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pendent Ukraine and will establish diplomatic relations with the new nation. The meeting took over half an hour, after which our group transferred to another buil ding where we met with Dr. John Hughes, a representative of the State Department. Here again we clearly and courteously asked for the United States to give recognition to in dependent Ukraine immediately following po sitive results of the Referendum. Dr. Hughes stated that it all depended on how the transi tion of Ukraine from the former Soviet Union will take place, and if it will be peaceful. He assured that Ukraine will not have long to wait to be acknowledged as an independent nation. And so it happened. After three weeks following the landslide results of the Refer endum, the United States gave recognition to independent Ukraine and initiated diplo matic relations. Following the meeting in the State De partment I gave an interview for Voice of America, and the following morning Radio Liberty from Munich also spoke with me. 1992 arrived. On May 5 President of Ukraine, Leonid Kravchuk with his wife An tonia were present at the gala opening of the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington D.C. Sec retary of State John Baker with his wife attended the event. As President of UNWLA, I was on the list of some 40 invited guests. I was introduced to President Kravchuk, to whom I offered congratulations on his elec tion. The following day, May 6th, during noon hours the cermonial signing of agreements between the United States and Ukraine was held in the East Room. Leonid Kravchuk signed three agreements. I was not present at the State Department banquet which was held on May 7th for President Kravchuk because the Executive Board of the UNWLA had previously arranged a meeting on that day with Maria Drach. On May 11th I was invited to the Ukrain ian Institute of America in New York City to take part in a private meeting of the leaders of the central Ukrainian organizations in the diaspora with President Kravchuk, represen tatives of his government and the Parliament. The discussion centered around economics and the political stability of Ukraine. This meeting was closed to the press. On that same day, President Kravchuk held a press conference at the United Nations, which I also attended. On May 26th at the invitation of the White House, I was witness to the swearing in of Roman Popadiuk as Ambas sador to Ukraine. The ceremony took place in one of the halls of the old Executive Build ing. In addition to many high officials. Presi dent Bush was also present and addressed the group. At the end of December 1992 I received an official invititation to take part in the inauguration of the newly elected president of the United States, Bill Clinton. This event drew hundreds of thousands of people to Washington. I did not take part in the inaug uration due to several reasons, such as the difficulty in finding hotel acccomodations as well as the high cost of the tickets to the var ious events. At the recommendation of the Presidium of the Secretariat of the World Congress of Free Ukrainians, of which I am a member, I, as president of UNWLA, received an invita tion from the society “Ukraine” to take part in the World Forum of Ukrainians, as a dele gate of the western diaspora. This great con vocation was held in Kiev on August 21-23, 1992. Several organizations and groups in itiated this event: RUKH, the All Ukrainian Taras Shevchenko Society “Prosvita,” the Committee dealing with nationalities under the aegis of the Ministers’ Cabinet of Ukraine, the society “Ukraina” and the Committee for the Ukrainian Family. I arrived in Kiev on August 18. Following registration, I found lodgings in the hotel Moscva, situated in the center of Kiev, on a hill, overlooking Independence Square and Khreshchatyk. The opening of the World Forum of Ukrainians was held on Friday, August 21, in the Palace of Culture “Ukraina.” The build ing itself is beautiful, executed in white mar ble and glass. The delegates assembled in the main hall. There were 250 delegates from various regions of Ukraine, 250 each from both the eastern and western segments of the diaspora, as well as numerous guests from just about every part of our planet. The Forum was called with the aim of consolidating all Ukrainians throughout the world, to initiate constructive activity in Ukraine and also for Ukraine and the dias pora to properly celebrate the country’s first anniversary of independence. Kiev gloriously manifested its joy at this 28 www.unwla.org
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