On 20-23 April 2017, in the framework of commemorations marking the 50th anniversary of the UWC, Ukrainian World Congress (UWC) President Eugene Czolij met with high-ranking government officials, representatives of leading institutions and civil society to encourage continued support for Ukraine.
During the meetings held on 20-21 April 2017 the UWC President underscored the importance of finalizing the ratification process for the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and implementing the visa-free regime for Ukrainian citizens. Eugene Czolij highlighted the plight of Ukrainian political prisoners being unlawfully detained by the Russian Federation in Crimea, Eastern Ukraine and the Russian Federation, and called for monitoring of the situation with added pressure on the Russian Federation to stop violating human rights. He also emphasized the need to deploy an OSCE police mission to Eastern Ukraine and a monitoring mission to Crimea. In addition, the UWC President urged Greek governing authorities to support the extension of sanctions against the Russian Federation until it fully complies with the Minsk agreements, and to officially recognize the Holodomor of 1932-33 as a genocide of the Ukrainian people.
On 23 April 2017 Eugene Czolij delivered an address to the academic conference on the topic Hellenism in Ukraine: Historical factors, the present and perspectives organized by the Association of the Ukrainian Diaspora in GreeceUkrainian-Hellenic Thought under the auspices of the Academy of Science for Higher Education of Ukraine and with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in Greece. The UWC President noted the importance of ties between the Ukrainian and Greek peoples and the contribution of Greeks to the historical and cultural development of Ukraine, and empathized with the suffering of the Greek minority in Ukraine of whom 90,000 live in the Donbas region and over 3,000 in Crimea.
To these meetings the UWC President was accompanied by Chargé d’affairesof the Ukrainian Embassy in Greece Nataliia Kosenko, UWC Secretary-General and Australian Federation of Ukrainian Organisations President Stefan Romaniw and Director of the UWC Mission to International Organizations in Brussels Maryna Iaroshevych.
“The Ukrainian World Congress calls upon the governing authorities of Greece to continue supporting Ukraine in the defence of its territorial integrity that will also guarantee the continued development and flourishment of the Greek minority in Ukraine,” stated UWC President Eugene Czolij.
List of individuals with whom the UWC President met:
Arvanitis Agni Vlavianos, Founding President, Biopolitics International Organization
Atanasiu Athanasiou, Chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Greece-Ukraine
Avlonitou Eleni, Member of the Parliamentary Friendship Group Greece-Ukraine
Crôteau Julie, Chargé d’affaires ad interim, Embassy of Canada to the Hellenic Republic
Drugos Athanasios, Senior Defense Analyst, Analysts for Change
Griva Marilena, Minister-Councellor, Diplomatic Advisor’s Office of the Hellenic Parliament
Kalpadakis Evangelos, Director, Diplomatic Office of the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic
Kosenko Nataliia, Counsellor, Embassy of Ukraine to the Hellenic Republic, Chargé d’affaires
Lambropoulos Haris, Councellor, Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Michalopoulou Heleni, Director, Directorate of Eastern Europe and Central Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece
Michalos Constantine, President of Athens Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Michas Zacharias, Director, Security and Defence Analysis Institute
Nin Manuel, Apostolic Exarch for Catholics of the Greek Byzantine Church
Psarianos Grigoris, Member of the Hellenic Parliament
Theodorakis Stavros, Leader of the To Potami Political Party
Tzen John, Former Minister Plenipotentiary of Economic and Commercial Affairs of the Greek Embassy in Italy and Malta
Zorzovilis Periklis N., President, Security and Defence Analysis Institute
In the photo from left to right: S. Romaniw, E. Czolij, E. Avlonitou and A. Atanasiu
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