled by commercial firms, so \u201cthere is

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Neither did the letter mention any new assignment for him, Dr. Buteiko answered, suggesting, however, that this might be due to the government reorgani- zation reforms President Kuchma initiated a few days earlier, which will cut back 89 government entities to 35 and pare down the number of ministries from 18 to 15.

During the interview Ambassador Buteiko underscored some of the Embassy\u2019s accomplishments over the past year, expressed his personal views about the best future course for Ukraine\u2019s for- eign policy and shared some parting thoughts with the Ukrainian American community.

\u201cI know that the Embassy worked earnestly and effectively, taking into account our manpower and financial resources,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had a number of achievements of which I am proud, and I am pleased that during my tenure here we achieved, I think, a higher degree of mutual understanding between Ukraine and the United States.\u201d

Dr. Buteiko said that when he came to Washington a year ago there were some 30 commercial disputes involving American businesses in Ukraine, and today only four remain to be resolved. The Embassy organized two presidential visits, as well as visits by the prime min- ister and more than 70 official delega- tions, helping to ensure the success of their trips.

Dr. Buteiko was especially pleased with the success of the most recent presi- dential visit, during which 12 bilateral agreements were signed.

Among the important agreements, he cited the \u201cNew Generation\u201d program, which next year will bring 2,400 Ukrainian high school and college stu- dents to study in the United States. The program is based on an idea he brought with him to Washington, he said.

\u201cOne could say that my work here has been very satisfying,\u201d Dr. Buteiko said. \u201cNow we have the president\u2019s decision to recall me. The president is implementing his program, and he knows best where his cadres are needed.\u201d

Discussing some of the domestic and foreign issues confronting Ukraine, Ambassador Buteiko said that the left has been throwing obstacles in the way of President Kuchma\u2019s reform programs, especially in its attempt to derail his new, major agrarian reform program aimed at doing away with the collective farm sys- tem.

\u201cI doubt that the left will be successful because the Ukrainian people, for the most part, have come to the realization that reforms are absolutely necessary, that there is no future without them,\u201d Dr. Buteiko said. \u201cI am certain that the presi- dent understands this probably better than anyone else, and he is implementing them.\u201d

He said that during the recent talks in Washington both the U.S. government and international financial institutions indicated their willingness to help Ukraine, but they indicated that \u201csuch assistance would be effective only if Ukraine more effectively implements its economic and administrative reforms and intensifies its fight against organized crime and corruption.\u201d

Foreign Minister Borys Tarasyuk and Ambassador Buteiko, when he served as the principal vice minister of foreign affairs, were widely known as the \u201cWesternizers\u201d of Ukraine\u2019s foreign poli- cy.As ambassador, Dr. Buteiko said, he

adheres to the official government policy, which states that Ukraine\u2019s strategic goal is to integrate with the European Union,

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. \u2013 \u201cIt was a great night. I enjoyed being with people who love and feel as I do about things that are Ukrainian,\u201d is the way Hollywood actor Jack Palance described the December 7 meeting of Hollywood Ukrainians to discuss the formation of a group to promote Ukrainian interests in films, television and related media.

Sparked by longtime film industry leaders Luba Keske, senior vice presi- dent of MGM \u2013 United Artists Studios, and Peter Borisow, president of Entertainment Finance Management, attendees included Mr. Palance and his brother, producer John Palance, University of Southern California cine- ma professor Paul Wolansky, Warner Brothers Studios executive Nestor Balaban, film maker Roman Mykytyn, author Eugenia Dallas, producer Tom Daniels, banker Lewko Kaspersky,

attorney Andriy Semotiuk, as well as other people involved in film produc- tion, financing and promotion.

In view of the show business nature of the meeting, it should come as no surprise that it was held around a con- ference table on the 45th floor of a downtown skyscraper in front of a salt water fish tank filled with sharks.

Speaking round-robin style, all present voiced their views on a Ukrainian media organization. Prime issues that concerned many included frustration about the low media profile of Ukraine and the 1933 Famine-geno- cide. A consensus emerged that a media organization with a social set- ting could be an effective instrument for promoting Ukrainian issues and projects.

The operational agenda of the group is fourfold: to gather together in one association members interested in pro- moting Ukrainian values and interests in Hollywood; to help create and pro-

mote more films, television programs and music which contain Ukrainian content, or are written, produced, directed or acted in by people interested in Ukrainian affairs, particularly associ- ation members; to support each other in the pursuit of career objectives in Hollywood; and to help the entertain- ment industry in Ukraine.

The group, tentatively called the Hollywood Trident Group, will meet again on February 2, 2000. In the meantime members will continue to get to know each other better, form some working arrangements, and get more people involved.

People interested in getting involved should contact Andriy Semotiuk, c/o Law Firm of Manning, Marder & Wolfe, 707 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90017; e-mail, ajs@mmw.com; telephone, (213) 624- 6900, or fax, (213) 624-6999. The Hollywood Trident Group\u2019s e-mail address is HTG@usa.com.

NEWYORK \u2013 Ukraine\u2019s consul general in New York, Yuriy Bohaievsky, hosted a reception for representatives of Ukrainian youth organizations in the United States, as well as a group of students from Ukraine, at the Consulate General on December 1.

As the event coincided with the eighth anniversary of the nationwide referendum on Ukraine\u2019s independence, the diplomat stated that it was a day also to celebrate that overwhelming affirmation of Ukraine\u2019s independence proclamation of August 24, 1991.

Mr. Bohaievsky told The Weekly that he had wanted to host a gathering for youth leaders for some time in order to promote contacts between Ukrainian American organizations and youth organizations in Ukaine and to offer the Consulate General\u2019s assistance in that regard.

Noting that the Consulate General is in fact a small piece of Ukraine\u2019s territory, the consul general welcomed the leaders, veter- ans and members of three organizations, the Ukrainian American Youth Association (SUM), the Plast Ukrainian Scouting Organization and the Organization of Democratic Ukrainian Youth (ODUM). He noted that the gathering was organized with the assistance of Ihor Sochan of Plast.

In turn, Mr. Sochan spoke of how, 50 years ago, many Ukrainians left their home- land, and, after living for a time in displaced persons camps, found themselves in the

United States. \u201cHere we continued our youth organizations\u2019 activities. We brought with us form Ukraine our faith, our history, traditions, and most of all our love for our homeland,\u201d he said.

Mr. Sochan pointed to the leading role played by leaders and members of youth organizations in Ukrainian American com- munity life and underscored that these organizations \u201cmaintained the spark of hope and love for Ukraine among our youths.\u201d He concluded by asserting, \u201cToday we are helping youth organizations in Ukraine to be reborn.\u201d

Afterwards, a video called \u201cPiznaimo Ukrainu\u201d (Let\u2019s get acquainted with Ukraine), released in 1997 by the National Television Company of Ukraine, was screened for the youth representatives as Mr. Bohaievsky invited everyone to visit Ukraine.

Brief remarks were delivered by Olya Shevchenko of ODUM, Lida Mykytyn of SUM and Xenia Piaseckyj of Plast. All three voiced similar sentiments: Ms. Shevchenko noting that \u201calthough physical- ly we are far away from Ukraine, in spirit we are with Ukraine; Ms. Mykytyn under- lining that \u201cwe consider ourselves an inte- gral part of the Ukrainian nation\u201d; and Ms. Piaseckyj stating that \u201cthough we are born here, in spirit we are and always will be with Ukraine.\u201d

At the conclusion of the reception, the consul general presented gifts of books to the three Ukrainian youth organizations.

to become a member of the EU, to broad- en its relationship with NATO, to develop further its strategic partnerships with Russia and the United States, and main- tain its neutral, \u201cnon-bloc\u201d status, as President Kuchma reiterated during his inauguration address.

As a citizen of Ukraine, however, Dr. Buteiko said he has expressed his person- al opinion that \u201cthe time has come to dis- card this non-bloc status and to state clearly and without reservation that Ukraine wants to join both the EU and NATO.\u201d

\u201cOnly this combination can stimulate Ukrainian society to achieve those stan- dards that define Europe,\u201d he said. \u201cI find it very difficult to see Ukraine as a mem- ber of the EU and not of NATO.\u201d This, he explained, would be a new and reformed NATO \u2013 an active and important element of the overall European security system.

\u201cI cannot imagine our joining the European Union being \u2018half-pregnant,\u2019 \u201d cooperating with the civilian sector of the European economy and not the military- industrial sector, he said. And Ukraine would never be allowed into that impor- tant sector without, at least, a declaration of intent to join NATO, he added.

Using the interview as possibly the last possibility to address the Ukrainian American community, Ambassador Buteiko expressed his best wishes on the occasion of the coming Christmas and New Year holidays, and added:

\u201cOf course, I would also wish that Ukrainian Americans continue their deep love of Ukraine and continue to help her \u2013 not merely help her, but help her to help herself\u201d with their knowledge and experi- ence, he said.

Dr. Buteiko also thanked those in the Ukrainian American community with whom he worked for their cooperation and understanding, and he asked that any misunderstandings be forgiven.

\u201cIn my efforts I tried to expand the strategic partnership between Ukraine and the United States, so that it would be sin- cere and mutually beneficial,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd here, in large measure, we were helped by that segment of the American population we call the Ukrainian commu- nity (hromada) in the United States, \u201c he said.

\u201cI thank you very much for the support I always felt you have given me,\u201d Ambassador Buteiko said. \u201cWe have to continue to do what is required of us to help Ukraine grow strong, to improve the quality of life of our people and to further strengthen the relationship between our two countries.\u201d