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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

Readers Sound Off 

3 November, 1998 - 00:00

Is Ukraine Better than "Civilized" States?

Viktor Tymchenko's article, "I do not Like Ukraine," (see The Day, No.
36 of October 13) had wide resonance. The actual fact described in the
article did not claim to be the rule. However, we have received many responses
which view the problem more broadly. Having published few of them, we will
soon return to the problem of issuing visas for foreigners wishing to visit
Ukraine and the regulations determining this process.

 

We do Issue Visas by Mail

Recently, the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany got Viktor Tymchenko's article,
"I do not like Ukraine." The embassy's consular officials, those in its
Berlin branch, and the Consulate General in Munich have discussed the article
in meetings. Regrettably, we have to establish the fact that the newspaper
made several regrettable errors.

The author asserts that German citizens in order to get a visa are allegedly
supposed to visit in person the Embassy in Bonn or its Berlin branch and
that this kind service cannot be rendered by mail. This is untrue.

We inform you that since the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany in Bonn, its
Berlin branch, and the Consulate General in Munich were opened, all the
three representative offices have been issuing visas by mail. We keep the
German citizens and others permanently living in Germany informed in writing
about the procedure for issuing visas including by mail. It is worth pointing
out that the Embassy alone issued 70% visas by mail in 1998. In general,
the Ukrainian visa regime is very convenient for German citizens. It differs
favorably from the German visa regime, or, to be more precise, from that
of Schengen countries for our citizens. Regarding payments for consular
services the German citizens can do it in a bank or post office receiving
their passports with Ukrainian visa ready. Thus, one must not travel 400-500
kilometers to Bonn to get a visa and pay for the service. At the same time,
our citizens are supposed to arrive at the German Embassy in Kyiv from
even the most remote areas of Ukraine.

The author might do well to learn that as of December 1, 1997 Ukraine
established unilaterally a visa free regime for diplomatic passport bearers
of EU countries, including Germany, who visit Ukraine in business for up
to ninety days. By contrast, we have diplomatic passport bearers who even
now wait with patience and understanding to get a visa from the German
Embassy in Kyiv.

We can cite other examples, but this is not the point. We think that
the author would have done better had he taken the trouble to first learn
personally about the circumstances of receiving applicants and procedure
of issuing visas at Ukrainian embassies and consular offices rather than
to simply rely on information from some unknown businessman in his article.

Trade and economic cooperation between Ukraine and Germany continue
to develop successfully. In 1997, Germany placed second in the world on
its trade circulation volumes with Ukraine that came to DM 3.8 billion.
And this year, despite the global financial crisis, another 30% increase
is expected. This is a hard evidence about whether German businessmen like
Ukraine.

Anatoly PONOMARENKO

Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador

of Ukraine to Germany

 

Who's So Civilized?

This is in regard of the article, "I don't like Ukraine..." I know bureaucracies
in Ukraine better than this German, but he should know that many "civilized
" countries are much worse. Take US for example: The US embassy in Ottawa
(Embassy of one "civilized" country in another) DOES NOT TAKE checks, DOES
NOT TAKE credit, and does not accept the Interact bank cards used in Canada
in virtually all stores. They accept ONLY CASH, and only US CASH, they
do not even accept "local" Canadian cash, though located in Canada. The
pleasure of US visa costs $75 US. That does not mean that you do not have
to pay anything else: at the border they will charge you another $6 US
in cash for an I94 stab brutally punched to your passport and leaving huge
holes on its pages.

Compared with the US embassy Ukrainian consulate in Canada accepts bank
checks. You also can get a Ukrainian visa by mail in three weeks. My Iranian
colleague got one with no problems. take another country, the Canadian
Consulate in the US (New York). If you are trusting enough to send your
passport by mail it might take you four months to get a visa. Moreover
if you lose patience and actually go there they may not be able to find
your passport at all.

Let the reader draw his own conclusions.

Jaroslav HOOK,

Canada

The Era of Immorality

Diana Klochko called her article about St. Michael's renovation "The
Era of Indifference" (The Day, No. 35, October 6). Were it that
simple! Indifference, in essence sounds benign, secure, and moral. Era
of indifference, this is in America where the poor show business entrepreneurs
wonder how to invent something to fool indifferent viewers into parting
with a few pennies. They scare their audiences with Dr. Lector, have them
tearfully relive the Titanic disaster, offer a keyhole view of the what
the man in the White House is up to, and all because anything less intensive
simply does not pierce the thick skin of sated, apathetic, and atrophied
Americans. That, friends, is an era of indifference.

Now buying a player piano with young orphans' money or the head-spinning
renovation project at the Ukraine Palace of Culture done at the expense
of starving pensioners - now, that is immoral. Re-paving the heart of downtown
Kyiv with stone tiles bought using subsidies for patients dying without
kidney transplants or building luxury homes using taxes collected from
Jews, Uniates, Moslems, and Roman Catholics is also immoral. It is also
immoral to talk about separating the Church from the state, accept newly
rebuilt temples from the powers that be and pay with religious decorations
and moral support. Am I exaggerating? No, friends, the list could be made
much longer.

It makes no sense to discuss the artistic value of St. Michael's Bell
Tower, its lack of such value, or similar issues until the dilemma of the
moral and immoral is solved, or, more precisely, until it is solved in
favor of the moral. Thus far we see precisely the opposite. So what if
there are no resonators in the bell tower, bad acoustics? Maybe the customer
of the project needs none. No need to hang one's head and cry. If they
need them they will get them. Another thing is building a concrete replica
of the Dormition Cathedral (Uspensky sobor) worth $100 million. Someone
will get another religious award, and our children will keep dying for
want of medications. Here one cannot refrain from calling on us all to
stop and think.

"Our society is contaminated by apathy, hypocrisy, Philistine egotism,
and concealed cruelty. Most representatives of its higher stratum hold
on tight to their privileges," wrote the late Andrei Sakharov in 1972.

By Taras MAKHRYNSKY

Ukraine

We thank all our readers for comments and remind that responses to
materials published in The Day are always welcome. We cannot, of
course, guarantee publication, but we always appreciate hearing from you.


 

 

 

 

 

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