Readers Sound Off 

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.
 

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
 

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

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.