How Ukraine Can Benefit From Furthering Its Western Integration
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The U.S.-Ukraine Foundation cordially invites you to a round-table discussion:
New Faces in Parliament: Challenges and Opportunities
Our guest speakers
will be
Dr. Kateryna Smagliy
,
Next Generation Leader of the McCain Institute for International Leadership, and
Mr.
Serhii Nosenko
, Ukrainian investment banker and independent candidate running from single-mandate constituency #223 in Kyiv.
When:
Wednesday, July 17, 9:00-10:30 am
Where
:
U.S.-Ukraine Foundation, 6
th
Floor Conference Room, 1090 Vermont Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20005
Coffee and light refreshments will be served.
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- Action Item - Urge Additional Sponsors for House Ukraine Caucus Resolution Against Restoring Russia in PACE
- USAID Crafts New Framework for Countering Malign Kremlin Influence
- Economic Development - A Focus on Technology
- Ukraine in the World - USA
- BioUkraine Update - An Interview With the Co-founder of MyHelix
- USUF Communications Advisor Lectures in Ukraine
- This Week In History - NATO and Ukraine Outline a Blueprint for Ukraine's Accession to the Alliance
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House Ukraine Caucus Introduces Resolution
Against Restoring Russia in PACE
Write Members of Congress urging them
to co-sponsor H.Res. 474
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H.Res. 474 has been introduced. Now we need co-sponsors and House action!
By Robert A. McConnell
“The Council of Europe’s decision to restore full voting rights to Russia and its dictator Vladimir Putin is deeply concerning,”
the Ukraine Caucus Co-Chairs said in a joint statement.
“Russia was justifiably expelled from the Council of Europe after its malevolent invasion of Ukrainian sovereignty in Crimea. Not only have Russian forces remained in Crimea, Russia has continued to wage a deadly war in the Donbas region of Ukraine, as well as carry out destabilizing disinformation campaigns across the globe undermining the world’s democratic institutions. This includes Russia’s dangerous naval assault and illegal seizure of 24 Ukrainian sailors and 3 vessels in the Kerch Strait, which [who] are still in Russian captivity. Russia must not be rewarded for its repeated anti-democratic behavior. We ask that all of our House colleagues support this bipartisan resolution condemning the Council of Europe’s decision to restore Russian voting rights.”
The Resolution calls on the Government of the United States to continue to issue sanctions which are set forth under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, as well as sanctions under the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act of 2012. It also calls for the United States and European Union to impose additional sanctions on Russia if on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s aggression near the Kerch Strait, the Ukrainian ships and the detained Ukrainian sailors are still in Russian custody.
The text of the resolution can be viewed
here
.
Click here
to contact your Member of Congress to urge them to support the resolution.
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USAID Crafts New Framework for
Countering Malign Kremlin Influence
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Administrator Reaffirms U.S. Support for Ukraine Against Russian Disinformation
On July 5, 2019 USAID Administrator, Mark Green, made remarks regarding how the U.S. government has crafted a framework for assistance to countries that face a full-frontal assault by Russian disinformation, that is being called Countering Malign Kremlin Influence, or CMKI.
CMKI responds to authoritarian challenges by increasing the economic and democratic resilience of targeted countries, and working to mitigate the effects of Kremlin soft power aggression on a range of institutions.
The assistance will include working with individual states to create effective, pro-growth, legal and regulatory frameworks, and assisting them in joining well-functioning local and regional energy markets.
This work is already well underway, in places such as Ukraine, where the U.S. is supporting efforts to transition power systems from synchronous connection with Russia to a new connection with the West.
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In response to past Kremlin efforts to hack Ukraine's elections, USAID provided approximately $2.7
million in elections cybersecurity equipment and training for their Central Election Commission this
year in order to support free and fair elections.
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Click here
to read the full remarks of USAID Administrator, Mark Green
Click here
to read a background report of Russia's disinformation techniques
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Economic Development - A Focus on Technology
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You’re probably familiar with the story of Huawei’s ascension in
the global telecommunications market. Chinese theft of Western intellectual property—combined with government subsidies—enable below-market pricing for Chinese equipment. Chinese banks provide infrastructure financing for customers around the world to make this still-pricey pill easier to swallow. There’s broad consensus that the pill is poison: five intelligence agencies (in the U.S., U.K., Australia, Canada and New Zealand) agree that installing Huawei technology creates significant national security risk. And, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald, at a July 2018 gathering of the five spy chiefs in Canada they
agreed to
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Figuring out a proper Western response to the security threat Huawei poses
is, admittedly, challenging, but some ideas involve working with a handful of friendly countries to develop alternative technologies, especially 5G wireless. The work of Aleks Mehrle as well as Evan Anderson focuses especially on helping stimulate profitable cooperation between the United States and Ukraine.
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Ukraine in the World - USA
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Historian Nicholas Rudnytzky stands at the back of
a class at Manor College in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania
that he hopes will soon be in Skype contact with
classrooms in Ukraine.
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U.S. College With Ukrainian Roots Seeks to Forge New Links With the Old Country
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By Askhoold Krushelnycky, Kyiv Post, July 7
The Pennsylvania college in Jenkintown, with just 4,000 residents, is proud that its 750 students now come from all the ethnic backgrounds that make up American society. It strives to maintain a Ukrainian flavor, but the college now only has a handful of students of Ukrainian background, around 10 from Ukraine itself.
However, it wants to increase its ties with Ukraine and would like to attract more students from there, something the college president, Jonathan Peri, believes will enrich the educational experience for both Americans and Ukrainians.
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BioUkraine Update - An Interview With the Co-founder of MyHelix
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By Bionity
Lots of people think creating a biology startup in Ukraine is a mission impossible. But we disagree.
We’d like to introduce you to
Dariya Loseva
, an amazing woman who along with two colleagues started her own company –
MyHelix
. They do genetic tests to determine various factors that could affect your health.
After all, it’s no secret that your health is 75% lifestyle and 25% genetics. MyHelix gives people
a comprehensive approach.
When it was time to choose a profession, Dariya realized she wanted to do research and opted for biology. While a student at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the future scientist met many of the people who would later become her trusted business partners.
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Dariya grew up in picturesque
Cherkasy, Ukraine
.
Because her mother was a doctor, she always had
access to anatomy books and could ask her anything
about human physiology. As she grew older, she
became interested in biology, and genetics in particular.
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USUF Communications Advisor Lectures in Ukraine
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Back in May, Adrian Karmazyn (U.S.-Ukraine Foundation communications advisor) was a
guest lecturer
at the
Department of Foreign Nations Modern and Contemporary History
of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, at the Journalism Department of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and at Souspilnist Foundation’s Media Mobility Hub, which brings students from Ukraine’s regional universities to the Ukrainian capital for a two-week internship with national media outlets. He spoke about U.S. current events with a focus on the work of American news media. He was one of several Americans participating in a seminar of the Lviv-based Business Community Club, a national association which partners with USUF on small and medium business development.
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Students and faculty were also interested in hearing about Adrian’s journalism career at the Voice of America (1987-2015) and about
the activities of USUF.
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USUF's Adrian Karmazyn with the faculty of Kyiv National University’s History Department. Olha Sukhobokova (center) has written a biography of the first director of the Voice of America’s Ukrainian Service.
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Students from all over Ukraine came
to Kyiv to the Media Mobility Hub internship program led by Taras Petriv of Kyiv National University;s Journalism Institute and the Souspilnist Foundation.
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In the 1994, Ukraine's Cooperation With NATO Leads to a Signed Charter in 1997, Outlining the Blueprint for Ukraine's Accession Into the Alliance
By Joseph Bistransky, Intern
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As Russian aggression continues and grows in Ukraine and across Europe, the relationship between Ukraine
and NATO is becoming increasingly important. Earlier this year, the Ukrainian parliament approved by an overwhelming margin a constitutional amendment which formally declared the country’s intention to pursue NATO membership, and popular support for Ukrainian accession has never been higher, with 70% in favor.
The first step came when Ukraine joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace in early 1994, the first CIS country to do so. At the time, the program was intended as a “track that will lead to NATO membership,” and U.S. State Department memos projected that Ukraine would become a full member as early as 2005. NATO leaders appeared to confirm this optimism during the July 9, 1997 NATO summit in Madrid, when the Alliance took a major step to the east – in addition to admitting Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic as full allies, NATO signed a NATO-Ukraine Charter with then-President Kuchma.
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The Rada approves a constitutional amendment confirming Ukraine’s
NATO aspirations with 85% voting for, February 2019, Image credit: UNIAN.
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President Kuchma of Ukraine and NATO Secretary General Javier Solana after the signing of the agreement, July 9, 1997. Image credit: VCG Photo.
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Ukrainian forces as part of NATO’s peacekeeping mission, Pristina, Kosovo. Image credit: NATO, Allied Joint Force Command Naples.
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In all but name, the Charter was written as a blueprint for Ukrainian accession into the alliance. It establishes a permanent Ukrainian military liaison in NATO’s headquarters, calls for Ukrainian participation in NATO missions, NATO-Ukraine military inter-operability, and military training and exercises on Ukrainian territory, and, most critically, pledges the alliance to “support Ukrainian sovereignty and independence, territorial integrity, democratic development, economic prosperity and its status as a non-nuclear weapon state, and the principle of inviolability of frontiers”, referencing the security guarantees given to Ukraine by the U.S., U.K., and Russia in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
Since then - this week in 1997 - Ukrainian forces have participated as part of NATO missions in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan, but the path to full membership long appeared blocked, both due to opposition from Russian proxies within the Ukrainian government and reluctance from certain NATO members. Notably, Ukraine came close to gaining a Membership Action Plan at the 2008 Bucharest summit, but was blocked by parliamentary obstruction by the Party of Regions and opposition from France and Germany. However, since 2014’s Revolution of Dignity, Ukraine has been more committed than ever to the principles outlined in the Charter. What is left now is for NATO to find the political will to deepen its involvement in Ukraine and fulfill the promises made 22 years ago this week.
For further reading, please click the links below:
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SUPPORT THE U.S.-UKRAINE FOUNDATION'S
2019 ANNUAL GIVING CAMPAIGN
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