August 26, 2011
PRESS RELEASE
UKRAINIAN WORLD CONGRESS PRESIDENT EUGENE CZOLIJ MEETS WITH UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VIKTOR YANUKOVYCH
On August 26, 2011, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij met officially in Kyiv with the President of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych. Also participating in the meeting were Head of the Presidential Administration Serhiy Levochkin, First Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Ruslan Demchenko and Chair of the Working Group on National Projects of the Committee on Economic Reforms, MP Vladyslav Kaskiv, as well as Ukrainian Canadian Congress President Paul Grod and President of the Union of Ukrainians in Russia Taras Dudko.
The UWC President underscored the importance of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union and informed about UWC’s appeals in this respect to high-level European institutions. He emphasized that the violation of human rights in Ukraine, and specifically, the pressure exerted on the opposition and the unwarranted arrest of former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, may prove detrimental to this process. He also called for Ukraine to maintain its European vision based on the principles of democracy.
Eugene Czolij then focused attention on the need for a reply by government authorities to the UWC Memorandum on important issues concerning Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora.
In addition, the UWC President commented on the decree of Ukraine’s Cabinet of Ministers “On adopting a concept for a State program of cooperation with Ukrainians in the diaspora up to 2015” and recommended the creation of an advisory committee, including representatives of the UWC, to ensure the fulfillment of this program.
Eugene Czolij also called upon Ukrainian government authorities to defend the Ukrainian community in Russia, particularly in court cases focused on liquidating the Federal National Cultural Autonomy of Ukrainians of Russia and the Union of Ukrainians in Russia.
In turn, President Viktor Yanukovych called for the cooperation of the Ukrainian diaspora in ensuring a better future for Ukraine.
At the conclusion of the meeting the UWC President presented President Viktor Yanukovych with a copy of filmmaker Yurij Luhovy’s documentary film “Okradena Zemlya” about the Holodomor as genocide of the Ukrainian nation.
Information about this meeting is also available on the official web site of the President of Ukraine: http://www.president.gov.ua/news/21027.html
