JEWISH COALITION FOUNDED IN UKRAINE.

Nearly 1,500 delegates, representing Jewish groups throughout Ukraine with a total reported membership of 240,000, held the inaugural congress of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine (UJCU) on April 5-6 in Kyiv. The influential Kyiv businessman Vadym Rabinovych, head of both the Ukrainian-Jewish Congress and the Ukraine-Israel Chamber of Commerce, was the principal organizer of the event and was elected UJCU chairman. Rabinovych is considered a political supporter of President Leonid Kuchma. Businessman Oleksandr Feldman of Kharkiv was elected head of the UJCU’s board of trustees. The leadership proposes to focus, at this stage, on organizing Jewish community life, particularly in Ukraine’s provinces. Several Jewish organizations, it is worth noting, stayed away from the congress.

One major theme at the congress was identification with Ukrainian national independence, support for democratic development and resistance to communist revanchism. Rabinovych’s keynote speech called for “building a strong and influential Jewish community which will work with the Ukrainian people for an independent, democratic and prosperous Ukraine.” He predicted that Jewish citizens will, in the upcoming presidential election, vote solidly “against those who call for pogroms or urge us in the name of friendship to march to Siberian camps” (UNIAN, Fakty (Kyiv), April 5, 6).–VS

CRIMEAN TATARS RALLY FOR COLLECTIVE RIGHTS.