About “friendship” or HOW THE UKRAINIAN CONSUL CUT A POOR FIGURE IN NOVOSIBIRSK

One of these days the 70th anniversary of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army UPA was celebrated in Ukraine with the pomp. Mass meeting was impressive even to local measures — not less than 5000 people walked march, holding the army flags, smoke petards and images of icons of “the Ukrainian resistance” of Roman Bandera and Stepan Shukhevich. Mummered in a military uniform people burned the flags of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian “Party of Regions”. In reply the communists of Ukraine carried out the improvised “tribunal and hanging” of Shukhevich and Bandera for “complicity to fascists”.

Strangely enough, the specified actions have something in common with the events which are developing now in Novosibirsk. On September 12, the new acting consul general of Ukraine Vasil Turok carried out the meeting in connection with moving of the Ukrainian consulate supervising all Siberia and the Far East of Russia, from Vladivostok to Novosibirsk in “Azimut –Hotel” (Siberia hotel). Mass media wrote nothing about this meeting. And meanwhile, in a lobby of Novosibirsk establishment the visit to the Ukrainian left the most unpleasant impressions.

As visited the meeting people say, Turok's welcoming speech had the dry and embittered character. It was followed from it that Ukraine positions itself as the state since Kievan Rus' gravitating to the civilized Europe, instead of to barbarous Russia. He characterized the Soviet period of history of the country as “oppression of Russia”. The representatives who were present at a meeting of other countries were unpleasantly surprised with frankly hostile speech of the acting consul general who in principle should develop the benevolent relations with the host country. The charged atmosphere was aggravated also by a poor food on tables. As a result a number of the high-ranking guests left the action long before its termination.

The last circumstance wouldn't deserve such attention, if not the words of Turok during September press conference on which he negatively responded about Novosibirsk restaurants of the Ukrainian cuisine:

— Two restaurants of the Ukrainian cuisine opened by the Novosibirsk businessmen, frankly speaking, aren't pleasant to me. Believe me, the Ukrainian cuisine much differs from that is given here.

Guests could be convinced that the hospitality of Turok really differs to the worse.

But the doubleness of the Ukrainian internal political life when one burn down the Soviet flag, and others revere the memory of soldiers fallen in fights for the Soviet homeland, is reflected in Novosibirsk realities. The second for the importance Novosibirsk Ukrainian, the chairman of the Ukrainian national and cultural autonomy of Novosibirsk Vladimir Pavuk, shortly before Turok's ill-fated reception in consulate general published in “Komsomolskaya Pravda” the sincere and full of friendliness material about long (23 years!) effective cooperation of Novosibirsk city and the Ukrainian diaspora.

The material was dated for the 75th anniversary of the Novosibirsk region and narrated about a contribution of the Ukrainian Siberians to the development of all Siberia, about efforts which are put by a national autonomy for strengthening of ties of two countries and two nations. It is enough to note that the former chairman of UNKA, the professor of medicine Vladimir Shevchenko as a part of the delegation headed by the governor of the Novosibirsk region Vasily Yurchenko, visited Kiev and the Kherson area for adjustment of business and cultural relations.

And here, the new acting consul general stains the good business by one frankly boorish gesture begun still in 1989 by the academician of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, Doctor of Philosophy Ioasaf Ladenko, who based the office of the All Ukraine society “Prosvita” in Novosibirsk.

— I was born in the most western region of Ukraine in Uzhgorod, but want to go to the Far East for some reason - to Khabarovsk and Blagoveshchensk where I often went in the eighties and fell in love with this region, told Vasil Turok at the press conference.

It is not clear what involved Turok in “barbarous” Russia, which “enthralled” Ukraine where “bad Ukrainian cuisine” is prepared. He obviously wasn't engaged in the strengthening of friendly relations with the Russians, as well as with the Ukrainian Siberians. But he strengthened the myth about the fascist Ukrainian “West”.

It is necessary to hope that the city and regional management will belong patiently to attack of the diplomat. Though, it will be difficult, if to consider that the Turok made the trick before the eyes of the representatives of Germany, France, Israel, Uzbekistan and other representative guests. It is possible not to forgive such things in the diplomatic world.